A Leg Up on Languages : Preschoolers Shine in Spanish, Italian

STONE PARK, Ill. —  Each weekday morning, a cluster of children too young for grade school bounces up a flight of stairs.

“ Buenos dias, Maestra Liam! “ they chirp, and a smile comes to the lips of their Spanish teacher.

The youngsters, ages 3 to 6, are learning a second language, some of them even before they learn to read or write English. It’s an ambitious program that offers children a rare leg up on language study before they enter first grade.

“The exposure to a foreign language increases a child’s resources,” said Michael J. Rosanova, director of InterCultura, the foreign language preschool that opened last June in two small classrooms in the Italian Cultural Center here.

“Their cognitive intellectual skills are improved; they are creative and they are much less prejudiced. They become more interested in other people.

“The children have traveled emotionally and intellectually farther than any of their peers,” he said.

Rosanova, 37, started InterCultura after he and his wife, Doris, a native of Liechtenstein, were unable to find such a program in the Chicago area for their daughter, now 2.

Saw Business Opportunity

“We thought it was such a logical thing, someone must be doing it,” he said. “We were disappointed, but we saw an opportunity to get something started.”

Rosanova, who himself speaks Spanish, Italian, French, German and English, sent letters to 6,000 families in Chicago’s western suburbs and got about 250 favorable responses. Eventually, a dozen families signed up and InterCultura began offering Italian and Spanish classes.

Children in Rosanova’s school learn a second language in a type of setting popularized by Maria Montessori, the Italian educator who early in this century developed a system by which tasks are used to improve a pupil’s awareness and self-esteem.

Advocates of the Montessori method say it fosters curiosity and positive attitudes. Counting devices allow experience with numbers and there is emphasis on art, music and science as well as ability to complete basic chores, such as cleaning a mirror or shining a shoe.

At InterCultura, children learn Spanish or Italian by listening to their teacher, who speaks the foreign language at all times, including the lunchtime recess when youngsters roam the campus-like grounds.

Little English Heard

Inside the small, carpeted classrooms, nearly everything is labeled in a second language. Children occasionally speak English to classmates, but an observer will mostly find the rooms echoing with foreign words.

“So far, it’s been a pleasant surprise,” said Dr. Edibaldo Silva, who enrolled his two sons, Carlos, 5, and Miguel, 3. “As a child I was raised in a bilingual household in Central and South America.

“We thought it would be nice to at least pick up the fundamentals of Spanish,” he said. “In 2 1/2 months, they have amassed a rather spectacular vocabulary.”

Beth Camacho of Oak Park, who is Irish but grew up in Puerto Rico, said her 5-year-old son, Carlos, is “eager to go every morning.”

“He can read and speak Spanish and English,” she said. “His E’s and I’s get mixed up sometimes, but he’s found it pretty easy.”

Rosanova said children younger than 10 can often pick up a second language more easily than high school or college students.

No Drilling Needed

“Children have a sense of adventure; they’re more willing to experiment,” he said. “Small children repeat, repeat, repeat. There is no drilling here. They learn at their own pace and they learn by listening to the teacher.”

Rosanova said that InterCultura is preparing to offer German and French. Most of his pupils now come from upper-middle-class families, but he wants to attract others from all backgrounds.

“Some parents think a foreign language will make their children inaccessible in a country dominated by English,” Rosanova said. “That’s not true. It gives the children dignity, a new role.

“Technology is not everything,” he said. “Building a better mousetrap means nothing if you can’t tell another country why it needs it.”