POINTE CLAIRE - Forget Quebec's perennial debate over the language of education.
The primacy of French at risk because fewer than 3,000 students attend classes at non-subsidized English-language schools?
Three and four-year-olds in Pointe Claire are moving past that, and looking ahead to a future dominated by China.
By attending pre-kindergarten class at Lester B. Pearson International they are mastering English, French, and Mandarin.
Some pupils are learning Italian and Spanish too.
The school's assistant director Carol Mastatuono say the children are young, but are easily able to pick up new ways to communicate.
Students spend half their day split between English and French while the other half is focused on the third language.
"Children are like sponges, and they really have the ability to sit down and to really absorb what we're trying to do," said Mastatuono.
Their parents hope that turning their children into polyglots at a young age will help them when they hit the job market.
"The community, they want to have, you know, global leaders. That's what we're looking at. We're looking at developing global leaders," said Mastatuono.
The school's enrolment has tripled in the past year.
Children are taught through play, something the school says is critical to making education a fun experience.
The program's success has even surprised Mandarin instructor Helene Gao.
"I never imagined this, but I love the kids to learn this," Gao said.
Gao thinks the children will make better use of their minds because of Mandarin's complexity, and school officials agree.
School board chairman Marcus Tabachnick says years of research has proven that educating children in multiple languages at a younger age pays off as they grow older.
"They need less support as time goes along, that they learn better, they will learn better and will be more independent at learning and they're an aid to the class," said Tabachnick.
There is a big catch; without government funding pre-kindergarten costs parents more than $6,000 each year, however, the school board is working to change that.
For now, the school is looking to add more languages to the program, part of what it says is an effort to re-shape the cultural makeup of Quebec's education system.
