Think over the following questions and express your personal point of view on bilingualism:
What are the advantages of learning several languages from an early age?
What are the dangers (disadvantages)?
What’s the best way to teach a child two or more languages simultaneously?
Would you like to learn the second foreign language? Why?
Work in small groups. Look at the diagram in fig.2 depicting the state of affairs in relation to bilingualism in Great Britain. In your group think of the potential reasons of changes in it, discuss them and report your findings to the class:
Useful language:
Let’s look at this diagram to get a better picture of … ;
As this chart shows … ;
If you look here … in the age of …;
As you can see … as much as … .
As many as 75% respondents say …;
The survey revealed (these figures indicate) … ;
This represent a growth of … .
Fig.2. (the source: http://www.riverbendds.org/tommasi.html )