{"id":1452,"date":"2015-09-23T17:26:38","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T17:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/?p=1452"},"modified":"2019-11-17T14:34:33","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T14:34:33","slug":"never_too_early_to_start_learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/never_too_early_to_start_learning\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Never Too Early to Start Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/birth-466140_1280.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1455\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/birth-466140_1280.jpg\" alt=\"Baby_in_Hand\" width=\"924\" height=\"1280\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>by:&nbsp;Jessie L. Mundo<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>It\u2019s Never Too Early to Start Learning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Have you ever wondered how toddlers are capable of uttering perfectly coherent phrases and&nbsp;sentences without any formal training? Yes, we repeat over and over again random words and&nbsp;sentences, but one surprising day the child comes up with his own unique first sentence. It\u2019s all&nbsp;possible thanks to a set of highly organized processes taking place in the brain.<\/p>\n<p>Exposing a child to a second language in the early years is crucial for proper second language&nbsp;acquisition. There\u2019s a set of basic features in languages known as linguistics universals which all&nbsp;languages have in common. Children build upon and around those basic features when learning a&nbsp;new language. It\u2019s at that point when they unconsciously acquire that language\u2019s structure.<\/p>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9289218266222230\" data-ad-slot=\"2581675933\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script>During the first three years of a child\u2019s life the brain is essentially a sponge, absorbing every&nbsp;detail about speech and all the necessary skills of the language he\u2019s being exposed to. Early&nbsp;exposure to a second language enhances vocabulary as well as understanding. The child will&nbsp;learn how to make associations and self-expression.<\/p>\n<p>When infants are exposed to a second language before they have learned to speak they learn how&nbsp;to distinguish sounds and patterns as native speakers, and by the time they\u2019re speaking they will&nbsp;be able to organize words, form sentences and talk with the competence of a innate speaker. This&nbsp;is all because they have internalized the language\u2019s structure as languages can\u2019t be memorized,&nbsp;but their structure forms part of the necessary skills acquired.<\/p>\n<p>Once a child understands how a language works he is able to form an infinite number of&nbsp;sentences from a finite amount of words, which is why reinforcement and immersion is key.&nbsp;Children develop new language skills dynamically through human interactions. Having a person&nbsp;competent in the second language interacting with the child is essential for proper learning.<\/p>\n<p>Children have to hear the language being used correctly in its own environment. They have the&nbsp;capacity to acquire any language with native speaker proficiency as long as they are exposed to it&nbsp;before reaching their critical period for language acquisition, which is around ages 6-7. That is&nbsp;why the earlier a child is exposed to a second language with a speaker who has native&nbsp;competence, the faster and easier it will be for that child to comprehend all the abstract features&nbsp;of that language and start using it. And, given that 85%, yes 85%!, of brain development takes&nbsp;place before reaching age 5, it\u2019s never too early to start a second language.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span class=\"il\">Jessie<\/span> is a linguist and content creator intern at Smart Coos. A food enthusiast, whenever she&#8217;s not working there&#8217;s always something brewing in her kitchen.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/student-411947_1920.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1456\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/student-411947_1920.jpg\" alt=\"Student Learning\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"><\/a><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Works Cited<\/span>:<\/p>\n<p>Garc\u00eda, O. &amp; Li, W. Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. New&nbsp;York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2014. Print.<\/p>\n<p>Petesky, David. \u201cLinguistics Universals and Universal Grammar.\u201d MIT Press. 2010. Web. 2&nbsp;Sep. 2015.<\/p>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9289218266222230\" data-ad-slot=\"2581675933\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; by:&nbsp;Jessie L. Mundo &nbsp; It\u2019s Never Too Early to Start Learning &nbsp; Have you ever wondered how toddlers are capable of uttering perfectly coherent phrases and&nbsp;sentences without any formal training? Yes, we repeat over and over again random words and&nbsp;sentences, but one surprising day the child comes up with his own unique first sentence. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-language-inspirations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2377,"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions\/2377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartcoos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}