We are naturally creative, musical and artistic beings. It’s true! That is how we have innovated and built up our society over centuries. Yet, today, most children spend less time physically playing, creating imaginary games and having meaningful interactions than they do on screens. Many of our children are becoming socially isolated because their leisure time is spent in front of a computer or television, or with a helper and the Coronavirus pandemic hasn’t helped. Studies have shown that this social isolation affects your child’s ability to empathise, read emotional language and, most importantly, communicate.

Play is far more powerful for children than many parents realize.

Language skills are essential to your child’s ability to communicate and mentally develop. These skills enable children to build and develop social skills, learn from their surroundings and in the classroom. Furthermore, multilingualism is great for your child’s brain as there are major cognitive benefits to being able to speak two or more languages as a child. So, how can you, as a parent, help your child achieve this? While this is not something that can be taught, it’s as simple as giving your child the opportunity to develop these abilities.

Even before we can properly speak a language, we use our voice and body language to express feelings, but they also serve important learning functions. For example, singing has many surprising benefits for children. Studies have shown that children with a strong sense of beat are more likely to read and listen well. Music stimulates all the senses, helping children recognise patterns and sequence, and promoting creativity, social interaction, self-esteem and memory. Songs can also be useful tools when learning vocabulary, not to mention their reflectivity of mother tongue culture. Similarly, creative speech activities support children’s’ needs to socialise and play and helps ‘wire’ the brain, supporting a higher level of thinking. It can help young learners improve their listening and speaking skills, and pronunciation. Studies across the world have found that play can help boost learning and develop key skills such as inquiry, expression, experimentation, and teamwork.

Perhaps the greatest benefit to using songs and games in the classroom is that they are fun. Interest and joy are important parts of learning a language, something which is often overlooked by teachers. Fun activities can add interest to the classroom routine and improve student motivation. Therefore, learning a language through tools such as song, dance and other creative activities is an effective and motivational way to inspire young students to learn and develop. It also helps to build your child’s self-worth by giving them belief in their own abilities and can help them feel good about themselves. 

The Playgroup Program

For children aged 3-6, Agape School of Education offers a Playgroup programme. The aim of this programme is to enable children to acquire listening, reading, writing and speaking skills in a second language through gesture, creative speech, song and other fun activities. We expose our students to new languages in a way that helps them develop their learning skills freely (without constraint) and boosts their creativity.

We understand that at their level, a linguistically oriented course will not capture their interest or attention spans. This group environment allows them to explore and increase their knowledge faster and more efficiently. Our flexible and adaptable program allows teachers to customise activities to suit every situation and all students.

Contact us today to find an appropriate class for your young child!