Advantages of Bilingual Education

Making Friends in Spanish at Genesis A School in Colombia Where Ian Spent 3 Weeks

For anyone who knows me, it is very obvious I am an advocate for raising bilingual children in the U.S. Bilingualism and biculturalism are for me, positive approaches to educating our little ones.

I came to that conclusion after reading about scientific studies that proved the advantages of bilingual education, and after being myself educated in two cultures and three languages, one of them French which I don't speak now due to lack of practice.

What Made Me Advocate for Bilingual Education in the U.S.? Three Reasons...

The first one is the differences many researchers found in brain development when they compared bilingual vs. monolingual children.

Second, I recommend learning Spanish in addition to English because of the growing need for bilingual Spanish people in the U.S.

The third reason is because after considering my need to continue living and enjoying Hispanic culture in our home, introducing Spanish for children at an early age was a very good avenue to be true to my heritage.

Advantages of Bilingual Education

Interesting Findings about Raising Bilingual Children

1- Ellen Bialystok in her 2001 book "Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition," says that bilinguals have "consistent advantages" to understand the nature of language rather than the ability to use language to communicate meaning.

2- A study conducted by Peal and Lambert in 1962 showed bilinguals to be superior to monolinguals in the domain of mental/cognitive flexibility.

3- Children who are bilingual develop the concept of "object permanence" more rapidly than monolingual children. That is what Therese Sullivan Caccavale, president of the National Network for Early Language Learning says.

4- If you think it is too difficult to raise a bilingual child think about this comment Dr. Geoffrey S. Koby, associate professor of German Translation at Kent State University said in the article "Raising a Bilingual Child, Parents Can Teach Their Children a Foreign Language at a Young Age" By Diane Laney Fitzpatrick in 2007: "All human beings are naturally, innately able to learn a foreign language as a child."

5- I learned about one of the most interesting advantages of bilingual education after reading the October 2004 issue of Nature, where researchers found that bilingual speakers had denser gray matter, in particular in areas of memory, language, and attention. WOW who doesn't want to give this present to their children!

6- The obvious one, introducing Spanish for kids at a young age and keeping with it give them stronger communication skills in a global economy that is constantly evolving. It is like having an extra tool in your tool box.

7- The U.S. is one of the few countries where the norm is to be monolingual. In the majority of countries natives learn at least two languages. Even the indigenous people in North, Central and South-America!

Learning to speak Spanish in a country that has an increased need for Spanish speaking people may be a great gift for your children.

There are many advantages of bilingual education, but amongst all, I consider raising an open minded flexible child able to accept other cultures and ways of thinking the most important one. A bilingual education allows him to be more emotionally mature.