As we learn, we acquire new knowledge and skills through instruction or experience. The brain plasticity theory of William James states that the brain has the lifelong ability to reorganise neural pathways based on new experiences. Today, the majority of research shows that far from interfering with development, learning other languages actually stimulates the learners across their entire learning curve. For a long time it was globally accepted that foreign language learning interferes with language development. They don’t always seem to know what they say and why, but they can say it.” Parents, practitioners and theorists have mixed views about what the optimal age to begin learning another language is. They switch from one language to another automatically. Like magic…Ĭommenting on my conversation with Jessica’s mum, a parent of a bilingual child once said, “It works almost like magic for them. A couple of weeks later, Jessica’s mum informed me that they had visited Budapest and Jessica had had the time of her life – although she was a little unsure of what the pigs really said, as “it sounded a lot like ‘oink oink’”.

We then learn about the country the magic carpet has taken us to, including some words from the language of the country if we know them. I described how I pretend with the children that we are sitting on a magic carpet that can take us anywhere, and which lands when the children point to a place on the map. Overcoming my surprise, I told Jessica’s mum that this was the Hungarian version of “oink-oink”, and explained how Jessica had learnt this. When asked what this meant exactly, Jessica answered, “It’s magic”. However, the only thing Jessica had asked for was to go on holiday to where the pigs say “rof-rof”. One day, Jessica’s mum asked me to talk to her in private she informed me that due to some serious medical problems, Jessica would be spending a lot of time in hospital in the near future, and they therefore wanted to organise the party of her dreams for her upcoming birthday. So I introduced the children to my origins and the history of my life through stories, maps, songs and pictures, including some words from my native country, Hungary. Having built my teaching approach on what I learnt about child development at university, I believe that the more children know about the world around them, the better their opportunities will be when they grow up.

At the time, she belonged to my key group and displayed a great amount of interest in my origins from the first time we met. At Judit Horvath’s nursery, foreign language learning – and the considerable early educational benefits it can provide – are but a magic carpet ride away…

Foreign language learning and healing