A question that new parents often ask us!
As a matter of fact, when your child steps into our school, whether they are 18 months old or 10 years old, they will have the feeling of stepping into an English environment. Everything in our school is in English, from the Secretary Office to the documents fixed on the walls.
In Playschool every moment of the day will happen in English: the welcoming in the morning, the listening times on the carpet, the activities set up by the teachers, meal times, toilet runs, story time and play time.
This is because we firmly believe in the importance of providing an environment where children will be fully surrounded by the target language as this will be crucial for the development of bilingualism. Teachers will always approach children using English and, whenever possible, will do the same with parents. Of course, if parents are not able to speak English, there will always be a member of the staff ready to communicate with them in Italian.
As far as children are concerned, it is important to make a distinction between children who start at a very young age (18 months or 2 years old) and children who start when they are already 3 or 4 years old. For children who start with us from the Starters section, teachers will only use English to communicate with them. In fact, at that age, every word will be accompanied by a gesture and every part of communication will be intuitive and guided.
For Movers (3 and 4 years old) who arrive from a fully Italian background, teachers will use English for most of the time but, at the very beginning, they may also use a little bit of Italian just to make sure that the children can settle in properly.
In any case, it is very important to underline that all teachers and tutors understand Italian and will be able to support children’s requests and needs at all times.
