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Our Learning Center |
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Our Staff |
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OUR HOME PAGE |
Introduction & Purpose
The Foreign Language Immersion Childcare Center (FLICC), located in Harbor Town on Mud Island, has been formed to provide quality childcare with the added opportunity to experience the increased intellectual stimulation associated with second language acquisition at an early age.
FLICC is a learn and play center which provides children with a safe, loving , nurturing, and educational environment, and the highest quality care possible. Children in our center are given the opportunity to acquire Spanish as a second language while, at the same time, they develop English as a first language.
The center provides qualified teaching staff,
small classes, and excellent child - teacher ratios. We set the child -
teacher ratio according to standards of the National Association for the
Education of
We consider the child as a whole; therefore, we strive to meet the individual needs of each child while encouraging and stimulating the child's physical, social, cognitive, and emotional development.
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The Foreign Language Advantage There are many reasons why children should learn a second language. Some of the best reasons for beginning language instruction at an early age are:
Some other advantages of being an early bilingual are: being more advanced in school, scoring better on tests of first language skills, creativity and intelligence, showing greater mental flexibility, being better at following complicated instructions, and especially being able to acquire a second language with close to native speaker proficiency. |
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Hablamos Español en Nuestra Escuela! This is the sign on the child care center and preschool which opened in Harbor Town in December 1999, but the students are not members of Memphis' growing Spanish-speaking community; the school is designed for parents who want their children to acquire a second language. The center is the project of two Spanish teachers, Dawn Shute (MA '96) and Veronica Miller (BA '89, MAT '92). Together they formed the Foreign Language Immersion Childcare Center (FLICC, LLC). Designed to accommodate 100 students, the center serves children from 6 weeks to 5 years. It features reading, singing, and music from other cultures. Research shows a sensitive period when children's brains are most receptive to developing language skills. "Between birth and 6 years, there's a language window," says Miller. "They're open to learning as many languages as they're exposed to." After that time, children find it more of an effort to learn another language.
"Kids who grow up bilingual are better at science, math, and grammar," says Shute. "It's good exercise for your brain." Society is becoming more multicultural, and businesses are looking for people who can speak a foreign language, she says. Although many pre-schools provide some foreign language instruction, the immersion school is the first of its kind in Memphis. |
Young
Children (NAEYC) so that children receive much individual attention.
Miller taught Spanish in the
Shelby County Schools for seven years. Shute has eight years of experience
teaching in the Memphis City Schools, Shelby County Schools, and in Florida.
The search for quality day care and the benefits of being bilingual sold
Shute and Miller on the idea of a foreign language immersion school, an idea
they had researched for two years. Their children are growing up
bilingual, thanks to exposure to both English and Spanish in their homes.
