Pre-schoolers encouraged to learn a second language

Forty preschools will be chosen to participate in the Federal Government's one-year language trial, under a new initiative to get Australian children speaking another tongue.

Pre schoolers sncouraged to learn another language
Olga Lucia Ramirez has been teaching Spanish to the kids at her kindy for the past two years and they love it.

Originally from Colombia, she uses a Spanish language app to help the children learn.

"One of the benefits is that they learn about other cultures and they learn the concept that not everyone is the same and we don't all speak the same language even though we all live in the same country," she says.

"We have a beautiful response from the children and from the parents." 

The technology used in a new, one-year trial will allow pre-school students to gain foreign language skills through playing educational games on a tablet.

Many parents are concerned that learning a second language will cause confusion.

However, numerous reports prove that students who study a foreign language perform much better than their monolingual peers on many standardised tests.

Research shows that children as young as three are ready to learn new languages.

Childcare centre manager, Shivaji Naidoo, has already applied to participate.

"Children benefit from learning a second language from exposure to different rhymes and songs. It also allows them the opportunity to further develop their language skills and sets the foundation for future learning," she says.

The trial will see children learning French, Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese and Indonesian.

The inititave was launched by Sussan Ley, assistant minister for education.

"As an island nation participating in a global economy, being able to communicate freely across multiple languages is also becoming more and more of a valuable asset for Australians and, frankly, a necessity for our future economic success," she said.

With studies showing numerous benefits to the multilingual brain - educational specialists will be watching this trial closely.


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2 min read

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By Emma Hannigan

Source: SBS


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