Long Island parents raising bilingual babies find aid in little language classes

Catherine and Ernesto Lopez both speak Spanish and want to ensure their daughter, Yulissa, 3, not only learns the language but is proud of it. They drop her off each Thursday for a bilingual class at Once Upon a Sundae in Rockville Centre.

"To hear it outside of our home is really important," says Catherine, 36, a retail store manager from Hicksville. And, she adds, "it’s great even if you’re not a Hispanic child to try something different."

Here are some venues to expose children — and even adults — to language classes.

Once Upon a Sundae, Rockville Centre

Once Upon a Sundae offers both Spanish and Italian classes for children.

A bilingual drop-off program for ages 3 to 6 is conducted in Spanish and English, says instructor Vianna Calderon, who owns Bebes of the Island, which translates to Babies of the Island. Her classes meet each Thursday for six weeks at Once Upon A Sundae. Classes cover specific themes such as forest animals, introduced through both music and crafts, Calderon says.

Amanda Chacche, 39, a stay-at-home mother from Oceanside, says her 5-year-old twins, Olivia and Salvatore, love the classes. Chacche’s husband, Enrique, 40, a banker, was born in Peru and speaks Spanish, but Chacche does not. "We wanted them to learn it from an outside source," she says. "It’s easier for us as parents, because I don’t speak it. My son has really picked it up, between the counting and the animals and the colors."

The Italian classes also are theme-based, covering such areas as food or vacation. "It’s a class, but it’s not academically sitting at a desk and learning," says Once Upon a Sundae owner Raffaela Scaffa Locke. Students learn words and phrases rather than grammar. Every class ends with ice cream, with students ordering their preferred flavor in Italian. "I joke that if they get one thing out of it, they’ll know how to go to Italy and order gelato," Locke says.

For two weeks this summer — the first week of July and the last full week of August — Once Upon a Sundae will offer Italian language camp for ages 4 to 10. A 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. camp day might feature designing a soccer jersey, mashing tomatoes to make sauce, or learning Italian songs.

Annmarie Ragucci, 40, a speech pathologist from Rockville Centre, says her mother enrolled Ragucci’s daughter Alessia, 8, and niece Siena, 7, in one of the Italian classes. "It deepens our culture," says Ragucci, who is Italian. The cousins, for instance, learned about "La Befana," who, according to Italian folklore, is a good witch who brings kids candy after Christmas.

Says Alessia: "The thing that I like about it is we always do an activity like arts and crafts, or we make something to eat. We learn counting and the alphabet."

Per Tutti Italian Language and Cultural Center, St. James

The Italian language school has expanded its offerings since opening in 2023. While it still offers its adult-and-me classes for ages up to 3, Per Tutti — which translates to "For Everyone" — has added a preschool drop-off program for ages 3 to 5 that runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. That program covers cultural events such as the Carnevale festival and basic Italian words and songs. "Today, we have a birthday, so we’re going to be singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in Italian," says owner Catrina Percontino. That program has a waitlist for the 2026-27 school year.

Per Tutti also added hourlong after-school programs for ages 3 to 5, 6 to 8 and 9 to 12, with a maximum of 12 students per class, Percontino says. The older students learn how to introduce themselves and engage in themed discussion topics.

Evening language classes for adults is another new offering. In the future, the center plans to add adult classes that focus on watching Italian movies followed by discussion.

Danielle Matteo, 39, a stay-at-home mother from Hauppauge, enrolled sons Joey, 5, and Stephen, 8, in the afterschool program after the family took a trip to Italy and Joey expressed an interested in learning.

"We Googled and it’s one of the only places in the area that does that type of training," Matteo says. Joey especially took to the language. "We’ll catch him counting in Italian sometimes," she says. And he loved learning about Carnevale. "He was so excited to make a mask and tell us about the event," she says.