Word of the Week, June 24, 2018

The word of the week this week is another Romance Language. The term Romance comes from the Vulgar Latin adverb romanice, "in Roman", derived from Romanicus. French is truly, then, a language of romance.

French Classes

Why We Teach French:

French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is spoken on every continent. It is estimated to have 110 million native speakers and 190 million more second language speakers. Estimates in 2013 suggest that French speakers will reach 1 billion by the year 2060. Our French teachers have ties to France, Canada, Algeria, and Belgium.

About Our French Program

With our carefully developed curriculum, unique teaching methods, small class sizes of 6-8 children and our excellent team of native and fluent French teachers, your child will be on the fast track to language proficiency, learning French naturally in a fun and engaging environment.

Right from the start, students learn to communicate verbal basics and set the foundation for all bilingual language skills. Children learn correct pronunciation, spelling, and accents. Our teachers introduce vocabulary using hands-on activities.

Check out our website to see the French classes that we currently offer. Each semester these classes are offered at the same times, making it easier for families to schedule weekly activities.

Depending on your needs or desire for rapid fluency, we offer a once-a-week class, as well as our accelerated class, which meets twice a week.

Availability

Our French language programs are available to children 18 months - 14 years of age.

French Class Locations:

We offer French classes at our Westerville location and through our after-school program.

Pre-K Language Programs

Preschool and Kindergarten Programs

Cultured Kids Club currently offers Chinese, French, and Spanish classes for preschoolers and kindergarteners.

Families can choose between a once-a-week program (Pre-K) or our twice-a-week program (Accelerated Pre-K).

Our curriculum helps students learn through engaging activities.

• We focus on kindergarten readiness as well as hands-on learning!
• During each class, students learn reading, writing, math, science, problem-solving techniques and native verbal pronunciation.

These programs focus on foreign language development and prepare students for kindergarten. Classes are small to maintain one-on-one learning (8:1 ratio).

About Pre-K Programs

Our Pre-K programs are designed for independent learners!  Students in these programs will build confidence by socializing with teachers and classmates.

• Every week, students learn topic words and phrases through fun and engaging songs, games, activities, and craft projects.
• Every two weeks, we feature a new descriptive theme such as colors, clothing, foods, body parts or numbers.
• We include weekly at-home worksheets, videos, and songs through our Student Corner.

Each class, students participate in Brunch Bunch. This is a time for students to get to know each other and to watch a short cartoon in their target foreign language. Parents should pack a nut free snack for their child.

This program focuses on native verbal pronunciation while preparing students for reading and writing communication skills.

Is Accelerated Pre-K Different?

The Accelerated Pre-K program meets twice per week! This program is designed for maximum absorption. Students in these programs will learn twice as fast because they are coming twice per week.  The format of the class is the same as our Pre-K Programs.

Locations and Languages

Currently, we offer Spanish Pre-K class at our Hilliard location, Chinese, Spanish and French Pre-K and Accelerated Pre-K classes at our Westerville Center. We are looking to expand into the Cincinnati and Dayton areas soon!

Requirements

Children do not have to already know or understand the language in order to join.  However, this program does require children to be fully potty-trained before they are allowed to join.

Happy Father's Day

From all of us here at Cultured Kids Club, Happy Father's Day!

Coloring Page Spanish

Coloring Page French

Coloring Page Chinese

Word of the Week, June 17, 2018

The word of the week this week comes from China.  Mandarin, also known as Standard Chinese, is the sole official language of China and Taiwan, and one of four official languages in Singapore. Chinese is written in characters; however, it can also be written in Pinyin.

Chinese Camp

Chinese Camp is designed to teach children not only the Chinese language but also the cultures of five different Chinese speaking countries!

During each day of Chinese camp, students learn about native foods, animals, songs, games, idioms, capitals, cities, leaders, artists, geography and landmarks all reflecting the country of the day! Have you ever danced the tea-picking dance or tried Taiwanese bōbà nǎi chá? Have you ever played jiàn zi, or worn a traditional táng zhuāng or a kebaya? Here at Chinese Camp, kids will learn about these cultural items and many many more!

All week, students learn and respond in Chinese through fun indoor and outdoor engaging activities. For example, when making snow cones, we discuss flavors, opposites, colors, like,  and dislikes. Through our art projects, students learn family members, animals, nature, emotions, and actions. With our native Chinese games, students learn numbers, greetings, how to ask questions and imagination.

Cultured Kids Club provides children the early opportunity to learn a foreign language through fun and spontaneous interactions, building their foreign language vocabulary just like a native speaker.

July 16 - 19, 1 - 3 p.m.

@ the CKC Westerville Center

Pricing: $120 per student

Register for camp today!

Bilingual Brains

Cognitive Benefits

The more scientists study brains, the more they come to the conclusion that speaking more than one language has many benefits that stretch from youth to old age.

If you speak a second (or even third) language from before the age of five, your brain develops a greater gray-matter density in the inferior parietal cortex, which is the language part of the brain, which means you have some distinct benefits over those who speak only one language (monolingual). This finding suggests that being bilingual from an early age significantly alters the brain’s structure.

New research has found that early childhood proficiency in two languages enhances a person’s ability to concentrate. It might also protect against the onset of dementia or other age-related cognitive issues. Although scientists don’t know why bilingualism creates this “cognitive reserve,” some theorize that speaking two languages may increase blood and oxygen flow to the brain and keep nerve connections healthy—factors thought to help ward off dementia.

Bilingualism Increases Concentration

Some parents and educators might fear that exposing children to a second language at too early an age might delay their language skills and harm their intellectual growth.  This is not the case. Bilingual children reach language milestones at the same age as monolingual children, and do not show any evidence of being "language confused". Young infants are able to use rhythmic clues to keep two languages distinct.  In fact, babies are able to do this from the first days of life.

Being bilingual may give children an advantage at school. The multilingual experience improves the brain’s command system that directs the attention processes. We use these processes for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. This includes ignoring distractions to stay focused and switching attention willfully from one thing to another. Bilingual preschoolers have been found to be better able to focus on a task while tuning out distractions than their single-language peers.

A similar enhanced ability to concentrate has been found in bilingual adults, particularly those who became fluent in two languages at an early age. It may be that managing two languages helps the brain sharpen its ability to focus while ignoring irrelevant information.

What Can You Do?

Even if your family is monolingual, you can take steps to give your child these advantages! You could switch their favorite television program into Spanish or French (some Netflix shows have been dubbed into many different languages) while they watch. You could start taking an adult language class, or learn from an app like Duolingo or Mindsnacks, and start teaching it to your child. If you have a toddler, you could come to our Parent and Tot classes, or send your preschooler or elementary child to one of our other programs. Your child's brain will thank you!

Word of the Week, June 10, 2018

The word of the week this week is from a romance language. These languages are all descended from Latin, and share certain commonalities.  The most widely spoken romance languages are Spanish, Portugese, French, Italian, and Romanian.

Spanish Classes

Why We Teach Spanish

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States; approximately 406 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the most popular second language that is learned in the United States. We are proud to offer Spanish at all of our Cultured Kids Club locations.  Our Spanish teachers have ties to Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela, and Mexico.

About Our Spanish Program

With our carefully developed curriculum, unique teaching methods, small class sizes of 6-8 children and our excellent team of native and fluent Spanish teachers, your child will be on the fast track to language proficiency, learning French naturally in a fun and engaging environment.

Right from the start, students learn to communicate verbal basics and set the foundation for all bilingual skills. Because there are so many Spanish-speaking countries throughout the world, we always teach traditional Spanish vocabulary (Spain's Spanish). This helps conversational abilities whether you are in Bogota, Buenos Aries, or Valencia.

Check out our website to see the Spanish classes we currently offer. Each semester these classes are offered at the same times, making it easier for families to schedule weekly activities.

Depending on your needs or desire for rapid fluency, we offer a once-a-week class, as well as our accelerated class, which meets twice a week.

Availability

Our Spanish language programs are available to children 18 months - 14 years of age.

Spanish Class Locations

We offer Spanish classes at our Hilliard location,  Westerville location and through our after-school program.

June 2018 News

Summer Culture Camps

Back by popular demand! Cultured Kids Club is offering Chinese, French, and Spanish Culture Camps. Your child will learn the culture, geography and fun facts about five different native-speaking countries, as well as the language. They will also complete an art project reflecting the country of the day.

Spanish: June 11-14, 10:15 am - 12:15 pm, July 7-12, 1:00 -3:00
French: June 25-28, 10:15 am - 12:13pm, July 23-26, 1:00 -3:00
Chinese: July 16-19, 1:00 -3:00

Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanwu or Tuen Ng Festival, is a traditional holiday observed annually for over 2,000 years in China to commemorate Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese patriotic poet. Dragon boat racing and eating zongzi are the central customs of the festival. In some regions in China, people also wear a perfume pouch, tie five-color silk thread and hang mugwort leaves or calamus on their doors.

Job Opportunities

Are you fluent in French, Chinese, or Spanish? Do you like working with children and teaching them about your culture? Come join our team! We are looking for new teachers to fill our after-school language enrichment positions for the 2018-2019 school year. We provide training, a competitive wage, and a background check for all new teachers. We always accept resumes; simply contact us, or visit our application page to get started.

Immersion Language Learning

Why Immersion Learning is Important

There are tons of free apps on Google Play and in the Apple Store that can help you learn a second language. While these are extremely helpful in getting you started on the language path, the best way to learn a language is to be immersed in it.

Think about it. How do we learn languages as children? Babies and toddlers learn through being talked to. In fact, children as young as six months old can understand the words that are being said to them, even if they can't communicate yet themselves. Because of this, the younger the child is when learning a second or even third language, the more the child will retain later in life.

What is Immersion Learning?

Immersion programs are characterized by at least 50 percent of the class spent in the non-English language. Teachers use anything from manipulatives to explanations and modeling to teach students topics in the target language. The goal is for students to attain biliteracy; the ability to completely speak, write, read and understand both languages.

Basically, any instructor should be speaking to students in the target language at least half of the class. The more teachers speak to students in the foreign language, the more students will pick up.  This is imperative to do, as learning through an app can only take you so far.

Benefits of Immersion Learning and Bilingualism

As well as the benefits of bilingualism, learning a second language activates different parts of the brain; people who learn through immersion programs get a cognitive boost. When students learn two languages, they develop a higher ability to listen, identify sounds, and break apart words. Bilingual students also outperform those who only speak one language on tasks that require them to pause and decide between two options.

A recent study done by Millennum Cohort found various educational benefits for children who are bilingual. Even though their research showed that children who are educated in a second language may initially lag behind at the preschool age, they soon catch up and outperform their peers by the time they're seven years old. Students who study a second language seem to perform better on tests that are used to evaluate school and individual progress, including mathematical ability tests.

What Does It All Mean?

This doesn't mean you can't learn another language as an older child or an adult. It simply becomes more difficult the older that you get. Daily practice on Duolingo or even Mindsnacks can help, but the best thing to encourage your second language ability to grow is an immersive language program. The best language teachers speak only their foreign language from day one to help you acclimate to the grammar, pronunciation, and usage of words.