![]() |
![]() |
The advantages of being bilingual include wider communication within the community, a deeper sense of multiculturalism, greater tolerance for and understanding of others, increased educational achievements, and future employment benefits.
Every parent faces various uncertainties when deciding what is best for their child. Education is, of course, one of the major concerns. What school is best? Which program will suit my child better? When should a second language be introduced and how? Keeping in mind, the world is changing so quickly that promoting the ability for creative thinking and promoting cultural adaptability is essential. “We don't have a clue about what the world will be like in the future” as Sir Ken Robinson said in one of his conferences on creativity and education.
Thousands of children all over the world are bilingual, there is no evidence of a language delay or disorder proven to be caused by bilingual exposure, on the contrary, research states that learning a second language at an early age makes special and more complex neural networks and connections between both hemispheres. It also trains the phonological system, gestures, and sounds in children’s mouth, to make the phonetic sounds unique to each language; skills that becomes more difficult to master later on.
Research has shown that positive cognitive gains are associated with learning a second language in childhood (Bialystok 1991). Children exposed to a bilingual education learn to explore language better, become more creative and improve their problem-solving skills not to mention all the social advantages that a child can have when being able to communicate in a multilingual environment. For children it is simple, they discover there is more than one way to express themselves, more than one way to solve a problem and more than one way people can understand each other.
But children do not just “absorb” a language: The environment, support and the teaching strategies used will determine the quality and proficiency of the language acquired. School, curriculum, teachers and families need to work together so children will “get to think” in both languages.
Edu1st’s progressive preschool’s offer children great opportunities. We offer youngsters a warm, challenging environment and a high-quality curriculum with an emphasis on bilingual education.
Their program offers various characteristics parents need to look for in a bilingual preschool: