Most of the students at our school are bilinguals - children who speak two or more languages from an early age. As a rule, parents ask us to teach their bilinguals to read, write, and speak Russian correctly. That is, not to confuse the masculine and feminine genders, to pronounce words correctly, and so on.
To work effectively with these children, our teachers are constantly upgrading their qualifications and turning to psychology.
Let us share with you some interesting findings of scientists about bilingualism.
The reading time is 2 minutes.
Where bilinguals live
Historically, in many states, speakers of different languages and cultures live side by side. These are either inhabitants of adjacent states or local peoples whose territory has been occupied by foreign language invaders. Nowadays there are many countries with several official languages. These are states in Europe - Switzerland, Great Britain, Belgium, Finland, Malta. And also African Uganda, South Africa and, for example, New Zealand in the southern hemisphere.
Scientists have estimated that more than half the world's population speaks 2 or more languages.
Therefore, bilingualism is a phenomenon typical of humanity, which is constantly studied by linguistic psychologists.
Why is being bilingual beneficial?
Brain benefits. It has been found that learning two or more languages in childhood improves memory and concentration. And in old age, it helps to postpone the onset of age-related brain diseases for an average of five years.
Knowledge of two or more languages improves communication skills. Because bilinguals' brains distinguish shades of meaning in different languages, it helps them express themselves better.
Memory Improvement. When a child learns several languages at once, they have to memorize a lot of information. And this is a great way to develop long-term memory. In addition, bilinguals have been found to have common vocabulary for all languages. Therefore, they switch between them without difficulty.
Bilingualism also improves thought processes. This is again due to the need to constantly switch between languages. These children are very good at multitasking.
Cultural aspect. For children who are exposed to different cultures from an early age, it becomes the norm that the world's population is heterogeneous. They grow up to be tolerant adults who feel at ease in different societies.
Adult bilinguals more competitive in the future, having more opportunities to choose a profession and a place of work. This is why many parents in ordinary families insist that their children learn foreign languages. Bilinguals, on the other hand, are a bit luckier in advance!
Bilingual children in general learn well and make it to math. Since these children are good at learning abstract concepts, they find the exact sciences easier. By the way, our school also offers math instruction in Russian for bilinguals. You can find out more about the classes check here.
At Palme School's online school, children learn Russian and make significant progress, because bilinguals are ready from childhood to perceive a second language. And we trigger this ability in our lessons.
You can try Palme School classes for FREE and then make a decision. After all, academic success depends on whether your child enjoys learning. To sign up for an introductory lesson, leave a request in the form below. Our manager will contact you to schedule a convenient date and time.