When searching for a childcare provider for her two daughters, Alex McPherson was drawn to BilingualKid Language Immersion School in Glen Allen because of its intimate, nurturing environment and low student-teacher ratio. She quickly realized the school’s Spanish immersion component was an added bonus. “Now that I’ve seen how amazing [my daughters’] ability to learn and speak another language is, I want to nurture that and not have them lose it,” she confides.
Olivia Defibaugh’s daughter also attended BilingualKid, gaining Spanish fluency within four months. She, along with an older sibling, will start at Vida Academy this fall, a language immersion microschool in Varina. “If my kids visit somewhere else, I want them to be well versed and try to speak the language and try to understand other people’s points of view. And what better way can you do that than by being able to speak to more people?” says Defibaugh.
McPherson and Defibaugh are among a growing number of parents who’ve taken an interest in world language learning for their kids. At BilingualKid, there’s typically a one- to two-year waitlist for the home-based program, which enrolls just 12 children each year. And while most elementary schools in the Richmond region don’t offer world languages, the handful that do have seen interest skyrocket, often resorting to a lottery system for their immersion programs.
Pew Research Center reports that compared to Europe, the U.S. lags behind in world language learning, with only 20 percent of K-12 students enrolled in foreign language classes. But millennial and Gen Z parents may be ushering in a new era of change, and for good reason. According to census data released earlier this year, more than one in five people in the U.S. spoke a language other than English at home during 2017 to 2021. Here in Virginia, the most commonly spoken language after English is Spanish, followed by Korean and then Arabic.
Brain Benefits of Bilingualism
Does learning a second language change kids’ brains for the better? Research suggests that bilinguals, those who are fluent in two languages, excel in several areas of executive function, such as paying attention without being distracted and being able to switch effortlessly from one task to another.
Kristin Roberts, owner of Enjoyable Languages, a language learning and tutoring company in Richmond, attests that learning a second language can benefit kids in many ways. “You’re recognizing patterns, essentially decoding something,” she notes. “Your brain is working in a different way, It helps [kids] in other school subjects and in understanding different cultures and history.”
There may even be long-term health benefits, as evidenced by studies cited in Behavioral Neurology that suggest multilingualism may help ward off dementia. Similarly, Roberts shares that some students come to Enjoyable Languages because their doctors recommend language learning to “keep their brains young.”
Dual language immersion (DL/I) programs, where students learn in both English and a second language, are one of the most effective paths to bilingualism. The DL/I Education Guide from the Virginia Department of Education lists numerous benefits, many of which apply to bilingualism in general. They include:
Increased Cognitive Ability:
Switching between two different language systems engages brain regions not typically used for language processing, which increases cognitive and linguistic abilities.
High Academic Achievement:
Students in DL/I programs outperform their monolingual peers in reading, writing, math, and science.
Intercultural Competence:
Multilingual students experience two worlds and easily move between languages, gaining a dual lens that strengthens their sociocultural sensitivity.
Gates Elementary School in Chesterfield County is a leader in world language instruction, the first elementary school in Virginia to offer a Mandarin Chinese DL/I program and the first elementary school in the nation to offer an American Sign Language (ASL) program. According to Principal Giuliana Brink, children in the program score just as well on tests, if not better than, their peers. “There’s a big difference in the acquisition of learning when you’re using a dual language platform,” she says. “The children are using both parts of their brain, whereas typically when we learn, we only access one modality of the brain. And so, their retention of curriculum seems to be better.”
Building Kind World Citizens
Multilingual kids also have a broad understanding of the world and its many cultures. Learning another language exposes them to the idea that language can be a bridge to understanding and accepting others.
At BilingualKid, owner Claudia Robles’s curriculum teaches preschoolers about different countries and cultures with the goal of developing “kind world citizens.” In addition to achieving English and Spanish fluency and communicating in ASL, she says, “the goal is for them to see the world from a multicultural perspective and to be kind to others and recognize, ‘Oh, that person is speaking another language – I wonder where their family came from?’ And for them to be curious in a positive light and to be respectful of that.”
In many cases, dual language immersion programs help promote education equity, as seen at Elizabeth Holladay Elementary School, the first school in Henrico County that introduced a Spanish DL/I program. Associate Principal Megan Lindemann notes that the program ensures children who enter kindergarten speaking only Spanish don’t fall behind. She describes the benefit as two-fold: “[The DL/I program] helps our native Spanish speakers start day one with the actual curriculum, and it helps our English-speaking population begin learning a language when they’re very young, like many other countries do.”
At Gates Elementary, for students in the ASL program who are deaf or hard of hearing, Brink notes that the goal is to immerse them in the larger community, whether it’s participating in cheer, LEGO Engineering League, or something else. Kimberly Owen, whose daughter was in the program, shares that she can see a difference in kids who are exposed to a second language like in the ASL program. “It’s really cool to see my kids walk up to a child who is different and say, ‘Do you want to play?’ and for that other child to feel included and not excluded, like our society most likely would do with a child who can’t hear,” Owen says.
It’s Never Too Early to Start
If you’re thinking about raising a bilingual child, it’s never too early to start. Robles of BilingualKid states that when a child is very young, they don’t yet have a vocabulary in English that they translate to the other language. “When they’re little, you start speaking to them and they’ll get it. They’ve probably never seen a stapler, and if you say ‘grapadora’ that’s what they’re going to learn.” She advises that kids begin learning as young as possible but that it’s never too late. “They can still learn, but it’s going to be more difficult because they already speak fluently whatever language they’re being brought up in,” she says.
Roberts, owner of Enjoyable Languages, has a PhD in Hispanic Linguistics with a focus on second language acquisition. She emphasizes that people of all ages and abilities can learn a language and that “it’s a human skill,” but shares a couple of reasons why learning at a young age may be easier. Attitude is a huge part of what makes someone successful, and children are less inhibited and more willing to make mistakes, which accelerates their learning. In addition, Roberts acknowledges that, “when you learn a language younger, you have a benefit in a phonological way. Children can hear and imitate sound differently when they start learning a language earlier and are able to acquire amore native sounding accent.”
At Heartwood Grove School, the Richmond area’s only full curriculum World Language Immersion school, children benefit from a quadrilingual model, receiving French and Spanish immersion in grades K-4 and adding German in middle school. Head of School Laura Bice notes that because students learn languages from an early age, they speak them with a native accent. Children as young as six have traveled with their families to Europe and acted as translators for their parents. She notes that some people may think learning four languages is too many, but points out that multilingualism helps in logic, in math, and in other subjects. “There are countries where being trilingual is the norm, so it just gives people a broader outlook and a more global perspective,” says Bice.
Navigating the Journey
While a handful of public schools like Gates and Elizabeth Holladay are leading the way in K-5 language learning, children must live in the zoned areas for those schools to participate. For those families, a dual language immersion program could be within reach, but what options do others have, short of moving to a new neighborhood?
Some parents send their children to private schools that offer language immersion programs, such as Heartwood Grove or Vida Academy. Others choose to make language learning an after-school or weekend activity through private tutoring or group classes. Enjoyable Languages has virtual and in-person options in the Richmond area, offering instruction in 19 languages with Spanish, Japanese, and German among the most popular. The Language Hub, based in Glen Allen, also offers virtual and in person classes in a variety of languages.
Local language schools and even the city and county public school systems may offer summer camps for young learners. In 2025, Chesterfield County Public Schools (CCPS) offered both a one-week World Language Camp, with rotations through four languages and cultures, and a one week Immersion Language Camp in either Spanish or German. Natalia Toscano, a CCPS Spanish teacher who helped develop the camps, says the goal was to get kids excited about learning languages.
Older students at the high school level may have the option of applying to a language immersion program at a specialty center. Toscano teaches in the Spanish immersion program at Manchester High School and praises the program’s unique benefit of being applicable for different career goals. “Other specialty programs are really good, but they are super specific,” she explains. “Sometimes kids at that age don’t really know [what they want to do]. Instead, if they are at least a little bit interested in learning another language, this program is great because it gives them this tool which is useful no matter what they’re going to do.”
Extending the Learning at Home
With any language learning program, continuing the journey at home is key. Robles gives parents ideas such as having television programming set to Spanish instead of English, using Spotify playlists where kids can learn vocabulary through music, or having one parent speak to their child in Spanish. Toscano also suggests that when kids are older and can read, closed captions in the same language as the audio can help develop biliteracy.
An additional consideration is consistency. Roberts of Enjoyable Languages recommends that language learning should be predictable for kids. “You either have to do it all the time, or it needs to be a certain time of day,” she says. For example, parents might hold one mealtime in the new language they’re learning or require kids to watch half of their screen time in English and the other half in the other language.
The public library is also a great resource. Parents can look for Vox Books and Wonder Books, which can play recorded stories aloud in another language. Of course, there are also print books (both bilingual and monolingual in various languages) that can be checked out. These materials, along with apps like the popular Duolingo, can be great supplements to one’s language learning routine.
Beyond Childhood
There’s no question that bilingualism is a valuable skill. It allows you to communicate and connect with more people. Bice, Head of Heartwood Grove School, believes multilingualism opens up opportunities for students, whether they use their Spanish language skills to find a job in the U.S. or go abroad to places like Germany, which has the strongest economy in Europe.
McPherson agrees that one of the reasons she wants her daughters to be bilingual is to have opportunities. “I grew up in a rural part of Virginia where not a lot of different languages were spoken, and I just want my kids to have more exposure and more understanding of the world around them,” she says.
Every decision you make as a parent – the school district you move to, the activities you encourage your kids to try, the life skills you teach them – is ultimately about giving them opportunities. And learning a second language is one thing that can unlock a ton of possibilities for your child, especially if they learn it well. Remember, it’s never too early – nor is it ever too late – to get them started on a language learning journey.
