Spanish Immersion Program for Children to Open in Franklin Lakes

When Scott Doty grew frustrated in his search for a local Spanish immersion program for his preschool-age daughter, he decided to take things into his own hands.

“There was nothing out there,” Doty said. ”It was hard to come to terms with the fact that what I wanted for my daughter simply didn’t exist in Bergen County.”

So Doty, who co-owns local tutoring company BrainStorm Tutoring & Arts with his wife, Ashley, decided to launch “Cerebritos,” a Spanish immersion program for preschool students at Franklin Lakes’ BrainStorm’s Learning & Arts Center.

Cerebritos, which translates to “little brains” in Spanish, will instill “a command of and love for the Spanish language in adolescent minds while they are most malleable,” according to Doty.

“...we need to take advantage of the brain plasticity of early youth to create neural pathways for a second language,” Doty said. “These pathways also produce an enhanced ability to learn other foreign languages later in life, and generally strengthen the brain’s functionality.”

Cerebritos will utilize language immersion to guide students through crafts, reading and math workshops, science projects, interactive songs, and more, while using the teaching philosophy based on Reggio Emilia and John Dewy.

Cerebritos will be open for enrollment on April 1, and will begin classes in September. The first open house is scheduled to take place on Cinco de Mayo, Tuesday, May 5.

For information, visit stormthetest.com/cerebritos, or call Veronica Diaz at 201.847.8676 x1.