Founder and director

: Having been born into a monolingual family and needing to become bilingual was quite the task. Since I was born in Korea and arrived in America at the age of two, my native only language was Korean. In the early 70’s, there was no such thing as ESL (English as a Second Language), seeing immersed in an English Kindergarten classroom at five years old, I was forced to sink or swim. Luckily for me, I decided to swim, but it certainly was not easy switching from Korean to English. I grew up having to speak English at school all day and then speak Korean at home with my parents and grandparents.

My parents were avant-garde immigrants who knew the significance of preserving our native language and culture while acculturating in America. Growing up Korean-American was most certainly a challenge. I had the thought that we were just American and English speaking but it was during high school that I finally realized the value of being Korean-American. I had an edge over my American peers in school as I had another language besides English and was even learning a third language, Spanish.

Then, I studied Broadcast Journalism and finished my Bachelor’s at NYU. After working for years in the television industry writing script after script, I found it very unsatisfying, and never felt appreciated. At that time, I actually felt that being Korean-American and not just American was a disadvantage.

I decided to go back to school and ultimately got my Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. I went on to teach for years and pursued certificates in ESL and Bilingual Education. By being certified in both ESL and Bilingual Education, I was able to work both fields in language development. With these unique credentials, I was hired by the Ridgefield school system to head their new Korean bilingual program that was mandated by the State. The bilingual program that I implemented is still part of the school system to this day.

In today’s global economy, I truly appreciate the need to be bilingual at minimum. I see other cultures and their children speaking perfectly in another language, and I wanted that for my children as well. Being a teacher and a mom of two, I searched for a bilingual preschool for both of my children but could not find what I was looking for. There were Korean preschools that only taught in Korean. The children who attended those preschools ended up being students in my ESL class. Children who attended English preschools acquired English quickly but also lost their Korean. In order to compensate, parents would have to send their children to Korean school to relearn their native language.

After having taught and developed curriculum for 20 years in private and public schools, I decided to create my own bilingual preschool. With the culmination of all my diverse experiences as an educator and a parent, I have realized the significance of immersing our children in a bilingual and bicultural environment. Now, I have taken only the best of everything and combined them to offer a truly unique bilingual learning center.

Being born into a monolingual family and having to become bilingual was quite the task. I was born in Korea and arrived in America at the age of two. My native language and only language was Korean. In the early 70’s, there was no such thing as ESL (English as a Second Language). Being immersed in an English Kindergarten classroom at five years old, I was forced to sink or swim. Luckily for me, I decided to swim but it certainly was not easy switching from Korean to English. I grew up having to speak English at school all day and then speak Korean at home with my parents and grandparents.

My parents were avant-garde immigrants who knew the extreme importance of preserving our native language and culture while acculturating in America. Growing up Korean-American was most certainly a challenge. I had the thought that we were just American and English speaking but it was during high school that I finally realized the value of being Korean-American. I had an edge over my American peers in school as I had another language besides English and was even learning a third language, Spanish.

I studied Broadcast Journalism and finished my Bachelor’s at NYU. After working for years in the television industry writing script after script, I found it very unsatisfying, and never felt appreciated. I actually felt that being Korean-American and not just American was a disadvantage.

I decided to go back to school and ultimately got my Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. I went on to teach for years and pursued certificates in ESL and Bilingual Education. By being certified in both ESL and Bilingual Education, I was able to work both fields in language development. With these unique credentials, I was hired by the Ridgefield school system to head their new Korean bilingual program that was mandated by the State. The bilingual program that I implemented is still part of the school system to this day.

In today’s global economy, I truly appreciate the need to be bilingual at minimum. I see other cultures and their children speaking perfectly in another language, and I wanted that for my children as well. Being a teacher and a mom of two, I searched for a bilingual preschool for both of my children but could not find what I was looking for. There were Korean preschools that only taught in Korean. The children who attended those preschools ended up being students in my ESL class. Children who attended English preschools acquired English quickly but also lost their Korean. In order to compensate, parents would have to send their children to Korean school to relearn their native language.

After having taught and developed curriculum for 20 years in private and public schools, I decided to create my own bilingual preschool. With the culmination of all my diverse experiences as an educator and a parent, I have realized the significance of immersing our children in a bilingual and bicultural environment. I have taken only the best of everything and combined them to offer a truly unique bilingual learning center. As a working mom myself, I fully understand the needs of Korean-American families like mine.