Making it Happen: Chapter 3

It's so interesting to read about the cognitive differences (and similarities) involved in learning a first language and learning a second language. There are obvious reasons why the situations will differ between learning L1 and L2, such as time, developmental maturity, and experiences.

[caption id="attachment_57" align="alignright" width="240"] Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net[/caption]The most poignant part of this chapter helped to quench a thirst for an answer I asked my dad when I was 10: how can we learn a second language unless our brains just have their own language? In other words, I thought the only way we could know one language was because our "brain language" learned how to translate from "brain language" to "L1" and then again for "L2."

This chapter (obviously) strays from that rudimentary, 10-year-old-thought-process, because, as it shows, learning a language is so different from learning other concepts  or content. It was good to read, once again, of Vygotsky's and Piaget's eternal impact on the field of education in this chapter.