Benefits of the acquisition of two or three languages at an early age.

LAKESIDE –Come fall, third-graders at Riverview Elementary School in Lakeside are likely to greet visitors with hello, hola  and ni hao.

By then, these native English speakers who have been speaking Spanish for two years will be studying Mandarin Chinese, the world's most-spoken language.

They eventually could become fluent in three major languages, unusual in the United States, where most people speak one or two.

“It's about believing what young minds are capable of and providing them with the opportunities,” Lakeside Union School District Superintendent Stephen Halfaker said.

The Lakeside school board voted this month to add Mandarin to the foreign language program as an enrichment class. The East County district is applying for a federal grant to support instruction.

Riverview will be among the few public schools in the county that teaches its students three languages. The Albert Einstein Academy Charter School in San Diego teaches German, English and Spanish. Salt Creek Elementary School in Chula Vista teaches English, Spanish and recently added Japanese. The Language Academy near San Diego State University teaches English, Spanish and French – though students learn only one of the foreign languages.

Few of the nation's 600 schools that offer language immersion programs – where most of the instruction is in a second language – teach students more than one foreign language at a time.

“It's fairly unusual, but it's a great idea,” said Nancy Rhodes, director of foreign language education at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Applied Linguistics.

“Young children are learning language anyway.They're developing physically and mentally. Because of that, it's agreat time to add a second language or a third language.”

When toddlers learn Spanish, they are sharing the language of over 400 million people, the backbone of vibrant cultures, unique history and rich heritage. Beyond the obvious benefits of culture and communication, however, recent research has presented a startling new theory: toddlers who learn Spanish as a second language appear to develop stronger minds. The same holds true for young students of other foreign languages, as well.

Researchers led by London neurologist Dr. Andrea Mechelli studied the brain images of bilinguals, and concluded that learning a foreign language increases the "grey matter" density in the brain. Thus, when toddlers learn Spanish, they gain structural—and functional—cognitive advantages over their monolingual peers.

 

When Toddlers Learn Spanish, Cognitive Benefits are Long Term.

Amazingly, these cognitive benefits continue into old age. The New York Times reported in January 2007 that learning multiple languages can ultimately delay the onset of dementia by nearly four years in elderly patients. A preliminary study was conducted of 184 senior citizens at a Canadian memory clinic between 2002 and 2005; roughly half of these individuals were bilingual in a language they had learned as a child or young adult. The results revealed that the mean age when the bilingual patients developed dementia was 75.5 years; whereas patients who spoke only one language experienced the onset of dementia at 71.4 years, on average.

This confirms what Dr. Mechelli and her colleagues reported in Nature, namely: "the structure of the human brain is altered by the experience of acquiring a second language."

Broadly speaking, grey matter allows us to process information, and controls aspects of sensory perception, memory and speech. (Other areas of the brain consist of "white matter," which controls autonomous functions, like breathing.) With more grey matter at their disposal, toddlers who learn Spanish may potentially experience greater mental agility, flexibility and creativity.

Cookie magazine recently spoke with Dr. Ellen Bialystok, a professor of psychology at Toronto’s York University, and a prominent researcher of bilingualism and cognition. “They see things in different ways and can more easily switch back and forth,” she said, regarding children who speak multiple languages. “It’s good preparation for today’s multitasking world.”

 

More Advantages when Toddlers Learn Spanish or Other Languages

A child’s age is said by some to be an important factor for learning a foreign language. Experts have said that younger children possess greater neural and linguistic “plasticity,” which allows them to acquire languages with relative speed and ease. It’s no surprise that toddlers learn Spanish quicker than adults, but Dr. Mechelli’s research shows the most significant advantage exists for people who acquire a second language before age five.

Dr. Bialystok, in turn, dismisses concerns that bilingualism can cause confusion or learning disabilities in young children. She told Cookie there is "not a shred of evidence" to support these myths.

Children who are adequately exposed to two languages at an early age experience gains: they are more flexible and creative, and they reach highlevels of cognitive development at an earlier age than their monolingualpeers (Hamayan, 1986). 

Enhancement of communication skills. The study of foreign languages has also been shown to have positive effects on memory and listening skills.While children are developing the ability to communicate in a differentl anguage system, they also learn to see language as a phenomenon in itself.Children become aware that language and its objects are independent of one another, and that there are many ways in which to refer to one object.This may also be the reason why language learning skills transfer fromone language learning experience to another. Knowledge of one foreign language facilitates the study of a second foreign language (Curtain & Pesola,1988). 

There are numerous benefits. First, the earlier you begin learning the language the more likely you will be able to develop more native-like speaking abilities. The brain in young children is "wired" in such a way as to program a second language in the same way as the first. This means your child will speak, read and write the second language naturally rather than with the extra step of translating it from English.

Research also shows that learning a second language early leads to greater cognitive development, preparing your child to be a better learner throughout their life. Some studies have linked foreign language education with increased scores on standardized tests.

Knowing other languages also opens the door to other cultures - increasing one's world view and exposing them to greater opportunities - professional, travel, social - throughout their lives. Learning at a young age also increases the ease with which a person can learn additional languages.