<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[The Dish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Andrew Sullivan]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/author/sullydish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Why Discourage Bilingualism?]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[
<p>Julie Sedivy <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/01/19/leave-los-ninos-alone-the-mental-costs-of-linguistic-assimilation/" target="_self">reiterates</a> the cognitive benefits of knowing two languages:</p>
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<p>[A]n <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01477.x/abstract">intriguing Israeli study</a> led by Esther Adi-Japha found that the drawings of bilingual  kindergarten-age kids were different from their monolingual peers. When  asked to draw a picture of a flower that does not exist, monolingual  children were fairly unadventurous, drawing perhaps a flower that was  missing its leaves, or a flower with only one petal. Bilingual children,  on the other hand, incorporated elements from completely different  objects—producing for instance, a flower with a tail, or a flower with  teeth. This kind of cross-category mixing in children’s drawings tends  not to occur until kids are about eight years old, putting the bilingual  kids on an accelerated timeline for this particular skill.</p>
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