Young children have the opportunity to learn a second language before they start school, with preschools and child care centres in Forde encouraged to sign up to the Turnbull Government’s popular Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) program.
Federal Member for Forde Bert van Manen MP said the ELLA program was open nationally for the first time and earlier trials had a positive impact.
“Five centres in Forde signed up for the trial last year and it was fantastic to see the app-based program was proving very popular when I visited the various centres,” Mr van Manen said.
“All preschool and child care centres can now apply to take part in the ELLA program, with the choice of learning French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin or Arabic in 2017.”
Mr van Manen said 30,000 children were expected to take part in the program this year.
“I want to ensure children in Forde aren’t left behind so I encourage our local preschools and child care centres to sign up,” Mr van Manen said.
“We’ve seen how the ELLA languages program can have a positive impact on our children and so parents and families should get in touch with their preschool or child care service and ask them to sign up. We have a range of tools in place to help services roll out the ELLA program but they need to register by February 26, 2017.”
Preschools and child care centres in Forde can sign up by visiting www.ella.edu.au.
For more information visit www.education.gov.au/early-learning-languages-australia
