LANGUAGE AND THE DEVELOPING BRAIN

1. LANGUAGE AND THE DEVELOPING BRAIN HOW biILINGUALISMCAN MAKE US SMARTER and better people

2. LANGUAGE • IS • LIVED

3. Vygotsky – THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE Lev Vygotsky Russian, 1896-1934

4. Suarez-orozco – Why learn a foreign language • “Learning a foreign language is about a way of being in the world, not about getting the next deal done. • It telecasts respect for one’s interlocutor and cognitive curiosity even as it nourishes the brain’s jewel in the crown, its executive function. • Indeed, neuroscience is beginning to show that the brains of bilinguals may have advantages in what will matter most in the global era: managing complexity, rational planning and meta-cognition.” • Dr. Marcelo Suarez-Orozco is the Ross university professor of globalization and education at New York University and the former Victor S. Thomas professor of education at Harvard. He is editor of "Educating the Whole Child for the Whole World,"part of a three-volume series on globalization and education.

5. Language instruction & learning • Early is best • Ideal – before the age of 4 • At least before the age of 11 • Languages are “stored” in different parts of the brain, and share overlapping areas as well, leading to increased brain complexity • 60-70% of the world’s human population is at least bilingual • A person can effectively communicate as bilingual even without reaching native command in both languages

6. Types of bilinguals • Balanced: can speak both languages with equal literacy and fluency • Unbalanced: can speak one language better an another • Both change with age, time, and experience • Both have positive benefit on brain development • Can include proficiency in Sign Language

7. Science behind learning languages • A better understanding of how the brain organizes speech and communication tasks. • Greater insight into how specific types of brain activity may prevent or delay dementia and other age-related cognitive problems. • More targeted and effective therapies for helping bilingual individuals recover their communication skills after a brain injury. • Aids in understanding the need for a different brain map when conducting neurosurgery.

8. Brain of spanish-english bilingual

9. Language professors on the benefits of bilingualism • The Orion Youtube Channel, CSU Chico • http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A8cs_cD9zeE

10. Connection to academics • Math & Science • numbers and symbols are visual representations of concepts • It is intimately connected to language and practice (experiments) • Music & the Arts • external information that stimulates our brain (nerve impulses) • “processing” the art

11. Consequences of poor or nolanguage instruction • 25% of US adults read at the lowest literacy level. • 1 in 5 adults is functionally illiterate • 60% of America’s inmates are illiterate and 85% of all juvenile delinquents are illiterate • 75% of unemployed adults in this country experience difficulty reading or writing • There is a 90% chance that a 1st grader with poor reading skills will read below the proficiency level by the end of 4th grade • 2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grades will end of up jail

12. BENEFITS OF BiLINGuALISM • “Big picture” thinking • focus on tasks while tuning out distractions • have better developed executive functions • have a deeper understanding of concepts and ideas • think in new and creative ways • delay and prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease • Better at making connections

13. Take home message: Bilingualism… • Makes you smarter • Keeps you healthier • Makes you a better person

14. Activities that ENCOURAGE bilingualism • Songs • Books • Games • Holidays • Living the language(s)

15. Why we have our children at the dutch school • Language instruction • Cultural knowledge • Connection with Oma en Opa! • Something for them to do on Saturday morning • More instruction – the regular school week is too short • Want them to love languages • Want them to respect others • Want them to be global citizens • Want them to be conscious of their world and their place in it

16. Why do you have your children at the Dutch school?

17. rEFERENCES • The Benefits of Multilingualism. Paradowski, M. (2010). Multilingual Living Magazine, http://www.multilingualliving.com/2010/05/01/the-benefits-of-multilingualism-full-article/ • The Bilingual Brain. Chatterjee, R. (2011). The PRI’s The World SciTech, http://www.world-science.org/blog/bilingual-mind-brain-neuroscience-aaas-borders-language/ • Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M. (2010) Cognitive and Linguistic Processing in the Bilingual Mind. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(1), 19-23. • Carlson, S.M., Meltzoff, A.N. (2008). Bilingual Experience and Executive Functioning in Young Children. Developmental Science, 11(2), 282-298. • Hernandez, A.E., Bates, E. (2001) Bilingualism and the Brain. In MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 80-81. • Marder, E., Carew, T.J., Van Essen, D. (2008). The Bilingual Brain. Society for Neuroscience, http://www.sfn.org/siteobjects/published/0000BDF20016F63800FD712C30FA42DD/EB0E63F19FC732B9B11A287C0FFA68F3/file/BB_bilingual_brain_web.pdf • Morrell, M. (2011). Signs and symbols: Art and language in Art Therapy. Journal of Clinical Art Therapy, 1(1), 25-32. • Perry, S. ( 2008). The Bilingual Brain. http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/language/articles/2008/the-bilingual-brain/ • Suarez-Orozco, M.M. (2012). What Would Aristotle Think? http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/01/29/is-learning-a-language-other-than-english-worthwhile/what-would-aristotle-think • Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.