Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Magic of Immersion Programs

I struggled with the idea of language acquisition for my step-son. Based on research and my personal expertise, I know that different from other activities for kids, there's only one optimal time for language acquisition in kids, which is when they are basically born or (even before) up to 7 years old. My husband and I were decided to leave the country for a few months and give him the exposure he needed to be a perfect English-Spanish speaker. It was a race between the ticking clock, and his regular school where he was taught in English. It all changed when a client of mine (how ironic) told me about the Spanish Immersion School my son now goes to. The Spanish I used with my son was limited by our time constraints and no matter what we did, I thought I could not get him to the point I wanted him to be, or he had to be by the age of 5. Well, our lives have basically changed as now we have a team supporting us to raise our bilingual son, and what a team!!

Kids have an amazing potential to absorb languages naturally and really, not exposing them to another language is not only wasting all that potential, but also, closing lots of doors for them in the future. English is in the air as I tell everybody, so why not giving them something different? Something that is not so easy to access and in doing so, giving them the key to greater success? Ralph Gates Elementary School in Lake Forest has given us the chance to speed up the process now that my son is 6 and also has given me lots of reasons to believe that great education is still possible (I personally find the American educational system very disappointing I have to say).

At LangoKids Irvine we want to support language immersion schools as they are our big brothers. We've seen a lot of parents who already attend these schools coming to us for an additional language, to which I have to say...Way to Go! If knowing two languages is a plus, imagine what a third language can do for your child. Parents that take their kids to any immersion school in OC get a 10% tuition discount with us. If you have a child and dream with seeing him/her speak more than one language, take action now and learn about all the options available in your area. This week, meet the great group of people that make language acquisition and learning possible in the Saddleback district by attending the following event: http://oclatinolink.ocregister.com/2012/02/06/saddleback-parents-can-learn-about-two-way-immersion-program-feb-8/ Believe me, you'll love what you'll see!
 
See you there!

 If you are looking for language classes and camps for your kids, check us out at www.langokidsirvine.com