Yanwen’s blog

10/1, 9/29/2026

A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism by Colin Baker.

One of them is related to bilingual and brain.

"Is it better for my child to learn a language early to secure better storage in the brain?" I've never thought this way!

"One recent area of research on bilinguals is how their two languages are stored and used in the brain. For example, if someone learns two languages from birth, with bilingualism as their first language, are the two languages stored differently in the brain from someone who learns a second language at school or in adult life?"

"One much publicized piece of research by Mechelli and colleagues (2004) suggests that learning a second language increases the density of the brain's gray matter. When comparing 25 monolinguals, 25 early bilinguals and 33 late bilinguals, brain gray matter density was greater in bilinguals than monolinguals, and with early bilinguals having an increased density over late bilinguals. The authors concluded that the 'structure of the brain is altered by the experience of acquiring a second language' (p.757).

Each parent speaks a different language to the child. This is often called the "one person-one language" )OPOL approach.

What are the advantages of my child becoming bilingual?

It will affect the rest of their lives and the lives of their parents. For children, being bilingual or monolingual may affect their identity, social arrangements, schooling, employment, marriage, area of residence, travel and thinking. ... Bilingualism has educational, social, economic and cultural consequences.

For many mothers and fathers, it is important for them to be able to speak to the child in their first language. This may enable a subtle, finer texture of relationship with the parent. Many parents can only communicate with full intimacy, naturally and expressively in their first language. ... At the same time, both parents are passing to that child part of their past, part of their heritage.

A bilingual child can bridge between generations.

The advantages of being bilingual: communication, culture, cognitive, curriculum, cash (economic benefits)

With two languages goes a wider cultural experience, and greater tolerance of cultural differences and less racism.

Bilingualism requires motivation and a positive attitude from parents, often considerable perseverance to achieve a distant goal, and a willingness not to expect too much too soon.

One important example of using a minority language is when the children are in their teenage years. If a parent speaks the majority language with a foreign accent, the teenager may be embarrassed. By speaking a minority language, the parent may retain more authority and credibility, and be more valued by the teenager. Continuity in minority language experience from early childhood through the teenage years is important if that minority language is to survive through to early adulthood.

There is a need to engineer the language environment in the home.

What are the most important factors in raising a bilingual child?

Children are born ready to become bilinguals and multilinguals. 

Mistake to avoid: the child has learned that bilingualism is associated with pressure, anxiety and constant correction.

Avoid making it a source of conflict, a series of mini crises, and a competition against monolingual standards. A language castle is simultaneously built and attacked.

The wind of influence usually blow in the direction of the majority language. The balance of language experience needs tilting in favor of the minority language. While ensuring the child becomes fully fluent in the majority language, some sheltering from a pervasive majority language may be important.

A most important factor in raising a bilingual child is the language that surrounds language.

Will my child become equally fluent in two languages?

The answer is 'no' with only a few exceptions.

For a bilingual, each language tends to have different purposes, different functions and different uses. Bilinguals tend to use their two languages in different places at different times with different people.

It is important not to compare bilinguals with monolinguals in their language development. Bilingual should be compared with bilinguals. Bilinguals are not two monolinguals inside one person. They own a unique combination of two languages that are both separate and integrated within the thinking system. While two languages are visible in production, in the thinking quarters of the brain, one feeds the other. One language helps the other to grow. In this sense, there is integration between the two languages. Ideas and concepts learned in one language can be easily transferred into the other language.

The bilingual is a different language creation from the monolingual. For many bilinguals, bilingualism is their language. For those who acquire two languages from birth, bilingualism is their first language.

B10: Are there benefits if my child has a less well-developed second language?

Take heart and think positive. A less well-developed language is still a success. The child or teenager will still have a foundation, a passive knowledge of that language, a readiness to develop and use that language in the future. Early second language learning that fades does not die. Relearning from the beginning will not be needed. Much can be quickly reactivated.

The gift of a second language can be stored. Later, when the time, people and place is right, the gift is employed, expanded and esteemed. Developing a weaker second language in the family is an investment that can be banked for the future.

Having two or more words for each object and idea may mean there is more elasticity in thinking.

B15: Will my child's attitude affect the learning of a second language?

...if children's attitude, motivation and interest in their language are not inspired, the parent may find that hopes about bilingual development are not fulfilled.

It's important for the child to have a positive self-concept about their two languages.

C7: Will my child's thinking be affected by being bilingual?

The answer is yes, and probably for the better. The presence of two languages in the operating system of the brain is likely to produce a more richly fed thinking engine.

E22: What language strategies are used in immersion classrooms?

Immersion education is based on the idea that a first language is acquired relatively subconsciously. Children are unaware that they are acquiring a language in the home. Immersion attempts to copy this process in the early years of schooling. The focus is on the content and not the form of the language. It is the task at hand that is central, not conscious learning.

Ten specific techniques used by immersion teachers

1. Providing plenty of contextual support for the language.

2. Deliberately giving more classroom directions and organizational advice to the students.

3. Extensive use of visual material.

4. Being a role model 

5. Indirect error correction...

...............................

The bilingual is a different language creation from the monolingual. For many bilinguals, bilingualism is their language. For those who acquire two languages from birth, bilingualism is their first language.

This passage makes an important point: a bilingual person should nosyst always be thought of as “a monolingual person who has added a second language.”

1. “The bilingual is a different language creation from the monolingual.”

This means that a person who grows up with two languages may develop a different linguistic system and experience from someone who grows up with only one language.

Instead, the two languages can become part of one integrated linguistic life. The person may use one language with certain people, another language in other situations, and sometimes move between them naturally.

So “different language creation” is probably the author's way of saying that bilingualism is not simply monolingualism plus an extra language.

2. “For many bilinguals, bilingualism is their language.”

The author is saying that for someone who regularly lives through two languages, being bilingual itself becomes the person's normal way of communicating.

For example, your grandson might eventually speak English with his father, Chinese with you, and perhaps switch between the two depending on who he is talking to. He wouldn't necessarily think:

Now I am using my first language. Now I am using my second language.

For him, using both languages is simply how language works in his life.

3. “For those who acquire two languages from birth, bilingualism is their first language.”

This does not mean that such a child has literally one language called “bilingual.”

It means that if a child grows up hearing and using two languages from infancy, the experience of managing two languages is present from the beginning. There isn't necessarily a period in which the child first establishes one language and then later adds another.

This is particularly relevant to your grandson.

If he hears English from his parents and Chinese from you and other Chinese-speaking family members from infancy, you could say:

> Chinese would not be a “second language” added to his life later. It could be one of the two languages through which he first experiences the world.

That is a much more interesting idea for your essay than simply saying, “Babies can learn languages easily.”

And it connects beautifully with your reason for wanting him to learn Chinese: you are not merely teaching him a foreign language. You are helping make Chinese part of his earliest experience of family, love, stories, songs, and culture.

10/1/2026

Yesterday, a friend shared with me the story of Christopher Bess, known as “Coach CB.” He became an internet sensation at just five years old for helping his father, Reggie Bess, coach a high school basketball team in North Carolina.

He wasn't pretending to be a coach for the camera. He gave players instructions, delivered locker-room pep talks, and became emotionally invested in the team's performance. His father was the actual coach, but Christopher was allowed to participate alongside him. According to his parents, they noticed his interest in coaching when he was about two. He had spent much of his young life around basketball because his father coached and his brother played.

This made me wonder: How can a five-year-old develop such a strong interest in coaching?

I don't think Christopher sat down and deliberately learned how to coach. He was immersed in it from a very young age. He watched adults coach, heard the language of basketball over and over, absorbed the emotional dynamics of a team, and was gradually given opportunities to participate.

This reminds me of what I wrote yesterday about a baby growing up bilingual. Children can acquire an astonishing amount of knowledge simply by being immersed in an environment where something is happening—whether it is a language or a sport or anything.

Some people may think Christopher has a special talent for coaching. Maybe he does. We don't know. But talent is not really the point. His early and constant exposure gave his interest a chance to develop, and his father's willingness to take that interest seriously gave him opportunities to explore it.

I'm not sure which comes first: interest or exposure. Perhaps they feed each other. Exposure can create curiosity; curiosity leads to more involvement; and more involvement can gradually reveal an ability that might otherwise remain hidden.

Christopher's story makes me think about what parents can do when children are growing up.

1. Children often discover interests through exposure.

Parents sometimes talk about children “finding their passion” as if everyone has one hidden inside them, waiting to be discovered. But how can a child know what he likes if he has never been exposed to it?

Christopher didn't simply wake up one morning and decide that basketball coaching was his passion. Basketball was already part of his everyday life. He watched, listened, participated, and gradually became interested.

Perhaps instead of asking, “What is my child's passion?” we should sometimes ask, “What opportunities have I given my child to discover what interests him?”

2. Parents can open doors without choosing the destination.

Christopher's father did not have to tell his son, “You should become a basketball coach like me.” He simply brought his son into his world and allowed him to participate.

That is a useful role for parents: expose, encourage, observe—and then let the child choose.

3. Early interest gives a child time.

If a child becomes genuinely interested in something at six, he has many years to explore it, practice it, and find out whether the interest lasts.

He may eventually move on to something completely different. That is fine, too. Exploration does not have to lead to a lifelong career to be valuable.

4. Children need adults who take their interests seriously.

Perhaps this is the most important lesson I take from Christopher's story.

When a six-year-old says, “I want to coach basketball,” an adult can say, “Okay. Show me what you can do.”

That simple response tells a child that his curiosity matters.

For me the lesson from Christopher's story goes beyond basketball. Children learn best when they are immersed in something—not simply when they are told to study it.

This is especially true of language. A child doesn't need to begin by memorizing vocabulary lists or studying grammar rules. Let the child hear the language, listen to songs, talk with people, read stories, and use it in everyday life. Soak the child in the language. The more naturally the language becomes part of daily life, the more naturally the child can learn it.

The same may be true of many other interests. Give children an environment rich in possibilities, let them watch and participate, and pay attention to what draws them in.

9/30/2026

I found this book at my son's home: A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism by Colin Baker.

The book is written in a Q&A format and covers many interesting and practical questions about raising bilingual children. One question caught my attention because I had never thought about bilingualism in quite this way:

“Is it better for my child to learn a language early to secure better storage in the brain?”

Interesting question that I've never thought of!

The book discusses an area of research that looks at how two languages are represented and used in the brain. For example, are the brains of people who learn two languages from birth different from those who learn a second language at school or as adults?

One frequently cited study by Mechelli and colleagues, published in 2004, compared 25 monolinguals, 25 early bilinguals, and 33 late bilinguals. The researchers reported greater gray-matter density in bilinguals than in monolinguals, with early bilinguals showing greater density in certain areas than late bilinguals. They concluded that the structure of the brain can be altered by the experience of acquiring a second language.

So, what exactly is gray matter?

Gray matter 🧠 contains many of the brain's neuron cell bodies, dendrites, and connections. It is found in areas involved in processing information, including language, memory, attention, and other cognitive functions.

Researchers have found associations between bilingual experience and brain structure, particularly in regions involved in language processing and executive control.

Think about what happens when you use two languages. Your brain may have to continually:

• select the appropriate language;

• suppress or ignore words from the other language;

• switch between languages;

• learn and retrieve different vocabularies and grammatical systems; and

• monitor the context and the person you are speaking with.

But bilingualism is not one single experience. The effects can depend on when and how a person learned the second language, how frequently the language is used, and how proficient the person becomes.

But for me there's one reason that's more important than gray matter.

Language is part of family and cultural identity.

If my grandson grows up speaking both English and Chinese, he will be able to communicate directly with more members of his extended family in Beijing. He will have access not only to two languages, but also to two cultural worlds.

A bilingual infant is not necessarily learning one language and then adding another. Babies are remarkably capable of distinguishing between different languages from very early in life. With enough exposure, they can develop two language systems simultaneously.

Managing two languages also gives a developing child repeated practice in distinguishing sounds and speech patterns, connecting different words to the same concepts, switching according to the person and situation, and paying attention to which language is appropriate.

So the goal is not to make the baby “study Chinese" but to give him enough Chinese, early enough and consistently enough, that Chinese becomes a natural part of his life rather than a foreign language he has to learn later.

This is an easy task. I don't need to give Chinese lessons. I can simply talk to him, sing to him, tell him stories, read children's books, play with him, and use Chinese naturally in our everyday interactions.

If he comes to associate Chinese with Grandma's voice, stories, laughter, and affection, I may be giving him something much more lasting than an advantage on a language test.

There is another reason bilingualism interests me, especially for my friends who are in their retirement years.

Researchers have been studying whether lifelong bilingualism may contribute to cognitive reserve—the brain's ability to continue functioning relatively well despite age-related changes or disease-related brain changes.

Some observational studies have found associations between lifelong bilingualism and a later appearance of cognitive symptoms associated with dementia. But this evidence does not mean that bilingualism prevents dementia, and it does not prove that bilingual people necessarily have healthier brains.

Still, the idea is fascinating.

Using two languages throughout life means repeatedly managing attention, switching between systems, retrieving words, and adapting to different linguistic contexts. It may provide one form of continual mental engagement that contributes to cognitive reserve.

So to my grandson, I will tell him: Learn Chinese because it connects you to people you love.

And if that lifelong connection also gives your brain a little extra exercise along the way, that is an extra bonus.

Perhaps that is what bilingualism ultimately gives us: not simply two ways of saying the same thing, but two doors into the world—and a way to keep both doors open throughout our lives.

9/29/2026

Last weekend, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, I heard a news story on the radio about what happens to unsold mooncakes.

This is the first time that I heard of such news. It surely surprised me.

Mooncakes sold in China generally have a shelf life of about 30 to 90 days. After they expire, they may be destroyed to prevent them from being resold or reused as ingredients. Some mooncakes that are still suitable for processing—without mold or other signs of spoilage—can instead be collected by qualified feed manufacturers and processed into animal feed. Recent reports say some factories buy leftover or expired mooncakes for this purpose, with different fillings fetching different prices.

I found it almost unbelievable.

A food once associated with festival celebration can become something that is no longer wanted by people and is instead processed into feed for pigs, cattle, and sheep.

On one level, this is a story about food waste and the challenge of producing too much for a short seasonal market. On another, it made me think about how dramatically our relationship with food has changed.

What a contrast to the time when I was growing up.

My mother often told us about her experience during the Three Years of Hardship (1959–1961), when China experienced a severe food crisis. The crisis was associated with the disastrous consequences of the Great Leap Forward and commune policies, together with natural disasters. Grain production fell sharply, and widespread food shortages and malnutrition followed. Beginning around 1960, the government introduced corrective measures, and agricultural conditions gradually improved after 1962.

My mother's memories were very personal.

She told me that she and my aunt suffered from such severe malnutrition that they stopped menstruating for about a year. Severe undernutrition can indeed disrupt or stop menstruation, especially when the body does not have enough energy to support normal reproductive function.

Many people experienced inadequate nutrition during those years. In the most severely affected areas, people sometimes resorted to eating wild plants and other things that would not normally be considered edible.

I was relatively protected from the worst of the food shortage because I was at a military daycare. My younger sister, however, was only a year old and stayed at home with my grandmother. As a baby, she needed milk and adequate nutrition at a time when even basic food could be difficult to obtain.

I grew up in a China where food was something that had to be carefully managed and controlled.

Today, I live in a very different food world.

We no longer question: Do we have enough food?

Instead, we worry: How should we get rid of the food that we don't want any more?

The contrast is difficult to grasp if you have not lived through both worlds.

For people who grew up with scarcity, wasting food can feel almost morally wrong. We learned to finish what was on our plates. We did not take food for granted because we knew that food could be difficult to obtain.

Today's younger generation has grown up with abundance.

Scarcity teaches appreciation, but it can also mean hunger, deprivation, and anxiety about having enough.

Abundance gives us choice and comfort, but it can also lead to waste or overconsumption.

We should be grateful for the abundance we enjoy today, but remembering the scarcity of the past can help us appreciate it more deeply.

9/28/2026

《读书郎》 — The Little Schoolboy

小嘛小儿郎，背着那书包上学堂。
不怕太阳晒，也不怕那风雨狂。
只怕先生骂我懒呐，没有学问啰无颜见爹娘。
朗里格朗，朗格里格朗。
没有学问喽，无脸见爹娘。

小嘛小儿郎，背着那书包上学堂。
不是为做官，也不是为面子光。
只为穷人要翻身哪，不受人欺负喂不做牛和羊。
朗里格朗，朗格里格朗。
不受人欺负喂，不做牛和羊。

Yesterday, while I was at my son's home, he played this song again for his baby boy: 《读书郎》 (Dúshūláng, “The Little Schoolboy”).

I learned this song when I was little. Years later, I sang it to my son when he was little. Now it is his son's turn to hear it and, perhaps one day, sing it himself. Three generations, one little song!

I have thought about writing about this song for a long time because I don't think my children fully understand the cultural background behind its cheerful, childlike melody.

Here is my attempt to translate it:

The Little Schoolboy

I'm just a little schoolboy,
With my schoolbag on my back, off to school I go.
I'm not afraid of the blazing sun,
Nor am I afraid of wind or rain.
The only thing I fear is my teacher scolding me for being lazy—
For if I learn nothing, how could I face my parents?

Lang-li-ge-lang, lang-ge-li-ge-lang.

If I learn nothing,
How could I face my parents?

I'm just a little schoolboy,
With my schoolbag on my back, off to school I go.
I'm not studying to become an official,
Nor am I studying simply to bring honor to myself.
I study so that poor people can rise up,
So that no one can bully us,
So that we don't have to live like cattle or sheep.

Lang-li-ge-lang, lang-ge-li-ge-lang.

So that no one can bully us,
So that we don't have to live like cattle or sheep.

I'm not going to get into the history of the song here. What interests me is what it reveals about the cultural meaning of education.

For today’s children, the most challenging line is: 只为穷人要翻身，不受人欺负，不做牛和羊.

Literally, it says that the child studies so that poor people can “turn their fate around,” so they will not be bullied and will not have to live like cattle or sheep. In other words, they will live like a human being.

The language may sound unfamiliar to young people today, but the underlying idea is surprisingly familiar.

Education has long been seen in Chinese culture as a way for an ordinary person to change his or her social status.

In the world reflected in this song in 1940s, the child didn’t have high expectations like becoming an official or gaining social prestige. He was studying because knowledge can help a poor person stand up like a man, with dignity, and have more control over his or her own life.

Today, a young person might express the goal very differently:

I study so I can get into a good university, find a good job, earn a decent income, and build a better life.

The language has changed, but the underlying belief remains remarkably similar.

Education is a means of changing one's life.

What has changed is our definition of what a “better life” looks like.

For a poor child in the era when this song became popular, education could represent something much more basic: dignity, freedom from humiliation, and the ability to live without being at the mercy of others.

For a young person today, education may mean economic security, professional opportunities, personal independence, and a comfortable life.

The goals are different. But the belief in the power of education is still there.

That may be one reason this little song has stayed alive for so many years.

I sang it to my son when he was a little boy. Now, he is singing the same song to his baby boy.

The baby does not yet understand a single word of it. But I think his dad will explain to him what it meant to a poor child in China in 1940s to dream of “turning his fate around.”

But perhaps that is how culture survives. Not only through history books, museums, or formal lessons, but through a parent singing an old song to a child—and then that child, years later, singing it to his own child.

Years later the little schoolboy is still walking to school, carrying his schoolbag on his back, and carrying the same hope: that learning can help him become independent, and more in control of his own life.