Local in the English-speaking groups

JAKARTA (JP): Preschools and playgroups offer children obvious benefits in social skills for when they enter primary school, but there are some in Jakarta that are increasing kids' advantages by instructing them in English.

Novita Tandry, the head of franchise operations for Tumble Tots Indonesia, said children learn naturally through structured physical play.

But not only is the curriculum an active one, it is also all in English, and parents do not have to be apprehensive about their child learning a foreign language for the first time.

"If a child has troubles with English in the beginning, there is a staff member on hand to specially handle it," she said.

Tumble tots, which has 14 branches in Jakarta and Bandung with a total of 3,000 members, accepts children from six months old to seven.

There are five program levels geared at providing a positive, caring and challenging environment for children of different ages and stages of development.

The programs are designed to enhance children's motor skills in agility, balance, coordination and climbing.

The classes group together six-month-old babies until those at the walking stage, then from the walking age to two year olds, two to three year olds, three to five year olds and five to seven year olds.

Classes are 45 minutes each, with the five to seven year olds having a full hour to enjoy at the center.

Classes are every day from Tuesday to Sunday, and from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Parents are present at the first levels, giving their tots the emotional security to interact with their new friends and caregivers.

But after a child enters the three to five-year-old group, trainers take over, helping the child master the transition of independence.

Social and interactive experience through physical activities is achieved through trust and a security bond formed from friendships with other children and trainers at the centers.

Over at Bayi Gemes (cute baby) playgroup in the Pejaten area, across the street from the Australian International School, preschool-aged children are also learning in an English-speaking environment under expert care.

"If a child is scared, but that's not usual, I'd say less than 10 percent of them don't understand, our teachers have excellent speaking skills," the head teacher, Christie, said.

She said if a child could not speak English or Indonesian, for example, if he or she just arrived from Korea, ideas could still be communicated in English with hand gestures and pointing.

Children from six months old to five years old are split up into different age groups, and the program is open to children of all nationalities and abilities, Christie, who is from Australia, said, adding that they taught children who were speakers of other languages as well as those with special needs.

There are also local teachers, who were qualified in Indonesia, but they do training courses from Australia, she said.

Christie said they had all sorts of services, including the mother and child group, for participants who were six months old.

"Although we do have some kids who have been here without their mom since they were that young, usually they are on their own from about one and half years old."

Based on the Australian school curriculum, the playgroup involves children in various group activities, as well as allowing them time in several areas of the room set up as a science corner, math corner and prewriting corner.

"These corners encourage children's creativity in different areas, for example, in the writing corner, they get familiar with the letters and language," she said.

There are also scheduled times for music, gymnastics, poems, stories, art and sports.

-- Maria Kegel