HWRK Magazine: Issue 03 - Spring 2018

CURRICULUM
LANGUAGES
20
months
Scientists at Princeton University in New
York report bilingual infants as young as 20
months of age can efficiently and accurately
process two languages just by listening.
Try a little Dutch courage
A new study published in the Journal of
Psychopharmacology conducted by researchers from
the University of Liverpool, Maastricht University
and King’s College London, shows bilingual speakers’
ability to speak a second language is improved after they have
consumed alcohol.
It is well established that alcohol impairs cognitive and
motor functions, but it also increases self-confidence and
reduces social anxiety, meaning the effects of low doses were
under scrutiny.
Dr Inge Kersbergen, from the University of Liverpool,
said: “Our study shows acute alcohol consumption may have
beneficial effects on the pronunciation of a foreign language
in people who recently learned that language. This provides
some support for the lay belief (among bilingual speakers)
that a low dose of alcohol can improve their ability to speak a
second language.”
BREAKING BARRIERS
Hero’s welcome
The Arts and Textiles
teacher at Alperton
Community School
in Brent, North
London was named
as one of the world’s
top 10 teachers in
February, after she
learnt 35 different
languages to better
communicate with
her pupils and their
parents.
Andria Zafirakou
was hailed by judge
and Microsoft mogul
Bill Gates for
helping to build
bridges in a
community packed
with migrant
families by learning
languages like
Gujarati, Hindi,
Tamil, Portuguese,
Somali, Arabic,
Romanian, Polish,
Urdu and Italian.
Immigrants shine
Pupils who speak
English as a
second language
are significantly
outperforming native English
speakers at GCSE level across
the UK.
A detailed breakdown of last
summer’s exam results shows
children who don’t have English
as their mother tongue get, on
average, roughly one and a half
grades higher than those who do.
The national average point
score for native English speakers
was 46.3, while for those who
spoke English as a second
language it was 47.7.
BILINGUAL BENEFITS
Start language
study early
Bilingual children
will be far more
receptive to
learning additional
languages later in
life, according to
a study published
in the journal
Bilingualism:
Language and
Cognition.
The study,
conducted at
Georgetown
University Medical
Center, compared a
group of English-
Mandarin bilinguals
with English-only
speaking students
and found the
former picked up a
third language far
more efficiently.
“There has been a
lot of debate about
the value of early
bilingual language
education,” says
lead author Sarah
Grey, an assistant
professor at
Fordham University.
“Now, with this
small study, we have
novel brain-based
data that points
towards a distinct
language-learning
benefit for people
who grow up
bilingual.”
HWRKMAGAZINE.CO.UK Spring 2018 // HWRK MAGAZINE // 11