Opportunities for foreign-speaking preschool children to learn English are available through NIU’s “Project World Talk,” sponsored by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education.

erman Green, a curriculum and instruction associate professor, said the program’s curriculum is designed to enhance language development of children whose first language is not English.

“There are a number of schools in the country working with immigrants from Southeast Asia and with Hispanics,” Green said. The environment of the program will ease the learning process of the children, he said.

The program will be available to children ages three to five and will be taught by graduate students.

Green said the program’s structure will seem loose because children decide what they want to do. “The children will have opportunities to select the amount of time they want to play a certain game, and who they want to play with,” he said.

owever, “the teachers will have specific objectives for the children.”

Because of children’s ages, the program will not be a formal language instruction course. “Children will learn (English) when put in situations that demand it. We want to create a pleasant preschool atmosphere that encourages and motivates,” Green said.

e said the key issue is to get children to enjoy learning. Part of the encouragement begins with getting them comfortable. “We will have multi-cultural items hanging on the walls to help the children feel comfortable in the room,” he said.

Feeling comfortable is a vital step in learning another language, Green said. “If you have ever tried to learn another language, you know the first thing you have to do is get over the embarrassment,” he said.

The first stage of the program began last summer when children from Mexico, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Africa attended a trial course. Jean Pierce, a learning and development associate professor, said almost all children enrolled in the summer session were children of NIU students and faculty.

Green said this area has a large need for “Project World Talk” because of the number of people from other countries working along the high-tech corridor.

e said people working in this area (along Interstate 88) have children who do not speak much English.

“Based on national information we have, we know a large number of preschool programs have one to four children whose first language is (something) other than English,” Green said.

Pierce said she thinks there is a need for “Project World Talk” because “a multi-cultural approach to learning just isn’t done.”

Sessions will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The first session will be in the morning, and the second will be held in the afternoon.