Article Source: https://www.familyeducation.com/kids/how-to-encourage-language-learning-for-kids-and-teens

Do you ever miss the endless creativity, imagination, and sense of wonder that comes with being a kid? Kids are just better at seeing the world in new ways than adults, and that makes them the best candidates to learn another language.

Ask anyone who grew up in a bilingual household will know, younger children absorb new words and languages like a sponge. The brain is the most flexible between ages 0-5, meaning that the time to start learning is now.  

Pediatric neurologist Harry Chugani, Director of the Children’s PET Center at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, believes that the time to learn foreign languages is in preschool and elementary school when the chemistry of the brain is charged for it. When we postpone learning of foreign languages until high school, we aren’t paying attention to the biological phenomenon,” he says.

When kids compare a foreign language to their own, they begin to understand the nature of language itself. As far back as 1961, studies found that English-speaking students who received instruction in a foreign language showed gains in tests of English grammar, reading, and even math.

“Learning a foreign language increases creativity and cognitive skills. Benefits from early language instruction include improved overall school performance and superior problem-solving skills. The more children learn about a foreign language, the more they understand about their own language,” says Nancy Rhodes, Director of Foreign Language Education at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC. Most importantly, “foreign language is for all children of any ability,” she says. Even kids who get cranky over phonics.

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