Preschool incorporates Spanish into all subjects

For preschoolers at Chesterbrook Academy, a square isn't just a square, it's also a cuadrado. And the weather isn't just cold, it's frio.

Chesterbrook is rolling out a new program this year to integrate Spanish into the school's daily curriculum for 2- to 5-year-old preschool students.

"Children have an ability to think on their feet. They're more creative, a lot of cognitive development milestone are reached at an earlier age when they're able to think in multiple languages," said Lisa Fawver, principal of one of Chesterbrook's three preschools in Naperville.

Chesterbrook is part of Nobel Learning Communities Inc., which has more than 150 schools nationwide.

Fawver said research has found learning a second language is easiest at a young age when children aren't already stuck in the mindset of their native language.

Learning the Spanish word for apple, she said, is easier to do at the same time as the child is learning the English word for apple.

Instead of having a designated time for Spanish class, as the school did in the past, the language is now incorporated into a variety of activities throughout the day that help students learn numbers, months, weather words, colors, shapes, flags and even basic phrases in Spanish.

For example, teachers at the intermediate level of 3-year-olds may ask students to show them what shape a cuadrado is. After they point to a square, the teacher may then ask what color the square is in both English and Spanish.

In addition to vocabulary, the 4- and 5-year-old students also can identify which flags belong to which Spanish-speaking countries.

Around their classrooms, the signs denoting the art and science areas are also labeled as the "area de arte" and the "area de ciencia."

Fawver said the school doesn't merely want students to go home and recite numbers in Spanish to perform for their parents. But nor does she expect students to reach proficiency before kindergarten.

"What we're looking for is just the exposure to another culture, another skill set, another way of looking at something to keep children open-minded and really excited about learning," she said.

Through its Links to Learning initiative, the school sends home regular updates for parents to know what lessons are coming up and the types of activities they can do with their children to reinforce what they're learning.

"They might truly be multilingual adults, and that is very exciting in this global economy everybody's talking about," Fawver said. "This (is the) classroom of the 21st century."