How Bilingual Education in Daycare Can Shape Future Achievers

Many daycares are now offering bilingual education opportunities, a great way to supplement what children in their care learn at home and/or what they will learn formally in the future. When implemented correctly and embraced by the participating kids and their parent(s) or guardians, the language lessons play a significant role in shaping their future opportunities and achievement.

Job Opportunities in Other Countries

Bilingual education in daycare could lead to future job opportunities in other countries, either if they eventually move there or are only there for a short time, such as doing a college internship or military work abroad. Starting language education early means an increased chance of better grasping the basics, a must for traveling anywhere, even if you need to ask for directions.

Converse With People in a Shared Language

Having bilingual education in daycare can allow little ones to converse in a shared language. For instance, if they are learning French, but no one else they know outside of the daycare currently speaks the language, they now have several other individuals with whom they can converse. This supplemental education helps them maintain their language skills to resume speaking with others who know the shared language as they grow into adulthood. Participating parents and/or guardians can help their children build on their bilingual skills together and promote language development outside of the daycare.

Language Opportunities Not Available at Home

There is no doubt that being bilingual can be fantastic for the resume, but many children have the benefit of learning another language at home. Having bilingual education in daycare means that children can learn a language that someone at home may not speak. As long as they keep up their education in this language, it can be something to put on their resume before they even start formal foreign language classes in middle school, high school, or college.

Educational Opportunities in Other Countries

One can gain many educational benefits from attending school – even temporarily – in another country. For example, maybe your child eventually wants to take cooking classes in Italy so they could become a chef skilled in that cuisine. Learning the native language means more educational opportunities become open to them without restrictions to only attending classes in English.

Competitive Edge in the Workforce

Being bilingual means more jobs are open to you. Due to interactions with their local populations or how they involve international business, certain jobs require bilingual employees who speak specific languages. In addition, starting language education in daycare means they are learning early enough to become fluent before considering entering the workforce, even as a teenager.

Head Start on Formal School Language Education

Many high schools require students to take a foreign language course, so starting in daycare means getting an incredibly early start on their formal school language education. By the time they get to high school, as long as they engage in continued practice, they should be able to take a more advanced language class than starting with the absolute basics.

Openness With Learning About Other Cultures

Learning about different cultures can be excellent at every stage of life, primarily if you work in an industry – like fashion, tourism, medicine, art, or journalism – where it could be a huge asset. Bilingual education in daycare allows kids to develop a deep interest in other cultures that they can continue to foster as they age. This openness, in turn, could enable them to be more open-minded about various topics throughout their educational, social, and professional lives.

Mental Flexibility

Mental flexibility means quickly changing actions, strategies, and thoughts as needed, depending on the unexpected scenarios, while being present for what the in-the-moment situation calls for. This mental flexibility can be an incredible skill to develop as early as possible, and bilingual education in daycare can help with that.

There are so many ways that having access to a bilingual education in daycare can positively impact children and their future achievement. It also gives kids something new and exciting to share with their parent(s) and/or guardians at the end of the day and is an easy way to learn more about the world around them and across the globe daily.

Sandra Chiu works as Director at LadyBug & Friends Daycare and Preschool.