Hello. I am Maria Van Dyke, founder and director of Spanish for Toddlers. I started a daycare center in my home in 2002, after some parents from my community expressed an interest in their children playing and learning in Spanish. That daycare has since developed into Spanish for Toddlers (a local immersion Montessori preschool that teaches Spanish to preschoolers and kindergarteners), now located in the Hunter Community Center (off of Main and 14 Mile).
In the program, teachers communicate with the children solely in Spanish to make it easier for them to pick up the language. Children are expected to ask questions and respond in Spanish as well. Research shows it is easier for a person to pick up a second language before the age 5. In fact, the younger the learner, the easier the transition.
Find out what's happening in Royal Oakwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“The time to learn is when they are little,” said Elaine Malone, a Royal Oak resident whose 5 and 3-year-old children attend the preschool. “At this age they are not afraid to speak and make mistakes.”
“This is the foundation on which Van Dyke built her preschool, and many parents bring their children to the school for that reason. Some have a Spanish-speaking parent at home, but many just want to see their children learn Spanish in a Montessori setting and diversify their cultural experience early on.”
Find out what's happening in Royal Oakwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Malone teaches Spanish at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and wants her children to have exposure to the language. She also likes the fact that there is diversity in the classroom, which she feels is more representative of the world, and she likes that the preschool is at the Hunter Community Center, where seniors gather every day for programs, events and socializing. “The age interaction is nice on both ends”, she said.
“The most important thing, I think, for me is the songs that the kids are learning because they are having so much fun — and so for them, it’s not like school”, Malone said of her children. “They come and sing, and all of a sudden, they know the days of the week and the months of the year.”
Teaching the children to learn Spanish is quite easy. Spanish is the first language for all seven of the teachers at the preschool, and we typically staff two or three teachers per class period.
When the teachers explain to students how something feels or looks, they demonstrate what they are talking about.
If we, for instance, want to teach them about different temperatures - hot, cold, warm - instead of using just English translation into Spanish, we fill up bottles with different temperatures, and the kids can feel what caliente feels like, what frío feels like.
Chris Carden, Royal Oak resident and parent of 6-year-old Ravi, who attended the program, said he liked this aspect of the lessons, along with the overall way of Montessori teaching.
“The Montessori has a way of getting them thinking with the crafts about math, geography and fine motor skills early on,” Carden said. “It gets them independent and gets them to a point where they are actually mentoring other kids.”
Classes are available from 9:15 am to 12:15 pm Monday-Friday for students age 0 to 6. Students are required to attend class at least two days a week; some attend all five sessions. The program also offers before and after care from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm.
The children come to our preschool classes from throughout the area. Most come from Birmingham, Royal Oak, Clawson, Bloomfield, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Ferndale but some travel from as far away as Shelby Twp.
It gives kids an advantage later on in life. It teaches them to appreciate another language and have fun with it.
For more information on the Spanish Immersion Montessori Preschool, visit www.spanishfortoddlers.com, email spanishfortoddlerspreschool@gmail.com or call 248-597-9932/248-797-6947.
