Bilingual Education in Preschool

The world today has become increasingly interconnected. One can come across people from all over the world on a daily basis. In such a time giving a child a chance to learn a foreign language is the best gift that they can get. Language skills come naturally to young children. They can grasp the basics of the language quicker than adults can, and they also learn the native pronunciation of the world. This is one of the reasons why preschool education should include immersive bilingual studies.

Some parents opt for bilingual education as a chance to teach their children about their own culture and heritage while others choose to teach their children foreign languages to give the children an academic and cognitive advantage. Many studies have shown that having bilingual education in preschool not only gives the child an advantage of knowing a foreign language but also increases their problem solving ability, gives them better working memory and also improved abstract thinking abilities.

Along with this, experiencing a foreign language culture can expand the child’s multi-cultural awareness, foster an appreciation for different cultures and points of views and also stimulate their curiosity for travel. Learning a second language can start as early as infancy, in some cases it can also start in utero. The best time to study any language is below the age of 7. That period is considered the most crucial as that is when the ear is most in tune with sounds. In preschools the children are still coming to terms with grammar and structure and are learning new words very day even in the English language. Therefore in this case it is easy for them to alternate between two languages.

When the child is speaking in English it merely means that the dial in the brain is turned to English, the ability to speak another language is also present. The classrooms should also help in the dual learning of the language. If the things in the classroom are labelled in both languages and the teacher makes a conscious effort to get the child to read the label in both languages then it can make the learning experience more interactive and immersive.

As children who had bilingual education have shown more financial growth when they become adults it is essential that this should be integrates into the preschool education system so that all the children can have equal opportunity and the world will become a more culturally aware place.