Mundos Virtuales, Educacion Conectada y Aprendizaje de Lenguas

Well, this is just great... Follow the little birdie to education ...

Not only for children... I used them with my university students.. and they like them, too... ;)

:)

Children and older persons learning foreign languages have been demonstrated to:

+ have a keener awareness and sharper perception of language.

+ Foreign language learning “enhances children’s understanding of how language itself works and their ability to manipulate language in the service of thinking and problem solving” (Cummins 1981);

+ be more capable of separating meaning from form;

learn more rapidly in their native language (L1), e.g. to read, as well as display improved performance in other basic L1 skills, regardless of race, gender, or academic level;

+ be more efficient communicators in the L1;

+ be consistently better able to deal with distractions, which may help offset age-related declines in mental dexterity;

+ develop a markedly better language proficiency in, sensitivity to, and understanding of their mother tongue;develop a greater vocabulary size over age, including that in their L1;

+ have a better ear for listening and sharper memories;

+ be better language learners in institutionalized learning contexts because of more developed language-learning capacities owing to the more complex linguistic knowledge and higher language awareness;

+ have increased ability to apply more reading strategies effectively due to their greater experience in language learning and reading in two—or more—different languages;

+ develop not only better verbal, but also spatial abilities;

parcel up and categorize meanings in different ways;

display generally greater cognitive flexibility, better problem solving and higher-order thinking skills;

+ “a person who speaks multiple languages has a stereoscopic vision of the world from two or more perspectives, enabling them to be more flexible in their thinking, learn reading more easily. Multilinguals, therefore, are not restricted to a single world-view, but also have a better understanding that other outlooks are possible. Indeed, this has always been seen as one of the main educational advantages of language teaching” (Cook 2001);

+ multilinguals can expand their personal horizons and—being simultaneously insiders and outsiders—see their own culture from a new perspective not available to monoglots, enabling the comparison, contrast, and understanding of cultural concepts;

+ be better problem-solvers gaining multiple perspectives on issues at hand;

have improved critical thinking abilities;

+ better understand and appreciate people of other countries, thereby lessening racism, xenophobia, and intolerance, as the learning of a new language usually brings with it a revelation of a new culture;

+ learn further languages more quickly and efficiently than their hitherto monolingual peers;

+ to say nothing of the social and employment advantages of being bilingual – offering the student the ability to communicate with people s/he would otherwise not have the chance to interact with, and increasing job opportunities in many careers.

Great videos and materials for the ELT class..

Tools.. tools and more tools.. Hope you find what you are looking for.. :)