ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors concentrate on analyzing German school children who go abroad to attend school for a period and those who attend bilingual day care in Germany. By focusing on preschool children's attendance of bilingual daycare centers and the school year abroad, the authors examine effective ways of acquiring transnational human capital. First, psychological research shows that younger children acquire new language skills more easily than older ones and adults; psychologists therefore speak of a 'critical period' for second language acquisition. Second, a stay abroad means a constant 'immersion' of the child in a new linguistic and cultural environment. As a result, the high school student learns language skills as well as more general cultural codes and schemata 24 hours a day, something that is quite difficult to achieve at home. Finally, life course research has shown that decisions made early in life considerably influence future life paths and are hard to change later on.
