Lesson in language for Jindi kinder kids

Yan Yean MP Danielle Green with Mia and Chloe with a bilingual dictionary. (Joe Mastroianni)

By Laura Michell

Children at Mernda’s Jindi Kindergarten are learning to speak Punjabi.

Punjabi language teacher Aman Virk runs the language sessions every Tuesday and Thursday and every second Wednesday.

The kinder is attended by 99 children daily, some of whom speak Punjabi at home.

Yan Yean MP Danielle Green said the language sessions ran for up to three hours.

“It’s great to see the Punjabi language program being provided to Jindi Kindergarten, bringing the education state vision to life in Mernda,” she said.

Jindi is one of 150 kindergartens across the state offering language classes as part of the state government’s $17.9 million early childhood language program.

A further 10 kindergartens are bilingual with half the curriculum taught in a language other than English.