Changing the way kids learn foreign languages one heart at a time.
For Kids
The optimum time to learn a foreign language is between birth and age six! However, it is never too late to learn a foreign language or become proficient in it! Children can start at any age with our programs and pursue their passion until they become absolutely fluent. We do not close our doors to any age nor level!
This ‘window of opportunity’ must not be overlooked by parents whose children are growing up in today’s global village and who will live and be influenced by and potentially influence tomorrow’s global community. And, although the future is uncertain, it is certain that the value of the knowledge of other cultures and languages is a universal requisite.
Lingua Natal believes that acquiring foreign language skills has the unique power not only to help children succeed at school but also provide abundant career choices and professional success in the future.
For more information about our programs, age groups and class levels click here, or go here to see schedules and register online.
Article from The Bilingual Edge
by Kendall King, PhD and Alison Mackey PhD
“Introducing children to a second language also introduces them to a second culture in less obvious ways. Anthropologists and other researchers have argued that culture and language are inextricably linked, with some even claiming that the language(s) we speak strongly influence the ways we think. For example, languages have different ways of categorizing and organizing information through their grammar and vocabularies.
These language differences, in turn, potentially shape the way we view the world. So, for instance, in English, there is only one word for “corner,” while in Spanish there are two words, rincón and esquina. Rincón refers to the inside of the corner. (If you were in a room you might refer to the rincón by the window.) Esquina refers to the outside of the corner.
So, for instance, both of our children went through the standard period of regularly banging into la esquina of the coffee table when they were learning to walk. Children who know more than one language intuitively pick up [the fact] that there is more than one way to divide up and think about our shared physical and cultural world.
So, since our language can shape the way we think about and represent things, children who learn two languages also learn that different people have different views of phenomena in the world. Bilingual children have an advantage in that it is easier for them to understand that one perspective is not better or worse than another, only different.”
We love:
