The Beauty of Bi-lingual Learning

Educational specialists and research institutes are united that learning more than one language at any given time is beneficial, on many levels. Medical research on brain development proves that the earliest possible exposure to more than one language increases the prolonged life-long function of that lobe of the fantastic organ – the brain.

Tuning into the LanguagesThe idea that children exposed to two languages or more from birth become confused or that they fall behind monolingual children is a common misconception, says Janet Werker, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who studies language acquisition in bilingual babies. "Growing up bilingual is just as natural as growing up monolingual," said Werker, whose own research indicates babies of bilingual mothers can distinguish between languages even hours after birth. "There is absolutely no evidence that bilingual acquisition leads to confusion or even delay to full development," she said.

Bilingual (or multiple language) people have to do something that monolinguals don't do — they have to keep the two (or more) languages separate. Bialystok, at York University in Toronto, compares this action to tuning into the right signal on a radio or television: The brain has to keep the two channels separate and detect them independently.

"The brain has a perfectly good function to perform just that — it's the executive control system. It focuses attention on what's important and ignores distraction, enhancing the concentration. Therefore, for a bilingual or multiple speaker, the executive control system is used in every sentence they utter. That's what makes it strong," said Bialystok.

Training the BrainMaintaining the engagement of this executive control function is a form of mental exercise, explains Bialystok, and some researchers believe that this can be beneficial for the brain’s development. Multiple language speakers have been shown to perform better on a variety of cognitive tasks, and one study Bialistok did find that dementia set in four to five years later in people who spent their lives speaking two languages instead of one.

Languages are a ToolToday, and in the future even more so, we travel extensively; either for further studies, internships, employment, business or pleasure. With the continual closing gaps between continents, the east and west in particular, we are facing a new paradigm.

Bi-lingual Development at YCISYCIS students follow the path of language development from as early as age 3 in kindergarten; with the unique combined care from one Chinese and one native English speaking co-teacher. The pattern follows through in Primary classrooms too. Students can learn Chinese as a First Language or as a Second Language; likewise English will be delivered to meet the requirements.

The timetable offers students some lessons in the format of co-teaching which witnesses students literally using both Chinese and English fluidly in their communication. Vocabulary and expression is equally represented in these co-taught lessons.

YCIS joins the best of East and West with language, knowledge and cultural sensitivity; creating an environment unmatched by any other. The YCIS student converses in English and Chinese with a fluency that reflects a global mindset for a far reaching future.