PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

MOTTO:"By learning a foreign language we not only learn how other societies think and feel, what they have experienced, their values and how they express themselves, but we also have a cultural mirror in which we can see more clearly our own society"- Edward Lee Gorsuch.
For every parent, the most important being is the child. Caring for their harmonious development, physically, emotionally and emotionally, is always a real challenge for parents. Once the child reaches the optimal age for starting day nursery and then kindergarten, parents become increasingly concerned about what is the best choice for their child. The large number of pre-school establishments (both state and private) sometimes makes it even more difficult to make the right choice. More and more parents are opting for kindergartens with a foreign language, which brings an early benefit for the child.
The kindergarten years are the most appropriate years for the assimilation of foreign language knowledge. When I say foreign language, I mean units taught in that language, not optional activities. The difference is of great importance. Half an hour or an hour a week of optional activity is totally insufficient for foreign language acquisition. At this age (3-6 years), children have an astonishing capacity to acquire and retain a foreign language, which is why it is particularly important that all activities in the pre-school unit are conducted mainly in that language.
I say this with full knowledge of the facts, as I myself am a preschool teacher where I teach German. German is the easiest language for young children to learn. The older they get, the more difficult it becomes to assimilate, given the large amount of information they have to learn. Play is the best and most appropriate way of teaching a foreign language. The parent must not be convinced that a foreign language will be too much of a burden. They are wrong... The most important prerequisites for learning a foreign language are a small number of children in a group, a variety of educational materials and a dedicated teacher. Regarding the first condition, this can only be found in private kindergartens. I am in no way trying to denigrate state kindergartens, or the teachers who teach in them, but it is obvious that the number of children there far exceeds the optimal number (10-15 children/group). Some children are particularly good at learning a foreign language, others are good at other activities. That is why parents need to accept their child's inclination towards what he is best at and what he likes best. I do not agree with forcing a child to learn something for which he or she has no aptitude and no enjoyment. We are aware that not all parents have the financial possibility to enroll their child in a private institution, but at the same time we believe that no sacrifice is too great in the child's favor.
Edith Zurman