08/29/2023
Learning more than one language is an asset to individuals, families, and our entire society; but learning the language of your family’s mother tongue allows you to connect with them on a more personal level. You can learn about your culture, history, and traditions. This knowledge will help you better understand your family's personality and why they act the way they do, which may help strengthen your relationships and give insight into yourself and what makes you who you are today! Developing the child’s home language provides the foundation for reading and writing, preparing children to be biliterate. Being bilingual and biliterate has many benefits! Here are just a few:
Cognitive Development: Individuals who are bilingual and biliterate switch between two different language systems. Their brains are very active and flexible. Compared to their non-bilingual peers, bilingual people have an easier time at understanding math concepts and solving word problems; developing strong thinking skills; using logic; focusing, remembering, and making decisions; thinking about language; and learning other languages.
Social-Emotional Development: Being bilingual supports children in maintaining strong ties with their family, culture, and community. All of these are key parts of a child’s developing identity. Bilingual children are also able to make new friends and create strong relationships using their second language—an important skill in our increasingly diverse society.
Learning: School readiness and success for children who are dual or multi language learners is tied directly to mastery of their home language. Bilingual and multilingual children benefit academically from knowing more than one language in many ways. Because they are able to switch between languages, they develop more flexible approaches to thinking through problems. The ability to read and think in two (or more) different languages promotes higher levels of abstract thought, which is important in learning. People who use more than one language appear better at blocking out irrelevant information, a benefit that may exist as early as seven months of age. Children who learn to read in their home language have a strong foundation to build upon when they learn a second language. They can easily apply their knowledge about reading to their second language.
Long-Term Success One-half to two-thirds of adults around the world speak at least two languages. In today’s global society, they have many advantages. Globally, bilingual and bi-literate adults have more job opportunities than monolingual adults. Bilingual and bi-literate individuals have the opportunity to participate in the global community in more ways, get information from more places, and learn more about people from other cultures.
Enrollment for students will continue to take place this month. You can find more information and easy-to-fill-out registration forms and pay for tuition on our School website at https://www.sdgreekschool.org.
Nancy Provataris, PhD
Greek Language School Director
We are an accredited foreign language school offering Modern Greek classes for all levels and ages, from Kindergarten students to Adults! Children classes are only in-person. Adult classes are available both in-person and online. All classes meet once a week for 2 hours, 18 weeks per semester.
