Learning Languages from Home Q&A: Tips and Advice from the Experts This article was originally published on Porch on August 18, 2021 by Tamara Segal Learning a new language enhances your life in numerous ways while providing you with a marketable skill. As you learn a new language, you’ll develop new communication skills, keep your brain agile, and even discover new writers and artists to read and enjoy as you encounter them in your studies. By learning a language at home, you can adopt an instruction schedule that suits your time frame — and you can fit in practice when it’s most conveni ..read more

Original article published on Porch, March 3, 2021 Author: Tamara Segal, a passionate writer at Porch.com. Tamara loves to learn new things every time and using her free time to learn languages has been lately one of her favorite activities. She enjoys taking long bike rides and having a nice cup of coffee while reading a good book.  People often recognize that being multilingual is associated with career benefits, but did you know that language learning can also enhance your cognitive health? Too often, people graduate from school and leave foreign languages behind in the clas ..read more

Know Your Options: Questions to Ask Your School Regarding Bilingual Education and Other Language Learning Programs Before You Enroll Parents, guess what? You have choices – choices for your child’s education. Yes, there are many limits on your choices for education, especially for multilingual education. However, being aware of the choices you do have available empowers you to make the most informed decisions about your child’s education. First, let’s talk about choices for multilingual education beginning with elementary education. Many schools in Austin Independent School District (AISD) ha ..read more

The true failure of foreign language instruction Far fewer Americans speak a second language than in most other developed countries – and the problem starts in the classroom. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com Catherine Snow, Harvard University A recent report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences calls for more attention to language teaching in the U.S. The report notes that U.S. students have much less access to foreign language instruction than students in other economically developed countries, and that Americans are thus much less likely to be bi- or multilingual. As an expert on ..read more

NPR Hidden Brain Podcast: Creativity And Diversity: How Exposure To Different People Affects Our Thinking This is a great podcast done by Hidden Brain that demonstrates the innovation and creativity that happens when diverse groups effectively and respectfully collaborate. Below is the link and a general description from the podcast. Podcast Link “This week on Hidden Brain, we look at the powerful connection between the ideas we dream up and the people who surround us, and what it really takes to think outside the box.” “There is great comfort in the familiar. It’s one reason humans ofte ..read more

Why Cross-Cultural Communication Skills are Vital in Business The modern business professional works with individuals from a wide range of diverse backgrounds and cultures. To communicate in a culturally diverse environment, it’s important for business professionals to develop cultural intelligence (CQ). To learn more, check out the infographic below created by Rider University’s Online Master of Business Communication program. An Increasingly Multicultural Business Environment As diversity continues to increase in the United States, business seek employees with cross-cultural commun ..read more

Public Schools 360 Podcast on Bilingual & Dual Language Education The podcast in the link below discusses the role of bilingual education in the public school system and highlights the differences in the various formats and the purposes they serve. Host is Rana Arched Hafiz with guests Dr. Aradhana Mudambi and Ms. Angela Pack Zia. https://www.publicschools360.com/angie-pack-zia-and-dr-aradhana-mudambi About Public Schools 360 Founder & Host: https://www.publicschools360.com/about Rana Arshed Hafiz I was born and raised in India in a family….. Where working for social good and service ..read more

When Bilingualism Means More Than the Number of Languages You Speak – Building Empathy in our Diverse Society Think Bilingual Austin’s founding mission is to build community through language learning and multicultural understanding. However, language is simply a tool to help us better communicate and understand the speakers of another culture and background. Yet, even those of us who speak the same language often still require translation because of differences in cultural and socio-economic experiences and perspectives, including the stories we choose to believe to help us make sense of the w ..read more

1 in 10 US students are English learners Author: Jennifer Mata-McMahon, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Dual-language instruction can help children grow up to be bilingual. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images More than 1 in 10 of the nation’s approximately 50 million public school students speak a native language other than English, according to the latest federal data. Roughly 3 in 4 of these English learners speak Spanish. The percentage of U.S. students who are learning how to speak English has grown significantly in recent years, rising from 8% in fall of 2000 to 10% by 2017, the data ..read more

Online Community Presentation: Why Equity Demands Advocating for Dual Language Programs Coalición por la Educación Bilingüe Equitativa en Austin You are invited to a virtual community education session about dual language and the necessity of building on the bilingual and bicultural assets of our students. The purpose of the session is to help our community better understand what bilingual education is, what it looks like now in Austin ISD, and why dual language programs are critical to the long-term success of bilingual learners. We are asking our co-hosts to help us spread the word about th ..read more