As early as now, us moms should already think about good summer activities for our children. One great idea is letting them learn a foreign language. Check out the many benefits our kids can gain when they learn a new language in this guest post from Lara Smith.

6 Reasons Why Your Kids Should Learn Foreign Languages

Parents want the best for their children whether it is their academic career or extracurricular activities. Learning a foreign language is going to benefit your child in more ways than you can imagine. When your child is learning a language, make sure that s/he learns it the right way. Children should develop the right concepts in the right way and learn the right pronunciations. Especially if your child is learning French then buy him/her a French pronunciation guide because the language rules are different than English. We are here to give you seven reasons why your kid should be learning a foreign language, so have a look!

Career Opportunities

Technology has made our world a global village, and everyone is interacting with each other. It is somewhat important for children these days to know more than one language if they want to excel in our world. People prefer to hire employees that are bilinguals, and that is a great career opportunity for anyone. Even if your child chooses to become an artist or a doctor, being able to speak multiple languages will help him secure jobs in foreign countries easily. Children can also peruse a career in languages and become professors.

Intercultural Understanding

Bilingualism allows people to communicate with people from other cultures as well because of language and culture and deeply interconnected. Becoming culturally aware is a must in today’s world, and someone who speaks more than one language has a better chance of doing that. It is important to understand and appreciate cultural differences, and learning different languages is a way towards achieving that goal. Learning different languages enable’s your child to be more open to the various ways of thinking. They can finally experience the world from another perspective. If there is one culture you are interested in and want to know more about, then you should start learning its native language. Bilingual children instantly connect with foreigners who have more resources and your child gains more exposure. You do not only get to see other people’s culture and understand their thought process, but you also get a chance to look at your own culture from a foreigner’s perspective.

Communication

The most obvious advantage of bilingualism is that a person can speak to people of different ethnicities. Your children will have no trouble forming connections and making friends when they travel abroad. Traveling becomes so much less complicated when you know the native language of the foreign land. Children, who are wired to learn, find a joy of discovering new ways to look at the world and say things. Being able to speak with people from different cultures broadens the horizons and enlightens you. If you speak two or more languages, you will have more engaging conversations about different topics.

Better Problem Solving

There is a relation between bilingualism and many cognitive abilities, including the ability to think nonverbally. When someone can speak more than one language, his/her brain is constantly deciding which language to speak at the right moment, and that is a kind of exercise for your brain. This mental effort causes the bilinguals to show better performance on tasks that require multi-tasking, creative problem solving and focusing. Children who learn more than one language at a young age also start reading earlier and can understand grammar better than other people. Some other benefits of bilingualism include longer attention span, memory improvement, and a reduced risk of age-related cognitive decline.

Higher Test Scores

When your cognitive abilities are improved, your academic performance also improves. Studies show that bilingual children have better grades in standardized college admission exams as compared to monolinguals. Not only that, but if your child can speak a foreign language, then s/he will have no trouble in the foreign language classes in high school.

More Empathy

Learning more languages means the person also becomes more empathetic. When a person can speak different languages and connect with people from different culture, there will be an increased empathy in him/her. S/he will be better able to understand other people’s situations.

Learning foreign languages is beneficial for children, and we hope this article was able to enlighten you on the topic.

Lara Smith has worked for Wall Street English for 20 years. After studying at Stanford University and subsequently doing a CELTA course, she began her career in teaching. She is obsessed with languages and currently writes blogs at https://www.mimicmethod.com/

Hope you ladies have been convinced about ths advantages of learning a foreign language. Till next post!

A Happy Homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!