When your children learn to walk, speak, and interact, it’s easy to assume that teaching them a second language would be too overwhelming. After all, there can be a lot going on in their bodies and minds at a young age, and you might be worried about confusing them and impacting their ability to learn their primary language. However, research has shown that children can learn a second language as easily as they can learn to walk, and they might also enjoy some of the following benefits:
Easier and Faster Experience
Whether you enroll your children in educational programs like WorldKids School or decide to teach a second language yourself, you’ll enjoy how fast and easy learning is while they’re still young. Children absorb new information unconsciously and are particularly adept at learning new language skills from age six until puberty. From 11 to 15 years old, the parts of the brain that help us learn new languages stop growing, making it much harder later in life.
They Have Less to Learn
When we want to learn new languages as adults, we must try to translate our complex sentence structures from our primary language into our second one. The process can be challenging, and many people give up.
However, young children don’t yet have complex sentence structures and communicate in simpler terms. For example, they might say, ‘Food, please,’ whereas most adults would say, ‘Can I have some food, please?’
As a result, children can express themselves in both languages using simple words. With time and development, they can learn the complexities of their chosen languages without it being a mammoth undertaking.
They Have Plenty of Time to Learn
It can take several years to master any language, including your primary one. Think about the books you started reading in school as a five-year-old compared to the ones you can competently read now.
When you teach children a second language from a young age, they have plenty of time to learn and become proficient. They can even develop higher levels of thought and communication in their second language at the same pace as their first language.
They Can Excel Academically
Researchers have long wondered whether learning two languages negatively or positively impacts their literacy and learning. Current studies indicate that bilingual children perform better academically than their monolingual peers. They might also perform better on meta-linguistic awareness tests, acquisition of new words, listening, and writing.
They Might Enjoy More Job Opportunities
While English is the most-spoken language in the world, hundreds of millions also speak Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, and French. Global businesses are always looking for people who can communicate with their business partners, suppliers, and customers in their native language, and you might set your children up for future career success if you teach them a second language from a young age. If they keep refining their language skills as they grow, they might be proficient speakers by the time they’re ready to enter the workforce.
You might be worried about overwhelming your children with the introduction of a second language, but the potential benefits might just surprise you. Now might be the right time to consider enrolling your children in a program to learn Mandarin, Spanish, or another language.
