Consider this:
"In a study of 450 Alzheimer's patients, led by Ellen Bialystok, a psychology professor at York University in Toronto, those who were bilingual for most of their lives were able to stave off symptoms of Alzheimer's for four to five years longer than people who spoke only one language."
And this:
"Lest bilingual folks start feeling too high and mighty, another new study involving 230 people found that the benefits to memory in elderly adults increased with the number of languages they spoke: those who spoke four or more languages were five times less likely to develop cognitive problems, compared with mere bilinguals. People who spoke three languages were three times less likely to have cognitive problems than people who spoke two."
Ever heard this joke?
What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual.
What do you call someone who speaks one language?
American.
Watch the following video
"Don't Insist on English!" (It is about 10 minutes and I will show it during Tutorial A on Wednesday and Tutorial B on Thursday) Your assignment is then to post your thoughts on the video. Do you agree with Patricia Ryan? Do you think knowing more than one language is a good thing or bad things? Do you think it is important to know more than one language? Why or why not? Your blog entry should be reflective and demonstrate that you have watched the video and put some thought into this issue. Let me know if you have any questions!
