Preschool children may have the opportunity to learn a second language as a result of a $9.8 million pilot being run by the Abbott government.
The funding is being delivered as part of the Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) trial and will see up to 40 preschools across the country participate in a one year trial in 2015.
Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley announced the trial and said expressions of interest were now open for services wanting to apply.
The ELLA trial will use custom play-based 'apps' on tablet devices and all approved preschool programmes with an internet connection can apply.
Ms Ley said the ELLA trial was part of the Government's longer-term vision for a more nationally-consistent approach to language studies throughout a child's education.
"As an island nation participating in a global economy, being able to communicate freely across multiple languages is also becoming more and more of a valuable asset for Australians and, frankly, a necessity for our future economic success," Ms Ley said
"It's also important to helping overcome social barriers and promoting inclusive communities locally, with almost one-in-five Australians speaking a language other than English at home."
Ms Ley said the languages for the trial included Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Indonesian, Arabic and French.
"For many of us, our children are now technology whiz kids from an early age, so this play-based approach to learning a language makes sense," Ms Ley said.
"This is a fun and easy way to get our kids interested in learning skills for life, such as a second language, from early on in their education journey.
"It also allows preschools to introduce languages other than English into their early learning programmes without the need to bring in a formally qualified language teacher.
Ms Ley said the technology based program would be especially beneficial to rural and remote communities who sometimes can't access the educational opportunities available to people in the city.
Ms Ley said the ELLA software was currently in the development phase and the first series of apps would be ready to be rolled out in time for the trials beginning early next year.
Early childhood services have until 5pm Monday 29 September 2014 to express their interest in participating in and can do so by clicking on the button below and filling in the form.
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