Cognitive Skills and Language Learning. 

When teaching young learners there are many factors to take into account. But one that called my attention when reading the text by McKay about teaching young learners, was the factor of the cognitive skills. As it is mentioned in the text, young learners not only face the challenge of learning another language, they are also developing their cognitives skills. Now, the question is, how is that language learning can help them go through this process successfully?

Well, research shows very interesting outcomes in cognitive development in language learners. Language learning gives us tools to give students stimmuli and tools to reach high cognitive skills. According to the Theory of Cognitive Development of Jean Piaget; every person goes through certain stages depending on their age and their success in achieving them depends on the environment the person is exposed to. In the best of the scenarios we would like to get our students to what Piaget calls the formal operational stage. As McKay (2012) explains "...when they begin to hypothesize, build abstract categories and handle more than two variables at the time. Their interpretation of symbols in stories and art becomes less literal and their understanding of abstract social concepts, such as democracy, becomes more sophisticated".

If we make an analysis on language learning and the goals you have to reach in this stage according to Piaget, language learners have an advantage getting there. Learning a new language is a new way of seeing the world, as you start to learn new ways of calling the world around you, and not only that, a language reflects a whole culture, a way of living, that is where our tools are to help students reach cognitive goals. 

By learning a language students hypothesize, as when they try new ways of expresing and see if it works to communicate, they can build abstract categories, as when they categorize the language you use in different situations as well as cultural codes and like that so many possibilities. 

To conclude, this reading made me thought of our role as educator, we not only have our students learning a language, but we can be facilitators in their personal growth.