Language Spotlight Series: The Importance of Bilingualism in Early Childhood Education

Language Spotlight Series: The Importance of Bilingualism in Early Childhood Education

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Language Spotlight Series: The Importance of Bilingualism in Early Childhood Education

The Importance of Bilingualism in Early Education

Parents often seek advice from pediatricians and early education professionals on what their children should be learning. By now, it’s common knowledge that reading to young ones and having frequent conversations with them are fundamental tools. These key components teach children the basics for language and communication foundations that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. We know this, right?

Why Bilingual Education Matters

If communication and language development is such a critical part of a learning foundation, then many have considered expanding that learning base by adding additional languages. The importance of bilingualism – the act of learning two or more languages simultaneously – has grown in popularity across the globe in recent decades because of this theory.

Considering that 21% of young children are already immersed in a second language at home (Hanen.org), it’s easy to understand why multiple languages are being introduced earlier and earlier in schools. In addition, a growing number of the general population speak a language other than English, so learning to be bilingual is becoming more of the “norm” today than ever before.

Beyond the Myths: The True Impact of Bilingualism

While some have been hesitant to add a second language to their young child’s educational repertoire, others are discovering how highly beneficial it can be. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “Learning more than one language is an asset to individuals, families, and our entire society.” In fact, many researchers encourage parents to consider adding a bilingual approach to their child’s education for numerous reasons.

When it comes to considering a second language, one misconception is that it may confuse a growing child during the early education stage. It’s easy to understand the basis for these concerns, but researchers have now been able to prove they’re not only incorrect, but the exact opposite is true: bilingual children learn better and faster than other children.(The Hanen Centre)

“Bilingual children are better able to focus their attention on relevant information and ignore distractions” – Hanen.org.

The U.S. Department of Education notes several key benefits to teaching children multiple languages during early childhood. They broke them down into four basic categories: Cognitive Development, Social-Emotional Development, Learning, and Long-Term Success – all of which contain major benefits for bilingual children.

Cognitive Development and Bilingualism

Perhaps the greatest (and most immediate) benefit parents can witness in children learning a second language involves cognitive development. The Department of Education states children who begin learning second languages before the age of six will “have an easier time understanding math concepts and solving word problems; developing strong thinking skills; using logic; focusing, remembering, and making decisions; thinking about language; and learning other languages.”

Bilingualism and Social-Emotional Development

Broadening language experience during school hours enriches family and community ties. By bridging the communication gap between languages, bilingual children are able to understand and connect with more individuals, building even stronger friendships within their schools and communities. This crucial skill plays out with overall improved communication experiences with others and again, allows them to build better relationships than students who learn a single language.

Bilingualism’s Impact on Learning

Introducing a second language early on improves children’s learning abilities for everything else to come. It helps children learn how to intake only the important facts while weeding out irrelevant information.

Bilingualism and Long-Term Success

According to statistics, 50-65% of all adults across the globe now speak a language other than English. By those statistics alone, those who speak only English are already in the minority.

What does this mean for your child? Being in the language-minority will limit the opportunities available to your child as they reach adulthood.

Overall, more and more researchers are proving that introducing additional languages at an early age has an immensely positive impact on children. In addition to an increase in their ability to focus, higher cognitive function, and improved social and cultural relations, bilingualism has also been linked to several other benefits. Some of which include staving off degenerative cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and a higher annual salary bracket as a result of superior career qualifications.

“Recent brain studies have shown that bilingual people’s brains function better and for longer after developing (Alzheimer’s)… On average, the disease is delayed by four years compared to monolinguals” – Michigan State University News.

This cognitive advantage (as well as the rest of them mentioned above) all boil down to the flexibility and focus that is generated when individuals are immersed in the bilingual world. When bilingual learning begins during the early education years, it has the added benefit of improving their learning potential in multifaceted ways. While adults will still see many of these benefits if picking up a second language later in life, research has shown children stand to benefit the most by becoming bilingual.

If you’re interested in incorporating bilingual learning into your child’s early educational experience, check out these Different Types of Preschool Bilingual Learning for more information.

The Best Historical Sites to Show Children in Hoboken

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by Tori Galatro

Hoboken has a rich history. It contains stories about Lenni Lenape Native Americans, Dutch settlers, baseball, land and water transportation, immigration, diversity, and booms and busts of growth and development. There’s something that every age group will find interesting, including children. The City of Hoboken has put a strong emphasis on historical preservation, and a lot of resources are devoted to keeping these treasures intact and accessible to the public. Families have a lot to discover in Hoboken.

The Hoboken Historical Museum

The Hoboken Historical Museum is a great first stop on a historical tour of Hoboken. The museum has a strong emphasis on their children and family guests, featuring storytime, childrens’ nights at the museum, family fun days, holiday concerts, and summer and day camps. The museum is open six days a week and totally free for children. There are rotating exhibits as well as permanent ones, featuring everything from old photographs, to artifacts, to local art.

The Fire Department Museum

The Fire Department Museum is also owned by the Hoboken Historical Museum, and is also free for children. Open Saturday and Sundays from noon to five, children love looking at the old fire trucks and getting a chance to meet some of the firefighter veterans and their dogs. There’s a historical shiny red Ahrens Fox fire engine that children can sit in and ring a big brass bell. The Museum caters to young visitors, and offers storytime and other family-friendly activities.

The Historic Walking Tour

The nice thing about Hoboken history is that so much of it can be explored on foot, simply walking from place to place. This is ideal for children to let out some energy and explore whatever strikes them. You don’t need to worry about your children being noisy and running around when everything is outside!

A guide is available to The Historic Walking Tour on the Hoboken Historical Museum website, and you can adapt your own tour according to what you think your children will find most fun. The tour includes buildings, parks, and monuments.

Children will most likely find the visually stunning sites to be most interesting. This includes an old firehouse, steeples, buildings that look like castles, large brass monuments of historical figures, cathedrals, and the train station terminal. Elysian Park is a stop on the tour, where the first recorded baseball game was played. Daring children will want to peer into Sybil’s Cave, where a body was once found in the 1800s, and which inspired an Edgar Allen Poe story. But don’t fear. The entrance to the cave is completely safe for children. The tour also includes Castle Park, which is the highest point in Hoboken, and offers a breathtaking view of Manhattan. Children love to identify the distant buildings like the Freedom Tower and the Empire State Building.

Hoboken has a great history of land and water transportation, so just pointing out the fire trucks, trains, and boats is enough to inspire many young children. There are also so many opportunities to point out historical landmarks while you’re out doing errands, or going on a walk, that aren’t so commonplace in many other cities in the U.S. It’s one of the things that makes Hoboken a great place to live.

The Long-Term Benefits of a Great Preschool

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Traditionally, parents and even many educators have often thought of preschool as mainly a place to send kids to socialize, have fun, and get acclimated to a regular schedule. However, more and more research suggests that preschool actually has a profound effect on children’s intellectual and emotional development.

The Surprising Impact of Preschool

Here are some key findings on how preschool plays such an important role in children’s development.

  • According to author and journalist Suzanne Bouffard, preschool may be the most important educational experience of a child’s life. In her book, The Most Important Year, preschool is when children learn critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In addition to getting introduced to some key academic areas such as reading and math, kids learn social skills such as sharing and cooperating.
  • One of the best-known studies of the long-term advantages of preschool is the Perry Preschool Study, which followed children from the age of 3 all the way to age 40. It turned out that those who participated in a quality preschool program were more likely to graduate high school, hold jobs and had higher earnings than those who didn’t attend the program.
  • Pew Charitable Trusts report that children who attend quality pre-K programs are less likely to be held back a grade and more likely to graduate from high school. Their research also points to the problem of kids getting left behind due to a poor start. Once a child is held back, it’s hard for him or her to catch up. Attending preschool reduces the risks of children getting stuck in such a downward spiral.
  • There’s even evidence that preschools can help to reduce crime. A study conducted in Chicago public schools found that kids who participated in a preschool program were less likely to commit crimes later in life.

There’s little doubt that preschool can make a substantial difference in children’s lives and that the benefits continue all the way into adulthood.

Choosing the Right Preschool

Quite a bit of the research on the benefits of attending preschool specifies that the program must be of a certain quality. The Perry Preschool Study, for example, looked at children who attended a “high-quality preschool program.” The Pew Charitable Trusts research makes a similar qualification, saying “high-quality pre-k increases a child’s chances of succeeding in school and in life.” Thus, the advantages of these programs aren’t necessarily gained by sending kids to any preschool. But how do you evaluate the quality and choose the right one? There are several criteria you can apply.

  • Be clear about what you want from the preschool. Some parents are mainly interested in providing their children with a social experience. Others want them to get a solid head start on reading and academic subjects. When looking at preschools, make sure you select one that matches your needs.
  • Recommendations. Ask other parents whose children attend or have attended a preschool and whether they’d recommend it. When researching preschools, see if they publish any testimonials.
  • Consider the school’s approach or educational philosophy. Some schools are faith-based. Others follow a system such as Waldorf or Montessori. Research the alternatives and find a school whose approach is in alignment with your ideas.
  • Visit the school. It’s always best to visit a school in person. Call a preschool that you’re considering and make an appointment to visit. You can also see if they have any special events where you can meet some of the staff and teachers.

Sending your child to the right preschool can be one of the most important decisions you can make as a parent. Children are ready to absorb all kinds of knowledge and life skills that can be fostered in a preschool environment. Before choosing a preschool, however, make sure you do plenty of research so you find one that’s the ideal match for you and your child.

Tessa International School is a top preschool in Hoboken, NJ, and considers its program to be as high-quality and enriching as they come for young children who deserve the best start. Tessa prepares children to become leaders of the 21st century. For more information, contact us.

Bilingualism Can Help Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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If you’re a parent who has a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), then you’re familiar with how tough it can be for some children to unconsciously shift their attention between tasks. Shifting attention from one task to another is known as task switching or set-shifting and is an executive function that involves specific parts of the brain, like the prefrontal cortex. This brain structure also plays a role in the development of ASD. Recent research suggests that learning a second language may boost cognitive flexibility in areas like this and benefit those with ASD.

What is the Prefrontal Cortex?

The prefrontal cortex is part of the cortex that covers the front part of the frontal lobe. This is an area in the brain that helps you shift your focus and attention, unconsciously, and is also a brain structure that’s involved in ASD’s development. Automatically switching from one task to another without breaking concentration or re-focusing on the new task can be a tad difficult for some children with ASD. New research recently published in Child Development reports that being bilingual may possibly help children with ASD improve their ability to do just that—unconsciously shift their attention between tasks.

Being Bilingual May Increase Cognitive Flexibility

Being bilingual, and having the ability to switch between languages, may help increase cognitive flexibility, especially in children or adults with ASD. Over the past decade scholars and researchers have significantly debated whether having the ability to speak two languages improves executive functions. In fact, the term “bilingual advantage” was eventually coined because so many within the field believed that being bilingual clearly improved the executive system. With advances in technology, brain imaging studies have plainly demonstrated that bilinguals suppress their desire to use certain words from one language, in order to use words and grammar from another. In other words, speaking two languages is a workout for your brain.

Speaking Two Languages May Train the Brain Differently

Bilinguals learn a range of social tasks, such as verbal or non-verbal communication and how to read people. Some researchers think that bilingualism may even enhance some executive functions, like conflict resolution and working in a group, because switching between two languages helps the speaker see the world in different contexts.

Being Bilingual May Help Build Brain Muscle

It seems research is suggesting that speaking two languages may help flex some brain muscles and enable the brain to switch focus from one task to another without even breaking a sweat! So you can imagine, then, why so many within the field are focusing on these new research findings and why they desire to repeat studies with a larger sample size: it has huge implications for those with ASD.

Bilingualism May Even Offer Brain Protection  

Another benefit of being bilingual is that it may help protect the brain from dementia, stroke and brain injury. The thought process is similar: bilingualism boosts cognitive reserve. When executive function begins to decline, like in dementia, being bilingual seems to offer some cognitive protection by keeping parts of the brain fit. In other words, these brain structures may not age as quickly in people who are bilingual because these areas of the brain are more resilient. Whether you have ASD or not, it seems learning a second language can benefit your overall brain health. Just like briskly walking thirty minutes every day helps your heart to stay healthy, being bilingual is a way to stay cognitively fit.  

Being Bilingual Offers Those with ASD an Advantage

It’s evident that current findings may affect families when making educational decisions for their child with ASD. This research is only the beginning; hopefully, families who have a child with ASD will see more rigorous studies from scholars and scientists in the future.

 

How Bilingualism Supports Math Skills in Children

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For many students, speaking two languages is a way of life. Navigating the world as a bilingual student provides many rich benefits for learning. Yet while being bilingual has been shown to increase students’ language skills, parents often wonder whether navigating two languages also has an effect on their child’s ability to learn math.

When PBS explored the issue, they found that bilingual students not only solved word problems, but all types of math problems, in a unique way. Unlike students who only spoke a single language, bilingual students were using the visual and spatial parts of their brain while solving the problems. Scientists are still theorizing as to why this is the case. One theory is that students are visualizing the elements of the problems in their heads (in other words, they’re actually creating pictures to represent multiplying apples or two trains leaving a station at different speeds).

As the New York Times reported, bilingual students also have a host of advantages in education, including the ability to focus on demanding tasks and solve difficult kinds of puzzles. By using dynamic language practices (in other words focusing on the all the linguistic strengths of bilingual students), teachers can help students take full advantage of their bilingual strengths. A 2011 study showed that allowing bilingual students to use both languages to discuss and solve problems increased the mathematical productivity of students. The flexibility bilingual students show in switching between languages also grants them an increase in creativity and problem solving that can enhance their math education.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that students, especially bilingual students, have been shown to be ever adaptive to new surroundings. While bilingual students may initially find it easier or faster to solve problems using their first language, research from the University of Texas at San Antonio found that while students tended to solve arithmetic problems in the language they first learned them in, they were more likely to solve word problems in the language they use regularly. Such research indicates that bilingual students may be more adaptable in solving math problems than first believed.

Bilingual students are uniquely prepared to meet the challenges of mathematics head on when supported by strong teachers and parents.

At Tessa International School, we may have a focus on bilingual education, but we also teach the whole child. We believe that each aspect of learning is connected. To find out more, visit our website or learn about our Summer Camp.

3 Hands-On Pre-Reading Activities for Preschoolers

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By Tori Galatro

Your child can get a head start on reading if they learn to recognize letters and sounds at an early age. There are plenty of apps and TV shows that can help your child learn their letters, but hands-on activities are just as great for a number of reasons. For one, they can help your child to develop fine motor skills beyond tapping a screen. Hands-on activities can also help with memorization by providing spatial and physical interaction. Most importantly, hands-on activities tend to be more social, and involve contact with parents and other children. This social emotional contact is essential for learning and developing other crucial skills, as well as helping to create meaningful memories associated with their pre-reading skills. The following three pre-reading hands-on activities are easy to set up, easy to clean up, safe, cheap, and so much fun for young children.

Activity #1: Make an Alphabet Book

This idea comes from the mommy blog Teach Mama. Sick of throwing away those ads you get in the mail from the grocery store? Put them to good use by making an alphabet book! Gather 26 pages of colored construction paper and write one letter at the top of each with marker. Write both capital and lowercase. Even if your child isn’t learning to read yet, they can start to recognize these symbols and learn that they have meaning. Then, go through the magazines and ads with you child and help them to look for items that begin with each letter. Help your child to cut or rip out each item as they go and paste it under the letter. When you’re done, you can help your child to bind the pages together into a book with yarn and a hole punch. Don’t worry if they don’t finish the book. They can add to it anytime the mail comes in and continue to build letter-sound associations.

Activity #2: Play the Alphabet Memory Game

This is another game that you can return to over and over. Take a pack of paper plates and write uppercase letters on half and the equivalent lowercase letters on the other half. Then, mix them up and spread them out on the ground face down. The object of the game is to match the upper with their lower case letters by remembering where each letter was. Each turn, your child turns two letters face up, try to remember them, and then turns them face down. If they get a match, those plates get removed from the board. This game can be challenging for anyone, so it can be played in a group of varying ages. You can join in too! You can try this game several different ways depending on your child’s level of development. They can match equivalent capital letters, match letters to words beginning with that letter, or even match letters to pictures of words beginning with that letter. They can even write or draw on the plates themselves for a whole other activity!

Activity #3: Learn with Alphabet Bingo

All you need for this game are a few printouts which can be found at the mommy blog Crazy Little Projects, available in both capital and lowercase letters. This game is great for any number of children. When you pick the letter, you can show it to them, or just call it out for an added challenge. Children can use candies to block off the letters as they go, or if you don’t want to spoil dinner, they can use cotton balls, coins, or anything you can think up. Since every board is different, younger children can even look at the older children’s boards for help, and it won’t be cheating. Children can use the skills they’ve learned, but everyone has an equal chance of winning.

Social Emotional Learning: Implementing Sociograms

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Fostering Success: The Role of Social Emotional Learning in Classrooms

 

Classrooms play a crucial role in children’s intellectual and emotional development. Outside the home, they learn values and behavioral norms. That’s why preschools are incorporating Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into their education.

Social Emotional Learning: The Essential Ingredient for Well-Rounded Education

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) integrates various education aspects and life skills into the school curriculum, helping children succeed in school, careers, relationships, and life. Research shows SEL increases achievement rates and encourages positive habits and behaviors, like kindness, empathy, sharing, and gratitude.

There are 5 key skills that are taught through Social Emotional Learning:

  1. Self-Awareness: SEL helps children understand their emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and the consequences of their actions.

 

  1. Self-Management: It guides children towards independence by controlling emotions, behaviors, and reactions.

 

  1. Social Awareness: SEL enables children to become aware of different cultures and backgrounds, understanding and empathizing with others.

 

  1. Relationship Skills: It aids in developing and maintaining healthy relationships and acting within social norms.

 

  1. Responsible Decision Making: SEL teaches responsible decision-making, considering the consequences of thoughts and actions.

 

Emotional Growth in the Classroom: Practical Approaches to SEL Integration

Teachers can implement these lessons through sharing experiences, engaging in social activities, teaching about different cultures and social norms, developing social skills, and creating a diverse environment. SEL helps young children learn these valuable skills at an early age. SEL can be incorporated into all learning, and sociograms can help map social interactions for older students.

Teachers can use the help of sociograms to map out social interactions and create a socially dynamic classroom, especially with older students.

Constructing a Sociogram

To create a sociogram, ask each student to write down two other students they’d like to partner with in a group activity. Collect the names and create a flow-chart, identifying isolates, gender divisions, and groups. Sociograms help teachers focus their attention and implement SEL tailored to their classroom’s needs.

For questions or concerns about implementing sociograms, contact Tessa International School.

Here’s an example of a completed sociogram.

Why Free Play Is Critical for Child Development

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Free play refers to activity that is child-centered, child-initiated, child-controlled, and above all, fun. Children have been engaging in this sort of play naturally, and with enthusiasm, for millennia. But as play has become more structured and planned in the modern era, child development experts have been raising concerns about the potential ramifications of a decrease in free play. It turns out that many crucial skills are developed when children are allowed plenty of unstructured play time. Free play benefits children cognitively, socially, emotionally, and physically. In fact, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights has declared that engaging in play is a universal right for every child on earth.

Cognitive Benefits

Children’s brains are designed by nature to learn and grow through play. Unstructured play is necessary to allow every child’s brain to flourish and reach its full cognitive potential.

The open-ended nature of free play lets children exercise their imaginations, thus enhancing their creativity. A group of children playing pretend will naturally engage in world-building, characterization, and storytelling. Activities such as building or designing structures can facilitate problem-solving skills and encourage innovative thinking.

Most importantly, free play helps children develop something called self-directed executive functioning. This refers to the cognitive control processes that regulate thought and action in support of goal-directed behavior. Developing executive functions as a child is critical for achieving independence as an adult. Free play is about children making their own choices, often in service of a clearly defined goal. Practicing this mode of thinking, in the low-stakes world of play, leads to habitual and natural decision making in adulthood. In fact, studies show that self-directed executive functioning is a strong predictor of academic performance and positive life outcomes.

Social Benefits

Collaborative free play teaches children social skills they will not pick up in any classroom. In order for everyone to have fun, each child in the group must practice resolving conflicts and must be flexible to accommodate the others. This kind of play fosters a sense of empathy and cooperation by reinforcing the idea of other children as individuals, each with their own set of needs and desires.

Physical Benefits

Any kind of rigorous physical play is good for children’s muscles, bones, and cardiovascular system, but free play can take this development even further. Children who are choosing their own physical activity are likely to be more engaged and focused, leading to longer play sessions and more devotion to mastering desired skills. By deciding on, and following through, with their own self-imposed challenges, children become stronger, faster, and more coordinated. They can also develop better spatial awareness by actively exploring and interacting with their environment.

Emotional Benefits

Any parent who has ever nervously watched their child climb too high, run too fast, or attempt to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time can attest that taking risks is a big part of play. The unbridled nature of free play leads to heightened risk-taking, as children are motivated by the desire to maximize their fun and to impress their friends. Trying and failing leads to resilience and perseverance, and successfully navigating risks enhances a child’s confidence and self-worth.

Free play can also help children practice self-regulation, or the ability to control one’s emotional responses. Children engaged in free play must learn to manage their own interactions rather than relying on an adult to facilitate. A child who frequently yells at his friends when angry will soon learn that it’s in his best interest to control his temper, especially if he wants those children to remain his friends. Learning to regulate one’s own emotions is an important part of becoming an adult.

Free play is a critical component in any child’s development. By fostering and encouraging more unstructured play, we are helping our children develop the tools they will need to succeed as adults. For more information on how to nurture your child’s development, contact us at Tessa International School, where we value free play and so much more, and encourage children to explore and express themselves in a safe and enriching environment.

 

How Bilingualism Promotes Social Skills in Children

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by Tori Galatro

In 2016, two studies were conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago on the social effects of childhood bilingualism. Their findings suggest that bilingual children can understand different perspectives more readily than monolingual children. The two studies also remind us of how much we still have to discover about how children perceive and understand others, and how their early experiences transform their understanding. In addition, it provokes questions about how we ought to apply these findings to education and parenting.

The First Study: The Toy Car Experiment

In the first study, researchers took children 4-6 years old and presented them with three toy cars: a small car, a medium car, and a large car. Then, an adult, who could only see the medium and large toy cars, would say, “Oh! I see a small car. Can you move the small car for me?” Some children were able to understand that the car that the adult was referring to must be the medium car. They could understand that the adult could only see the medium and large toy cars so, to them, the “small car” was the medium car. The researchers found that bilingual children moved the medium car more often than monolingual children, who chose the small car instead.

This study suggests that bilingual children are better equipped to put themselves in the shoes of others than monolingual children. This makes sense in a way. If you have multiple languages to choose from, and you need to communicate, you need to be able to see from others’ perspectives. You need to modify your words based on context and perspective. This also suggests that exposing children to multiple languages can help them develop essential social and emotional skills, like empathy, compassion, and communication.

The Second Study: The Banana Experiment

After the results of the first experiment, the researchers wondered if the same result would apply to even younger children. In their next experiment, they chose 14-16 month olds who were just beginning to talk. They presented the children with two bananas. Like in the toy car experiment, one banana was hidden from the adults view, while the other could be seen by both the adult and the child. Then, the adult asked for “the banana”. The bilingual children more often chose the banana that could be seen by both themselves and the adult. Again, this suggests that bilingual children are more accustomed to understanding the experiences of others.

What Does This Mean for Monolingual Children?

Although both experiments showed how bilingual children have an advantage when it comes to interpersonal skills, follow-up experiments held good news for monolingual children. As it turns out, when the same experiments were performed with monolingual children who were sometimes exposed to multilingual environments, they acted the same as the bilingual children. In other words, simply being around different languages can help a child to understand different perspectives.

The researchers also ran cognitive tests for executive function on the bilingual children, monolingual children, and monolingual children who are sometimes exposed to multilingual environments. Scientists already know that bilingualism has positive effects on the brain so they were not surprised to find that the bilinguals scored higher on the cognitive tests. However, both kinds of monolingual children scored the same. This suggests that the social skills gained from being exposed to a multilingual environment are not effects of greater cognitive strength, but rather the knowledge gained from the social experiences themselves. In other words, the social benefits can be obtained without becoming bilingual.

For monolingual parents, this is great news. It means that you don’t need to speak multiple languages at home for your child to benefit from multilingualism. Even limited exposure can help your child to understand different perspectives. The social advantages of understanding different perspectives not only helps your child to think more critically, but it also helps them to become a more empathetic and well-rounded. Contact us at Tessa International School to find out more.

The Different Types of Preschool Bilingual Learning

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by Tori Galatro

You may already know that bilingualism can have a hugely positive impact on your child’s future. You may also know that the best time for your child to learn a new language is when they are young. However, there are many ways for children to become bilingual, and many factors that can influence the speed of their language education. When a child reaches preschool-age, from three to five, immersive language learning can be extremely helpful for children that have been exposed to two languages from birth, as well as children who’ve only ever heard one.

The following are common ways researchers distinguish between the differences in early language education. Learning these approaches may help you to think about how your child’s preschool language education can introduce, promote, or supplement their previous experience with bilingual learning.

The Six Models of Childhood Bilingualism

The Huffington Post recently published an article outlining the various ways in which children can learn languages at home, at school, and in their community. The article outlines six different models of bilingual language acquisition.

  • Model Example #1: Both parents speak a language at home, while a different language is spoken by the child’s school and community. Such parents may have moved from a different country, or simply wish their child to learn a different language than the one spoken at home.
  • Model Example #2: One parent speaks one language exclusively, and the other parent speaks the language of the school and community. In this model, the child would benefit from supplemental help during preschool in the first parent’s language, as they are getting only limited exposure, but would more readily absorb the community language.

The six language models referenced in the article are different variations on this general concept: the child’s preschool education should vary according to where, when, how often, and by whom each language is spoken. However, this research was published back in the 90s and many studies have since developed these models further.

The Two Types of Early Bilingualism

The models of childhood bilingualism mentioned above have also been grouped into two categories by researchers: simultaneous and sequential.

  • Simultaneous bilingualism occurs when a child is exposed to two languages equally, from birth.
  • Sequential bilingualism occurs when a child is introduced to one language after the other, during childhood.

Both are considered to be great methods of bilingual language education. Both methods fall under the category of “early bilingualism”, which means both languages need to be acquired roughy before the age of five, during the normal period of language development.

Children who learn sequentially, or learn their second language after the age of three, but before the age of five, actually learn the second language completely fresh, rather than using their first language for guidance, as older children might. This gives them an advantage since these younger children are less likely to rely on the grammatical patterns of their first language for support. They also tend to have a period of adjustment to the new language during which they may stop speaking in the environments where only the new language is spoken. They may use hand gestures only, until they begin to test out their new language. After that point, they have a high potential of becoming just as competent in their new language as a native speaker.

Understanding How Bilingual Preschool Education Can Help Your Child Learn

Your child is capable of becoming multilingual at a very young age, and speaking each language with the competency of a native speaker, but they are going to need the proper level of exposure, before the age of five. A child won’t become fluent in a new language by watching a foreign language TV show once a week. Their exposure to the new language must be consistent, immersive, and meaningful. Children don’t understand the long-term benefits of language learning, but they do have an innate desire to communicate and be understood. That’s why the new language must be more than a casual activity. It needs to be integrated into a meaningful and consistent environment for the child to truly care about listening and learning.

At Tessa International School, we create an environment where language learning is not just fundamental, but also enjoyable. Contact us today to enroll your young child in an immersive bilingual learning program, and encourage language learning that has already happened at home, or start completely fresh.

Join us at Tessa International School

Discover why our bilingual curriculum is recognized as one of the best. Learn how we combine academic excellence with engaging, interactive experiences that foster global awareness.

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Join us at Tessa International School

Discover why our bilingual curriculum is recognized as one of the best. Learn how we combine academic excellence with engaging, interactive experiences that foster global awareness.

Office: (201) 755-5585 | Location: 720 Monroe St. Hoboken, NJ 07030