About the Brain, Learning New Languages, And Being Smarter

Read “Want to Be Smart? Learn a Foreign Language” in NEUROSCIENCE & NEUROLOGY at

Source: About the Brain, Learning New Languages, And Being Smarter

12 Common Myths and Misconceptions about Bilingual Children

Check your own beliefs:   Excerpt:

Source: 12 Common Myths and Misconceptions about Bilingual Children

How can we support kids in learning more than one language?

This article shares ways for studying more than one language. It also promotes that the home language should be maintained and further developed in ESL kids.  Read more in this article below:

Source: How can we support kids in learning more than one language?

TED TALK on Code-Switching

3 ways to speak English in other words “a linguistic celebration!”

Source: TED TALK on Code-Switching

The Benefits of Being Bilingual

 

 

• By CRISTINA COSTANTINI

 

It was once thought that learning a second language too early could inhibit a child’s acquisition of a primary language. However, new research suggests that our brains actually are strengthened by speaking more than one language.

Inspired by wave of YouTube explainer videos over the past couple of years like the Draw My Life series, ASAP Science and RSA Animate among others, I decided to try my (very untrained) hand at this whiteboard explainer game with a video on bilingualism — a subject close to hearts and minds of many Latinos in the U.S. like myself.

Check out our video above and for more on bilingualsim take a look at this infographic byVisual.Ly and the reporting of Yudhijit Bhattacharjee for The New York Times.

Syntax

A good article on syntax and why it is important.

Source: Syntax

Writing Systems

This video looks into our written languages! Ever wonder where they came from?  Or why did writing systems develop? How have they changed as time has passed? This video goes through the varieties of systems that we developed and how different alphabets have evolved over time.

Source: Writing Systems

25 Ways to Find or Create Comprehensible Input

This article was a great find that gives ELL learners ideas on how they can learn the new language. Some of these ideas I would never have thought to recommend to an ELL student.

One great idea from the article was:

Dubbed Movies: Finding your favorite movie dubbed into the language you are learning can be an excellent source of comprehensible input. Your interest is high,  you have great amount of background knowledge and you can watch scenes or the whole movie again and again.

Click this link to see all  awesome ideas!

 

25 Maps that Explain the English Language

English is the language of Shakespeare and the language of Chaucer. It’s spoken in dozens of countries around the world, from the United States to a tiny island named Tristan da Cunha. It reflects the influences of centuries of international exchange, including conquest and colonization, from the Vikings through the 21st century. Here are 25 maps and charts that explain how English got started and evolved into the differently accented languages spoken today.

Click the link below to get to the article by Libby Nelson on March 3, 2015:

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/3/8053521/25-maps-that-explain-english

About Teaching Vocabulary

The best practices for teaching vocabulary is a hot topic and one that often brings arguments to the table. For some ideas on how best to teach vocabulary for ELLs check out the tips from TESOL Connections in “Vocabulary in Context: A Systematic Approach: at

Source: About Teaching Vocabulary