PRESCHOOLERS at the Kallista Kindergarten are now learning Japanese as part of the Australian Government’s $9.8 million Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) trial.
Scott Ryan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education and Training, and Casey MP Tony Smith visited the Kallista Kindergarten last week.
The kindergarten is one of 41 pre-schools across Australia taking part in the trial to explore new ways to help children learn languages other than English.
The ELLA trial will comprise seven applications (otherwise known as apps) to teach pre-schoolers basic Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian, French or Arabic language skills.
Senator Ryan said the ELLA trial is designed to give pre-schoolers the opportunity to recognise different sounds and language concepts.
“Children are growing up in an increasingly competitive and globalised world,” Senator Ryan said.
“The Australian Government is committed to increasing the number of students studying a language.”
Mr Smith said he was delighted local children were selected to take part in the trial.
“It’s great to see our election commitment fulfilled and that Casey children are benefitting from this language trial,” Mr Smith said.
“I thank the staff at the Kallista Kindergarten for their help with this ground-breaking trial.”
Seven language-specific apps, in five different languages, will be progressively rolled out to the trial pre-schools throughout this year.
These exciting new apps will give children the opportunity to develop recognition of the different sounds and concepts of a language other than English through play-based learning.
For more information about the ELLA trial, visit www.education.gov.au
