The importance of Bilingual Education in Early Childhood development.
By giving children an opportunity to learn a second language at an early age, doors open for their future.
1. Getting into a good kindergarten in New York City can seem as tough as getting into an Ivy League college. Nowadays, savvy parents are looking at The Right Preschool!

2. There is a demand-and-supply imbalance at Manhattan’s top-tier private schools like Dalton, Collegiate, Trinity, Spence, and Chapin etc... In the last decade, the number of kids taking the ERB (standard kindergarten aptitude test) to get into kindergarten has grown by almost 40 percent!

3. A bilingual education gives children a jumpstart on foreign language skills and later will distinguish these preschoolers from other Kindergarten applicants, according to the schools founder Christina Houri of www.lepetitparadispreschool.com  Manhattan’s Upper Eastside.

4. Madonna signed up her two children at Le Petit Paradis so they can receive a bilingual education.

5. Studies have shown that multilingual children have stronger problem solving and analytical skills than monolingual children. They score higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and achieve a higher grade point average. Multilingual children are more creative than monolingual children because they have learned that there are different ways in expressing oneself, describing an event or labeling an item.

6. Researchers don't know whether it is biological or social, but most children who learn a language before puberty seem to develop the ability to speak it fluently.


7. Dartmouth College research shows that multilingual children score 15 to 20 points better on IQ tests; have larger vocabularies than their peers; speak at an earlier age than most children; have more self-confidence; read sooner and have fewer reading problems than their peers; have fewer temper tantrums because they are able to communicate their needs sooner and more effectively and generally perform at an overall higher level.

8. Language experts say that timing is very important in children’s ability to acquire foreign language skills. Children have the natural ability to develop new language skills more naturally than do adults.

9. A child taught a second language after the age of 10 is unlikely to speak like a native.

10. Recent brain research studies show that the brain develops the most in the first three years of a person’s life. Exposing your children to another language actually stimulates their brain cells.

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Replies

  • Hello Maribeth,
    Thank you so much for the advice. I am really interested in trying TPRS in my classroom. I will definitely check out the Yahoo groups for extra help on this. The difficult part for me is where and how to begin. I do not teach level one students but rather levels 3,4,5 and am not sure how to implement this with students whom I have had in the past and who are familiar with my usual teaching methods. If you have any other advice you can give in terms of what works and what does not, it would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks

    Maribeth said:
    Hi Sylvia
    I understand your situation completely as the GC encourage everyone to take Spanish (as well as the Spanish teachers who claim it is the ONLY language to take in the US) because it is easy. Yet, NONE of them are fluent in a second language!
    The latino lobby is very strong as well...

    A suggestion to you, if you want to try to increase enrollment and interest in French--try TPRS. I increased enrollment 40 percent in 1 year using the method--and I was self-taught. Imagine had I known what I was doing!Get onto the yahoo groups TPRS listserv for tons of support and information and webinars and check out BenSlavic.com. He's a French teacher in Denver who had enrollment problems and decided after about 25 years of teaching traditionally that it just didn't work. His numbers SOARED....also, sometimes it really pays off to think like an elementary teacher with HS kids...mail your students images you have taken of France, along with personal messages--a few words in French for beginners, on up to complete French for the higher levels--before the year begins. Goes a VERY long way.
    Best of luck to you. I'm not going to be a part of the language teaching fun this year but I will live vicariously through my fellow passionate French teachers who are still in it.
    MB



    Sylvia Guensch said:
    Hello, I am a high school French teacher in NJ and I am also fighting the battle for French in my school. In our school, students are actually being recommended by their counselors to take Spanish or Chinese as incoming Freshmen. Two years ago, they removed French from the middle school curriculum altogether. Now the students only have Spanish in elementary and middle school. Of course when they reach the hs they are going to continue with Spanish as they have been taking it for so many years.

    Given the recent budget cuts in NJ (and the storm is still raging), I doubt that this problem will be solved anytime soon. I wish that schools and parents would see the benefit in expanding the childrens minds and horizons to new languages and cultures. We need to bring more French to NJ!!
    Top 10 Reasons to Choose Bilingual Education to Help in Kindergarten Crunch
    The importance of Bilingual Education in Early Childhood development.By giving children an opportunity to learn a second language at an early age, do…
  • Hi Sylvia
    I understand your situation completely as the GC encourage everyone to take Spanish (as well as the Spanish teachers who claim it is the ONLY language to take in the US) because it is easy. Yet, NONE of them are fluent in a second language!
    The latino lobby is very strong as well...

    A suggestion to you, if you want to try to increase enrollment and interest in French--try TPRS. I increased enrollment 40 percent in 1 year using the method--and I was self-taught. Imagine had I known what I was doing!Get onto the yahoo groups TPRS listserv for tons of support and information and webinars and check out BenSlavic.com. He's a French teacher in Denver who had enrollment problems and decided after about 25 years of teaching traditionally that it just didn't work. His numbers SOARED....also, sometimes it really pays off to think like an elementary teacher with HS kids...mail your students images you have taken of France, along with personal messages--a few words in French for beginners, on up to complete French for the higher levels--before the year begins. Goes a VERY long way.
    Best of luck to you. I'm not going to be a part of the language teaching fun this year but I will live vicariously through my fellow passionate French teachers who are still in it.
    MB



    Sylvia Guensch said:
    Hello, I am a high school French teacher in NJ and I am also fighting the battle for French in my school. In our school, students are actually being recommended by their counselors to take Spanish or Chinese as incoming Freshmen. Two years ago, they removed French from the middle school curriculum altogether. Now the students only have Spanish in elementary and middle school. Of course when they reach the hs they are going to continue with Spanish as they have been taking it for so many years.

    Given the recent budget cuts in NJ (and the storm is still raging), I doubt that this problem will be solved anytime soon. I wish that schools and parents would see the benefit in expanding the childrens minds and horizons to new languages and cultures. We need to bring more French to NJ!!
    TPRS | TPRS Training | Comprehensible Input | Ben Slavic
    TPRS and Comprehensible Input Training. Ben Slavic is the creator of TPRS & Comprehensible Input books, a professional learning community, and DVD an…
  • Hello, I am a high school French teacher in NJ and I am also fighting the battle for French in my school. In our school, students are actually being recommended by their counselors to take Spanish or Chinese as incoming Freshmen. Two years ago, they removed French from the middle school curriculum altogether. Now the students only have Spanish in elementary and middle school. Of course when they reach the hs they are going to continue with Spanish as they have been taking it for so many years.

    Given the recent budget cuts in NJ (and the storm is still raging), I doubt that this problem will be solved anytime soon. I wish that schools and parents would see the benefit in expanding the childrens minds and horizons to new languages and cultures. We need to bring more French to NJ!!
  • Bonjour Christy;

    Oui, bien sur elle est Américaine et elle a ouvert une porte à ses enfants par l'intermédiaire d'une deuxième langue.
  • You lost me at "Madonna signed her children up here" - vraiment, c'est une raison que je devrais le faire???
  • Of course, that might just be my cynical side coming out....

    Maribeth said:
    Very good question...I think the majority of parents view language learning as a requirement for college and not as a gateway to peace and cultural understanding. A lot of the kids believe that as well, and since it is a requirement, they accept the propaganda at face value and take what they are told is the easy route....unfortunately....
    There are other parents who want language programs for their primary age children. These parents were thrilled that their child's gifted support teacher (moi) taught their kids some French while still meeting the requirements of their GIEP. In fact, when they moved on to the Intermediate School, they asked my colleague in gifted ed what languages she speaks!

    I am with you 100 percent. We Americans should be as multilingual as the rest of the world. There shouldn't be a competition, but there is, and it's among the teachers. My district made the commitment to maintain 3 languages (F, G, S) but who knows what will happen next year. I believe the competition comes from fear, at least chez moi. Fear of being found out. The idea is ridiculous because there are enough kids for everyone to have their fair share... resulting in 3 solid language programs...

    Fabrice Jaumont said:
    Thanks Maribeth for your feedback. I understand your point. It makes me want to write a little more. Call me crazy but I just refuse to assess the issue of language learning as a mere competition between two or three languages. I do agree however that school administrators think in plain, economic terms when they choose one language over another for their school. But I really think they got it all wrong when they only base their judgment on the apparent easiness of learning one language over another. Why then promote Chinese - as apparently many school districts do - when it's going to take so much more effort for an English speaker to master the language? I think that the U.S. should promote a variety of languages in order to be more competitive internationally. Why not offer Arabic or Portuguese or Urdu? Spanish is great. So is French, German, or Mandarin. But why should the next generation of Americans not receive the gift of languages - the greatest gift of all. It's a passport to the world - a world of peace and understanding. Languages open all horizons. Europeans learn several languages. Asians learn several languages. Africans speak four to five different languages. Why should American schools lag behind when signs show that families really want their kids to learn languages as early as possible. I am puzzled. Did anyone ask parents in your town what they really wanted for their kids?

    Maribeth said:
    Because of the budget cuts, I am very impressed that there will be so many bilingual classes next school year in NYC. I hope your marketing efforts continue to inprove the numbers of classes each year. I wonder how French fares in the NYC public school system at the middle and high school levels, though. Although I agree that being multilingual is important, I also agree with Christina Houri when she implies that there is a competition among the languages. I just finished teaching 2 years of MS/HS French, essentially a dying program for a number of reasons. I was put into the position to increase numbers, which I did--by a whopping 38 percent in 1 year...that being said, the Spanish teachers, who have by far a monopoly on enrollment, continue to insist that there is only 1 language to take in the good ole USA....and even though French and Spanish are both romance languages and therefore, are related, Spanish is sooooo much easier! So, yes, unfortunately there is a huge competition....

    Congratulations to you and continue to promote French in NYC. Wish we had you here inPA.

    Fabrice Jaumont said:
    Well, despite the budget crisis, there should be 25 classes offering French-English education in NYC's public schools next Fall: PS73 in Highbridge (Bronx), PS125 in East Harlem, PS84 in the Upper West Side, PS151 in Astoria-Woodside (Queens), PS58 in Carroll Gardens (Brooklyn) and MS22 in Morrisania (Bronx). There's also a new charter school - NYFACS - opening in East Harlem, and a new trilingual school - PS770 - opening in Crown Heights (Brooklyn). Also, there are talks of opening new programs in Williamsburg - PS84 - and Park Slope - PS133.

    Just to clarify, I don't think Chinese or Spanish or French or other languages are in competition within bilingual or trilingual programs. I believe that the most important point is that children learn languages as early as possible. The more languages the better. All parents should be able to give the gift of languages to their children - and by that I mean being fluent in several languages when they finish school. Start them early!

    Christina Houri said:
    Thank you Fabrice. I wanted to ask you how are the public schools doing with the recently new French Kindergarten classes doing? We really need to bring back French to # 1 as Chinese and Spanish took over. It is a shame! So I do hope more families are interesting in French.
    Felicitation on your social site New York in French, it a wonderful way to connect the French community. Thanks for doing a good job of maintaining it.

    Fabrice Jaumont said:
    Interesting post! Here is more information on dual language programs in public and private schools
    Top 10 Reasons to Choose Bilingual Education to Help in Kindergarten Crunch
    The importance of Bilingual Education in Early Childhood development.By giving children an opportunity to learn a second language at an early age, do…
  • I found success in increasing the numbers by 38 percent because I made the language relevant to the ids. I specifically went after the boys since they believe that the language is too soft for males. In any case, I used a teaching method called TPRS--lots of comprehensible input, very slow, fun storytelling and similar to the way we learned our native language... that coupled with a whole lot of passion. (see benslavic.com)

    Fabrice is right. We should be promoting all languages and especially encourage multilingualism. However, French absolutely should be a major player. What might need to happen is teach, promote the links between French and English so that the American mindset begins to get it. And a little French kiss...it's not the Spanish or German kiss..that might be encouraing too...!

    GO NATIONAL! Someone has to do it!


    Christina Houri said:
    Hi Maribeth;

    I am replying to your post. Although I agree 100 % with Fabrice Jaumont on the importance of all languages, and, since I come from Europe and speak 6 languages myself because I was exposed to them while growing up, I also feel the French language in particular needs a little push in the private school sector. I would like to follow in Fabrice's footsteps, where he
    started the French programs in the public schools of NYC, and do the same for the private schools of NYC. Then, who knows, perhaps Fabrice and I can take this nationally. Let's dream BIG! :)
    What I saw in my school, Le Petit Paradis Preschool is American kids learning the French language, and then having no continuation in Kindergarten, when they attend the American Private schools because only a couple offer French. It is a shame and what I have been doing is encouraging the parents to keep up the language with private tutoring sessions. I really love seeing how these children absorb and excel then feeling frustrated that they cannot continue in Kindergarten.
    I can tell you that the Directors of some of the private schools that I spoke expressed to me their sadness to see the French language canceled.
    TPRS | TPRS Training | Comprehensible Input | Ben Slavic
    TPRS and Comprehensible Input Training. Ben Slavic is the creator of TPRS & Comprehensible Input books, a professional learning community, and DVD an…
  • Very good question...I think the majority of parents view language learning as a requirement for college and not as a gateway to peace and cultural understanding. A lot of the kids believe that as well, and since it is a requirement, they accept the propaganda at face value and take what they are told is the easy route....unfortunately....
    There are other parents who want language programs for their primary age children. These parents were thrilled that their child's gifted support teacher (moi) taught their kids some French while still meeting the requirements of their GIEP. In fact, when they moved on to the Intermediate School, they asked my colleague in gifted ed what languages she speaks!

    I am with you 100 percent. We Americans should be as multilingual as the rest of the world. There shouldn't be a competition, but there is, and it's among the teachers. My district made the commitment to maintain 3 languages (F, G, S) but who knows what will happen next year. I believe the competition comes from fear, at least chez moi. Fear of being found out. The idea is ridiculous because there are enough kids for everyone to have their fair share... resulting in 3 solid language programs...

    Fabrice Jaumont said:
    Thanks Maribeth for your feedback. I understand your point. It makes me want to write a little more. Call me crazy but I just refuse to assess the issue of language learning as a mere competition between two or three languages. I do agree however that school administrators think in plain, economic terms when they choose one language over another for their school. But I really think they got it all wrong when they only base their judgment on the apparent easiness of learning one language over another. Why then promote Chinese - as apparently many school districts do - when it's going to take so much more effort for an English speaker to master the language? I think that the U.S. should promote a variety of languages in order to be more competitive internationally. Why not offer Arabic or Portuguese or Urdu? Spanish is great. So is French, German, or Mandarin. But why should the next generation of Americans not receive the gift of languages - the greatest gift of all. It's a passport to the world - a world of peace and understanding. Languages open all horizons. Europeans learn several languages. Asians learn several languages. Africans speak four to five different languages. Why should American schools lag behind when signs show that families really want their kids to learn languages as early as possible. I am puzzled. Did anyone ask parents in your town what they really wanted for their kids?

    Maribeth said:
    Because of the budget cuts, I am very impressed that there will be so many bilingual classes next school year in NYC. I hope your marketing efforts continue to inprove the numbers of classes each year. I wonder how French fares in the NYC public school system at the middle and high school levels, though. Although I agree that being multilingual is important, I also agree with Christina Houri when she implies that there is a competition among the languages. I just finished teaching 2 years of MS/HS French, essentially a dying program for a number of reasons. I was put into the position to increase numbers, which I did--by a whopping 38 percent in 1 year...that being said, the Spanish teachers, who have by far a monopoly on enrollment, continue to insist that there is only 1 language to take in the good ole USA....and even though French and Spanish are both romance languages and therefore, are related, Spanish is sooooo much easier! So, yes, unfortunately there is a huge competition....

    Congratulations to you and continue to promote French in NYC. Wish we had you here inPA.

    Fabrice Jaumont said:
    Well, despite the budget crisis, there should be 25 classes offering French-English education in NYC's public schools next Fall: PS73 in Highbridge (Bronx), PS125 in East Harlem, PS84 in the Upper West Side, PS151 in Astoria-Woodside (Queens), PS58 in Carroll Gardens (Brooklyn) and MS22 in Morrisania (Bronx). There's also a new charter school - NYFACS - opening in East Harlem, and a new trilingual school - PS770 - opening in Crown Heights (Brooklyn). Also, there are talks of opening new programs in Williamsburg - PS84 - and Park Slope - PS133.

    Just to clarify, I don't think Chinese or Spanish or French or other languages are in competition within bilingual or trilingual programs. I believe that the most important point is that children learn languages as early as possible. The more languages the better. All parents should be able to give the gift of languages to their children - and by that I mean being fluent in several languages when they finish school. Start them early!

    Christina Houri said:
    Thank you Fabrice. I wanted to ask you how are the public schools doing with the recently new French Kindergarten classes doing? We really need to bring back French to # 1 as Chinese and Spanish took over. It is a shame! So I do hope more families are interesting in French.
    Felicitation on your social site New York in French, it a wonderful way to connect the French community. Thanks for doing a good job of maintaining it.

    Fabrice Jaumont said:
    Interesting post! Here is more information on dual language programs in public and private schools
    Top 10 Reasons to Choose Bilingual Education to Help in Kindergarten Crunch
    The importance of Bilingual Education in Early Childhood development.By giving children an opportunity to learn a second language at an early age, do…
  • Hi Maribeth;

    I am replying to your post. Although I agree 100 % with Fabrice Jaumont on the importance of all languages, and, since I come from Europe and speak 6 languages myself because I was exposed to them while growing up, I also feel the French language in particular needs a little push in the private school sector. I would like to follow in Fabrice's footsteps, where he
    started the French programs in the public schools of NYC, and do the same for the private schools of NYC. Then, who knows, perhaps Fabrice and I can take this nationally. Let's dream BIG! :)
    What I saw in my school, Le Petit Paradis Preschool is American kids learning the French language, and then having no continuation in Kindergarten, when they attend the American Private schools because only a couple offer French. It is a shame and what I have been doing is encouraging the parents to keep up the language with private tutoring sessions. I really love seeing how these children absorb and excel then feeling frustrated that they cannot continue in Kindergarten.
    I can tell you that the Directors of some of the private schools that I spoke expressed to me their sadness to see the French language canceled.
  • Hi Maribeth;

    I am replying to your post. Although I agree 100 % with Fabrice Jaumont on the importance of all languages, and, since I come from Europe and speak 6 languages myself because I was exposed to them while growing up, I also feel the French language in particular needs a little push in the private school sector. I would like to follow in Fabrice's footsteps, where he
    started the French programs in the public schools of NYC, and do the same for the private schools of NYC. Then, who knows, perhaps Fabrice and I can take this nationally. Let's dream BIG! :)
    What I saw in my school, Le Petit Paradis Preschool is American kids learning the French language, and then having no continuation in Kindergarten, when they attend the American Private schools because only a couple offer French. It is a shame and what I have been doing is encouraging the parents to keep up the language with private tutoring sessions. I really love seeing how these children absorb and excel then feeling frustrated that they cannot continue in Kindergarten.
    I can tell you that the Directors of some of the private schools that I spoke expressed to me their sadness to see the French language canceled.
This reply was deleted.

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