“This is fun!” exclaims a little girl dressed all in pink, from her Hello Kitty hat down to her sneakers, as she traces the letters of the Russian alphabet.
She is doing the exercise as part of her Russian language pre-kindergarten class at Shalom School, which is run by Chabad of San Francisco.
She and her 4- and 5-year-old classmates sing songs and recite traditional Russian nursery rhymes with their teacher, Ella Kasminskaya.
Speaking with the children almost exclusively in Russian, Kasminskaya, a native of Uzbekistan who has been at Shalom School for 15 years, works on counting and basic conversation with them. They are especially engaged when she reads a picture book with them — calling out not only the names of each animal, but also the Russian versions of the sounds they make.
While it’s not uncommon to hear Hebrew and English at Jewish preschools, it is unusual to hear Russian.
At Shalom School, it’s a mix of all three.
Currently, there are 35 children at the Richmond District school — some from Russian-speaking families, some from families where a lot of Hebrew is spoken and some from households where English is spoken.
Seventeen of them are enrolled in one of two pre-K intensive language programs: 10 are in the Hebrew class and seven are taking Russian.
The language program — which will expand in the fall with the addition of a transitional kindergarten class — is the brainchild of Hinda Langer, the director of the 16-year-old school.
The curriculum at the school has always been rich with Jewish content and the learning of the alef-bet. But some of the children at the school are members of immigrant families from the former Soviet Union.
“It’s important for a child to be able to speak their home language in their second home [school],” Langer said.
To that end, Langer for many years has employed a Russian-speaking teacher in each classroom. Similarly, she always has placed a Hebrew-speaking teacher or assistant with each age group.
But three years ago, she decided that the school wasn’t going far enough.
“Russian culture is just as much a part of the Jewish experience as Hebrew is,” said Langer, the wife of Chabad of San Francisco Rabbi Yosef Langer. “And language is the basis of thinking and communication.”
Pointing to educational mistakes made in earlier generations, when immigrant children were forced to abandon their home languages as a means of assimilating into American culture, she explained that experts now know that preserving native languages and honoring them is critical.
“Being strangers in a strange land is not a positive education-wise,” Langer said.
In the Russian class, Kasminskaya asks the children who speak Russian in their homes. They all answer — in Russian — that either their parents or their grandparents, or all of them, do.
“Keeping Russian in our household is very important,” said Lana Nemirovsky, the mother of 6-year-old Adam, a former Shalom School student now enrolled in a public kindergarten. “We have elderly family members who don’t speak English well, so it is very important that Adam be able to communicate with them.”
Nemirovsky loved the way the Russian language instruction at Shalom School was done in a playful way, using songs, poems, videos and drama activities.
“When Adam comes home from [public] school now, it’s hard for him to switch into Russian,” she noted. “Last year, he’d come home from Shalom School speaking Russian.”
The fact that many families were paying for Russian tutoring outside of school was one catalyst for Langer adding the intensive language program. She wanted the families to know that her school could offer them everything their children needed in terms of bilingual education.
But she also knew that the program would be validating for the children themselves. “They feel acknowledged for what they already know from home,” she said. “They feel valued. It’s good for their self-esteem.”
“A second language improves cognitive development, which helps a child succeed in all different areas,” added Diana Binunskaya, who will be teaching the transitional kindergarten class in the fall.
A total of 10 kids will be in the new transitional kindergarten class, Langer said, noting that six spaces are still available. For more information, visit www.shalomschoolsf.com or call (415) 831-8399.