THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM: BILINGUAL PRESCHOOL EDUCATION IN GERMANY – A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE
THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM: BILINGUAL PRESCHOOL EDUCATION IN GERMANY – A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Summary/Abstract: Bilingualism or multilingualism is not the aberration supposed by those speaking a 'big language' but rather the default situation for the majority of speech communities in the world today. Based on this perspective, the psycholinguistic foundations of second language acquisition are explored in the first part of this paper and it is argued that bilingual education in a monolingual society should start as early as preschool. It is suggested that acquiring a second language does not represent any additional burden for young children but that it rather fosters cognitive development and flexibility. In the second part of the paper I take a look at different preschool programmes in Germany with a special focus on enrichment programmes. Two German bilingual preschools (L1 German/L2 English and L1 German/L2 French) are introduced and their structures discussed in some detail. It is argued that even in a situation where the use of the L2 is limited to preschool contexts, the children develop considerable linguistic skills in the new language.

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