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Article: Sign language and hearing preschoolers: an ideal match.
- Article from:
- Childhood Education
- Article date:
- September 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Association for Childhood Education International. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The preschool years have long been considered an ideal period for second language learning. At that age, children immersed in a non-native language can become fluent, even bilingual, within a relatively short period. But how well does exposure to, rather than immersion in, a second language environment work? How successful are preschool programs that provide limited non-integrated activities directed toward learning basic skills in a second language?
The success of the long-running public television program Sesame Street may serve as a guide. By exposing several generations of English-speaking preschoolers to Spanish vocabulary, almost everyone who watched Sesame ...