They are confident, spontaneous and sharp and possess a high level of socio-cultural skills. I am talking about children who can speak more than one language.
All children have an inborn ability to acquire new knowledge and skills by way of interacting with their parents and family members. According to scientists, the child’s brain is flexible enough to learn new languages long before he is able to talk.
Babies are non-speaking assimilators who teach themselves how to speak from what’s going on around them. With brains that can be compared to sponges, they swiftly soak up the linguistic skills around them. Therefore, introducing a new language to a child at an early age builds a lasting inclination to correspond and to communicate with other members of society. Learning languages helps in brain development till the age of 12.
Early knowledge of new verbal communication should be a preschool task. Some parents wait to provide it to their child after he or she starts school. But when at school a child has to concentrate on so many other things too such class work, homework, test and exam preparation, friends, etc., and learning a new language at that stage often becomes an unpleasant task for him.
An early know how of a second language makes the task of learning trouble-free but it is not impossible for a school-going child to acquire skill in a second language. However, at this age he needs round the clock support and cooperation from his parents and teachers to get proficiency in a new language.
Take the example of Zohaib, who spent his preschool years in the Middle East. The boy, soon after shifting to Karachi was faced with three big problems — a new environment, no friends and an unawareness of the English language to get admission in a reputable school. Zohaib’s mother prepared an extensive plan for him. She encouraged him to read children’s magazines (since these magazines have a collection of stories as well as informative articles). Realising that children enjoy learning in the company of their parents, she let him play educational videogames in her company. Both mother and child watched children’s shows on TV. The evening was reserved for outdoor activities for him to communicate with his new friends as well as learn and exchange new words and sentences with them. And that is how the mother helped him overcome his shortcoming before it could become a life-long problem for him and his family.
Learning languages other than the mother tongue gives children the opportunity to make use of their brain power. Scientists also say that bilingual children have a larger density of grey matter, the part of the brain which guards memory and speech. When to use a word and with what intention is a cognitive exercise. As the child learns the combination of different sounds to create words, he develops the skill of creativeness and inventiveness. His brain activity increases, making him quick and resourceful mentally. This active brain would keep him away from mental deterioration afterwards, when he grows older.
Linguistic scientists in their extensive studies have found out that learning new languages have remarkable effects on the child’s intellectual performance.
Learning foreign languages have many academic benefits especially in the areas of reading, social studies and problem-solving subjects such as math and science. Multilingual children have more word power and verbal talent to explain science theories and hypothesis.
It is easier for such children to express their point of view in a clear cut and precise tone. Their speech is free from ambiguity because they have a wide range of vocabulary. The cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communication is faster and better among multilingual children.
Encourage your children to master a foreign language in order to safeguard their future. The world is fast moving towards globalisation and multilingual children have less adjustment problems and more capacity to endure unfavorable circumstances. They have more learning skills and are quick in gaining knowledge from their environment. They possess the aptitude to mingle with a diversity of cultures. Students and tourists who speak two or more languages fluently don’t see themselves as unfamiliar people or as anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found while travelling abroad. If you plan to send your child abroad for higher studies, it is important to teach him a foreign language in order to save him from cultural shock and isolation.
Gone are the days when parents argued against the learning of foreign languages on the grounds that this would distance their children from native cultural values. A few years back parents discouraged their children to gain knowledge of foreign languages because they thought that it made the child rebel from his environment. Learning new languages in fact deepens the child’s understanding of his native language. It helps him to enrich the terminology of his first verbal communication. It provides him with an understanding of the structure of his native language.
Parveen, a maid, speaks in her regional language with her two children at home. But they talk in Urdu with their friends. Although their academic performance may not be as good as the other children in their school, Parveen’s children have a greater social self efficacy.
Studies show that the offspring of those parents who belong to different linguistic cultures are heritage learners. They have the advantage to apply the experience and practice of one language to the another. These children quickly learn how to interpret and translate one word from another.
A research made by the American Council on the teaching of foreign languages shows that learning a new language enhances and enriches a child’s mental development. It has a positive effect on his intellectual growth.
Linguistic skills require completing four steps — speaking, listening, reading and writing. Ignoring any of these four skills cannot give the child an accurate know-how of the language.
”Encourage your child to learn different languages to increase their communication and social skills but it is a misconception to think that it will have any influence on the child’s intelligence,” says Mrs Rehana. Having spent 30 years abroad, she is of the view that children in the UK live happily in a diversity of cultures and because of their multi linguistic abilities they have good communication skills too. But very few of them have the ability to achieve flying colours in school. No one has high regards for the poor writing skills found in a majority of school going Asian children.” Whatever the case may be, one thing is true that the acquisition of a new language increases the child’s personal experience.
In order to motivate the children into learning a second language effectively, the parents should provide them with an opportunity to meet and converse with the people of that language. Children are comfortable practicing newly-learnt languages with their peers therefore group activities in the classroom and discussion forums can accelerate the linguistic learning process.
As a rule, children learn to speak by speaking —the more they talk, the more quickly they learn to convert ideas into words. The parent-child bond makes it easier to grasp new words and to use these words to express and share feelings. Their daily conversations with their child about school, friends, teachers, favourite books, etc., help them to understand meanings and expressions of the new language.
Parents should remember that the speed to learn a new language depends on the child’s age, aptitude to learn and traits of his character. Girls learn new words quickly than boys. A preschool child may be able to identify objects, colours and shapes but it is almost impossible for him to grasp the grammatical structure of the language. Make learning fun for the child by adding spelling games, crossword puzzles and puppet shows to it. Never prolong the learning session since it could make the child edgy. Keep changing the activities and don’t condemn him or her for inaccuracy. Experts say that reading and language go hand in hand. Read aloud story books of interest to your children. It helps them pick up accents and pronunciations.
An easy way is to introduce different words of greeting and compliments so he can be on familiar terms with more than one way to greet his friends and relatives.
Children love nature so use this prospect to teach them new words and terminologies. For example, show them flowers, birds, trees and fruits and give them their names in their native language one day and in English the next. This is how they will learn to exchange words from one language to another. Gradually, let them express their feelings about the different components of the natural world. Encourage them to tell their other family members about their visit to the park or some other place of amusement.
Parents who lack proficiency of a foreign language may take help from dictionaries and books. There are a number of websites which aim to help the parents learn foreign languages for their children.
In school, it is the responsibility of the teacher to promote ‘cooperative literacy learning’ to add to the students’ linguistic skills. As a first step, the teacher may choose an object for the children. There should be visual aids such as posters or large pictures of the object so that the child can become familiar with the it. Each participant of the group should be encouraged to describe different parts of the object, its properties and functions. Such activities in literacy make it easy for the students to understand the key concepts and vocabulary of a language.
Another useful way to promote linguistic skills is to read a story aloud within the classroom. Students this way become attentive to the flow, pronunciations and rhythm of a language. So when each of them is invited to read a few lines or a paragraph of the story just like the teacher did in a previous session, they develop verbal fluency and volubility, while learning to speak with confidence.
The teacher, after completing a reading session, may jot down the difficult words from the story text and ask the students to find their meanings as well as make sentences of each tricky word. This activity enriches word power as well as spellings.
Some schools even arrange puppet shows and bring into play the children’s favourite cartoon characters to teach them common everyday words.
this article published in dawn.com
Leave a Reply