• Recent data shows that students who do well in Italian score higher on the SAT because Italian is the closest romance language to Latin and a large percentage of English comes from Latin.
• Italian is the 4th most spoken language in the U.S.
• Italian has one of the fastest growing enrollments in high schools and universities.
• The College Board now offers an AP Italian exam which can give college credit to high school students.
• Many U.S. based companies like GE and IBM do business with and have offices in Italy.

Some interesting facts about children and second language learning:

• Toddlers who learn a second language appear to develop stronger minds.
• Dr. Andrea Mechelli has found that toddlers who learn a foreign language "gain structural, functional and cognitive advantages over their monolingual peers."
• Children are sponges- studies show that children can accurately learn up to four languages simultaneously without any confusion.
• Children who learn a second language before adolescence are able to achieve native-like pronunciation.

“Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world” 

- Maria Montessori