A Princess, a King and a Passion for Teaching
Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived two princesses.
They lived in a beautiful kingdom surrounded by love and happiness.
One day their father, who was a wise man of adventure and opportunity, decided to set out into the unknown with the entire family. "This", he said, "is so that you may learn of all the wonders and riches life has to offer outside of the borders of our kingdom".
Finally they arrived to a wonderful place filled with exotic creatures, smiling faces and new languages. It is here that the princesses' lifelong learning adventure truly began.
The story above actually did happen. It happened to my sisters and me. Katie and I were still toddles, when mum and dad decided to leave Poland and head over to Australia - a land so completely unknown (at that time) and so far away from life, as we knew it. Natalie, the youngest sister, was born in Oz a couple years later.
When we arrived, I was 4 years old and ready for pre-school. "How will she manage?", worried mum, as she sent me off to kindergarten, where nobody spoke my language (Polish). It turns out - it was the best thing that could have happened!
You see, children are like sponges: they absorb the information around them in an instant. They take on languages and skills in a very natural way: through play and interaction with others. Within a few weeks I was talking in English, as though I had known it my entire life! And the best thing was: I was already teaching it to the 2-years-younger Katie when we were playing!
Mum and dad made a conscious decision to expose us to a foreign language and culture whilst we were at very young and tender age. For that, my sisters and I will forever be grateful. Our parents gave us the opportunity to be fully bilingual and this is the best gift any parent can give to their children.
Recognizing how lucky we are, together with Katie, we decided to share our luck, experience and know-how by setting up Academicus.
Our own examples show that exposing children to a natural learning environment, where you engage the child's active body and awaken the vivid imagination, will allow them to learn language and other skills in a very dynamic and natural way.
Later, linguistic studies and personal teaching experience, gathered in different areas of the world, proved us right again. Today we want to share our passion for English, our passion for teaching and our passion for children with you!
Thanks mum and dad for the most incredible gift imaginable: the gift of language!
