Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.
Cognitive neuroscientist Ellen Bialystok has been studying how
being able to speak two languages sharpens the mind. In her
conversation with Claudia Dreifus, she states that kids who are
bilingual have a way of thinking that helps them better
distinguish important information from the less important. Are
you or someone you are close to able to speak two (or more)
languages fluently? Have you noticed any advantages other than
being able to communicate with more people? In the article based
on their conversation “The Bilingual Advantage,” Ellen Bialystok
explains why bilinguals are able to sort information as they do:
There’s a system in your brain, the executive control system.
It’s a general manager. Its job is to keep you focused on what
is relevant, while ignoring distractions. It’s what makes it
possible for you to hold two different things in your mind at
one time and switch between them. If you have two languages and
you use them regularly, th