5 Benefits of Learning a Second Language for Children

5 Benefits of Learning a Second Language for Children

Hearing a foreign language being spoken is quite appealing in its own right. Something about those exotic sounds that have absolutely no meaning to you. Now imagine your child learning to make these sounds; in the process gaining advantages that speaking only one language would never offer. Let’s take a look at five benefits earned when you spend time with your children teaching them a second language. 5 benefits of learning a second language for children.

1. A Great Way to Improve Confidence

Learning a second language is a difficult task. A job that includes copious amounts of trial-and-error on the part of the student. When children are finally able to make connections and increase proficiency in their newly learned language; it becomes a sudden boost in their confidence and self-esteem, as they learn new forms of self-expression among their peers.

2. Different cultures and new ways of thinking

According to EFL Learning Centre, an English language school in Chiang Mai, every language, whether it be the English language or another, holds the key to culture. Every culture has a different way of thinking, a different mindset, and ultimately a different lifestyle. When children are introduced to new languages; they are introduced to ways of expression conducive to the native users of the language. In this way, they are introduced to brand new cultures and ways of thinking. These things happen whether they are learning languages such as English at home or at an English language school.

3. Fosters Creative Thinking

Language learning is a game that involves making connections which can be very beneficial to child development, thinking in new ways to properly convey an idea, and through this, the creativity in a child’s mind is further activated. This creative thinking can now be transferred to both everyday life and to academic prowess; where problem-solving becomes a task approached from a different, or outside-the-box, perspective.

4. Improved Executive Function

Firstly, the additional learning gives a great boost in mental activity. Cognitive processes that were previously unused are now engaged and developed at a faster rate as the child now tries to grasp the concept of their own native tongue, as well as that of their second-language, all the

while handling the regular troubles of being too young. These improvements are further tested when in academics, bilingual children are seen to perform better in problem-solving and communication skills while retaining the ability to form and maintain relationships with others of a more diverse background.

5. Increased options and opportunities

The most obvious benefit, which might be what attracts most parents, is the employability and sudden windows of opportunity that are opened and extended for those who speak multiple languages. Not only does it allow for engagement across different cultures thereby laying the foundation for travel, but it also offers, in the working world, better-paying opportunities than monolingual counterparts.

While it is undoubted that raising a bi- (or multi) lingual child is a lot of work, the payoff for both children and parents might make all the trouble worth it. Improved cognitive processes, heightened sense of expression, better academic performance and a boost in self-confidence are just the starting pieces to these benefits. Children who are multilingual from a young age, indubitably have it better than those without a second language.