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| Mary-Kate (Maria) with Sra. Szwilski |
Three years ago, my husband and I got a letter in the mail from my daughter’s soon to be school. They were offering Spanish Immersion for incoming kindergarteners and wanted to know if we would like to enroll her. I was so excited! What a wonderful experience it would be for her to learn a different language. While I was all in from the get go, some of my friends were not so sure. They were worried about whether their children would fall behind in other subjects and during testing time. Our school held a meeting so that parents could hear from other parents, students, and teachers that were involved in Spanish Immersion, and they answered all of our questions. I would like to share some of that information with you…
What is immersion language study?
It is learning a foreign language the same way we learned English (or whatever our native language is): by living it. In a typical language immersion school, the student doesn’t study only in the formal sense — he or she lives the language. Classes are taught entirely in Spanish, speaking in another language at any time is discouraged, and the student lives in a Spanish-speaking environment. Nearly all Spanish immersion schools offer the option (and in some it’s not an option) of living with a Spanish-speaking family. That means students hear the language as it is used in real life.
Benefits of Being Bilingual
- Has a positive effect on intellectual growth.
- Enriches and enhances a child’s mental development.
- Leaves students with more flexibility in thinking, greater sensitivity to language, and a better ear for listening.
- Improves a child’s understanding of his/her native language.
- Gives a child the ability to communicate with people she/he would otherwise not have a chance to know.
- Opens the door to other cultures and helps the child understand and appreciate people from other countries.
- Gives the child a head start in language requirements for college.
- Increases job opportunities in my careers where knowing another language is a real asset.
Our experience has been wonderful! Our daughter is excelling in all areas at school, and is now fluent in Spanish. She spends half of her school day with her english speaking teacher and the other half with her spanish speaking teacher. She has learned many dances from Peru, Cuba, Spain, and Chile. She has skyped with children in other spanish speaking countries, and is looking forward to visiting Spain in a few years. I cannot speak highly enough about the benefits of this program. It will open many doors for her, and the cultural experience alone is priceless. If you have an immersion program in your area, please consider checking into it. Our decision to enroll her in Spanish Immersion was one of the best we have made for her!
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| Kate’s Class Performing Shakira’s Waku Waku at a Foreign Language Festival |
Due to having some of my content and posts stolen by no good lazy people who don’t do their own projects, I am sorry to have to truncate (shorten) my feeds. Please don’t hold it against me, and continue reading, because I do love you and want to share my tutorials with you ;)
Love,
Jessica
That is incredible. I started looking into a class like this for my 3 yo but nothing is available in the area.
Hi! Jessica.
Am coming here from VB.
Yes, it’s good to learn up another language and it’s very easy for kids her age to learn than adults.
Here in Msia, almost everyone know at least two language. That is our national language “Malay”. Others includes English and Mandarin(chinese).
Sad to say I only know English and Malay. It had been a regret for me for not learning Mandarin properly when I had the chance. Now I know a bit of Mandarin but when i speak Mandarin, people would go “Huhh???” . LOL
kathy
http://www.smallkucing.com
http://mamakucingbooks.blogspot.com
When my daughter started school, Spanish Immersion was an option, and it’s a great program. There were a ton of alternative options to choose from, and I loved that. Now we live in a different city, and there are NO options here. It’s a bummer.
~Kim
That is great! I would love for my son to learn another language at school, too. Great way to start them young! :)
Visiting you from the Alexa Blog Hop! Be sure to stop by http://www.loliloves2save.com
New GFC follower too!
Wow, how fabulouda, I woudllove for my kids to spak another language but sadly both dh adn I are rubbish with languages!
Thanks for stopping by mine.
Mich x
That is very cool!
I’m a new GFC follower from the blog hop. I hope you’ll stop by my blog and follow back!
http://www.LisaBlogs.com
Sounds like a great program accept the “living with” I don’t know that part would be a hard one specially for a young child. But learning another language it has been said it is easier if they learn at an earlier age they are more easily able to pick it up =)
Knowing more than one language is always a benefit, I only know one though..
Looks like we have a few groups in common VoiceBoks and blogaholic….=)
But I visited here via the Make your rank lower Monday Alexa hop. I just forgot on Monday till late so now trying to make some visits =)
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