Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Benefits of Learning a Foreign Language YOUNG!!!

Young children are uniquely suited to learning a second language. The developing brain is hard-wired to acquire language – never again will it be this natural or this easy!

Children Learn A Second Language Naturally

Exposing your child to a second language young allows a child to optimize his or her learning potential, helping to shape the brain at its most flexible stage. Young children are uniquely suited to learning a second language. Learning a second language at a young age is cognitively as easy as learning a first language.

Young children can acquire native-like fluency as easily as they learned to walk. Where adults have to work through an established first-language system, studying explicit grammar rules and practicing rote drills, the young kids learn naturally, absorbing the sounds, structures, intonation patterns and rules of a second language intuitively, as they did their mother tongue. The young brain is inherently flexible, uniquely hard-wired to acquire language naturally.

Window Of Opportunity:
Early childhood is the best time for language acquisition. Ease of learning a second language diminishes with age. Between birth and adolescence the brain is hard-wired to acquire language naturally. As a child approaches puberty, the nature of language learning and storage changes, becoming less flexible.

Young learners enrich their lives and open up doors to their future by gaining:

an expanded world view.
greater intercultural appreciation and sensitivity.
ability to learn additional languages more easily.
a competitive edge in future markets and
the global marketplace.

By hosting an au pair we are all providing our kids with this amazing opportunity!!!!

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