1. Kathryn Boothby
A
nnette Mitchell is
a successful entre-
preneur. She has
travelled to more
than 100 countries, has of-
fices around the globe and
has a particularly strong
business network in China.
The 40-something mother
of three knows the value of
multiple language skills,
though she is fluent in only
one — English. Mitchell is
determined that will not be
the case for her children.
Three years ago, Mitchell
enrolled her two eldest chil-
dren in The Dalton School,
a new private institution
in Toronto that began of-
fering bilingual program-
ming in Mandarin/English
and Spanish/English. Her
youngest started junior kin-
dergarten this year. All are
learning Mandarin.
“I have been doing busi-
ness in China for 19 years
and can see the opportun-
ities learning the language
can bring,” says Mitchell. “I
want to do the very best for
my children, and that means
starting at an early age.”
Indeed, as society becomes
more global in nature the
need to understand more
than one language to ef-
fectively conduct business
is increasing, says Donna
Booth, principal at The Dal-
ton School. “Even if you look
only to North America and
the Spanish-speaking popula-
tions in the U.S. and Mexico,
adding that second language
will facilitate more options as
children pursue a career path
later in life,” she says.
Learning a new language
can happen at any age, says
Krista Byers-Heinlein, asso-
ciate professor and research
chair in bilingualism at Con-
cordia University in Mont-
real. “That said, we know
there are, on average, some
differences in terms of lan-
guage outcomes depending
on how early you start,”
she says. “People who start
learning a new language
earlier in life are less likely
to have an accent and more
likely to speak similarly to a
native speaker.”
The most obvious benefits
are linguistic. “Those with
a second language are able
to converse with different
people and, in some instan-
ces, maintain connections to
a heritage language for cul-
tural and social identity pur-
poses,” notes Byers-Heinlein.
Employment advantages can
also accrue, she says.
A popular and sometimes-
controversial topic of discus-
sion is the cognitive benefits,
notes Byers-Heinlein. “There
are studies that show bilin-
gual children and adults
have advantages in the
executive function system
that helps with planning,
switching between different
areas of focus, and inhibiting
information. This is because
bilinguals are constantly jug-
gling languages — to speak
one, you have to inhibit
the other,” she says. “Music
and other enriching experi-
ences that give the brain
a workout can also lead to
those benefits.”
The advantages of her
children’s language skills
became immediately ap-
parent to Mitchell this sum-
mer, when they joined her
on a business trip to Beijing.
“They were able to speak
with taxi drivers, hotel staff
and at restaurants, which
made the trip that much
easier for me,” says Mitchell.
“Their confidence was boost-
ed as a result, and they were
able to gain a better under-
standing of what they were
seeing and saying. It was in-
teresting to see that evolve.”
Because of the 12-hour
time difference between To-
ronto and Beijing, Mitchell
was able to spend a good deal
of time visiting the sights in
and around the city. “We took
trips to the Forbidden City
and the Great Wall, which
gave them additional expos-
ure to the culture,” she says.
“They wrote messages in
Mandarin and placed them
in the wall, where they will
remain for centuries to come.”
Mitchell chuckles and
says she thanks herself every
day for giving her children
the opportunity to travel and
to attend The Dalton School.
“It means so much to me
that the children are doing
this and that they love it. It
has expanded their minds
and made them more sensi-
tive to other peoples and
cultures,” she says.
Both languages are sup-
ported equally at the school,
says Booth. “We don’t teach
Mandarin or Spanish as a
subject, nor do we immerse
children into an environ-
ment where the second lan-
guage is spoken 100 per cent
of the time. Instead, the day
is split 50/50,” she explains.
“It’s also not simply about
learning the vocabulary. It’s
about daily use and a back-
to-basics philosophy. We
want the children to read,
write, add and subtract. Al-
though they are learning
another language, they are
also working on the building
blocks of a solid education.”
The Dalton School began
in 2012. Children are invited
in at the junior or senior kin-
dergarten level. Mitchell’s
children were there at the
beginning when there were
only four students, she says.
Today, the school serves 53
students with nine teachers.
“We add a grade level each
year, so we grow as the chil-
dren grow,” says Booth.
Next year students will
roll up to Grade 6.
The language
of learning
PRIVATESCHOOLS
I WANT TO DO THE VERY BEST FOR MY
CHILDREN, AND THAT MEANS STARTING
AT AN EARLY AGE — ANNETTE MITCHELL
Annette Mitchell with children Jake, Bo and Rhyan in Mandarin class at the Dalton School.