Unique Early Education: Bilingual Studies (Guest Post)

Note: I am currently raising my kids bilingual German-English and am very satisfied with the decision. I think the earlier you can expose kids to another language, the better!

As our country gets older, trends fade, and fads change, one thing has remained at a steady increase: the cut-throat workforce. At this rate it is likely that the future of the economy will operate according to the Laws of the Jungle. Therefore, it goes without saying that a good education is essential in preparing the youth for survival in this crazy economic jungle.

Preparing

Wisdom, traditionally, has been to start teaching a second language in middle school, or even high school. However, numerous studies clearly demonstrate that the optimal period in a child's life for multilingual education is during the preschool years – at exactly the same time they are learning their first language. Yes, it is possible to learn a second and third language later in life, but it is more difficult, because that neurological "window of opportunity" – when the brain is most malleable – has passed.

Dr. Fred Genessee, Professor of Psychology at McGill University in Montreal, believes that children can just as easily learn two or three languages as they can learn one. He's not alone; educators throughout the world (in countries that often have two or even three official languages) have understood this for decades.

You may recall an episode of the animated series The Simpsons in which young Bart gets trapped on a farm in France – and by the end of the episode, finds he's actually speaking the language. The episode demonstrates how a child can learn a second language and the secret to the success is having total immersion into the environment. While this was a fictional scenario, the phenomenon is real; anyone who has taken young children abroad to stay with relatives in a foreign country for any length of time has observed this happening.

Enrollment in a preschool program that offers immersion in other languages is the best way to get your child started. This investment will make him/her much more competitive in the job market later on.

The Future of Tongue

One of the future trends that has become certain is the existence of a diverse, global society. Nowhere is evident than in the United States. Almost from the beginning, the U.S. has been a land of immigrants, and while the "melting pot" has been an interesting theory, it has not happened in practice. On the contrary, most major U.S. population centers have become more of an ethnic and linguistic checkerboard; Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Chinese speakers represent some of the fastest-growing segments of the immigrant U.S. population.

In addition, with the rise of China, English may very well lose its preeminence as the international language of business; at best, it will have to share that top status with Mandarin in decades to come.


Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas

Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Atlanta day care facility, a member of the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S.) and part of the network of day care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum.