Bringing Up Bebe

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PAGE

MAD]5ON

14

PARENT

Langrfage

urually by five or six years of age, our brain has lost the flexibility or plasticity to abrorb

continued from pege 4

others as easily. By pre-pubescence, around eight or ten years of age, learning ianguages becomer significantly more drfficu lt. Yet, 5eidenberg maintains, children older than frVe have not necessarily rnissed a golden opportunity, In fac! he argues, younger children are still so occupied with straight-

easier to master before puberty. Part of the reason why children more easil'7 iearn ianguages ir simply the fact thaE well, .v think like kids. "lChildrenJ absorb

t

langui- i and they love language,"

says

Geiler Ltrgasry. Because they are more playfui, they end up learning languages indirectly through garr,er and songs, Thor Templin, a graduate student in the Deparfment cf German and the Department of 5candfnavian Studies at UW, agrees. Templin, who has taught German to ,:hildren fro'n five to l4 years of age, tyr kidr are iei: afraid to make mistakes. "With ^:duit: lhere'i aiwayr that moment of hesftatron ,here fJrev're trying to process the rrarnnar-" he obseryes. 'Adula have thil probtern where they want to know everythrng ri.qht away." A lack cf self-consciousness isn't the only ieason why chiliren easily absorb languages. vVhile tne physiological mechanisms of lantLr,',_qe ;cquisition are not weil understood, one iheor;i suggesb that the brain is more ,r,;rile;bie o'- plasfic when we are young. Safi'ran likens the brain to real estate that

Part of the reason why children more easily learn languages is simply ihe

iact that, well, tl"rey think like kids. A physiological theory explaining in{anb' acuii'v io learn languages ruggerfu thcir brains or more roalieable or plaiiic. The rtudy. howe';er, failr tc addrers their propenliN to eat pl;stic.

hasn't yet been deveioped. As we

ierrr. :he

brain becomes cclonizec lnct, once coic,nized, u harCer to change. As UW profesror of piychciogy l-Vark 5eidenberg expiains, bv the time or-ir ccmmand of our fir:t ianquage ir very' good,

ening or:t the rvorld that they have pienty enough to di;cover. By five or six, cn the other hand, kiCs knou,nore, such ar the obje,:a to which worCs are referring yet ther stili retain a "voracio'-ts capacity- tc ie.: i'n. "

M,rreover, the factors that conti'ibute to ianquaqe acquisition are not entir'ely bioiogic;iJ. Other issuet, what te cails scc;ai circrrrnstances and motrvation," are cr:e iil. continueci o* page 2O

These include the amount

PAGE

20

LangUage

of

support an individuat receives while Jearning a ianguage, the degree.of exporure to lhe lan-

continued rrom pase 4

guage (fmme rsian, for example, acceierates language learning at any age), ;nd whether or not that exposure war in an isolated

and iimited cornmunity, Of ccurue, individual cases also vary due to what Saffran calls simply

Fo,-

provide ihem wfth benefit-s that last much longer than the experience ibelf, Programs in and

around Maciison cffer a variety ofapprcaches to language education. 5ome are listed belou/;

t Parents

U

out while we best

too late."

man.wfsc. edu / infa ntlea

cr-;ifu ral pfograrnr, language ':la:ses and language-oriented

rne,jia wfil pique a child': interin and sensitvity to other

est.

cu ltu i'es.

rningi

fnfant-research. html * The Madison Chinese Language Schooi offers Chinese classes to child:'en

and adulti: www. mcll.dc it.wisc.edu

. The

UniversitT* of Wisconlin's Division of Continuing 5tudies offeru a variety ot'language

Many language programj now gear a portion of their curriculum toward kids" Berides growing up in a bilingual household, immerion in eiementary ichoois is the most effectrVe ;'neanr cf introducing children tc another ianguage. But even

of 6-12-month-old

infants interested in partrcipating in Saffran's rtudy can contact her at 608_263_587 6. or wr,rrv.wais-

"talent." nfortunateJy, Saffran point-s acquire languages when we are young the Amerfcan educational system rarely mandates foreign language study untrl high school or even college-after the brain's plasUcity is significantly limited. By then, she iaments, "it's way

older kids, txchange pro-

grams and language camps can

to children and adults. 608-262-1156. or 'vww.dcs.wisc' edu I :lals. I lan-

clasres

s

'

guage.htrnl

Concordia Lairguage iriliaqes in Moorhead, lvlinn. r,fiert 12 cii{ferent language ca;:i1:i for one, two or iour u'eek riaYl each summer; www. co rd.e
ch,'.

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