News and Events

Open House and Tour Dates

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:53:00 GMT

Come meet our Directors, learn about our philosophy, and visit our classrooms.

NEW JERSEY EVENTS (Mandarin and Spanish)
587 Springfield Avenue, Summit, at Saint John's Church

OPEN HOUSE: Wednesday, June 6, 2012, 9:15 - 10:15 AM.

RSVP's encouraged: (908) 598-8088.

Questions? Contact Admissions Director, Briceyda Rodriguez-Cancio at brcancio@bilingualbuds.com.

NEW YORK EVENTS (Mandarin)
175 Riverside Boulevard at West 68th Street

We have no more New York Open Houses scheduled at this time. However, we invite you to come visit the school. Please call Admissions Director Noemi Ali at (212) 787-8088 to arrange for an individual tour.

Bilingual Buds Names Head of School for NJ Campus; announces expansion plans to Grade 5

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:48:00 GMT

Bilingual Buds, a preschool/primary school on the forefront of immersion education, has named Renee Reyes to head its Summit, NJ campus. The school, known for its pioneering approach to academics in an immersion setting, will grow to Grade 5 under her leadership.

“It is thrilling to be part of a successful school where learning is ignited,” said Ms. Reyes. “Students as young as 2 ½ speak proficiently and effortlessly in the target language. The immersion environment, which includes instruction in English and Spanish or Mandarin Chinese, adds a remarkable dimension to what takes place in the classrooms, and throughout the school.”

Ms. Reyes has over 20 years’ experience in the field of education, working with students from preschool through Grade 8. Most recently Ms. Reyes served as interim Principal in the District of Columbia public school system, and as Lower School Director at Kingsbury Day School, a nationally recognized private school in Washington, D.C. In addition to both administration and teaching positions, her background includes serving as Director of two educational programs operated by the Commonweal Foundation, and working for the Maryland State Department of Education as an education specialist. She brings a wealth of experience to mentoring and training teachers, partnering with parents, and meeting students’ diverse needs. Ms. Reyes holds a M.Ed from Goucher College.

“Bilingual Buds is a unique community that was in search of a unique leader,” said school Founder Sharon Huang. “Ms. Reyes embraces the best practices that our school values, including multi-sensory, inquiry-based instruction that is attuned to how an individual child learns best. She brings a warmth and electricity to the position, and her background in gifted education will also be well served.”

Founded in the spring of 2005 as an early preschool program, Bilingual Buds has continued to grow, adding elementary school grades in step with its oldest students. “The sentiment from the parent community has always been to keep going,” said Ms. Huang. “They want the option for their children to stay, for academic as well as for proficiency reasons.” With the expertise of the leadership team, now headed by Ms. Reyes, the school will offer Grade 4 this fall and Grade 5 in 2014.

The school has already achieved some noteworthy results, including several first and second grade students reaching advanced proficiency levels on the SOPA exam, a Student Oral Proficiency Assessment created by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL).

“I founded the school because I strongly believe in the benefits of bilingualism—its long-term effects on how we connect, how we communicate, and how we think,” said Ms. Huang. "Bilingual Buds’ students will navigate the world, literally or figuratively, with the mental 'fuel' of knowing two languages. It’s the kind of preparation that is truly transformative.”

Bilingual Buds Speaker Series: Don't correct your child's homework, and other smart parenting tips from Dr. Kennedy-Moore

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:16:00 GMT

On Thursday, April 19, BIlingual Buds welcomed Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a clinical psychologist and co-author of the recently published parenting guide, Smart Parenting for Smart Kids.

Dr. Kennedy-Moore began the evening with an important message about the downside of potential. All children face challenges growing up, but for bright children, heightened concerns about achievement can complicate "normal" development. "The greatest anxiety about performance often surrounds children who are the most capable," noted Dr. Kennedy-Moore. Why? We often forget that potential is not an endpoint, but instead the capacity to grow and learn.

"It is easy for kids to get caught up in the need to be impressive," she noted. Children with advanced skills are used to doing things well, and begin to believe that perfection is attainable, and expected. There is an unhealthy focus on what's wrong, in the face of what's right. "Don't correct your child's homework," Dr. Kennedy-Moore emphasized. "It sends the message that mistakes are intolerable, and that your child's work just isn't good enough."

Parents feel pressure for perfection as well, afraid to come up short in the development of their child. "Is my child going to be OK?" Dr. Kennedy-Moore outlined some common parenting responses to this perennial parent question:

*Push Parenting (e.g., the TIger Mom approach); performance and achievement is everything

*Over Protection (e.g., helicopter parenting); a parent is always right there to help, but prevents a child from learning their own coping skills

*Pushing and Protecting Model (a muddled combination of both)

She noted that these responses often overestimate parental control, while underestimating children's capacity to grow and learn. At its extreme is a message that in reality has little to do with the child: "You need to achieve in order to prove that I'm a good parent."

So how does a parent create a safe middle ground to nurture their child's true potential?

*Focus on the real child in front of you, instead of the imaginary future ideal.

*Perfectionism can be destructive. Teach your child that learning is a many-step process that warrants mistakes and corrections.

*When children are emotionally flooded, they can't think straight. Help your child "down-shift" with some neutral responses, like: "It sounds like you're feeling frustrated about your mistake." "It sounds like you didn't do as well as you had hoped."

*Strike a balance between treasuring who your children really are, and helping them grow in their own way.

The takeaway? The most important qualities aren't necessarily impressive. "Our job as parents is to equip our kids for their journey, and to have faith they'll find their way," concluded Dr. Kennedy-Moore. "The world will tell them that their performance matters--which is why kids need us, their parents, to tell them they're much more than the sum of their accomplishments."

Bilingual Buds' Early Childhood Speaker series is free and open to the public. The next event will take place this fall 2012.

Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Princeton, NJ, where she works with children, adults and families. She is the author or co-author of four books about feelings and relationships, and she has been quoted in dozens of magazines and newspapers. For more information, visit http://www.eileenkennedymoore.com

"We stumbled on a good thing. A great thing, in fact." A parent talks candidly about raising a family of world citizens

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:54:00 GMT

We moved to Summit for the schools. We have four kids from eight (next month) to 20 months. We are looking at four in private school next year. How did this happen?

The schools have been good. We love Mrs. Shire. Mrs. Fisher was outstanding in Kindergarten for our oldest. We live five houses down from Lincoln, but yet we are planning on driving right past, next year. How did this happen?

We stumbled on a good thing. A great thing, in fact. I almost don’t want to tell anyone. It is our little secret. We have teachers that know everything about my children, more than I do for sure. Our children are now being more than educated. They are learning about the world.

At home my three year old naturally slips from English to Spanish and back again without even blinking an eye. My six year old picks books out at night to read. Some are in English and some are in Spanish. She reads both of them. Their school’s mission is to develop flexible thinkers who are intellectually curious, culturally aware and linguistically capable.

They are doing it. I see it, with my own children. What started as an interesting idea about 10 years ago when we were contemplating raising our kids bilingual has become real. My goal was that they don’t sound like me when they speak Spanish, but we have gained so much more.

Click here for the full article on Summit Patch.

Northwestern University Study: Additional Benefits for Billinguals Include Fine-Tuned Hearing and Enhanced Attention

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:10:00 GMT

Dual language speakers are better able to encode basic language sounds and patterns. A new Northwestern University study provides the first biological evidence that bilinguals’ rich experience with language “fine-tunes” their auditory nervous system and helps them juggle linguistic input in ways that enhance attention and working memory.

Northwestern bilingualism expert Viorica Marian teamed up with auditory neuroscientist Nina Kraus to investigate how bilingualism affects the brain. In particular, they looked at subcortical auditory regions that are bathed with input from cognitive brain areas.

Click here for full article.

The New York Times: How Immersion Helps to Learn a Language

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:41:00 GMT

Learning a foreign language is never easy, but contrary to common wisdom, it is possible for adults to process a language the same way a native speaker does. And over time, the processing improves even when the skill goes unused, researchers are reporting.

For their study, in the journal PloS One, the scientists used an artificial language of 13 words, completely different from English. "It's totally impractical to follow someone to high proficiency because it takes years and years," said the lead author, Michael Ullman, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Click here for the full article

New York Family Magazine Interviews Bilingual Buds Founder Sharon Huang

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:27:00 GMT

New York Family Magazine editor Eric Messinger turns to Bilingual Buds Founder Sharon Huang to offer insight about learning in two languages.

I have a friend whose 8-year-old son is on his way to becoming tri-lingual: speaking English, while taking Spanish in school and Mandarin through an online course offered by Johns Hopkins. “Between those three languages he’ll be able to speak to about 92 percent of the world,” my friend said, laughing, but not really joking.

In my anecdotal experience, learning a second (or third) language is a hot topic among parents considering what kinds of enrichment classes to steer their young children to—not to mention what school over all to send them to. A new high-profile private school, Avenues, kind of threw the gauntlet down by making bilingual immersion a key selling point in how their educational program will be distinguish itself from other private schools.

As reported in the New York Times, Avenues’ founders say that when the school opens in September of 2012 the students will learn bilingually, in classrooms where half of the instruction will be in Spanish or Mandarin, the other half in English, from nursery school through fourth grade. “Schools need to do a better job preparing children for international lives,” Avenue founder, Chris Whittle, was quoted as saying.

To give parents a better sense of the benefits and the challenges of an immersive approach to language learning, I interviewed Sharon Huang, who opened the city’s first Mandarin immersion preschool, Bilingual Buds, on the Upper West Side, in 2010 after starting similar schools in New Jersey.

To read Eric Messinger's interview, click here.

The New York Times: Why Bilinguals Are Smarter

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:33:00 GMT

Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people.

Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.

This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child's academic and intellectual development.

Click here for the full article.

Bilingual Buds' Speaker Series: Fractions are the future, and other learnings from Dr. Robert Siegler

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:48:00 GMT

Bilingual Buds kicked off its Early Childhood Speaker Series on March 8, 2012 with a visit from Dr. Robert Siegler, Teresa Heinz Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Siegler's research focuses on children's mathematical and scientific thinking. Among his many accolades, he has headed the Fractions Practice Guide Panel for the U. S. Department of Education, and has served on the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, recommending ways of improving mathematics education in the U.S.

Dr. Siegler began his talk with an ugly truth: In the United States, by age 4, there are already recognizable differences between the mathematical understanding of children from low-income households and their middle class peers--and that difference increases with schooling. A one and half year mathematical learning gap in first grade could balloon to a three year disparity for students entering high school. "I don't know any curriculum that could solve a 3-4 year gap," Dr. Siegler told an audience of Bilingual Buds' parents and guests.

The place to focus mathematical energies? According to Siegler, preschool is the time when well-focused early math instruction can have significant effects. Why? The gap is still small, and a little experience goes a far way.

Here are some quick learnings from Dr. Siegler's presentation on how to help children at this critical juncture for mathematical development:

* Simply teaching young children to count is insufficient; it is important for them to develop an understanding of the "magnitudes" of numbers (for instance, that 5 is bigger than 3). The best way to accomplish? Through number lines, because they help make the relationship between numbers transparent.

* Linear board games, such as Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land, can enhance a child's numerical knowledge. Circular board games, such as Sorry, are less effective.

* Fractions are the future. A student's knowledge of fractions at age 10 predicts math achievement at age 16. (The correlation of .87 is extraordinarily strong.) Whole number division is also predictive.

* Not surprisingly, students who have a greater proficiency in math, grow their knowledge at faster rates than those with less proficiency. Math is hierarchical. If a child is good at math, they tend to like math, and continue on to more advanced concepts.

For more information about Dr. Siegler's research, visit www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/

New Jersey Open House: Come visit our school on June 6, 2012

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:58:00 GMT

Come see our school's pioneering approach to academics in an immersion setting. Visit our classrooms, speak to current parents, and meet our new Director.

OPEN HOUSE: Preschool - Grade 5

Wednesday, June 6, 9:15 AM - 10:15 AM

RSVPs encouraged: (908) 598-8088

Individual tours are also available throughout the year by request.

ADDRESS

587 Springfield Avenue, Summit, NJ (at Saint John's Church)

Registration is now open for Summer Camp 2012!

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:23:00 GMT

We've got BIG plans. Come see what's happening this summer at Bilingual Buds...

For Summer Camp at our NY Campus, click here.
For Summer Camp at our NJ Campus, click here.

Bilingual Buds now offering Financial Aid

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:29:00 GMT

Bilingual Buds' new tuition assistance program is open to current and prospective families. Available for both the New York and New Jersey campuses.

Click here for details.

The New York Times: Hearing Bilingual; How Babies Sort Out Language

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:27:00 GMT

Dr. Perri Klass highlights babies' incredible knack for acquiring language.

Once, experts feared that young children exposed to more than one language would suffer "language confusion" which might delay their speech development. Today, parents often are urged to capitalize on that early knack for acquiring language. Upscale schools market themselves with promises of deep immersion in Spanish--or Mandarin--for everyone, starting in kindergarten or even before.

Full article

Go East, Young Man

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:50:00 GMT

New York Times Op-Ed contributor Jonathan Levine comments about China as a destination for job seekers.

NOT long ago, I was stuck in a dead-end job near Greenwich, Conn. I was in my early 20s, overeducated with a series of non-performing degrees from New York University and Columbia, and frustrated. When I saw the Occupy Wall Street protesters on TV, fed up with the economic status quo in the United States, I saw myself.

Or rather, I saw my old self, before I figured a way out.

To the occupiers and their sympathizers, I say vote — not with the ballot, but with your feet. Now that your encampment has disbanded, don’t just leave Zuccotti Park: leave America.

For China. At least, that’s what I did. It was the best decision I ever made.

The Benefits of a Bilingual Education: Reuters Visits Bilingual Buds

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:16:00 GMT

Bilingual Buds' New York classrooms serve as the setting for a report on the growing popularity of bilingual education.