Travelling is increasingly getting easier and as time goes by a person speaking several languages will become an even bigger asset in work and play.
Early
Learning
Make sure you give your child the chance to learn
French at an early age. Children have this wonderful ability
to learn and retain information. The brain will not differentiate between
learning English, French, and Maths etc. Ronald Kolulak says of preschool
years: ‘During this period and especially the first eight years of life,
the foundation of thinking for language, vision, attitude, aptitude
and other characteristics are laid down'.
Healthy
Mental Growth
Proven research in the last few years show that the child's overall
mental development will be increased.
This
extra knowledge will give more self-esteem, confidence, better reasoning
skills and a greater comprehension of the cultural world around them as
well as seeing things from a different angle. Learning a second language
will also enhance vocabulary. By the age of eight years old a child's
brain will have built up 1000 trillion brain connections and if not stimulated
they will gradually reduce to 500 trillion and the window for learning
languages closes. According to Dr Harry Chugani a Detroit paediatric neurologist,
foreign language learning should begin in preschool years.
Act Now
These points should be recognised and the opportunity
not missed by giving our children the chance to learn when it is easiest
for them to do so. Do not wait for this window to
close before teaching our children a second language. When our children
enter Secondary Education everything around them is new – new school,
teachers, classrooms, friend and subjects, including a second language.
It is frightening and daunting to them. If we can minimise the transition
from Primary to Secondary education by introducing foreign language studying
when it is easier for them, then this chance should not be missed.
Difficult
and Worth it!
Learning a foreign language is difficult but if you introduce it at an
earlier age through games, songs, colouring, videos and anything else
that may trigger the child's sense of fun this will encourage them to
learn and the window of language learning will not have been missed. Once
the pattern is established foreign language will be associated as a good
thing to do, by the young learner.
