Opening Minds, Opening Opportunities...
At Spanish for fun! we utilize a mix of a total Spanish immersion curriculum, an international curriculum and the creative curriculum of North Carolina developed around using a play-based philosophy as well as paying close attention to each child's social emotional state by exposing them to all 5 love languages (based off of the research done by Dr. Gary Chapman). A play based philosophy means we believe that children naturally engage in and enjoy play as a way of learning on their own terms and at their own pace. Our job as teachers is to provide a safe and nurturing environment and guide them with developmentally appropriate activities and create opportunities for them to explore and learn through play. It is our goal to provide a supportive atmosphere that will encourage each child to develop physically, socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Our curriculum is taught entirely in Spanish, children will learn Spanish in a fun natural way. Our students will not only be exposed to the language but to the whole culture,which will inspire them to explore a world beyond their own.
Why We Should Learn Spanish
North Carolina has one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the US, yet despite this trend, bilingual education has failed to become a main concern of this industry. Even foreign language education, which is ranked as high as all other basic academic fields by the National commission of Excellence in Education, lacks strong and consistent support by the education industry in North Carolina. Nevertheless, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world with 392 million Spanish speaking people in 22 countries around the world. The US is the third largest Spanish speaking country in the world. By 2010, it is expected that the US Latino population will reach 42 million and, by the time today's children are adults, 25% of our population will be Latino.
The ability to communicate in Spanish, the native language of so many of the world's population, will give a child a tremendous advantage throughout his or her life. Also, learning a second language actually expands a child's learning capacity. Learning a foreign language provides mental flexibility, creativity, diverging thinking and problem solving skills. Children benefit from this expanded capacity and later in life. Regular exposure to a second language is key to language acquisition. In order to communicate in a language children must learn to interact in that language.
According to latest research and surveys each year 200,000 Americans loose out job opportunities because they do not know another language.
Colleges and universities require foreign language education for admission. Learning another language helps to improve SAT scores. Studies show for every year a person takes a foreign language, their SAT scores improve.
Knowing a foreign language increases travel opportunities and helps you meet new people, helps you understand the difficulty others have when they are trying to learn English.
Learning another language is a passport to greater understanding of one's own language and culture. Modern technology has brought the world closer and has erased many of the existing borders. In order to connect with the rest of the world, the need for a foreign language is a must.
According to the Cervantes Institute, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. Also it is the second most studied after English with more than 14 million students in 90 countries where it is not an official language. The most important reason is because it is the official language in 21 countries.
Among the advantages of being bilingual since very young is that they reason faster than a monolingual child, they are more creative, flexible and open minded and have more abilities and resources to solve problems. During the firsts months of life it helps create the mechanisms to learn new languages in the future. When they travel and meet new people they are able to communicate easily. They have more job opportunities. They have double chances to learn to read and write and have more access to global information. They recommend the child to listen to it as much as possible and get familiarized with the new language little by little.
A recent study from College University in London and published in Nature, determines that learning a second language helps develop a part of the brain in charge of the verbal knowledge. It has been found that bilingual people have more gray matter and that their brain had experienced structural changes because of the experience of learning a new language. The magnitude of those changes is proportionally inversed according to the age, if it is acquired before the age of 5, the changes are bigger. A child can learn up to 5 languages at the same time from birth.
According to the census of 2000 Hispanic population is 12.5% being the first minority in the USA with more political, economical and cultural impact and more participation in the media and public services. It is estimated than by 2050 it will be 25% and their influence will be even greater.
The United Nations recognizes the imperative necessity to promote high quality programs to learn other languages and other cultures.
