In the first years of life, the first interactions with the world around us happen through speech. Thus, the first sounds are born, the first words and, later, the literacy process begins.
Learning the mother tongue happens more naturally, since the child listens to the language all the time. That's why, the sooner you have contact with bilingual education, the easier it will be to master a second language.
Want to know more about how it is done and the importance of literacy in more than one language early in life? So keep reading and understand more about this subject.
Check it out in this content:
Bilingual Literacy in Kindergarten
What is the literacy process like?
Benefits of an early bilingual education
Fluency
Cognitive development
Larger cultural repertoire
How to help with literacy at home?
Conclusion
When little, children learn through stimuli, repetition and word association.
Then they start babbling the first syllables, then words, until they can form small sentences.
Over the years, the premise remains the same, what changes is only the complexity of the words learned.
The same happens with children who are exposed to another language. For our brain, this process becomes even more natural when we are building our repertoire.
Based on this, the literacy process in bilingual Kindergarten becomes similar to literacy in Portuguese. The difference is that, instead of having just one way to communicate, children expand their cultural repertoire and vocabulary.
According to neuroscience, from 2 to 5 years old the child produces a greater amount of synapses in the brain, which favors the acquisition of a second language at the same level of fluency as the mother tongue.
Children aged between 4 and 8 years are in the so-called intuitive stage, that is, they become more curious about the phenomena around them.
At the stage when the child is acquiring the first language informally, it becomes possible to learn, in the same way and at the same time, a second language. At this key moment, literacy begins to be put into practice.
Whether with games or drawings, children are always learning new words for their bilingual repertoire. And this goes far beyond the classroom: it also happens in moments of leisure and socialization.
We favored this phase with an immersion of students in situations of communication in English, corresponding to 80% of the time they are in school.
Learning a new language is always positive for entering the job market and establishing satisfactory communication in other countries.
But, what about children, why offer them a bilingual education? To better understand the benefits, we have highlighted three key points when making such an important decision.
Check out how the different stages of the second language literacy process can help!
The earlier children begin to study and practice a new language, the more meaningful learning, word assimilation and pronunciation confidence will be.
When inserted in early childhood, bilingual education is a decisive factor for children to be able to reach adolescence and adulthood feeling confident to communicate in more than one language.
When we learn a new language, the brain forms new connections and strengthen important synapses. It is similar to physical exercise: the more we "exercise" our brain, the stronger and healthier it becomes.
And the sooner that happens, the better. That's because neurological connections are more malleable in childhood. The more the years go by, the more these connections are consolidated and it becomes more challenging to learn a new language.
According to scholars such as Bartoszek:
"It was found that due to the stimuli received from experiences lived by children in the first years of life, some parts of the brain can be modified".
During the journey, we offer new challenges that stimulate cognitive development. The more encouraged in childhood, the greater it will be and the more the bases learned will be maintained in the future.
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A second language is directly connected with new experiences. Whether with influences from the school itself, on trips with the family or even studying abroad, learning a new language means an expansion of the world view.
The more idiomatic influences, the better it will be for children to develop a critical and analytical sense of the world around them. The expansion of the world and, consequently, of the cultural repertoire, increases the contact with diversity.
For children, it can all start with games, comics, music, books, among others. And on a trip, for example, they will find it easier to communicate and meet new people and cultures.
How can parents help in the literacy process? Simple. To collaborate with bilingual literacy, the ideal is that the child is always surrounded by idiomatic references. Whether it's a drawing, music or games, the more content in another language is available, the more natural learning will be.
Take advantage of children's innate curiosity to encourage practice. At home, create inviting situations for the little ones to learn new words that are part of their routine, from the names of objects to complete sentences.
With this, the language will be practiced both at home and at school, accelerating and deepening the child's knowledge.
Literacy process in bilingual education becomes even more natural and easy when children have contact with the second language from an early age and in different situations, from the classroom to leisure time.
With a bilingual school and a bilingual pedagogical team, the second language is not only taught in one subject, but covers different subjects and classes throughout the period at the institution, including moments of socialization.
Since you've come this far, take the opportunity to delve into the subject and understand on our blog the Difference between Bilingual Education and English Class. Check it out!
See you next time!
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