A couple of generations ago, a bilingual child - in other words, a child who spoke more than one language was regarded with suspicion. People thought that such a child would be slow to develop academically, feel confused and even (46) ______ up with a split personality. Today, however, research shows the advantages of a bilingual upbringing, including an awareness of other cultures and an (47) ______ ability for language learning.   Tests carried out in Canada presented small children ...

A couple of generations ago, a bilingual child - in other words, a child who spoke more than one language was regarded with suspicion. People thought that such a child would be slow to develop academically, feel confused and even (46) ______ up with a split personality. Today, however, research shows the advantages of a bilingual upbringing, including an awareness of other cultures and an (47) ______ ability for language learning.

  Tests carried out in Canada presented small children with two apartment blocks made out of building bricks; the larger apartment contained fewer bricks. Children (48) ______ were not bilingual said that the larger apartment had more bricks, whereas bilingual children correctly saw that the smaller one had more bricks. The bilingual children appeared to have the ability to (49) ______ misleading information when dealing with problems, in much the same way as they ‘edit out’ one language when using the other.

  According to the research, as well as developing (50) ______ skills earlier than those who only speak one language, bilingual children also understand written languages faster and learn to read more easily.