Bilingualism: A bridge between cultures

Through the corridors of Smiling International School in Ferrara, you don’t just hear one language—you hear many.

Through the corridors of Smiling International School in Ferrara, you don’t just hear one language—you hear many. English and Italian mix freely in conversations between people, and sometimes you can even catch a few words of Spanish or German. This is the soundtrack of a bilingual community, where bilingualism becomes a bridge between cultures!

Being bilingual is more than just switching from one language to another; it merges identities and expressions while celebrating diversity.

As our teachers like to explain, it’s like having two different worlds inside your head and you have to choose which one to “use” in each situation. Research shows that bilingual students often develop strong problem-solving skills, empower memories, and greater mental flexibility. Also, knowing two languages makes learning a third or fourth much easier.

But of course, like all good things, bilingualism comes with challenges as well. It is not unusual, for example, that students slip into “code-switching”, using a word in Italian that feels quicker than an English one.

Furthermore, we really believe that bilingualism isn’t about being perfect in two languages—it’s about being able to integrate languages and cultures. And our school community tries to support students in doing it every day in class, during lunch and break times and with all the events and activities we organize.

We deeply want to prepare our students to experience and live the world in the time they are with us, but also in the future they have ahead. Whether they dream of studying abroad, working in global companies, or simply traveling, the bilingual background we nurture here, gives them the confidence and the strength to approach the “outside wide world”.

As we experiment bilingualism every day, we would like to give some tips and suggestions to approach it with no stress:

  • Practice both languages daily, even for 10 minutes
  • Don’t fear mistakes, just try! You’ll get better faster.
  • Be curious, watch series, movies or play games in both languages.
  • Try to learn jokes or tongue twisters in both languages, as it will make the learning process funnier and easier.

Finally, here’s some curiosities you may not know about bilingualism:

  • Bilingual people sometimes dream in different languages.
  • The brain of a bilingual person switches languages in less than a second.
  • Children who grow up bilingual may start speaking a little later than monolinguals—but in the long run, they catch up and often surpass them.
  • Bilingualism is like “mental gymnastics”, it keeps the brain flexible and young.

We will keep crossing this bridge with enthusiasm and joy and we hope to welcome more and more people to share this walk with.

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Smiling International School is accredited by the Italian Ministry of Education and it is also an International Baccalaureate® World School authorised to offer the IB Diploma Programme. At Smiling Int...
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