Why Choose Language Immersion in Early Education
The various cognitive benefits of bilingualism have been studied and proven. Children who receive bilingual childcare or attend immersion preschools quickly absorb the new language, and as their comprehension skills develop, they begin using the target language themselves. The power of bilingual education is to be able to transfer words, ideas, and concepts from one language to another, thereby reinforcing and strengthening them in the brain.
How effective is learning a language through immersion?
Language immersion is a method by which a target language is used during all or almost all interaction and instruction in the classroom, including for science, art, math, and social studies.
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In an immersion preschool, children hear the target language for a sustained period of time, through the natural course of conversation and classroom discussion. Through repetition of keywords and phrases in context, they absorb the new language in the same way as they learned their first language. Through teachers’ gestures, facial expressions, and hands-on activities, children are able to decode new language from context and eventually understand, remember, and use it.
What does bilingual education offer?
Research from American Councils for International Education suggests that language acquisition combined with content acquisition results in the highest cognitive benefit, raising achievement in language arts and math in particular. Furthermore, these benefits are seen across every demographic, and among native and non-native speakers alike. This is why choosing an immersive or bilingual preschool is far superior to sending your child to a language class once or twice a week.
In addition, bilingual education helps develop essential cognitive skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and logic. These are the same cognitive skills that are essential for higher education and successful integration into a community and work environment.
The understanding that something has more than one name – and the concept that an idea or information can be relayed in various ways – are important cognitive milestones. When bilingual children try to express their thoughts within the confines of the vocabulary they know in one language, they must find new ways to explain, describe, and relate information, thereby developing a part of their brain that monolingual children seldom access.
Why Explorer Studio?
As a Brooklyn parent, you might be looking for bilingual childcare in one of the more popular languages (Mandarin or French), or a French immersion preschool or Mandarin immersion preschool.
As an immersion Preschool in Brooklyn, Explorer Studio allows children to explore the exciting world of science, art, and early math through language as well as content immersion. The language preschool uses the target language almost 100 percent of the time. A nurturing and supportive approach empowers children to take risks and to practice using new vocabulary and structures, regardless of prior exposure to the language.
Explorer Studio preschool engages children through music, role-play, games, storytelling, and conversation. As they practice and progress, children begin to converse naturally and confidently about content-rich topics.
If you have been wondering, “is there a French preschool near me?” Explorer Studio is an excellent choice. No other French preschool in NYC focuses on exploratory-based, sensory-rich learning in a science-rich and art-filled environment, while fully immersing children in the target language.
The preschool has an anti-bias approach to education as well as to admissions and strives to build an equitable and inclusive community. Please contact Explorer Studio for more details about admissions and how to join our community.