The “Window of Opportunity”
Children and Languages Newsletter
Welcome to the Early Advantage “Window of Opportunity” newsletter where we share the latest discoveries about languages and children and include fun activities for kids. You'll read about new findings, interesting facts on language learning, and heartwarming stories from both our personal experiences and those of other families.
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Early Advantage Newsletter Library
March 2008 - How Children Learn Languages
Learning a language - learning a first language or learning a fourth - is an exceptional accomplishment for anybody. Yet everyone completes this process and does so successfully at least once in their life. Linguists - those researchers who devote their lives and thoughts to studying the intricacies and nuances of language - call the learning process "doubtless the greatest intellectual feat any one of us is ever required to perform." Yet this achievement is often taken completely for granted. For non-linguists (like most of us), the magnitude of this accomplishment only becomes apparent when we step back and think of everything that goes into the first few faltering steps we take toward language.
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February 2008 - Which Language Is Best For My Child?
Many parents approach their children's language learning with a very specific reason and goal in mind. For these families, selecting a second language may be a clear choice. They plan on taking trips abroad and want their child to be able to appreciate their destination in a way far beyond just soaking up the sights. Or they hope their child will pick up their new language and use it to communicate with a relative who speaks another language. For many of us, however, the answer isn't quite as obvious. Selecting a language might seem a lot like picking classes in high school or college - the question of what to take can sometimes be very straightforward, but other times there are a number of great options. Our advice? When it comes to choosing a language to start, there are no wrong answers.
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January 2008 - What If I Don't Speak a Language, But I Hope My Child Will?
Along with a child's natural sense of awe and inquisitiveness is an incredible and often adorable capacity for imitation. Parents often try extra hard to present a good example—taking care to greet people properly and being more polite, for instance—because they know their habits will be picked up by their children. When it comes to learning a second language, however, this readiness to imitate concerns some parents—even some who have quite good conversational skills in a second language. They worry that if their language skills are a little rusty, or their accent a little too noticeably American, their children will pick up some bad habits and start off on the wrong foot. However, even if your second language vocabulary is limited to an uncertain "hola" or imperfect "gracias," every parent should take an active and participatory role in their child's language learning.
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December 2007 - The Top Ten Benefits of Early Language Learning
Learning a new language at any age is an enormously rewarding experience in many ways. While language learning is an enriching experience for all ages, children have the most to gain from this wonderful adventure. Quite simply, starting early offers the widest possible set of benefits and opportunities. As children grow, all parents can attest to how much fun their children continue to have as they sing new words they hear and even invent new ones with a huge, bright smile. The joy with which children explore their first language makes childhood the ideal time for a second language—even if all the other reasons for an early start didn't exist! But there are many other reasons, and while this list does not exhaust the number and variety of advantages starting a language early can provide.
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November 2007 - Does Bilingualism Help Children Learn to Read?
Learning and using another language have been linked to all kinds of benefits for children and adults. This is particularly true for young children's expanding cognitive abilities. According to Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto of Dartmouth College, children who have been exposed early to a second language possess an overall "cognitive edge." Numerous studies have also linked language education to higher scores on many standardized tests. But can knowing another language also help children learn to read? A study from Canada's York University suggests that bilingualism may in fact impact the development of literacy in a number of significant ways.
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October 2007 - Multi-sensory Learning: A New "Old" Way to Learn Spanish
Field trips or museum trips may not seem like cutting-edge educational policy, but they work a lot like the educational tools and strategies of what is known as multi-sensory learning. Multi-sensory learning takes advantage of the way our senses—hearing, sight, and touch, primarily—reinforce one another while learning. Each sense builds toward a more complete experience of a concept or idea. Because multi-sensory learning gives you more than one way of experiencing something, its ideal for children who naturally engage multiple senses in both learning and play. It is also ideal for the creation of the type of immersive environment that is so crucial for learning a second language.
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September 2007 - Harvard Study: Kids Learn Chinese and English the Same Way
Seeking to discover how children naturally acquire a second language, Harvard developmental psychologist Jesse Snedeker recently studied a group of preschool-aged children who were adopted from China. These children, who learn Chinese in their native country, often face an abrupt transition to an all-English environment. Snedeker's findings revealed a surprising similarity between how these adopted children learned their second language and how all children learn their first language. Even more astonishing was the speed at which these little ones acquired their second language.
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August 2007 - Three Common Misconceptions About Early Language Learning
Despite the growing trend of teaching children Spanish or Chinese at an early age, some parents still struggle with the idea of introducing a second language before their child has mastered his first. Are there any adverse consequences to teaching a second language to children too soon? Will it slow down their ability to learn English? All of the scientific evidence points to children having nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain by learning a second language. Let's talk about three of the most common misconceptions about teaching second languages to children.
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July 2007 - Give Your Child a Bigger World
Language is at the very center of human communication and interaction. It is the bridge that connects us or the gap that may divide us. Language acquisition shapes a child's perception of the world and lays the foundation for much of what follows in life: identity, friendship, work and travel. Whether your hope is to better enable your child to form friendships worldwide, to open the door for your child to more fully appreciate world literature and the arts, or even to groom a future ambassador, the most important benefit of learning a second language may simply be the different perspective and cross-cultural awareness that comes with it.
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June 2007 - What Is Your Family Learning this Summer?
School is out, and summer is here! Whether your children are school-age or younger, the slower pace and carefree feeling of summer is a welcome change for all. But, even the lazy days of summer offer some great learning opportunities for kids of all ages. When the heat is on, why not take up the latest language learning trend, Mandarin Chinese? China now boasts the fastest growing national economy. Programs offering Chinese have become tremendously popular recently as parents and educators anticipate a changing world where English is not necessarily the dominant language. Will American children be ready to meet and compete with the new kids on the block?
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May 2007 - The “Window of Opportunity” for Language Learning
You may remember watching your toddler picking up words at what seemed like and incredible pace, naming body parts, learning animal sounds, and of course uttering her first “mama” and “dada.” If you have had the joy of experiencing this, or are even experiencing it right now, it probably comes as no surprise that children have an amazing ability to learn language. Many experts say that there are unique learning advantages that come with childhood. Others simply point to the native accents and greater proficiency achieved by young language learners. Regardless of the reasoning, researchers agree that earlier is better when it comes to language learning and second languages.
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