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Discovering Languages and the Ability a Child Has to Learn Them
Presented by Beth Butler/Creator of the
BOCA BETH
Program
Often as parents we encounter conflicting advice
about the best way to raise our children. We are told different ways
to make our children smarter, to better prepare them for life, or to
give them a jump start on learning. In this article I hope to shed
light on just how ready your little one is to acquire the beginning
learning of several languages.
Maybe you have heard that there exists more than 6,000
languages in our world and that they are under threat. Similar to
becoming extinct, many of these languages are at risk of not being
preserved for various reasons. It is time that those of us in the United
States make a strong push for diversity in the language curriculum of
our schools. Why is it that they still tell the joke about the word
American defining a person who speaks only one language? Why are we not
outraged by that perspective other countries and their people have on
us?
The young children of today are our hope for a future full of language
diversity, appreciation of other cultures, and a world of more peace and
love. Raise a child from birth hearing a second and even third language
via music, multimedia platforms or local ethnic events and celebrations,
and you will have yourself a child wired for a global future.
We all know that our economy is tied to the world. We read, hear, and
experience daily how our ties around the globe keep our nation ticking.
We may not agree on all of the ramifications these global connections
have on our nation, our people, our lives, but the reality is there.
Being prepared to deal with other countries is no longer an option, it
is a necessity. We realize that speaking more than English is a must.
And who better to begin teaching than our little children?
Did you realize that humans have evolved into beings uniquely equipped
to learn, understand and speak many languages? Just as birds are born
equipped for great sight and dogs for a great sense of smell, we humans
are wired through the auditory cortex in our brains to convert sounds
into words which then convert into meaning for our species. Because of
this way in which we are born, infants learn languages before they ever
recognize a letter or read a word. These young children show us that
through imitation, context clues, and association with any language they
encounter, they are able to acquire new languages innately.
Are you concerned that your child will be language delayed should you
start the second language introduction too soon? Do not be. Recent
research by Drs. Alison Mackey and Kendall King clearly disputes this
myth in their book titled The Bilingual Edge. They point out the simple
truth we as parents have felt in our guts all along. Babies, toddlers
and preschool age children learn languages through the act of common
conversation combined with repetition of vocabulary words and concepts.
It has been proven that a baby can learn two words for the same object,
say a word in English and a word in Spanish, just as easily as he can
learn only one word for that same object.
Allow your child to learn more each day. Make the learning fun by
interacting with your child in two languages. Oh, and if you do not
speak a second language yourself because you never took high school
Spanish too seriously or skipped French class to go get a burger, it is
okay! These two PhDs and other linguistic experts tell us that being a
native speaker is not a prerequisite to introducing your child to some
of our world languages. All you need is some parenting common sense when
it comes to choosing books, CDs, programs, and products that will bring
the new language into your daily routine. I know you can do that because
you are reading this!
About the Author:
Beth Butler is the creator of the BOCA BETH Language Learning Series for
young children. Find out how fun and easy it can be to raise a bilingual
child. Sample the BOCA BETH bilingual music and movies for free at
http://www.bocabeth.com
Call toll free 1.877.825.2622 or 1.813.244.1432 |
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