Przeczytaj poniższy tekst. Z podanych odpowiedzi wybierz właściwą, zgodną z treścią tekstu. Zakreśl literę A, B, C albo D.
Children who naturally learn two or more languages are becoming a more and more common phenomenon in today’s world.
The number of these bilingual or multilingual children is growing together with the number of transnational marriages and,
most importantly, due to the fact that immigration is occurring on a much larger scale than ever before. In the US alone, over
30 million children are now reported to speak a language other than English at home. Depending on their family or ethnic
environment, different methods are used to teach such children.
A method commonly used by a transnational family is often called the ‘one person – one language’ method. The second
language is usually spoken by one of the parents, but it may also come from a nanny or grandparent. This is believed to be
quite effective. However, it also requires extra motivation for the child, such as trips abroad, visits from foreign family members,
or, later on, playgroups or even classes. Otherwise, the child might easily reach the conclusion that a language spoken by only
one person is not worth his or her effort.
Another widespread method of raising bilingual children is called ‘minority language at home’, where the minority language is
spoken by everyone at home, while everyone else speaks the native language of the country. This can also be very successful
but parents might worry if their child doesn’t speak the wider community language at the same level as other kids of the same
age. But studies show that sooner or later, the child will be equally fluent unless he or she becomes isolated from people who
speak the language.
When deciding to bring up their child bilingually, parents need to realise that this process may often lead to negative effects,
such as speech delay. According to research, bilingual children may start speaking from 3 to 6 months later than their peers.
This, of course, can concern parents and they may even give up raising their child bilingually. But research also shows that
bilingual children easily catch up with other children later on, and become fluent speakers of the wider community language.
Although the whole process requires a lot of effort, mainly on the side of the parents, the overall result is well-worth it. Apart
from the obvious benefit of speaking more than one language fluently, studies also show that many multilingual people are
able to keep their mental ability till an old age.
6.1. According to the text, children who speak two or
more languages
A. are only found in the United States.
B. are less common now than in the past.
C. are often raised in immigrant families.
D. usually speak English at home.
6.2. The ‘one person – one language’ method
A. is only used by one of the parents.
B. is quite rare nowadays.
C. doesn’t usually work well.
D. works well with additional activities.
6.3. The ‘minority language at home’ method
A. may only fail in some special conditions.
B. isn’t very popular or successful.
C. keeps the child from learning the community language.
D. is less worrying for the parents than the previous
method.
6.4. Studies show that speech delay
A. means a child can’t learn a second language.
B. is natural and it doesn’t worry parents.
C. is rather rare among bilingual children.
D. doesn’t usually last for a long time.
6.5. In the writer’s opinion, bringing up children to be
bilingual
A. requires too much work.
B. can easily fail for various reasons.
C. is very useful despite some problems.
D. usually leads to some negative effects