Washington DC (District of Columbia) Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan, Farragut North, Farragut West, Chinatown, Downtown DC, Georgetown, Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, Friendship Heights, U St. Corridor, Columbia Heights, Foggy Bottom, Woodley Park, Union Station, Capitol Hill, Tacoma, McPherson Square, Archives Navy Memorial, EasternMarket. Northern Virginia Rosslyn, Arlington, Pentagon City, Ballston, Fairfax, Falls Church, Vienna, Baileys Crossroads, Alexandria, McLean, Tyson's Corner, Reston, Crystal City, Alexandria. Maryland MD Bethesda, Rockville, Silver Spring, White Flint, Bowie, Crofton, Annapolis, Columbia, Ellicott City

2nd Annual Hispanic Festival For Children ¡¡VIVA MEXICO!! 1014 Country Club Dr. NE Vienna, Va 22180 (Dance, music, food) Saturday, May 3, 2008   2:00-4:00 p.m. Come and enjoy the dance and music from Mexico & Latin America! There will be food for sale from Mexico, Argentina, Nicaragua, Colombia, Bolivia & other Latin American countries. We appreciate your participation. Bring your family & friends. ENJOY THE FOOD, ENJOY THE MUSIC! PLEASE JOIN US!!! ¡VIVA MEXICO!

About Us

Children’s Center for Language & Culture, Inc.  (ChiCeLaCu!) is a small corporation providing services for the educational and cultural development of children and young people. Our goal is to have direct impact in the welfare and life quality of children and youths.  We offer direct personal services to individuals, organizations, schools, non-profit organizations and international agencies operating in the USA and Latin America in the field of Education.

In the field of education we offer specialized education services through the Programs of total or partial immersion in Spanish, for children 5 to 12 years age who live in northern Virginia, Washington, DC and Maryland. ChiCeLaCu! offers services of total linguistic immersion in Spanish for children who have had Spanish as native language or those with a reasonable knowledge or exposure to Spanish.  In addition, our partial immersion program is targeted at non-speaking Spanish children, who are interested in learning it.

ChiCeLaCu! is a place of encounter for children interested in the Hispanic culture, who learn Spanish and its grammatical rules, in an amusing and informal atmosphere. In other words, the students in our program will receive the fundamental aspects of grammar in Spanish in a unique plan similar to the one being taught at elementary schools in Latin American countries. Our Center is open to boys and girls of all nationalities, race and religion and the only requirement for entering our program is the age of the participants.

On weekends, ChiCeLaCu! operates on Saturday from September to June of each year (except weekends that officially are holidays). Classes are given directly in the facilities of the Epiphany United Methodist Church, 1014 Country Club Drive NE in Vienna, VA, 22180.

Program Benefits

Our Programs of Total or Partial Immersion involve the handling of Spanish language by means of an educational strategy integrating grammar courses with artistic and cultural activities involving Hispanic communication.  Thus, in the course of the school year, we combine formal language teaching with formation of different bands of music, groups of dances, children's theater of puppets, and learning of manual arts, which our Center considers representative of the different cultural regions of Latin America. 

With our program of immersion, ChiCeLaCu! offers children who only speak English the opportunity to learn a second language, with highly qualified personnel and with an efficient educational strategy. Our objective is that graduates of this program be able to speak, read and write in two languages, taking advantage of the fact that the children are learning a new language before adolescence.

Pedagogical investigation has shown that advantages of learning a second language represent more than simply the ability to speak an additional tongue.  According to these studies, studying a second language enlarges the intellectual potential, the academic achievements, and improves the abilities in the native language.  Given the growing economic integration between the US and Latin America, an efficient and fluent management of Spanish better prepares children for their professional future.  Participating in the Children' s Center Language program is not an expense --  it's an investment in the future of your children.

Children who become bilingual with our program acquire a sense of respect and appreciation for their own culture as well as others, which prepares young people to contribute to a more competitive, complex, diverse, and democratic society. This program also permits children to improve their levels of respect and tolerance, having a sense of identity and pride toward their cultural inheritance. Numerous studies document the benefits of learning a second language at early age; academic investigations have shown that bilingual students perform better than monolingual students in jobs of divergent thought, in the recognition of diverse patterns and in the troubleshooting of mathematical logic.

Our program also represents a personal academic challenge, helping improve the self-esteem of students.  Our premise is that there will be many great benefits, social and otherwise with the developing greater linguistic skills.

Cultural Activities

As part of our Plan of Studies, all of the students have opportunity to grow in their appreciation and knowledge of the culture and the history of Latin-American countries.

We implement approximately six cultural customs during the school year, trying to give our students the opportunity to appreciate handicrafts, graphic arts, maps, clothes, dance, music and foods of the selected country.

In an amusing and flexible way, our students are involved in the learning of Latin American music and dance. 

The Folkloric Ballet of "Latin American Inheritance" of the Children's Center for Language & Culture, Inc. is structured along the school year, and it performs an official presentation at the end of the school year.

The main cultural event is the Activity of the End of Course named "Proud of our Inheritance" in June, when the students make a public presentation completely in Spanish showing show their new abilities in the Spanish language and arts.

Saturday Classes Epiphany Preschool 1014 Country Club Drive NE Vienna, VA, 22180 Map & Directions Main Office 1727 Pebble Beach Dr. • Vienna, Virginia, 22182 Office: 703-470-2600 • Fax: 703-938-4092