Language studies show that early immersion language programs are more effective, resulting in faster language acquisition and learning of associated skills sets, than in foreign language programs begun during the middle and high school years.

At CAS, we go one step further, believing that bilingual or even trilingual — 1st + 2nd + 3rd languages — exposure, immersion, and instruction should begin at the Preschool level.

Although most children may be unilingual with parents that may not be bilingual (to provide support at home), CAS’s Foreign Language Teachers are native-tongue speakers experienced in instructing children with the primary aim of attaining language fluency at 6 years of age (Grade 1 age level). They will be assisted by CAS Preschool Art, Music, and Movement Teachers for such co-curricular activities, which form an integral part of CAS’s curricular framework (derived from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning, and promoted by American faculty teams working from Vanderbilt University, University of Illinois, University of South Florida, Georgetown University, and University of Colorado at Denver), which is translated throughout all its Preschool language immersion groups — English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish.

At the heart of our work is our focus on developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), an approach to teaching grounded in the research on how young children develop and learn and in what is known about effective early childhood education. It is designed to promote young children’s optimal learning and development.

DAP involves teachers meeting young children where they are (by stage of development), both as individuals and as part of a group; and helping each child meet challenging and achievable learning goals.