Maddie and Her Second Language In schools around the world many young children have the opportunity to learn a second language. Some languages taught are: Spanish, French, German, Latin, and English. Even I studied Spanish in grades fourth through twelfth and it turn out to be a fun experience for me. But not every child enjoys learning a second language. Some kids may find it hard and confusing. There are many advantages and disadvantages for children who grow up learning a second language from a young age. If successful, learning a second language can lead to increased job opportunities when the children are older, or they can see it as a wasted of time if the child grew up learning the language, but never fully grasped it. This was the case with my little sister, Maddie, who’s older now but has been studying Spanish since she was in the first grade. She has faced many ups and downs when trying to learn this foreign language. This is her experience of studying Spanish as a second language. When Maddie started learning Spanish in the first grade it immediately affected how she performed in the rest of her subjects in school and in her other activities. The first disadvantage is that children may start to mix languages and get confused with the language structures. Children may start to use their native language and incorporate it into their second language. It seemed like for the longest Maddie had this problem, mixing up her languages especially when she talked. While she was speaking English, she would replace some of her English words with Spanish terms she already knew. She would even make her own words up if it sounded like Spanish to her. For example, she would say: ”Mi favorite color es azul” or “Today at schoolo I played with mi ninos.” This was a disadvantage because Maddie didn’t know if the word she was saying were Spanish or English. It took a whole