What We Believe

Spanish Academy of Asheville is a full Spanish Immersion preschool where students from 2 years old will be able to start learning a second language at their own speed. Our mission is to provide quality preschool for all families in the Asheville community in a warm, nurturing, loving, and educational environment. We provide a high quality education in Spanish to give children the opportunity to be successful and become bilingual. Through interesting and age-appropriate activities, the children in our care will flourish and grow.

We believe that:

• All children are capable of learning a second language starting at a young age

• All children have an innate desire to seek out new learning experiences and do so through active play and interactions with others

• All children develop at their own rates, and so it is our responsibility to provide learning opportunities which address the individual physical, social, cognitive, language and self-help skills necessary for independence and appropriate development. 

Our Values

Why Spanish?

Spanish is the second-most natively spoken language in the world, outranking English, and one of the most important languages in international business. Today, nearly 11% speak a language other than English at home, representing nearly a million North Carolinians.

Bilingualism has been shown to have cognitive, academic, and personal benefits for young students, fostering strong thinking, problem solving, and communication skills, as well as heightened empathy. It also supports competency in English!

Benefits of Bilingualism

1. Improved Multitasking

Children who learn two languages are constantly flipping between them while listening to people speak or reading books. This means they are better at multitasking. As the child begins to translate English to Spanish, they’ll develop natural language multitasking skills that can benefit their academic development. 

2. Better Understanding of English

Learning a second language doesn’t just help a child gain skills in that language - they will also further expand their native tongue. Since Spanish and English share Latin roots, children who speak both languages will expand their vocabulary. As they begin to translate words from English to Spanish, the child will explore the English language further and absorb a larger English vocabulary. 

3. Improved Memory

Children who speak two languages have a better working memory. This means they can mentally calculate, comprehend what they’re reading, and process information quicker than those who only speak one language.

4. Communication Skills

For children in English-speaking households, gaining Spanish skills can improve their ability to communicate with people in their community as well as abroad. This ability will offer them a better cultural understanding and the potential for more job opportunities as they grow. 

5. Better Standardized Testing Scores

While you may not be thinking about standardized test scores when your child is in preschool, they can still work toward earning good scores while they’re young. Studies show that students who study foreign languages well into high school have better SAT-verbal scores, as well as English and Math ACT scores. Encourage your child to keep active in their bilingual learning to gain this benefit.