Following a recent survey we found that Gillespie's has 43 'official' languages spoken by our pupils. We are proud of this fact and we encourage our pupils to speak their languages in and out of school. Gillespie's, over the years, has always supported and valued the diversity of its pupils. We believe that speaking more than one language assists in learning in its widest sense. Increasingly we find that neuroscience and other studies into cognitive development support this view.In stark contrast, when I grew up in the Western Isles in the 60s and 70s many families were persuaded to raise their children as monoglot English speakers. Fortunately for our family, our parents and grandparents before them, insisted that Gaelic was to be the language spoken in our home.
This recent article in the Economist makes interesting reading and draws on an increasing body of evidence to support multilingualism as a an effective means of assisting learners' cognitive development.
No comments:
Post a Comment