Improving your literacy by learning a second language

By Elaine Kelly | Posted: Thursday September 26, 2024

The benefits of learning a second language have long since been recognised by scientists and educationalists alike.

Research shows that people who speak a second language develop superior attention, mental flexibility, and memory as well as outperforming monolingual students in other areas such as science, maths reading, and vocabulary. Learning a second language can also help protect your brain. Second language learners are also protected from the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and if they do get Alzheimer’s they suffer less brain damage. 

Recently the boys in Year 10 French have been learning how to write a review of their favourite book in French and we have also started reading Harry Potter as a class. Writing in another language helps improve your level of literacy in your first language, so it is great that these boys have added this skill to their toolkit. Even though the grammar and core vocabulary of English is Germanic, most of the intermediate and advanced vocabulary in English comes directly from French and Latin. Some 40 to 50% of English vocabulary comes directly from French. Writing in a foreign language also forces you to take a step back from your native tongue to see it from another point of view.

Please enjoy reading these book reviews in French!