At this time of year many parents of small children are making decisions about their child’s first school.

They’ll be thinking about distance, reputation, where older brothers or sisters or neighbours’ children go and so on.

They may not have considered sending their child to a Welsh medium school. 

My aim is to draw attention to an aspect of this that many are not aware of, and that is the benefits to children of being educated in a language which isn’t the language spoken at home. 

It doesn’t seem logical, but if a child from an English-speaking family goes into Welsh medium education not only will they speak Welsh competently, but on average their English will also be better than those in an English medium school.

Get in touch

Share your views on this story by sending a letter to the editor. To get in touch email news@countytimes.co.uk, or fill in the form on this section of our website.

This language effect was noted back in the 1950s when research in Finland showed that children of Swedish speaking parents in Finnish-medium schools had improved in Swedish too. 

This has been found in many countries since including Quebec, US, Basque Country and Wales. 

On a related point, I remember many years ago when my wife taught French in a West Midlands school. 

She noticed that Asian children, who at that time would speak Punjabi or Urdu at home, were noticeably quicker at learning French. 

So it may be obvious that language learning  will be improved but interestingly, recent research showed that Maths was also improved.

Presumably a child’s brain is stimulated by their varying experiences.

So something to think about!  

Bernard Gillespie, Trefaldwyn