Strong oral language skills support a child’s early literacy development. Preschool-age kids in dual language programs are both learning a second language and continuously learning about their first. In a Spanish speaking pre-school, both teachers and students should only speak Spanish all day long. If you are like most parents, you might be wondering how your child who doesn’t speak the classroom language will handle the transition. Read on to know how the classroom is set up to support the learning of Spanish as a second language and how kids are supported for the transition:
Offering a Hands-On Environment
In most Spanish-speak daycare centers, children can use readily available materials even if they have any language skills. Kids can take blocks, play dough, or spend time with their peers even if they cannot speak Spanish. The school ensures that every child feels comfortable in the new environment they are in. Teachers care for kids throughout the day to make sure their needs are met.
Offering Responsive Language
In an immersion daycare center, your child will work with a wide range of activities that let the teacher offer endless responsive language. These include practical life activities that help kids learn the names of common things, together with many verbs and adverbs. Also, activities include the use of sensorial materials for learning all types of adjectives. Most of these activities are designed to isolate a particular attribute so the child can learn a new adjective in their own pace. Great Spanish immersion preschools teach students how to express their needs and feeling with words.
Offering Freedom for Structured Activities and Routines
Every child who enters a classroom without speaking its language can benefit from the freedom to take part in structured activities and routines. Sometimes, they are allowed to pick any activity for themselves and work with it for as long as they want. Their teacher would give them a cue when it is time to clean up and put their activity away. An example of a pre-school Spanish routine is a thirty-minute lesson with a group. It involves spending five minutes for welcoming and warming up, introducing new words, teaching a new story, or making a class graph for 5-10 minutes, acting out words for 2-3 minutes, following up activity for 5-10 minutes, and wrapping up for 5 minutes. Effective preschool teachers know their class and do what works for them.
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