BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE

MARCH 4, 2024

Learning English is one of the great achievements in early childhood, and although it’s an excellent language (and a dominant one around the world), it’s definitely not the only language that young children can benefit from knowing.  

Learning two languages, or even three, is brilliant for under-fives’ brains, social-emotional skills and future successes, and with this in mind, we’re excited to see Angsana Early Learning Centre opening its doors to little linguists.    

This family-owned and thoughtfully designed centre soft-launched last December, with a starting group of less than 10 children, and since then, Angsana ELC has quickly become somewhere special for a lot of families.  

They offer a well-rounded early learning program with Phonics, Literacy and Numeracy, Gardening and Cooking, Speech and Drama, Sustainability and Environmental Education, plus Physical Education, but the stand-out feature of Angsana ELC is its multilingual program!  

At Angsana ELC, the children learn English, Spanish and Mandarin, and to understand how this works in practice, we’ve asked Angsana’s Centre Director, Yolanda Rubatto Ivanov, to explain the Angsana approach.  

Yolanda is a native Spanish-speaker with more than 25 years’ experience in the education sector, and she tells us that Angsana ELC is motivated to create multilingual children and encourage them to connect.  

With 90% of a child’s brain development happening in their first five years, Yolanda and her team recognise that this is the perfect time to introduce not one language, but three, and Yolanda says the benefits of multilingualism are numerous.  

Speaking from personal and professional experience, Yolanda explains that, “Multilingualism enhances children’s cognitive development by improving their problem-solving skills, creativity and multitasking abilities.  

“On top of that, it fosters cultural understanding and empathy, as children learn to communicate with people from different backgrounds.”

Multilingualism also creates opportunities going forward, and Yolanda says, “Children who speak more than two languages ​​today will have a competitive advantage in the global market, with incredible opportunities in fields such as international business, translation and diplomacy.” 

Angsana ELC’s families definitely see the benefits of a multilingual childcare offering.  

Since the centre opened, they’ve had an influx of enrolments, and although many of their families are from the Chinese and Latino communities, and really appreciate their children being able to practise their home language at care, there are plenty of monolingual families enrolled as well.  

Yolanda says, “We have a large community who don’t speak Mandarin or Spanish at home, but are excited for their children to learn different languages ​​from an early age.” 

All of Angsana ELC’s families have been impressed by the passion and expertise of Yolanda’s team, and her educators ensure that English, Mandarin and Spanish are part of every single early learning day.  

Angsana ELC’s Mandarin and Spanish programs have been developed by native speakers, and each week, there are three dedicated classes for Mandarin and Spanish in the preschool classroom. 

The educators use songs, stories, games and drama to immerse the children in Mandarin and Spanish, and their language learning doesn’t end when each class does.  

Yolanda says, “Our Mandarin and Spanish teachers are in the classroom all day talking to the children. Our children are constantly exposed to all three languages ​​at all times of the day, and the children are learning naturally and becoming more and more multilingual, the longer they’re with us.” 

We love the sound of all these early learners sucking up different words like the sponges they are, but it’s not just the multilingual approach that makes Angsana amazing.  

The facilities are airy and modern, the resources are brand-new, and no time or expense has been spared in creating this exceptional early learning environment.  

The family who built Angsana ELC took seven years to do so, and they’ve carefully recruited a team of educators who are as dedicated to children’s education and care as they are.  

Yolanda says, “At Angsana ELC, we are passionate about the children, we enjoy our days with them, and you can feel the love as soon as you enter our centre.” 

So you might say that this place speaks for itself!