LEARNING SECOND LANGUAGE AT SCHOOL AND AT HOME

 

Hello guyssss......

Welcome back to my blog :)

How are you? I hope all of us in good healthy and always happy.

By the way, Happy New Year 2021, I hope this year will be better.

Well, in this blog I want to share about Learning Second Language at School And at Home.

Early Bilingualism

Bilingualism is a feature not just of individuals, but also of societies (how?) societies in which two languages are used regularly, or in which more than one language has official status can be called bilingual.

For example, Canada is a bilingual country because French and English are both official languages.

Bilingualism is often the product of second language learning after the first language has been acquired either through no tutored exposure or through instruction. Individuals can become bilingual at any age, in some cases, though, bilingualism is a characteristic of a child's earliest language system.

Bilingual children generally appear to develop more slowly in linguistic terms. they may say their first words a little later and learn fewer words and grammatical structures. Bilingual children are more aware to language systems as bilingualism helps in Meta-linguistic awareness, the ability to reflect on and manipulate the structural features of language. They are also more conscious of language structures and patterns and learn to reflect on these earlier. 

Children growing up in bilingual households where both parents speak two languages regularly, or where each parent speaks a different language-are typically bilingual from the very beginning of language acquisition.

Children growing up with or parents who speak a minority language may also be natively bilingual, if visitors, neighbors, television, regular caretakers, and other sources make the majority language available.

When is the earliest possible chance to learn two languages? to start at birth.

- Learning a second language in early childhood or learning two languages simultaneously is not difficult process

- It becomes difficult after the age of 10 or 12

- Children do sometimes "mix" languages, for example saying an Arabic word for milk and an English word for cup

Second Languages in Schooling

Fortunately for parents in Queensland, most primary schools offer a language to our children, some from as early as prep. The dominant languages taught in North Qld, according to Florence Boulard, JCU Coordinator of Modern Language, are Japanese, Italian, and French, with some schools offering Chinese (Mandarin) and German. 

Second Languages at Home

As parents, we can help in many ways:

• Start them young. It’s a lot harder learning a language as an adult than as a child. This is because our language receptors in our brains are more open to receiving new information in our first five or six years of life.  We develop the bulk of our language skills before we start school.  After that, learning a language can be more difficult.
• If you have a family member who speaks a second language, then have them expose your children to that language as often as possible.  The best environment for learning a language is one that is safe and relaxed, so home is perfect.  If you don’t have a family member, then look to your wider community; neighbours, international clubs, kindergartens with language programs, etc.
• There are so many children’s toys on the market that have second language functions on them.  Be sure to find toys that have the correct tone and accent and are not computer automated.
• Children’s TV programs that are bilingual are a very easy way for parents to expose children to a second language. Children will mimic what they hear and will eventually grasp the meaning of the words they are speaking and use them correctly in context.  Parents know how this works, especially when the littlies repeat with perfect diction and tone the very colorful language heard on the sporting sidelines!
• Consider the myriad of language learning apps specifically designed to make language learning fun for children.