It’s officially summer and that means parents around Chicago are asking themselves, “How can I keep my child entertained, yet learning new skills while school is out?” Multilingual Chicago’s language immersion classes for kids could be your summertime savior.
Multilingual Kids, a division of Logan Square’s Multilingual Chicago summer language classes school, offers interactive, immersive and culturally rich language programs for children of all ages. Open-enrollment summer classes and camps are offered in Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Polish and Hindi. The school, located at Milwaukee Avenue just north of Diversey Ave, offers free organic coffee, tea and WiFi for parents who choose to wait in the comfortable cafe, as well as ample lot and street parking.
Your child will benefit from small classes (four kids minimum, eight kids maximum), full language immersion and interactive, hands-on activities, songs and games. What makes Multilingual Kids different from other language schools? The curriculum emphasizes culture, which allows children to study other countries’ people and customs, connect to their heritage and become global citizens.
The teachers at Multilingual Kids are nurturing and engaging professionals who have lived and taught around the world. Aside from teaching kids second language skills, the staff is adept at offering support to parents.
The top two questions that parents ask are, “How do you accommodate multiple learning levels?” and “How can I support my child’s language learning journey?” says Jill Kushner Bishop, founder of Multilingual Connections (the parent company of Multilingual Kids and Multilingual Chicago).
“We know that not everyone comes to class with the same background, and we’re quite sensitive to that. Our small class sizes and experienced teachers ensure that all students’ needs are met and everyone in class is engaged and participating—regardless of their level,” says Bishop.
Carolina Legg, Multilingual Kids’ program manager, says there are many things a parent and family can do to support their child’s language journey. “Parents can review the past week’s lesson and homework with their child, attend language play groups, check out books from the library and read them aloud to their children, attend our Spanish Story Time and Play offered on Thursdays at 10:30am for only $10, explore elementary schools with dual-language or world language programs, consider language summer camps, take family tutoring sessions together, and if possible, pack their bags and do some international traveling as a family!”
Legg notes that children aren’t afraid to practice their new language skills both in class and at home throughout the year. “During our Korean class last year, a mother told us that that her child was singing a song she had learned during her class to her grandmother in Korea over the phone. The grandmother was so excited to hear her grandchild singing a traditional song!”
If you’d like your child to learn about nature in a multilingual environment, consider the Outdoor Spanish Summer Series offered at The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in partnership with Multilingual Kids. Children and their parents or caregivers learn Spanish vocabulary during an experiential, interactive class in the outdoor museum parks. Children read a thematic book together and then do fun hands-on crafts and sing songs relating to the day’s theme. Learn more about the Outdoor Spanish Summer Series.
We all know that learning a language takes dedication. The lessons don’t have to stop at summer’s end. Multilingual Kids also offers programming in Spanish, Mandarin and French in schools across Chicago for pre-K through 8th grade. Classes are offered before, during or after school.
Parents can support their kids by enrolling in classes or private tutoring. Multilingual Chicago offers dozens of evening classes and weekend Bilingual Boot Camps for adults.
About Multilingual Connections
Learn more about classes, tutoring, camps or special events, free trial class or to watch videos and testimonials from parents.
» Socialize with Multilingual Chicago | www.multilingualchicago.com • www.multilingual-kids.com • @m_connections • Facebook.com/multilingualchicago • 773-292-7676
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