Bilingual Kids in the News!

Last week, our friend Ana Flores of SpanglishBaby made an appearance on NBC's Today Show to talk about raising bilingual kids and the importance of starting early. #BilingualKids swiftly became a hot topic on twitter, and we want to keep the conversation going. First, watch the video in which Ana and Columbia professor Erika Levy make the case for bilingual kids. Note, especially, how adamantly professor Levy dispels the myth that bilingual children start speaking later than monolingual children – good news for all!

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If you'd like to continue to explore the topic of bilingual kids in the news, here are two informative articles from the last two weeks.

1. This Huffington Post piece by Dr. Gail Gross delves into the effects language can have on babies before they are born. Even in the womb, babies can begin to distinguish their mothers' voices and languages!
2. And this recent article in TIME Magazine also reveals how different languages affect the way children process and analyze information. The more languages they learn how to balance, the more analytical tools they have!

Little Pim on The Today Show- Language Learning For Kids

Little Pim was featured on the Today Show on Wednesday, September 29th. The segment - "Kids Getting Ahead With Spanish, Mandarin" - was part of NBC's Education Nation week of programming. The demand for second language programs for children has been steadily increasing as parents learn about the developmental and employment advantages to growing up bilingual.

The segment featured parents and experts (including Little Pim founder, Julia Pimsleur Levine) who emphasized the importance of starting kids early on learning a second or third language.

Daniella Montalto of the NYU Institute of Learning and Academic Achievement expanded on the cognitive benefits to early second language acquisition, "Academically, children who have learned a second language tend to be better readers and writers...they also score higher on IQ tests."

Clips of Little Pim Mandarin, Spanish, and French were shown in the segment as well: ".. language DVDs, like Little Pim, [are] teaching little ones languages like Spanish, Mandarin and French."

We hope you were able to tune in! If not, enjoy the clip below. A big thank you to the Today Show for including us!