RRJ #2

Reference:
Dreifus, C. (2011, May 30). The Bilingual Advantage. The New York Times. Retrieved Jun 2,2011 from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?_r=1

Summary:
According to this article, bilingualism is the food of the brain. It makes the work of our brain stronger. It helps to delay the occurrence of Alzheimer’s symptoms. Studies show that a bilingual’s executive control system works better than a monolingual’s system. They are able to ignore the less important tasks and concentrate on the most important one. Moreover, their performance in multitasking is better than that of the monolinguals. Scientists also discovered that the working of their brain is not the same. They seem like they are have a different brain network. Bilinguals have to use and think in both languages they speak in order to make benefit. Finally, bilingualism used to be negative in the USA but it is not considered as a negative thing anymore.

Reaction:
I like the information that I have never heard about. It’s pretty new for me but I’m glad to hear so because I’m bilingual. I tend to teach my son 2 or more languages if I can. In fact, the desire of doing so has increased from this moment. I remember now my mom; whenever we were doing many tasks at the same time, my performance was better than hers. She considered that as the effect of age but now I believe that it might be the bilingualism benefit. I try to compare between bilinguals and monolinguals, and I just discover that yes, they may have a different way in thinking and finding the ways to solve their problems. It’s a pretty amazing and useful article. It is worth reading