Dual Language Preschool at Irving Recreation Center
The Journal Star has an excellent article on the dual language preschool at Irving Middle School for children ages 3 to 5. The class meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m., and they are accepting registrations for the second session, which begins on December 1 and runs through May. For more information you can call the Irving Rec Center at 441-7954.
I think this is a great idea for so many reasons. For one, as nearly all of our clients at El Centro will tell you, kids pick up second languages much faster than their parents. While many New Americans struggle with communication in non-native languages, their children adapt much more rapidly as they pick up English while in school or from TV or their friends. The article cites childhood research that shows between birth and 7 years old children are better able to learn a second language due to how their brains are developing and their heightened ability to hear and replicate different sounds.
Lincoln Public Schools doesn’t offer language classes until middle school, which is understandable considering budget and curriculum constraints but makes language retention more difficult. Coming from someone who took four years of Spanish in middle and high school, I think that if the goal is fluency then one must either start at a very young age or immerse themselves in the language later by living in a country where that language is spoken. After high school, I felt that I had enough Spanish to have a conversation and express myself adequately. After arriving in Nicaragua, I quickly realized that I had a long ways to go.
The dual language school is also important for its efforts to increase diversity by introducing new cultures to children. Diversity in the classroom can mean much more than just differences in race but also differences in languages, customs, holidays, etc. According to the article, of the 14 preschool students, nine are from English-speaking homes, two from Spanish-speaking homes, two from bilingual homes and one Latino child adopted into an Anglo home.
The articles also includes some helpful tips for introducing a second language to your child. It almost makes me wish I had one of my own.
