NYTimes.com | Second- and Third-Language Immersion Preschools

Parents Take Language Class Into Their Own Hands
By Winnie Hu
Published: September 30, 2006

'[...] In the past five years, foreign-language studies for the under-5 set have become as common as art and music lessons, as the more laissez-faire parenting of earlier generations is replaced by packed schedules of daily activities. But in contrast to many urban centers, where bilingual nannies may function as language tutors and formal language courses abound, suburbs seldom offer parents access to those resources.
Dissatisfied with the limited choices in classes for young children, and the occasional foreign-language story hour at their neighborhood library, highly educated, well-traveled parents are increasingly pulling together their own bilingual playgroups, which sometimes grow so popular that they expand into full-fledged programs.[...]'