By: Gaia Vince
Published: Business
Insider, Aug 11, 2006,http://www.businessinsider.com/why-being-bilingual-helps-keep-your-brain-fit-2016-8?utm_source=feedburner&%3Butm_medium=referral&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+(Business+Insider) The
article was also published on Mosaic, https://mosaicscience.com/bilingual-brains
Level of Difficulty:
**
WATCH, LISTEN AND
TAKE NOTES
QUESTIONS
1.
What conclusion can be drawn from the first two
paragraphs of the text?
·
Bilingualism is nothing special in some parts of
the world
·
Bilingualism is exceptional in some parts of the
world
·
Bilingualism is easy in some parts of the world
·
Bilingualism is compulsory in some parts of the
world
2.
The information concerning multilingualism points to a surprising conclusion. It is... ………………………..
3.
The Snowflake experiment proves / disproves
the above because those who succeed ……………and this shows that ………………
4.
We understand from the text that a certain
amount of…………..was necessary for languages to start to develop.
5.
Hunter gatherers became multilingual for
practical reasons such as…….. and for social reasons such as……
6.
The reason why the tide turned and bilingualism
was looked down on was scientific / non-scientific because …
7.
The disregard of the 1962 experiment mentioned
in the text shows that the negative attitude towards bilingualism was hazardous
/ prejudicial / sensible / understandable
8.
What conclusion can we draw from the writer’s
personal example?
9.
Read the paragraphs describing English – German
bilinguals. We understand from the information provided that the way the
bilingual’s perspective depended on ….
10.
The study involving English – Japanese
bilinguals came up with an interesting result:…
11.
Read the following excerpt from the text: “In a revealing experiment with his
English-German bilingual group,…” In what sense is the experiment revealing? In
that…
12.
Read the assessment of the Snowflake experiment
the two flanker tests the writer took.
What was the result of the experiment?
13.
What conclusion can be drawn from this
experiment? Learning a new language has a positive impact on…
14.
The exercise of continual executive control by
bilinguals impacts the brain in that…
15.
The above mentioned build up of grey matter has
an additional advantage:
16.
What general conclusion can be drawn concerning bilingualism
from the last two sections you have read?
17.
Immersion schooling should replace current
practices because it has various personal advantages such as improving.......... and various practical advantages such as providing ......advantages
18.
Which sentence in the last section of the text
best expresses the general conclusion we can draw from the text?
WRITING
Write an essay in which you discuss the advantages of a
bilingual education. Use the information you have acquired. Look back at the
advantages listed in the text; can they be grouped in certain ways? When
writing your essay, make sure that each paragraph of your development is about
one group of advantages.
WHY BEING BILINGUAL
HELPS KEEP YOUR BRAIN FIT KEY AND TEACHERS’ NOTES
There has been an
inordinate amount of focus on monolingual education and the imagined
disadvantages of confusing the students with a second language. Research shows
that this is far from being the case as this text demonstrates. As a
multilingual individual, I can attest to this myself. The text should provide
some interesting insights into the issue and lead to a well structured essay.
1. The
first
2. The
human brain evolved to be multilingual
3. Proves,
are the ones who don’t care at all about the task, the brain is primed to work
it out subconsciously
4. Biological
evolution
5. Trade
and travel; not being allowed to marry anyone in the same tribe or clan to have
a child
6. Non-scientific
; it was regarded as disloyal to speak anything other than the one national
language
7. Prejudicial
8. You
gain a different personality with every language you speak
9. Which
country they were tested in
10. Bilinguals
have a different mindset for each language
11. In
that it reveals that the different mindsets of a bilingual person are
continually in conflict (as bilingual brains sort out which language to use).
12.
Learning a new language helped the writer’s
performance on the flanker test the second time round
13.
Cognitive conflict resolution
14.
Bilingual people have significantly more grey
matter in their ACC
15.
It delays the effects of dementia
16.
Bilingualism helps keep us mentally fit
17.
Concentration, focus, the development of self
esteem
18.
Each new language gives you a whole new life
style, a whole new shade of meaning
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