Bilingual kids ‘have better literacy and concentration’

Children have better literacy and concentrate better in class if they are deeply immersed in two languages either in school or at home, a childhood bilingualism researcher says.

Francesca La Morgia from Trinity College Dublin is examining the benefits of education in Irish-language schools but said children brought up in homes where they regularly speak a second language show the same positive outcomes.

“You need to be exposed to a language sufficiently over the course of a day in order to in order to acquire it, whether at home or in a school context,” she said.