ALL pre-schoolers in Canberra will have the opportunity to learn a foreign language through the Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) program. 

The Turnbull Government have now opened applications for this program and senator Zed Seselja, has called on local preschools to apply for the national rollout of the play-based tabled app for devices like iPads.

Seselja says trials of the program had been popular with children, parents and educators and it’s exciting to see it being expanded nationally and including an additional four languages.

Seselja says: “The Polyglots apps are an innovative program that has already seen around 10,000 children across the country learning new languages and better understanding other cultures.

“In addition to Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Indonesian and Arabic, preschool children will be able to learn Spanish and Italian from next year, and Modern Greek and Hindi from 2018.

“Local preschools, Deakin School for Early Learning, Yerrabi Ponds Canberra Early Learning and Franklin Early Childhood School are already involved in the ELLA program and benefit from the Polyglots app. It would be great to see more preschools put their hands up to get involved and give ACT children the opportunity to develop new language skills.”

The Turnbull Government has committed further funding of $5.9 million to make ELLA available nationally in 2017. This includes up to 1000 grants of $500 for preschools in disadvantaged areas to purchase devices so they can access The Polyglots.