Multilingualism
What is immersion?
Immersion means immersing yourself in the foreign language. This new language is the colloquial and working language, even if the children do not know it at the beginning.
They discover the new language themselves, namely from the context in which it is used. Immersion follows the principles of psycholinguistics. This is how a person learns their mother tongue. The language is not made an issue and grammar and vocabulary are not in the focus. Language acquisition is free from (time) pressure. The kindergarten teachers support everything they say through gestures and demonstrations. The foreign language is learned naturally. That's why immersion doesn't overwhelm.
Only native speakers (German, English and Czech speaking people) are working with the children. They only speak their mother tongue. Immersion is currently the world's most successful method of language acquisition. It requires that a lot of time be spent on the new language. In a kindergarten where the foreign language is available throughout the day, immersion is actually possible.
Why is immersion in a kindergarten suitable for children?
Here the children are introduced to the language without pressure. The children are learning at their own pace. There is enough time. The day is structured for children in phases of tension and relaxation.
Immersion enables intuitive language learning and does not make language an issue. Language is the tool on the way to knowledge acquisition and at the same time the goal.
Is my child overwhelmed with two or more languages?
Children in many families grow up multilingual. Less than a third of humanity grows up monolingually. Everyone is able to learn two or more languages. No special skills are required for this. Languages are acquired well if you spend a lot of time with the language, the contact is varied and it is possible for a long time. If a child-friendly method is chosen (immersion) and the daily structure provides a lot of time and opportunities for it, there is no fear of being overwhelmed.
A bilingual kindergarten is a good start for learning a second language. Early learning of a second language fundamentally and sustainably promotes a child's cognitive development.
Does my child have to master one language before adding another?
This is a demonstrably wrong thesis. Children can learn mulitiple languages at the same time. Man is biologically committed to multilingualism, not monolingual. On the contrary, the earlier contact is made with a second language (i.e. already at preschool age), the better the child's intellectual development is promoted.
Brain researchers have shown that early acquisition of a second language leads to more diverse and sometimes different neuronal connections in the brain during its maturation, which later have a positive effect e.g. can affect a child's math skills.
