Little Shernice Foo is only 3 1/2 years old but is already learning simple Japanese.
According to her proud mum, Mrs Sharilyn Foo, she could already speak both English and Mandarin at the age of one.
She's been learning Japanese at private pre-school EtonHouse's Outram branch for the past two years and entertains her parents with Japanese songs at home.
That's not all: On weekends, she goes to Shichida learning enrichment centre in Toa Payoh where she learns phrases and listens to stories in Spanish, Italian and German.
Welcome to the latest learning fad among driven Singapore parents - foreign languages for children.
Toddlers who can barely speak are learning foreign languages such as Japanese and French, and parents are doling out between $75 and $1,100 per month for these classes.
Mrs Foo, a 34-year-old equities dealer, feels that foreign language classes can help Shernice, an only child, learn more about different cultures. 'It would also be easier for her to pick up the language when she grows up,' she adds.
Like Shernice, six-year-old Yeo Zhi Yan is also learning a third language. Two years ago, he asked if he could learn French after his eldest sister Jia Yi, 15, started studying it. His other sister, Xin Yi, 13, studies Malay.
He took to the language after listening to the French songs and audio language tutorials Jia Yi played at home.
His mother, Mrs Yeo Soo Kiang, 45, enrolled him in French language centre Alliance Francaise in July last year.
He went on to surpass his peers in French class and now studies advanced material in a small group tuition class.
He even heads to the library there after class to read Tintin comic books - a famous series about a bumbling Belgian reporter - written in French.
When asked if he reads or looks at the pictures, the energetic boy pipes up: 'I look at the pictures.'
"It would also be easier for her to pick up the language when she grows up." - MRS SHARILYN FOO, on her only child Shernice (left, in blue striped outfit) being exposed to Japanese at pre-school EtonHouse
But Mrs Yeo, a housewife, says he can pick out the subtle differences in the story when he compares an English Tintin comic book with the French version.
She and other parents say they have heard that children can pick up languages much more easily than adults.
Indeed, Ms Choulur Achala, 29, a child speech therapist at the National University Hospital, says: 'For children under 10, it is when their learning window is most optimal.'
But she advises parents to ensure their children are stable in the mother tongue and English before introducing a new language. 'Children may get confused with the grammatical rules and mix words from different languages,' she warns.
Business development manager Jap Ren Huei, 33, says that knowing a foreign language is an asset and that is why he enrolled his son, E-Hng, in a full-time Japanese language class at EtonHouse.
The six-year-old enjoys his lessons so much that he sings Japanese songs at home. Once, he even asked his father if he was Japanese.
Housewife Cecilia Yee, 37, says her three-year-old daughter, Victoria, likes the classes in Shichida because the school makes learning languages fun.
The teachers use flash cards, story books and songs to teach and the children pick up the languages faster this way.
Schools such as EtonHouse have not seen an overwhelming response yet, though pre-school director Vera Lee says there have been requests for the Japanese classes. But these are reviewed on a 'case by case' basis and depend on how well the student is coping with English and his mother tongue.
Alliance Francaise, however, has seen a jump in the number of students under 10 years old in the past three years: It offered only one children's French class in 2005, but will be opening up a fourth class next month. Over 50 per cent of the students in these classes are Singaporeans.
At EtonHouse's Outram branch, Japanese classes are part of the curriculum with no extra charge. Monthly school fees are $1,100.
Centres such as Shichida offer kids' programmes at $780 for weekly weekend classes over three months. Alliance Francaise charges $152 for eight 11/2-hour lessons.
For Shernice, she is learning more than just the language and culture of Japan. Mrs Foo says she has made a friend in the class and now wants to visit the country.
This article was first published in The Sunday Times on Jun 29, 2008.
