Pre-schoolers taught foreign languages

Children at six Peninsula preschools will learn foreign languages as part of the Federal Government's Early Learning Languages Australia program

Pre-schoolers at Booker Bay Preschool; Bluebird Early Learning Centre, Empire Bay; Goodstart Early Learning, Woy Woy; and at Umina Child Care Centre will learn Mandarin, while children at Little Giggles Early Learning Centre and at Aussie Kindies Early Learning, Woy Woy, will learn French.

They will be among more than 600 children at 20 preschools in the Robertson electorate who will be taught a second language this year, according to Federal Member for Robertson Ms Lucy Wicks.

"We know the positive impact learning a second language can have on a child's engagement and development," Ms Wicks said.

"This will be the start of a life-long interest in language learning for Central Coast children while at the same time boosting their English and problem-solving skills."

The program, which is backed by $15.7m nationally in funding from the Coalition Government, now includes nine languages, with the introduction of Hindi and Modern Greek, in addition to Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Indonesian, Japanese, Italian and Spanish.

Source:

Media release, 13 Mar 2018

Tim Sowden, Office of Lucy Wicks MP