Testimonials

One reason I have become involved with the Kimmba Bilingual Playgroup is because my grandson, Noah, 1 year then, was losing his baby playgroup as all the mothers were going back to work. The second reason was that Noah is half Australian and half Chinese/Malay and I saw this as an ideal activity for him to participate in. Not only would it give him the social interaction he needed as an only child, with children his own age but it would expose him to the Mandarin language at a very early age. Why did I feel this was an excellent opportunity? My history, as a Primary school teacher, saw that young children pick up other languages (Italian in the 80's and Mandarin in the 90's) much more easily than older children, that being Prep/Grade 1&2 compared to Grade 5 & 6. Those that already had a second language spoken at home grasped it even quicker. The child that excelled the most had Lithuanian as her Mother tongue, learnt both English and Greek through playgroup/neighbour contact and was the first to speak Italian fluently. As a grandmother I have two granddaughters in Norway. The eldest, now 6 years, is totally bi-lingual, switching from Norwegian to English without any trouble. She was exposed to English at home and Norwegian away from home, from birth. The other child, 3&½ years, spent 11 months here from 18 months old and although she understands both languages fully she is not confident in answering in English at present as the swapping back to Norwegian took time. However that should develop soon as she is already making the comment, “That is xxxx in English isn’t it?” about things she sees and hears. I find the Kimmba Bilingual Playgroup sessions welcoming and the participants from a diverse background. The activities are child friendly and appealing to the younger child. Although I am not the mother I see that the mothers are supportive of each other. Noah’s mum will happily get involved once she has had the new child that she is expecting in September.

Here are some reasons why I like Kimmba Bilingual Playgroup: it's close to my home, it's really convenient for me; it has right aged group for my son, he can play and learn with them; it has bilingual language learning. it's common concern for chinese family that their children can't speak chinese. so it's important to build a good foundation at their early age; parents can exchange experience and ideas about raising children.

We are from a non-Chinese background and we take our daughter to Kimmba playgroup. We have found it extremely accepting of diverse cultures and children from mixed racial unions are strongly represented in this group. Our daughter is learning to value other cultures and the importance of learning a foreign language which no other setting provides to the same degree. We feel that learning a foreign language like Mandarin will provide opportunities for her in the future. She is very comfortable in this setting and really enjoys the experience partly because the content and delivery of the program caters very well to her ability and needs. She is learning the language effectively. The staff are very friendly and accommodating. We are extremely lucky to have such a group in our local area.

I would like to first of all express my thanks to Marisha and Kimmba for developing a program that makes the learning of Mandarin fun for my kids. Coming from Singapore myself and having learnt Mandarin for 10 years I have first hand experience of how gruelling and tough learning a second language can be, especially one that is as complex as Chinese. And all the more the pity as a result of the way I had been taught that I hold no fond memories, hardly remember any of it and hence am now unable to hold a conversation in Mandarin! Because Kimmba is run as a not-for-profit organisation it would greatly benefit from any community grant that is available. As parents, we all want the best for our children but unfortunately programs such as these run by Kimmba, however enriching and beneficial for our children, come at a monetary cost as they are not considered part of the already funded government kindergarten program. Although Kimmba actively runs some fundraising activities, unfortunately it is back to the same parents who are supporting Kimmba to dig in.

The Kimmba Bilingual Playgroup has been an important part of my family's life for the past few years. I used to take my son and daughter there to learn Mandarin and important social skills. As an Anglosaxon Australian married to an Indian-Chinese Sigaporean I felt accepted in this welcoming environment. As work and university commitments have increased my wife now takes my daughter who is still at kinder. I appreciated the involvement in fundraising barbeques and working bees. The sharing of information and interaction made my family and I feel more a part of our broader community.

I was looking around for a suitable structured bilingual playgroup for a long time before I heard about Kimmba, a wonderful, structured and educational bilingual playgroup. With Mrs. Marisha Theeboom's support, we were finally able to set up our own German playgroup. So we have been offered a fantastic opportunity to form a German Learning Playgroup with teacher for our little ones. This is a great possibility for our children to exchange with others in the German language, to communicate with other children and study German playfully. That way we can bring closer to them the German culture / customs as well as a little bit of the German country. The children can experience that not only their parents or other adults can speaking German, but also other kids their own age. This makes a big difference. It awakes their interest and broadens their minds - it is a chance for life! The German playgroup had started begin of this year. Over the last few months children and parents got not only to know each other but to also enjoy and appreciate each other's company and perspectives. Children and adults have grown together to a very supportive network exchanging experiences, point of views, knowledge and so much more. We feel like a big family. We would not want to miss this playgroup anymore. My children feel safe and have made big developmental steps with the help of the playgroup and our teacher. Even for the parents it is a beneficial exchange. Unfortunately our financial sources are very limited. The LOTE playgroups at Kimmba are so popular (people come from as far as Kilmore and Aspendale Gardens to attend the groups) that we have been outgrown of the space we have. So much more could be done if we had the money. The fundraisings we did during the year could not quite cover the running costs, but we do not want to increase the term fees again (it got already more expensive this year), to still make it affordable for all families. Therefore I do hope we receive a funding grant to insure the playgroups are still able to run the next years. Thank you for taking the time to read and learn about our bilingual playgroups.