Parents

There are a number advantages that bilingual children have over monolingual children. Learning a second language benefits a child’s cognitive development. Bilingual children also tend to perform better in other subjects like mathematics and science. Children who are bilingual also have an increased capacity for learning languages as adults.

The following are extracts from The National Languages Institute of Australia’s publication ‘Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. This publication gives an overview of the research carried out in Australia and overseas:

Controlled groups of monolinguals and balanced bilinguals were compared and the bilinguals were found to be significantly ahead of their monolingual counterparts in verbal and non verbal reasoning, divergent thinking and subject matter attainment.

... a number of studies (...) have shown bilinguals to be more creative, cognitively more flexible and to perform better on tests of verbal and non-verbal intelligence.

Sixth grade bilingual children were found to perform significantly better on all tests than monolinguals (..)

They found that bilinguals demonstrated greater verbal ability, performed better on measures of concept formation and scored higher on tests of verbal originality than did monolinguals.

(...) bilingual children, by virtue of their two languages, are exposed to a more complex environment and to a greater amount of social interaction compared to children acquiring only one language.

(..) code switching means the switching from one language (or a variety of a language) to another part of a sentence or conversation.

 

Many outsiders see code switching as a sign of linguistic decay, the unsystematic results of not knowing at least one of the languages involved very well. A wide range of research into bilingualism indicate that the opposite is really the case (Appel & Muysken 1987:117).


School Supply Lists 2010-2011

 

It can also provide prospective parents and students with information about what happens at our great school.

 

We are working together to enrich the immersion experience.