PRE-KINDERGARTEN AND KINDERGARTEN O
UR PRE-KINDERGARTEN AND KINDERGARTEN programs offer 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children a bright, spacious and nurturing classroom environment. Led by our dual German- and English-speaking teachers who are specially qualified for nursery and early childhood education, children are encouraged to embrace discovery both indoors and out. The large and sun-filled classrooms have direct access to the playground, which translates into plenty of outdoor exploration and play time. Given that many of our Pre-K and Kindergarten students join our program speaking only one language, most often either English or German, the roots of their bilingualism begin to grow here. Through the use of fun theme-based projects and a stimulating, structured classroom, children learn concepts and skills that are fundamental to their social, emotional and cognitive development, all
while building a solid foundation for bilingualism and literacy. And while few aspects of the language learning process surprise us, we always enjoy seeing the looks of happy disbelief on parents‘ faces when they discover that their previously monolingual children are, in just a matter of months, playing with their classmates in their new second language! Finally, while some children are ready to read in Kindergarten, many others are not. To meet the I LOVE LEARNING THINGS IN GERMAN needs of each child, we create an environment BECAUSE THEN I CAN for success by introducing challenging but TALK WITH MY DAD IN enjoyable literacy-related activities and experiTWO LANGUAGES! ences that are guided by a child’s own reading GIS Kindergarten Student readiness. Upon completion of Kindergarten, children are well prepared to enter first grade.
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One TEACHER, One LANGUAGE We embrace the “One Teacher, One Language” concept in our Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms. In a nut-shell, this means that a German-speaking teacher speaks German with the children, and an English-speaking teacher speaks English. Our experience has shown us that this enhances language acquisition. 9
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