17 February 2009

Language-Immersion Program Focuses on Teaching Through Play

Parental desire to teach babies foreign languages fuels an education niche

 

During a shape-identification exercise, Arabic-language teacher May Aoun, at left, points out that a chart is made up of rectangles.

During a shape-identification exercise, Arabic-language teacher May Aoun, at left, points out that a chart is made up of rectangles.

By Peggy B. Hu
Staff Writer

Washington — On a Saturday morning, when many of their peers are probably playing sports or watching television, six children listen to their teacher identify toy animals in Chinese. In a nearby classroom, others ask in Arabic for specific colors as they make paper flowers. Next door, a third group sings in French.

The children are students in the first language school in the Washington metropolitan area founded exclusively to teach young children.

In 2005, three Spanish-language teachers frustrated by the lack of language-immersion programs for young children in the region started the CommuniKids Language School for Children. Today, the school offers language-immersion classes in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic to children 1 to 8 years old.

According to Jeannine Piacenza, CommuniKids chief executive and founder, she and her fellow founders chose to start with Spanish classes due to their own expertise. But after receiving calls and e-mails asking for other languages, the school added French and Mandarin Chinese, the most requested languages. The program later added Italian, Arabic and Portuguese.

As interest in learning multiple languages has grown, so has the number of facilities that teach young children. Today, many public and private elementary schools in Washington offer dual-language immersion programs — in which native speakers of a language other than English learn alongside native English speakers — as well as total or partial language-immersion programs. Preschools too are adding language instruction.

Piacenza stressed the importance of early exposure. “If we are to be serious about language learning, we have to begin as early as possible, and preschool is the natural place to start, as young children, especially under the age of 6, learn languages very naturally through regular interaction with people,” she said.

PRESERVING CULTURAL HERITAGE

Parents of CommuniKids students tend to have strong ties to other countries and enroll their children to help preserve their cultural heritage.

Three-year-old Sophia Beal, wearing a sticker on her forehead, enjoys the CommuniKids play area after her Spanish class.

Iliana and Michael Beal enrolled their daughter, Sophia, in Spanish classes at the age of 2. The couple chose Spanish because of their background. Iliana is originally from Panama, and Michael’s mother is half Spanish and half Filipino. Since they both speak Spanish, “it was the logical choice,” Michael said, adding that they wanted Sophia “to start learning at the youngest age possible.”

Iliana said she speaks to her daughter in Spanish at home, but Sophia appears to speak more Spanish when she is with her classmates. The couple reinforces Sophia’s language ability by having her listen to songs sung in Spanish. Sophia, now 3, is particularly fond of the singer Shakira.

LEARNING ABOUT OTHER CULTURES

Although some families have strong ties to other countries, others participate in language-immersion programs out of a basic desire to learn more about other cultures. When Elizabeth Booker went to China for training, for example, preparations for the trip sparked her 5-year-old daughter Brooke’s curiosity. Booker and her husband, Robert Booker, encouraged Brooke in her desire to learn Chinese.

“There is such a cultural difference between the United States and China,” Brooke’s father said. Chinese is “one of the more difficult languages to learn” for English speakers, he added. “Having [Brooke] exposed to those sounds at an early age will hopefully help her learn other languages” more easily.

Robert hopes to find a Mandarin-speaking friend for his daughter to play with to help her learn more quickly, since neither parent speaks the language fluently. For now, the Bookers reinforce Brooke’s learning through podcasts, radio programs, CDs, language-teaching software and time with adult friends who are fluent in Chinese. The family hopes to live in China some day, and Robert says their interest is partly due to a belief that China will have increasing influence in the world, both economically and politically.

“Since the 1980s, China has been coming into the world spotlight,” he said. “The world will be different in 10 years.”

The author’s son studies Chinese at CommuniKids.

More information about CommuniKids is available on the program’s Web site.

See also “U.S. Students Learn Arabic Through STARTALK Program,” “U.S. Students Increasingly Choosing To Learn Foreign Languages,” “More Americans Tackling ‘Super-Hard’ Chinese, Arabic Languages” and “Americans Breaking Out of Their English-Only Shells.”