Higher test scores: Numerous reports have proven that students who have studied a foreign language perform much better than their monolingual peers on many standardized tests.
Better and more advanced reading skills:
A study undertaken by York University, Canada, suggests that bilingual
children’s knowledge of a second language gives them an advantage in learning
to read.
Greater confidence: Children are always discovering new things, but learning a new language is a uniquely rewarding experience—at any age.
Greater confidence: Children are always discovering new things, but learning a new language is a uniquely rewarding experience—at any age.
Gives brains a boost: In a
recent article in The
New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell quotes James Flynn, a renowned
scientist, as saying "The mind is much more like a muscle than we've ever
realized… It needs to get cognitive exercise. ..." Research into the
effects of bilingualism on children suggests that exposure to more than one
language is an excellent way of flexing those brain muscles—and building them
up too! Bilingual children ... who had been exposed to a second language from
an early age proved to have the most grey matter of all. Grey matter is
responsible for processing information, including memory, speech and sensory
perception.
This is exactly how Michel Thomas teaches adults. See: 'what language do you think in?' post on 21st July 2012
