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Baby Fingers
http://www.mybabyfingers.com/
Various locations in Brooklyn. Incorporate ASL with music, games, stories and dramatic play. ASL tutoring, storytelling, and musical birthday parties also available. Kindermusik (musical play, reading) are part of the Manhattan offerings. Sign Language books and DVDs for babies and kids.

I took this class at Kidville in Manhattan. Lara is wonderful and the class was good. The kids liked the signing and singing in the class.
-Kim

Bilingual Birdies
[email protected]
646-443-1313
Bilingual Birdies is a unique language and music program for young children. Classes are taught by musical instructors with songs, puppetry, movement, dance and other techniques that engage children to actively participate in a low-pressure environment. Children sing along to catchy songs, play fun instruments, and dance to the sound of lively beats. Bilingual Birdies gives you the opportunity to learn and connect with your child while meeting other parents. We offer Spanish, French, Hebrew and Mandarin classes throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Bonjour Les Amis
137 Clinton Avenue
Brooklyn, NY (Clinton Hill)
[email protected]
718-797-1353
Bonjour Les Amis is a drop-off French immersion program for 2-5 year olds. Through age-appropriate French books, songs, dances, cooking and arts and crafts activities, children explore their world, their families, the communities they live in and communities around the globe. The classes are small, have two teachers and are scheduled to take place, M-W. Each class is an hour. The founder, Raqiba has a degree in Pysychology from UPENN. She also ran a non-profit organization for children for a few years. While there, she created and ran summer camps and mentoring programs.

The Brooklyn School
http://brooklynwaldorf.org
http://youtube.com/brooklynwaldorf
126 St. Felix Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718-783-3270
Chinese Language Playgroup is for children ages 2- 5 years. Through Chinese songs, rhymes, finger play and puppetry, children will be immersed in the Chinese language. Simply games and activities will be incorporated as appropriate for the age group. Mr. Yu has recently developed this program specifically for our school. Ning Yuan Yu (Mr. Yu) will be leading this program. Mr. Yu is an award winning scholar and teacher. He has taught Chinese language and culture for over 15 years. While in China, he completed and a M.A. in Chinese Literature and Writing and a M.S. in Sociology. He received his M.S. Ed in Waldorf Education from Sunbridge College in Spring Valley, NY.  The Brooklyn Waldorf School: Age 18 mos to Fourth grade. The school is adding a grade each year up to the eighth grade. 10/11 Admissions applications for fifth grade are currently being accepted. The Brooklyn Waldorf School is an arts based nonsectarian school located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. We strive to provide an engaging and holistic educational experience for children that addresses not only their intellectual capacities, but also stimulates their innate sense of wonder and engages them through direct hands-on experience in an age appropriate manner.

El Pequeno Arista
http://www.elpequenoartista.com/
[email protected]
249 20th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718-965-1406 or 646-207-0626
ages: infant to 8
El Pequeno Artista, a bilingual arts center for children, offers art and music classes for children between the ages of five months and eight years. Workshops at El Pequeno can help Spanish-speaking families keep alive their native traditions and language for their children, while also encouraging English-speaking parents to provide their children with an opportunity to learn Spanish as a second language in an immersion environment. An innovative selection of classes include art, modern dance, salsa, ballet, music, puppetry, and cooking.Summer Camp en Espanol is offered in August for children ages four to seven.

Hands On World
http://handsonworld.net/
132 4th Pl
Brooklyn, NY 11231 (Carroll Gardens)
(718) 858-9599
Hands on World is an international language and art center located in Carroll Gardens Brooklyn.  Hands on World creates an atmosphere that instills a high level of comfort and confidence with cultural diversity because the programs, taught by native speakers, occur in different languages simultaneously. This not only takes the foreignness out of foreign languages, it also stimulates people’s natural curiosity about the world around them. Hands on World’s approach to learning new languages is through the arts, as it has been established that language acquisition emerges from the creative part of the brain. Integrating the vocabulary and structure of foreign languages into interesting, creative and stimulating art related projects removes the intimidation often involved in learning new languages. The result is a virtually seamless process of language acquisition.  We offer French, Italian and Spanish language immersion programs to children in the pre-school age range.  We have French, Italian and Spanish language after-school programs for school aged children at all levels of language proficiency and we offer adult language programs in French, Italian, Spanish and English as a Second Language.  We also offer art classes for school aged children and adults in English.  For those wanting more one on one instruction, we offer private lessons for all ages.  Finally, we offer a summer program geared towards 2 to 10 year olds that runs during seven consecutive weeks from the beginning of July through mid-August.

¡HOLA! A Playgroup in Spanish
http://www.holaplaygroup.com/
A Spanish program for 18 mos-3 yr olds and they also have a Ballet en Español Program for 3-5 yr olds. Verónica Braun is the Founder and Creative Director of ¡HOLA! a unique program that was established to teach Spanish to young children between the ages of 12 months to 8 years.
The program will run at:
NY Kids Club- Brooklyn Heights location
182 Henry St.
To register, please call (718) 228-0800

Hootenanny Art House
www.hootenannyarthouse.com
[email protected]
426-28 15th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215 (South Slope)
718-369-0528
The Art House has classes in art, ukulele, dance, movement, guitar lessons, music together and more.

International School of Brooklyn
http://www.isbrooklyn.org
237 Park Place (at Vanderbilt)
Brooklyn (Prospect Heights)
718-369-3023
ISB serves the local and the international community of Brooklyn and New York City. ISB offers an after school program in French and Spanish for children 3 years old through 3rd grade, which is open to ISB students as well as children at neighboring schools and in the community.Toddler Language-Immersion Playgroups for children ages 18 months to four years are available in Park Slope, Prospect Heights and DUMBO. Children are taught through structured play and games, songs and music, storytelling, and arts and crafts. Parents and/or caregivers (no prior French or Spanish experience required) attend class with their child. An afterschool program for children ages three through eight features activity-based immersion classes. Summer Camp for children ages three through six is designed for any child, including those with a firm grasp of the target language to those beginning to learn.

Juguemos a Cantar
http://www.juguemos.org
[email protected]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/juguemosAcantar
47 Sterling Place
Brooklyn, NY 11215 (Red Hook)
718-788-6472
Juguemos a Cantar is a unique program developed to introduce children birth to 12 years to practical Spanish through music and play. A diverse spectrum of programs accomodate the needs of different ages and levels. The Music Program introduces young children and their caregivers to Spanish sounds, words, and pronunciation. It also introduces the concepts of music, movement, and dramatic play to encourage listening, watching, and imitating. Semesters are divided in four sessions (Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer). The Playgroup Program provides an opportunity for children to socialize in Spanish, and is offered for children ages 12 months to 18 months, 18 months to two years, two to three years, and three to four years. Playgroups are run by a bilingual teacher and are organized in three sessions (Fall, Winter, and Spring). The Preschool Program, for children ages two to four, is taught entirely in Spanish. The preschool program is designed to grow with the students, until they are ready to join the Spanish Literacy Program (SLP) at age five. The program runs from September to June with an optional Summer Camp Program. Older children can join the Afterschool Enrichment Program, for ages five to 12. Students attend classes in cooking, science, social studies, singing and music, yoga, guitar, and more. All subjects are taught in Spanish so that the students learn the language as they learn the content.The Summer Camp Program is run in Spanish by a bilingual teacher and combines Spanish instruction with other activities that children love to do. Camp is held in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Children are grouped by age.

KinderHaus – Deutsche Language Immersion
www.kinderHausbrooklyn.com
[email protected]
468 6th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11215
917 406 8869
KinderHaus is a Park Slope, Brooklyn based German language immersion playschool.  Participation is a strong aspect in our work and we encourage children to plan an active part . inventing and shaping their environment. Taught by native German speaking instructors, the child will be surrounded by a structured and well rounded routine that also allows them the flexibility to pursue their developing passions. The child’s natural language ability is the engine that will be guided to have them learn something new every day. The values of sharing, cooperation and respect for others will be a fundamental part of their environment. Activities include art projects, music, crafts, movement, physical education, cooking/food elements, nature, exploration and story time; all in the German language. KinderHaus is a German language immersion playschool for children ages 2-8.

L’école des petits
[email protected]
Bruno Laclide : 917-586-0031
411 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217
Welcome to L’école des petits, a warm, stimulating French language immersion program for children 2 to 5. “L’école des petits” will teach French through stories, songs, educational games, numbers, the alphabet and everyday sentences that will last a lifetime. We believe that fun and creative work enable children to get involved and enjoy learning and speaking French. The  school is small, which means a good interaction between parents, teachers and children.

What we offer:
• Full time French language immersion  8:00 – 4:00 Extended hours 4:00 – 6:00
• French native speaking teachers
• Program based on French “Education Nationale” preschool
• Stimulating activities for optimal social, emotional,  intellectual, and physical skills

Benefits of early immersion:
In order to reap the full benefit of bilingualism, exposure to the  second language should begin as early as possible. The chances of achieving full fluency in nother language are much higher if study is begun during early childhood, since the human brain is wired to learn language during this critical period. Immersion duplicates the conditions in which we all learn our first language—extended contact with a community of fluent speakers—and is by far the most effective method of language teaching.

Lango Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan
www.langokids.com
[email protected]
Locations throughout Brooklyn
917-287-1361
Lango Brooklyn offers 45 and 60-minute full immersion Mandarin, Spanish and French classes throughout Brooklyn. Our dynamic, native speaking teachers create an adventure-filled environment that incorporates team games, arts and crafts, music, dance, drama and storytelling to teach language. Lango classes are structured around the adventures of Cosmo and the Lango Kids, with each week featuring a kid-friendly theme such as the Circus, Friendship, Bugs and Nature, The Forest, and Traveling the World. Lango Brooklyn is run by Fort Greene mom, Sharon Ng, whose dream is that kids all over Brooklyn have a blast learning a second language!

We enrolled our 3 year old in the Lango Spanish day camp over the summer. The teacher had been brought in from Argentina where she was a teacher year-round. She was vibrant, enthusiastic and had strong teaching skills. She kept the class interested and engaged the entire time. She kept the conversation and activities flowing with her use of puppets, games, conversation, songs and various props. The kids responded really well to all the change-ups and the warm environment that the teacher created. The whole camp was quite structured. Parents were given a daily and weekly schedule that delineated the activities and course of learning that was going to take place over the week. In our case, the kids were learning all the sea animals in spanish that would culiminate in a trip to the aquarium. My son flipped over going to the aquarium with his teacher and classmates and experiencing it differently with his newly acquired friends and knowledge. This is truly a program of exceptional quality that is run with care and dedication by the owner (local Fort Greene mom) and her teachers. Lango is a fun AND academic, high quality program that makes learning and practicing language engaging for kids (and for me too when I sat in!)
-Karen

It feels like a playgroup, especially since my daughter was 15 month old when we started, but then you notice a word here and there… they ARE  learning! It’s been wonderful to see my daughter interact with the characters, and the teacher is great: very gentle and always happy. The pace was very good: changing activity every few minutes to cater to young attention spans. It’s always a fun 45 mn. The only thing I regretted as a non Chinese-speaking parent is not to be able to reinforce the material at home (would have been great if we could purchase a DVD with all the songs to play at home)… but that’s been fixed: there’s a CD and lyrics to take home now!

-Valerie

Language and Laughter Studio (LLS)
http://www.thelanguageandlaughterstudio.com/
139 Nevins Street (at Bergen St)
718-852-2965
[email protected]
Cultural center where children and adults can learn and enjoy a language. LLS offers foreign language immersion programs and activities in French, Spanish, and Mandarin for both children and adults. They have: playgroups, theater classes, yoga, dance, music, cinema, art and literature for children and adults. They also have some after-school programs and playgroups. Le language and laughter studio offers several excellent morning and After-school Programs in Fall 2007! Our classes are in French, Spanish and English, and are activity-based (cooking, eating, singing, acting and doing) in order to engage the students in a circle of interesting and age-appropriate activities and Experiments. All of the classes are immersion classes.We collaborate with professional and brilliant early childhood educators, composers and musicians, artists dedicated to working with children in order to create a unique program. These programs serve children aged 1 to 12 years old. LLS is a place where children engage and explore foreign cultures in genuine inquiry together and where children and teachers come to know and appreciate one another as community members.” These classes are small (limit 8 kids).

I have been taking my 23-month-old daughter to a music and movement class at the Language and Laughter Studio. After two classes, I was blown away by the quality.The teacher, Muriel, with her enchanting singing voice, expressive gestures, puppets, balloons, bubbles, parachute and rattles, connects with children’s natural love of movement and music. The songs are her original works, unusual, simple and memorable; layer after layer gently teaches counting, colors, vocabulary, etc…in French. I feel that I ought to describe this class in very poetic terms …it is awe-inspiring and perfectly orchestrated, not a moment is wasted, perfectly geared to captivate toddlers and preschoolers…not to mention all the adults in the room, who all have child-like smiles on their faces. After class, it feels
like we’ve participated in a Cirque de Soleil performance!For French-speaking toddlers, it would be an equally wonderful and enriching music and movement pre-school class. If you are interested in language classes, for yourself or your child (or baby), I encourage you to check out Language & Laughter Studio, all the classes appear to be of this caliber.
-Yana

My daughter, now 3.5 has taken at least 4 different French classes there as well as French camp this summer. The teachers are really talented and incredible, able to engage young children and expose them to language through creative music, dance and other media. It is a wonderful, safe environment for even the youngest of children. Each class is well thought out, the teachers are native speakers of the language with broad teaching experience, and there is a focus on age appropriate challenges. Finally, my favorite part about it is that nothing is “canned”. All the art projects have an organic bent where the kids do the work – no mommy/daddy or nanny/sitter art here! There are also Spanish classes, after school classes, and in the fall they will offer an ethics class for children 6-12. I can’t recommend this place enough, but check out this gem for yourself.
-Antoinette

Little Language Italian School
Italian Language & Cultural Arts Center for Children
http://www.Italianplaygroup.com
l[email protected]
7521 13th Avenue
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11228
Tel: 718.238.3727
Italian Immersion Classes- With an emphasis on auditory, visual & tactile learning, Little Language enriches brilliant young minds by introducing children to a bi-lingual, cultural & artistic experience. Each child is an active participant and successfully learns Italian through effective, creative and dynamic teaching techniques. Interactive classes are conducted exclusively in Italian, using puppets, finger plays, toys, songs, rhymes, stories, educational play and manipulatives. Classes are kept small for individualized instruction. Children progress within the program through age appropriate and conversational activities. Children younger than three attend Mommy & Me classes with a parent or adult caregiver. Classes offered include: Mommy and Me (6 months- 2 1/2), Independent Toddlers (3-4 years), Children (5-7 years) Kids (8-10 years). Italian Preschool Program, ages 3-4 builds self-confidence, develops imagination, reasoning, listening, and early childhood skills through traditional preschool activities. With a maximum of six children we foster individual attention and allows each child to respond naturally and at his or her own pace. Preschool is available one or two days a week, for two and one half hours per day. Classes are conducted in Italian through music, activities, circle time, stories, singing, dancing and thematic “Letter of the Day” crafts. Summer Day Camp - Our July Summer Day Camp (for children 3-6 & 7-10) is designed to provide an environment where children socialize & learn Italian through effective, age appropriate indoor/outdoor activities and conversational games. Singing, educational play, painting, cooking, art and crafts are conducted in Italian by bilingual teachers and counselors. In our summer day camp, we combine Italian instruction with other creative & educational activities that children enjoy. All outdoor activities are held in our back yard facility. We offer morning or afternoon half day options.

Musical Kids International
[email protected] l
Our popular bilingual classes expose children to the music and languages of world cultures and traditions while engaging in lively circle songs and typical dances, rhythmic chants, bounces and rhymes from the Spanish, French , Korean, Japanese, and Jewish musical heritages. Our program encourages children and families to listen to and make use of the languages through fun songs and movement. Guest artist appear several times throughout the year to enrich the learning experience. Support materials are available in class for registered families. Voted by NY Family Magazine as “the best language classes for kids”.

Musica Para Mi
Various Locations
http://www.geocities.com/greenjaybird/Prod/musicp_first.htm
Classes using traditional Spanish-language children’s songs, using hand percussion and movement. The entire class is in Spanish. Locations in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, South Slope, Cobble Hill and Williamsburg.

NY City Explorers
http://www.nycityexplorers.com
[email protected]
388 Atlantic Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718-625-6923
186 Underhill Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238
718-399-6923
Mini Michaelangelos en Francaise: Have fun learning French through storytime, song, and art projects. This unique arts and craft class is far beyond the ordinary. We will explore creative and new crafts as well as take a different approach on common ones. Exciting and age specific, it is designed to be fun, silly, inspirational, and sometimes messy. Classes run for ten weeks and start December 8th. Free playspace admission on class days!

Sign-A-Song
http://sign-a-song.com/
718-832-8060
[email protected]
A musical introduction to sign language for babies. They have great music and make it fun to learn sign language for the adults and infants. All ages, but best at 6 months on…

TriloK Preschool
www.trilokfusion.com
159 Adelphi St.
Brooklyn, NY 11217 (Fort Greene)
Office: 718-398-0333
School: 917-579-1243
They offer art, theater, Hindi, Japanese, African Drumming, Indian movement classes for children aged 2-12 years. You can download a brochure at their website.

Wortspiele Brooklyn
http://www.wortspielebrooklyn.com
[email protected]
62 Union Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217 (BOCOCA, Park Slope)
718-938-9492
Ages: 2 to 8
These are German classes for young children based on Maria Montessori. To foster language development and a love of language, children need an environment saturated with human sound and written words. My classes are designed to provide a stimulating, exciting, fun environment where children ages 2 to 8 can develop and share their German language skills. Children need to have at least a basic knowledge of German and a degree of exposure to the German language in their home environment. The classes are up to 2 hour long and are designed for up to 10 children.

Xiao Long Center
http://www.xiaolongcenter.com
[email protected]
2 locations:

310 Atlantic Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11201 (Boerum Hill)

93 Pineapple Walk
Brooklyn Heights
The age range for the children classes is from babies to 12 year olds. They also have an adult class.
The mission of the Xiao Long Center is to promote creative and dynamic learning and expose students to the Chinese culture through language, arts, and music.Students learn to communicate in Mandarin Chinese, create art with their hands, sing, and dance. Teachers are native Mandarin speakers.