Migrant Daughter – Bilingual Teacher Educator The story of two languages 143 words

Born to parents who had barely finished primary school but who were passionate about “education” I grew up a “latch door” child, walking at the age of 6 with my sister to the local primary school. As the eldest I wore the house key on a cord around my neck. A symbol of pride that as the eldest I was in charge of our safety. English was NEVER spoken in our home. To understand my bilingual bicultural world I would count the number of fence posts walking to school, silently saying “I speak Greek” in Greek till the middle post – at that post, changing to “now I can speak English” till the gate of the school. On the way home I would switch the languages. This daily ritual epitomized the beginnings of a bilingual world a migrant child needed to make sense of.

Love of languages -- A dream emerges 112 words

My parents sent me to Greek school an experience I dreaded. Throughout my childhood Friday evenings, then Tuesday evenings held a silent burden. Sitting in cold desks reciting lessons and trying to make sense of letters that would dance on the page filled me with sadness. It was in high school when I fell in love with French that I realized it was not the Greek language that I had resented – but the way in which had been taught to me. A powerful inner voice, then dream began to take shape – what if I could one day teach Greek the way Madame taught French? The gift of languages had to be shared!

Teaching Languages 100 words

As a qualified Languages secondary teacher I often told students that learning another language was like being gifted a second “soul” – one that was open, multidimensional, multifaceted and held the riches of culture, history, storytelling and imagination beyond anything a monolingual “soul” could conceive! Opening the door to another language was opening the door to another dimension or soul-­‐ once open you will never be the same again! Learning a language takes cumulative discipline, application, memory and patience, but aren’t these generic life-­‐skills every student wants? Passionate teaching unleashes the love of languages learning, however languages unleash an extraordinary life!

A Principal, an Academic - PhD Research in Languages and now the chance to educate a generation of Languages Teachers… 378 words

Now after 35 years… the benefits of learning languages have been researched and explored – the verdict? The following inspires each and every one of us to see the “gift” language learning offers our quality of life…

Brain power-‐ Language centres in the brain actually grow as a result of successful language learning. The more you learn a second language, the more those vital areas of the brain grow (Mårtensson et al., 2012).

Dementia-- Bilingualism delays Alzheimer’s disease in susceptible people by as much as five years (Craik et al., 2010). Seems incredible, but the studies are continuing to support this result. To put this in context: the effect on dementia of learning another language is much greater than anything achievable with the latest drugs.

Advanced Listening Skills -- Being bilingual can lead to improved listening skills, since the brain has to work harder to distinguish different types of sounds in two or more languages (Krizman et al., 2012). Infants in bilingual households can distinguish languages they’ve never even heard before (Werker & Sebastian-­‐Galles, 2011). Bilinguals have stronger control over their attention and are better able to limit distractions (Bialystok & Craik, 2010).

Memory and Cognitive Flexibility -- Babies brought up in a bilingual environment have stronger working memories than those brought up with only one language (Morales et al., 2013). This means they are better at mental calculation, reading and many other vital skills. Bilinguals can switch from one task to another more quickly. They show more cognitive flexibility and find it easier to adapt to unexpected circumstances (Gold et al., 2013)

Intercultural – multi-­‐coloured lenses -- Learning a new language can literally change the way you see the world. Learning Japanese, for example, which has basic terms for light and dark blue, may help you perceive the colour in different ways (Athanasopoulos et al., 2010). Learning languages allows a person to become immersed in other cultures and of seeing your own culture from the perspective of another!

Improve your first language -- learning a second language draws your attention to the abstract rules and structure of language, it can make you more innately and explicitly informed and insightful about your first language.

As Geoffrey Williams said: “You can never understand one language until you understand at least two.”