I’ve just read an interesting article about the benefits of teaching foreign languages to our children. It was written by a lady who has moved her entire family to France in order to pursue their language goals!

Whilst we can’t all move to France and immerse ourselves in their language and culture for several years like this lucky family, we can take on board some of the writer’s ideas.

1) Learning languages is good for our brains*

(*note, I first wrote this blog in 2012 and the research is more nuanced now... visit this page to read more about the science!)

Research into bilingualism sometimes* shows that babies’ brains develop more flexibility when they speak two or even three languages from an early age. The left and right sides of the brain work better together and this aids maths, creative thinking and problem-solving as well as language acquisition. I can already see Dylan flipping through his mental multilingual picture book when we read familiar stories...