World language in day care?

WCCO had a wonderful story last night about kids learning world language in day care. Here's a snippet:

Research has found that a second language comes very easy for children. In fact, the younger, the better. Unfortunately, our country's schools are cutting back in this area.

The Center for Applied Linguistics has published preliminary survey results on its website. It found in 1997 one-fourth of elementary schools offered foreign language instruction. Last year, only 15 percent did.

We are so thrilled we are moving in the opposite direction. That, despite budget cuts we were able to add world language at the elementary level while districts nationwide are being forced to cut it. Learning a world language at a young age has a host of additional educational benefits beyond just language and parents are seeing the value. One day care mentioned in the WCCO story has a waiting list of 350 kids!

Adding Spanish to the curriculum here at NBAPS will not only expose kids to language at the most opportune time, and improve their ability to learn in the long run, but also provide an opportunity to attract new families to the district.

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