Piccolino Spanish Immersion Preschool, Keller | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

We love Piccolino and you will too!

Pros:
– Loving, caring staff
– Very reasonable price (well below area average)
– Small class size
– Fully immersive language program
– Lessons based on teaching and learning fundamentals focused on physical and cognitive development
– Regular feedback from the staff in the form of daily reports accessible via smartphone app
– Multi-cultural exposure. Learning at an early age that we are all alike despite our apparent differences.

Cons:
– Small building means limited availability
– Location/traffic: getting in and out of the location can be tricky at rush hour given it is in the heart of downtown Keller (almost directly under the Keller water tower)

Long-Form Summary:

We (my wife and I) have our 2 and 4 year old boy’s enrolled in this school and we couldn’t be happier. Neither of our boys (nor my wife and I for that matter) speak Spanish. Choosing this school was entirely about giving our boys the opportunity to learn a second language at a time in their cognitive development where language acquisition is easiest.

Some may worry sending your child to an immersion program like this (only Spanish is spoken) may frustrate your child or, worse yet, delay the development of their primary language. While there is frustration learning anything new, that would be true in any school. Let’s face it, we’re talking about preschoolers… frustration is a regular part of their life! As for primary language delay, this is simply a myth.

It has been shown that learning multiple languages at this age actually causes a synergistic effect whereby the acquisition of one language aids the other. Certainly there will be moments of confusion, times where they bounce between languages, but by the time they are old enough to develop long-term memory they will be fluent. Put another way, they will not remember a time when they didn’t speak two languages! What an advantage to give our children for the rest of their lives, especially in this part of the country.

As for the school itself, I’ve covered the key points in the pros above. They are so wonderfully caring and loving. That means, in line with Mexican cultural norms, they will hug and kiss your little one as a form of praise and encouragement. I guess some people don’t like that, but I think the more people who my children feel love them, the better! Obviously, and likely should go without saying, the physical contact is well within appropriate boundaries. It’s the same thing you would (hopefully) do with your kids yourself. Our boys have bonded strongly with the staff and the physical contact as encouragement is a big part of why.

Ive said a lot. I have so much more to say. If you take nothing else away, take this: check out the school. Meet the staff. Let your children spend a week here. If you do, I suspect you will – as we did – find a long term solution to your child care problem!

AWESOME preschool!!! Can’t say enough great things about this school and the teachers. Both of my boys attended from 1.5 years to kindergarten and they still ask if we can go back every time we drive by. They would come home with new words, new songs, and even communicate with each other in Spanish they learned from school. By the time they graduated and went to kinder, both boys were as competent in Spanish as their native language of English. So much so that I was even able to continue their learning with a dual language program at their elementary school.

I’m so glad their preschool years were filled with art, singing, exploration, and building, and their later years will benefit from being bilingual. Thank you to all of the Piccolino family!!