Early Learning Languages Australia 2019 program open

The Department of Education and Training has confirmed that the application process for the 2019 Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) preschools program is now open.

A dedicated ELLA website has been set up to accept applications as well as provide details on the program itself and the educational institutions that are eligible to apply.

ELLA is a digital, play based program which includes a series of interactive applications that aims to make language learning engaging and fun for preschoolers.

The purpose of the program is to encourage a love of languages ,  with the program currently offering nine different languages e Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Modern Greek, Japanese and Spanish.

The Australian Government has committed to adding Korean, Vietnamese, Turkish and German to the program in 2019 and 2020 as to fully align the ELLA suite of languages to the languages offered in the Australian Curriculum.

In 2018 approximately 2,500 pre-school services used ELLA in their programs and reached over 80,000 children.

To support this high level of engagement a further $11.8 million was allocated to the program in the 2018-19 Budget.