I have followed the debate concerning the “bilingual advantage” concerning executive functions and hoped that this would also be tested for children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders). Prof. Aparna Nadig from the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at McGill University recently published a paper in Child Development, on her findings demonstrating that the “bilingual […]
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International and Bilingual Schools and Daycares in The Hague area
The Hague’s International Schools Many international schools are partly funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, which means that they have to abide by the standards and rules of this ministry. International education is available for children from the age of 4 and mostly prepares children for the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) […]
Continue readingLanguage Assessments for Bilingual and Multilingual Children
Parents of multilingual children worry the most if their children will be able to keep up with all the languages and have a sufficient knowledge, proficiency, academically speaking, once they go to school. Schools do regular language and literacy assessments and even international schools tend to assess the school language only or at least also the dominant language – […]
Continue readingCan SEN children become bilingual?
One of the biggest myths when it comes to bilingualism is that it causes language delay in children. I understand that if a child is a “late speaker” or has some speech issues, teachers and parents often think that the reason for this is because the child is overwhelmed by all the languages. The first thought is, […]
Continue readingDutch and German: what do they have in common?
Learning a new language is always very exciting. Especially when the new language we’re learning is similar to one we already know. These similarities can be at different levels (phonetical, lexical, syntactical etc.). The Dutch language belongs to the West-German branch of the Indoeuropean languages and is actually close to German (and Swissgerman). [The simplified […]
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