From http://stories.globalatlanta.com/2008stories/016335.html

New Preschool to Offer Multi-Lingual Education
Mike Rast Jr. - Reporter
Atlanta - 10.24.08 EMAIL THIS STORY

East Point may soon boast the greatest proportion of multi-lingual youngsters in the Atlanta area, once the Little Linguists International Preschool opens in the south side city.

Jackie Ubiles, the school’s founder and business manager, told GlobalAtlanta it will offer Spanish, French and Mandarin Chinese classes to children under 6 years old when it opens Nov. 3.

It will operate as a full-time preschool, accepting infants as young as four weeks old. The school opens at 6:30 a.m. and will remain open until 6 p.m. to accommodate working parents.

Ms. Ubiles decided to open the school after she sent her 3-year-old to a traditional preschool and found he was reluctant to speak both English and Spanish, which her family uses at home, after school.

She added that studies show it is easier for people to learn different languages when they are very young, and some parents of the 20 children currently enrolled are happy to have a solid preschool option.

“I want my child to be multi-lingual, but the programs for children under the age of 3 are few and far between, especially full-time programs,” Ms. Ubiles said. “It’s hard just to have a quality preschool program, for many of our parents it’s an added plus that it’s multi-lingual.”

Most of the children enrolled live close to the Little Linguists school, which is on East Cleveland Avenue, but others are coming from around the Atlanta area.

Ms. Ubiles said she chose the location because of the number of people moving into the Tri-Cities area, comprised of College Park, East Point and Hapeville.

“We’ve got young families moving in that want more educational options,” she said. “I chose the location because it’s very diverse, it’s close to the airport, close to downtown and close to Woodward Academy,” a private kindergarten-through-high school institution in nearby College Park.
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Ms. Ubiles added that it would be ideal for children to start the preschool program at a very young age and continue until they are ready to matriculate to their local public or private grade school, as research shows it takes five to seven years for a person to become fluent in a language.

“It will make it easier for kids to absorb the language and want to stick with the language,” she said.

The preschool is a candidate for accreditation through the International Baccalaureate program, a certification for schools worldwide that promote global education curriculum.

In order to be admitted, Little Linguists will have to put its 11 teachers through International Baccalaureate training, do a feasibility study of its operations, show financial viability and pay application fees.

Ms. Ubiles, whose background is in business management and marketing, got a business loan to open the school, but is open to corporate and public donations.