The four-year-olds peer through a submarine periscope and point out different colours.
They look like they're playing but these preschoolers are actually learning Chinese on their "visit to the beach" via iPads.
Franklin Early Childhood School, in Canberra's north, is one of 41 preschools taking part in a national trial to teach young children foreign languages.
They're using game-like apps especially developed by Melbourne company Millipede to learn Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, French or Arabic.
So far the apps have been a huge hit at Franklin, teacher Jacinda Fehre says.
The most popular has been a telephone game, where children pick a character who mouths Mandarin phrases they have to repeat back.
Many of the children speak Mandarin at home, which Ms Fehre says was the main reason why the school chose that language, but she says all students were benefiting.
"The other children's parents are always happy to come and have a look in the morning and want to watch them playing on it," she told AAP.
"The children are happy to teach their parents."
Data about how often the apps are used and which parts are most popular is sent to the education department and used to inform the development of future programs.
Seven apps in all will be used during the year.
They're all the same except for the different languages, with some customisation for cultural differences, such as having a picture of the Eiffel Tower instead of a dragon.
Teachers from all 41 preschools were trained at the beginning of the year in how to use the apps and how to best incorporate them into the regular curriculum.
Looking at how that training could easily be given to all of Australia's preschool teachers will be a key part of evaluating the $9.8 million trial and deciding if languages can be taught everywhere.
Parents and teachers will also be asked for their feedback.
Parliamentary Secretary for Education Scott Ryan has visited several of the preschools in the trial to get a feeling for how it's going.
The six classes at Franklin make it one of the biggest participants.
"Every preschool room is a little bit different," he tells AAP of the need for flexibility.
"We have a very diverse background, for instance, in this (Canberra) community, yet I've been into some rooms where there are only eight kids in the preschool program."
Senator Ryan also wants to examine the long term effects of teaching preschoolers languages, including whether more of them will go on to study languages at primary and high schools and if they get better results.
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