In this TED talk Tim Morley explains how learning the artificial language Esperanto can make it easier to learn other languages
Wikipedia has a nice entry on the educational value of Esperanto. The conclusion of one of the cited studies:
“A child can learn as much Esperanto in about 6 months as he would French in 3-4 years… if all children studied Esperanto during the first 6-12 months of a 4-5 year French course, they would gain much and lose nothing.”
I can read Esperanto with some facility but don’t have the opportunity to speak it regularly. Over the semester break I am hoping to work with an online Esperanto tutor to help my become more fluent. You can start learning Esperanto right now at lernu.net.
peakmemory 
Sciu, ke mi indikis vian retligilon en mia blogo [ĉe la blogero: esperanto en 15 lecionoj (2)]. Ĝis la.
Dankon!