Language Showering in Pre-School Education

In Jyväskylä, all pre-schoolers get to acquaint themselves with foreign languages by means of ‘language showering’. In the pre-schooling curriculum, it is specified that the child is allowed in pre-schooling to obtain familiarity with the city’s A1 languages, which are English, German, French and Russian, via language showering.  This way children become acquainted with foreign languages before choosing the first foreign language – the A1 language – which is selected in the first class. The A1 language is chosen for the first class in connection with registration. 

Language showering is co-ordinated by the pre-schooling staff. Language showering can take the form of using the foreign tongue in everyday life or playing and singing in the language during language showering sessions. Everyday use of the language may be used, for example, to greet or praise others, say goodbye, count those present, read a bedtime story, or support a child in dressing and eating. On the other hand, one can freely gain familiarity with the language during language showering sessions and play functional games that incorporate colours, numbers and animals, for instance 
Language showering has been part of the city’s pre-schooling curriculum since 2016.
The method got its start in Jyväskylä in 2010, when a group of language teachers discussed how it might be possible to encourage enthusiasm over learning foreign languages. In Jyväskylä, language showering has already provided children with positive experiences of languages and learning them for over 10 years.