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methodology is based on research AND fun!
All Programs — Special Programs — Research— Photo & Video Gallery
All Programs
~3-8 Children Per Class
~Classes 45 min - 12 hrs/wk
~Language Immersion
~Diverse Learning Styles
~New Lessons Weekly
~Interactive Activities
~Age-Appropriate Units
~Optional Enrichment at Home
~Familiar Stories and Real-Life Routines
~Fun Games, Stories, Music, Crafts, Imagination Play, Art and More!
Our curriculum is uniquely
and carefully designed to maximize what occurs in a child's brain
during each developmental stage — while playing!
We use whole language in context, a comprehensive and directed approach deeper than simple undirected immersion. We do everything in the foreign language, in real situations and using whole sentences. We use gestures, facial expressions, modeling, and positive feedback to make children comfortable and happy. We make language relevant and engage the imagination using themes and stories.
Our instructors are
experienced, fluent, and love children!
Special Programs
~Extended Preschool Program for 3-5 year olds
This program offers the above, as well as social skills, school routines, and expectations, artistic and free expression, math thinking, music & movement, nature & science, organized games, and introductory literacy. Please note that we do not formally teach the whole alphabet, reading, or writing, as children learning a foreign language must first integrate listening and speaking - just like their first language!
~Mandarin Foundation and Continuing Classes
Children 6-10 who are new to Mandarin take our Foundation 12-week class to learn "pinyin" (the phonetic alphabet to read characters). They discover basic characters and begin developing listening and speaking skills. Continuing classes develop abilities more deeply and in new contexts, with longer immersion games, culture, reading, and writing characters with correct stroke order.
~Language Club
For children 8-10, we offer special units on real-world situations like endangered species, famous people from other countries, and more. Reading and writing is introduced and practiced, with gentle corrections, and to make language appealing for future academic classes.
~Option to Attend Multiple Times Per Week
Children who attend multiple times per week get to use language skills and knowledge in new contexts in order to deepen the learning process. Research also shows that 90 minutes or more per week of immersion on a regular basis over the years is the tipping point that can lead to true fluency and accent.
For even more information, see our At Home page!
Kids learn foreign languages naturally!
Everything a child sees, touches, hears, feels, tastes, thinks and so on
translates into electrical activity in just a subset of his or her synapses,
tipping the balance for long-term survival in their favor.
- Lise Eliot, Ph.D.
Research proves that all languages are learned and processed equally for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and in the first few grades of school. A young child’s brain is in a state of neuroplasticity, when the brain is growing more synapses and connections. Connections that are made and strengthened before the age of 10-12 remain active throughout life. This also means that it is extremely difficult and rare to master skills that are not introduced and practiced in those first years of life.
Multilingual children have an edge!
Research shows that learning a foreign language actually enhances children’s
overall mental development. When given foreign language instruction by age 3 or 4,
children are able to speak like a native in their second language.
- Lynne S. Dumas, Researcher & Author
Studies show that multilingual children demonstrate maturity and skill functioning in complex academic, social, and work environments. By strengthening their foreign language skills, children are better prepared for future experiences and higher social functioning in an increasingly global society. These young ones also improve their overall mental development in such varied areas as math and science.
Playing = Learning!
They may not know exactly why they are saying what they are saying,
but they can say it... Think of it like singing along with a tune on the radio,
and after a while you can’t get the words out of your head.
- Neill Jeffery, Language Educator
Experts agree that very young children learn language from a different part of the brain than older children. After the age of 10 or 12, language is learned much like other academic subjects, with memorization and effort. Before that age, children learn from doing, playing and being immersed in the language - in the same way that they learn their first language through interaction with you!
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