From Jerusalem to Kiryas Joel, many frum women are raising their kids with more than one language. How can we help our children develop — and maintain — fluency in two languages?
BROADER HORIZONS “Language is more than just a collection of words” Debby says “it’s so intertwined with culture. The better you speak a language the more you understand the culture of those who speak it which allows you to broaden your understanding of people”
W hen Faigy Folger was seven years old she moved from Buenos Aires to Brooklyn knowing not a word of English. Bais Yaakov of Boro Park placed her in the Yiddish class where the teachers and girls spoke both Yiddish and English. Faigy moved in April; by July she was managing in both Yiddish and English and by the following September she was conversing comfortably in both languages.
If you moved from Brooklyn to Buenos Aires today, how would your Spanish be in five months?
The brains of young children are singularly primed for learning language. Beyond that, learning a second language lays the neurological groundwork for a third: The more languages a person learns, the more he “gets” the concepts of language, making each subsequent language easier to acquire.
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