“Our hope is that our children will have a more nuanced perspective and richer experience as global citizens by virtue of being bilingual.
What Patrizia and her teachers have accomplished at Carousel of Languages is truly impressive. The children are acquiring language skills not by rote memorization but rather through the magic of immersion in Mandarin while they are playing, using their imaginations, making art, listening to music, and celebrating important holidays like the Lunar New Year. It is an organic, fun, and stimulating way to learn, and one that inspires them to want to learn more.”
Erin Dillard, Education Consultant
MEd, Harvard Graduate School of Education
MBA, Harvard Business School
Special Assistant to Victor Fung, Chairman of Li & Fung
Admissions Officer, Harvard College
“Carousel of Languages has been a wonderful addition to our school day. Learning a foreign language – in our case, Spanish – has opened up a whole new world to our students. We see them playing with sounds and the meanings of words, demonstrating a flexibility in thinking that wasn’t present before this foreign language experience. Our Spanish teacher supplied by Carousel is warm and engaging. The immersive curriculum is well thought out, developmentally appropriate, and filled with beautiful props, fun games, and delightful songs. Our students can always be heard yelling out a hearty “Buenos Dias” to their Spanish teacher when she enters the classrooms or they see her in the building.”
Lydia Spinelli Executive Director The Brick Church School
“Our son loves his class at Carousel of Languages and so do we. His hour is filled with lively and playful instruction and lots of personal attention. For us there is nothing like eavesdropping on the class and hearing him participate in a conversation that we don’t understand a word of! The school is vibrant, cheery, and welcoming to students and parents alike.”
Parents of Owen, age 2 & Henry, age 4
“I am delighted to write this letter on behalf of Patrizia Saraceni Corman and Carousel of Languages. I have known Patrizia for ten years, first as a parent of two young children who participated in her program. As an educator, I was so impressed and inspired by her program that I couldn’t resist taking up an offer to consult for a short period of time, further examining the curriculum and instruction.
The quality of programming that Carousel of Languages delivers is far superior to any language program I have seen in my 18 years in the field of elementary education. It exudes the highest quality in curriculum, materials, lesson design and instruction. Patrizia has carefully designed research based lessons that incorporate best teaching practices such as active engagement, hands on learning, and multisensory instruction. Her lessons are developmentally paced and result in a true love of learning. The materials she has designed are exquisite and engaging.
It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to write this letter on Patrizia’s behalf. Carousel of Languages far surpases the quality of any language program and instruction. This program would be a true asset to any early childhood school or program as I am confident it ensures teaching and learning that is innovative, joyful, and ensures a love of language learning.”
Faith Hunter Assistant Principal Ethical Culture Fieldston School
“My son is absorbing his lessons like a sponge!”
Mother of Dean, age 2
“I always wanted my daughter to be multi-lingual, which allows her to be a “citizen of the world”. In addition to English, my daughter was learning Portuguese at home and I thought learning Mandarin would give her a real
advantage in life.
In my research, I came to the conclusion that Carousel of Languages had the strongest program. The immersive approach combined with small classes taught by native speakers was extremely compelling. The creative and customized curriculum is like nothing else I found. The founder, Patrizia, has created a warm and welcoming environment where it feels like a family and young children can’t help but embrace learning. My daughter looks forward to her class every week and comes home excited to tell me about that days’ subject. We are thrilled to be a part of the Carousel family!”
Mother of Sydney Bea, age 5
“Enrolling our daughter at the Carousel of Languages was the single best thing we could have done for her. Hearing her converse in Italian with her teachers at the age of four simply blows you away. I believe that the process of learning a second language has made our daughter more curious and adept to learning other things including spelling and reading and other languages too.”
Father of Ginger
“The doorway to Global Citizenship!”
Father of Meara, age of 6
“Our daughter’s birth in a country that was neither the place of birth, residence nor the ancestral origin of our multinational family offered the opportunity to dive headfirst into a journey of world citizenship through language. At all of six months, my wife started taking her first classes in French with a native speaker at Carousel. Our fears of language confusion became even more pronounced when we decided to introduce Mandarin. To our surprise though, she started saying words early on. At first, Mandarin was her preferred language for oral production, but soon enough Spanish, Portuguese, French, and slowly but surely English started tumbling out.
Now at 21 months, we are confident that she is getting on more than well in each of the languages. She continually surprises us with contextualized, parallel word associations and although there is some minor code-switching, she is keenly aware of which language to address each interlocutor with.
The experience at Carousel has been essential to providing a support system for this language journey and continues to serve as a supporting pillar in her multilingual life. Through the loving, intimate, and knowledgeable instruction that her teachers at Carousel provide she continues to develop in an environment that is quite inimitable. The positive energy that each teacher brings, their fluidity in teaching young children and their genuine interest in their development is incredibly encouraging. When we started her lessons we signed her up concurrently for classes at various language schools offering courses for 6-month-olds and up and no one came even close to the experience we had with Carousel. She’s been attending ever since. We look to the future with confidence that this journey will continue to enrich our lives and her own.”
Father of Núria, age of 2
“Our son Theo, age 3, takes bi-weekly Chinese and French classes at Carousel of Languages. He loves Carousel. When we arrive, he bounds up the stairs, and when he steps out of his class, he’s beaming. My wife is from Beijing. We have a Chinese nanny but Theo’s joy of learning Chinese has been fostered at Carousel. We have been consistently enchanted by the little world of Carousel - the warmth of the atmosphere, educated and exceptionally child-friendly teachers, the quality of the teaching materials. Its a beautiful place and we feel lucky to have the school a short walk from our home. I know some other families come across town to attend! Theo has made lovely friends and clearly the school has attracted exceptional families.”
