On 3^rd June 2023, Our Bilingual Futures II took place at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (Novena campus). Organized by the Brain, Language and Intersensory Perception (BLIP), Clinical Brain Lab (CBL) and Learning Brain Lab (LBL), the event was catered for parents who are interested to learn how to raise bilingual children, and for educators who are curious to find out about how best to teach languages to children. The format of the event was similar to the first event, where we had talks, booths, and a Q&A session for attendees to interact with our language researchers.

 

As our expert language researchers shared past and ongoing research on language and how they can benefit parents, here are some interesting and important takeaways from the talks that we have summarised:

1. The use of English language usage at home has increased from 2010 to 2020. Multi-language literacy has also increased, with around 75% of Singaporeans being able to read and write in 2 or more languages. (Singapore Department of Statistics, 2020)
2. In order to increase mother tongue language proficiency and usage, parents can consider doing shared reading with their child. By creating opportunities for reading, speaking, or writing, children can improve their mother tongue. Parents can also look for multimedia tools that can help children learn their mother tongue (i.e. videos, games, music etc).
3. When reading in English and Chinese, different brain areas are involved and activated. By conducting research on the brain networks involved in reading, researchers are better able to understand the brain better, along with finding out the best way to improve language learning.

The event ended with a Q&A session where language experts answered some language-related questions such as whether learning two languages at the same time will affect the learning of one language, or how best to support mother tongue language learning in preschools, and how to teach children mother tongue language at home in a multicultural household.

We hope that all participants enjoyed their time at the event learning about language-learning for children! If you were unable to join us this time, do keep a lookout for our next event and join us there!

Written by: Phoebe

Video by: Michelle

References

Singapore Department of Statistics. (2020). Singapore Census of Population 2020. https://www.singstat.gov.sg/publications/reference/cop2020/cop2020-sr1