Learning A Second Language At A Young Age

The United States is becoming more and more bilingual every day. It is important for students of the United States of America to keep up with the advancing world. The easiest way to learn a second language is when a person is young. This is why it would be beneficial for schools to start teaching a foreign language in kindergarten and continuing it through twelfth grade. Students are more likely to learn and remember a foreign language if they are introduced to it at a young age. A majority of other countries teach foreign languages to their students throughout their school lives. Most students coming out of high school in other countries are totally

Dual language learners are children learning two or more languages at the same time, as well as those learning a second language while continuing to develop their first (or home) language (Dual language learning, 2008). The number of children being raised in bilingual homes is large and growing, however the mechanism of language development in children from bilingual homes is not well described or understood (Hoff et al., 2011). A large body of research has refuted the opinion that dual language input may confuse children, and other research indicates that children exposed to two languages can distinguish those languages from infancy, learn two phonological systems, two vocabularies and two grammars (Kova´cs & Mehler, 2009a; Petitto,

To learn a second languages is very important because people have better opportunities in life. For children from ages five and under it is the best time to learn as many languages. Angele Sancho Passe, the author of “Dual-Language Learners (Birth to Grade 3)”, talks about techniques for teaching English in a multilingual classroom and how reading in english to dual-language learners helps teach them oral language skills. Patton O. Tabors, the author of “One Child, Two Languages”, talks about writing case studies of children displaying different second language abilities. In the article, “Ways to Introduce Your Kids to Foreign Languages” by Grace Hwang Lynch, believes two-way bilingual immersion is a helpful way to introduce foreign languages

I have taken four whole years of Spanish and the only thing I know how to say is, “¿Hola, cómo estás?” Research shows that the best time for a person to learn a second language is during the early years of childhood, before the child hits puberty. If this is the case then why do most schools start teaching a foreign language in middle school, after most kids have hit puberty. Some believe that there is not enough money and time to start teaching foreign language during early childhood, but others say this isn’t the case. In order for a person to become fluent in a second language and help us succeed as a nation the person should start learning a second language in elementary school.

However, there is a critical period of learning a second language, “Many linguists believe there is a 'critical period ' (lasting roughly from birth until puberty) during which a child can easily acquire any language that he or she is regularly exposed to. Under this view, the structure of the brain changes at puberty, and after that it becomes

“One of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time”, Federico Fellini once stated that “A different language is a different vision of life” and I, in my turn tend to say that he was perfectly right. A person who speaks more than one language can experience multiple personalities, visions and reflections consisting which language is he speaking. High School students should comprehend the real benefit of speaking a foreign language. Being a multilingual myself and speaking fluently four languages and studying another two, I consider that I am qualified enough to persuade that my argument is strong, plausible and not ultimately-right. In the following paragraphs I am going to address the following three reasons why should other High School students learn at least one foreign language? Firstly, learning a new language enhances performances in the academic domain and makes you smarter. Secondly, knowing a new language is a high estimated and a very valuable characteristic in your professional CV. Thirdly, international travel is more pleasant through knowing a foreign language.

We may see teaching our children different languages as a means for them to communicate with our extender family and pass on our cultural heritage or as extender knowledge for the child. In addition to the aforementioned reasons to learn more than one language, research indicates there is

To understand children’s language learning we have to go beyond language classrooms. Regarding the child as a language learner we have

According to a study conducted in 2008 by Ingrid Pufahl and Nancy C. Rhodes, from the Center for Applied Linguistics, the number of elementary and middle schools in America teaching a foreign language has decreased since 1997. As of 2008, only 25% of elementary schools taught foreign languages, and only 58% of middle schools taught foreign languages as well (261, 262). Despite studies saying that learning a second language when younger is easier, according to the article, “List of Pros and Cons of Bilingual Education”, less than half of elementary schools offer a foreign language, due to claims that language programs are expensive, and lack qualified teachers. However, there are many benefits of learning a second language, making knowledge of a foreign language worthwhile.

The world has become a global village and that has brought a lot of changes and new work positions into the market. Almost everywhere around the globe, bilingual professionals are in high demand. Also, bilingualism opens up two worlds of experience, job opportunities, literature, resources, and cultural heritage. Bilinguals have the privilege of getting their information from a wider variety of resources. Besides, research has shown that it’s easier for bilingual children to acquire other languages later in life. A study conducted by professors of the Department of Special Education of the University of Haifa, Israel showed that “students who know two languages would have an easier time gaining command of a third language than would students who are fluent in only one language.”

I would watch Dora the Explorer episodes and try to learn as many words and numbers as I could, but I never got a substantial education on a second language. Now that I am a highschooler I aspire to be able to speak in the languages of others around the world. From personal experience of taking multiple Spanish classes, I know it can be difficult to learn a new language later in life and wish I had started to learn it earlier as a child. The younger a learner is when they begin to be taught a new language, the easier it is for them to understand and remember. This is simply because the younger a child is, the better they are at mimicking new sounds and pronunciation, making it easier to learn new words. (Catherine Ford. ‘Children should start learning languages at three,’ The Telegraph. 10 October

When discussing about “In other words”, Bialystok and Hakuta state that there is some thought that children who may appear to be learning a second languge very quickly at a vey young age (before the age of 5). They further state that accompanied by the loss of their first language, have really replaced the first language with the second language.

Language is a key part of any family, community, culture and the human race. Without language the world today would be much different. From cavemen, to the Egyptian use of hieroglyphics, to Old English, to more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world today, the advances that humans have made in language is remarkable and inspiring. The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people. High school students should be required to take at least two years of a foreign language class in order to graduate, as many recent studies support the benefits of doing so. Students who have learned a foreign language in high school have proven to have a

It has been shown that learning a second language from primary school has cognitive and academic benefits. When a child becomes bilingual it helps to develop stronger communication skills in their native language and learn additional new languages at a faster rate. Majority language students who learn score significantly higher on the IOWA, SAT and ACT tests than minority language students. Being a bilingual child enhance ability to adapt to changing situations and engage in high level cognitive thinking. When bilingual child grow they are more employable and they get more carrier opportunities than monolingual person. So there is reason enough to learn second language and to keep learning them as we are able. The bilingualism advantages may not appear in the child’s primary age. But bilingualism’s real benefits could be far more important. A good bilingual primary program is a great way to support the development of children in their native language and also a good start to them toward a future of fully bilingual professional

Language is one of the valuable gifts which have been passed to children. The first language is significant and builds the basis for all later language progresses. Parents, family members and early childhood professionals have very important role on the development and maintenance of the first language. Studies shows that knowing one language can assist the child to comprehend how other languages work. First or home language is