Bilingual Program (3-5 years)

The program is inclusive in our daily fee.

The program will run for approximately 30 to 45 minutes each day in the 3 year old and 4 year old kindergarten rooms.

During this program, the children will start from learning some basic words and phrases in Mandarin, i.e – hello, I am fine, thank you, good bye. The children will also have physical education, music, and drama sessions incorporated into the learning experiences. For example: the target words for the week is counting to 10, children will play a game of hide and seek, where the children will count out to 10 in Mandarin or a game of hopscotch where children will need to say the number out loud as they jump on each box. Our language teacher will make sure the activities are fun and engaging for the children, we know children learn best when they are having fun 🙂

Yes there is! As the children progress thru the program and we identify that, when there is enough interest from families, we will open Saturday advance classes for those who wish to further their language skills in our fun and age appropriate True Maple style bilingual program. Unlike the major weekend language schools, we focus on building children’s learning interests as well as and what’s realistic and appropriate for children growing up in an English speaking country. Our aim is to provide that love to learn attitude, whilst learning a second language to provide a broader world view and appreciation of language, better career opportunities in their future.

No, the educators at our centre will speak English to the children.

Please refer to our Bilingual benefits section above. We believe learning a second language is hugely beneficial for young children to advance their literacy and numeracy skills in preparation for their school life. It also promotes social competence, problem solving and creative thinking.

No, it won’t. “All children develop speech at different rates. Learning more than one language at the same time won’t affect how early or quickly your child learns to speak. Children exposed to more than one language from birth become native speakers of all their languages.” For more information, please refer to “Raisechildren.net.au” which is a very reputable website, often referred to by Maternal Child health nurses and other childhood development professionals.

You may also refer to the  https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/connecting-communicating/bilingualism-multilingualism/bilingualism website which is rich in information on multilingual and bilingual children.

Currently, we only offer the Bilingual Program to 3-5 year olds, but as the program progresses, we will consult with families to seek feedback on the rollout to a younger age group. Babies and toddlers can will definitely benefit from the program as, they will have a chance to listen to, be sung to from different languages (not limited to Mandarin) as our team of educators are from multicultural backgrounds.

Igniting children’s love for learning is at the heart of what we value here at True Maple. Like all other programs that we offer at True Maple, if your child is not interested in being a part of this particular program, we will work with you in a case by case scenario where, alternative arrangements can be made through child – family – centre consultation.

Communication with families and timely reporting of your child’s development is an important part of our commitment to building a trusting relationship with the child, parents, and the centre. Most of our daily updates will be easily accessible online through an all in one parent’s app. Mid year and end of year parent-teacher interviews are also available in our upcoming centre event calendar.