About Us

  • Who we are?
  • Our Approach
  • Why Little Em’s

Is to inspire each student to discover their unique voice, potential, future path and to be the best version of themselves.

COMPASS OF PURPOSE

  • Respect
  • Integrity
  • Understanding
  • Responsibility

Is to orient young people to a rapidly changing world and to help them find their direction; to help each student discover who they are, what they care deeply about and how to successfully navigate their way through life.

Our COMPASS of PURPOSE is epitomized by the four cardinal points: 

RESPECT

  • Treating myself, others and the environment, respectfully, carefully and thoughtfully. 

INTEGRITY

  • Learning what it means to be truthful and genuine in all that I do.

UNDERSTANDING

  • Having the space to be curious, ask questions, and cultivate a deeper consideration of the wider world.

RESPONSIBILITY

  • Becoming accountable for my actions, and assuming responsibility for the well-being of those around me and the world that we live in. 

With these CORE VALUES, by which we live our vision, our students will discover their true purpose and become the future Ambassadors for Life. 

The Reggio Emilia Approach®️ – an inquiry-based learning approach – values the belief that children are strong, competent and capable citizens who are full of wonder and curiosity to learn. It believes that children have a natural drive that makes them want to understand and know about the world around them and how this world relates to them. Every child brings with them deep curiosity and potential and this innate curiosity drives their interest to understand their world and their place within it. Children are believed to be capable of constructing their own methods of researching and learning using everything from play to a variety of other hands-on-learning experiences.

To understand the Reggio Emilia Approach®️, let’s visit the fundamental principles of this approach:

1. ALL CHILDREN ARE COMPETENT, CURIOUS AND CREATIVE

At the very core of the Reggio Emilia Approach®️ is the concept of wonder. Wonder as an act that begins the process of learning and wonder as an integral quality within all children. Reggio educators view children as natural scientists; driven by curiosity, with tremendous observational skills and an ability to form strong theories about the world around them. They consider a child’s creative expression (especially in preliterate stages), as their way of communicating what they understand about the world around them.

2. ESSENTIAL LEARNING TAKES PLACE WITHIN A SYSTEM OF RELATIONSHIPS

Reggio teachers believe that when children share their wonder with other children, their parents or teachers, they engage in a richer and deeper learning process. Collaboration increases the children’s commitment to the topic and multiplies the learning opportunities by encompassing many points of view. In school, when this type of ‘group wonder’ is guided by teachers who use provocations and questioning rather than demonstrations or explaining, children will almost always be able to connect to the topic.

We will focus on creating a collaborative community and a learning environment, where children are the centre of the classroom and teachers are seen as co-constructors, researchers, documenters, and advocates for the children.

3. CHILDREN’S QUESTIONS AND INTERESTS ARE A FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Collaborative wonder and the sharing of ideas plants the seeds for the emergent curriculum. For example, during a first full-group discussion of the sky, a classmate might share her knowledge of planets or the moon (leading to a study of planets and stars), whilst another child might want to work on making a picture book about cloud animals (an opportunity for art and literacy development). It’s important to note, at no time would a teacher intervene in a discussion with children to ‘weed out the truth from fiction’, or give answers. Instead, the teacher would extend and compile the ideas to be presented back to the group for theory development. In this way, teachers act as guides supporting children as they build their own knowledge, their own ‘image’.

4. CHILDREN EXPRESS THEMSELVES THROUGH THE “HUNDRED LANGUAGES”

In traditional schools, children are often judged by their success using verbal and written forms of expression above all others, in part because test taking depends on these skills. At Little Em’s, all forms of expression are valued equally and are fundamental in developing the children holistically.

5. DOCUMENTATION ALLOWS CHILDREN AND ADULTS TO REMEMBER AND REFLECT ON LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Throughout the learning process, teachers document the children’s experience through photographs, note-taking, video, and through varying forms of art. It is compiled and shared with the focus on process, rather than product.

In using this approach to education, time is given to the children so they may be allowed to learn, explore, or go back and revisit an investigation or a focus of interest as needed. It is an approach based on listening rather than talking; where doubt and amazement are welcome factors along with the scientific inquiry and the deductive methods used by a detective.

We keep in mind all children are equal learners, we let the children learn through their mistakes rather than by correction. Unlike others program, where teachers are required to take note on students’ development through ‘Assessment Reports’, evidence of learning is documented using written, photographic and video records throughout the year. This allows children, parents and teachers to realise growth, facilitate conversations and plan for future learning.

Although the Reggio Emilia Approach®️ is applied to preschools and early childhood settings, as parents grow in their understanding of the general principles, this inspiring child-led approach can be adapted to the home as well. Therefore, pursuing this approach at early years’ also help parents to be more involved in their children’s education and childhood.

Every day should be a new day of discovery in the eyes of a child. They should feel excited for each day they are alive and that the world has something amazing to offer them. Whether it be an earthworm in the mud, or a flower that has just bloomed in the garden, nothing should go unnoticed. To a child, everyday life is a gift.

Little Em’s implements the Vietnamese Early Childhood Education Curriculum by applying Reggio Emilia Approach® of Reggio Children, Italy: Children learn through experience and express their thoughts through “100 languages.”
If the Vietnamese Early Childhood Education Curriculum is a project built by leading national and international scientists, then the Reggio Emilia Approach® is one of the approaches that stimulate the development of children in the most natural and comprehensive way.

Teachers at Little Em’s always take the time to observe, learn, and then have a basis for enabling children to “speak” in their own language. Their lives and future are in their hands. Only when you speak in your own language, realize your own talents, and not try to become someone else or live your life according to the will of others, you will be successful and happy.

  • As a Vietnamese school, we teach our children our historical and cultural roots so that they can understand who they are, and where they’ve come from.
  • We are a bilingual school, where language-immersion is our technique of teaching our children their mother tongue, but also English, the language of the world.
  • Our educational program is multi-disciplinary and project based, partly operated through exciting STEAM projects, growing in children the passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. In these holistic projects, teachers play the role of a planner, facilitator, collaborator, observer, surprise maker, and documentation taker to engage children, who are in the center of the process, in the observation, inquiry, problem solving, amazement, and creation. The nature of projects can be very diverse, from scientific to artistic, i.e. from building a city of pebbles to studying the features of light, from creating a musical instrument of stones and clay to performing a shadow puppet show. These projects help children develop both hemispheres of their brain and all their ‘100 languages’.
  • Projects are designed for children from all walks of life, including children of special rights, who are integrated into our program and are respected, where their differences are celebrated.
  • Children are the center of all activities. Teachers inspire curiosity of the children, motivate the children from the ‘inside’, thereby helping them to acquire and shape their understanding about the world around them.
  • During the learning process, teachers will record children’s experiences with photos, notes, videos and other different art forms. This data will be aggregated, shared with the children and their parents to review the experience process, identify the child’s development, thereby facilitating communication and planning for the children’s learning in the future.

We are the only school in Vietnam to be collaborating with Reggio Children.

At Little Em’s, we are proud to officially introduce the Reggio Emilia Approach® to parents which focuses on a child-led project approach. Reggio Emilia Approach® emphasises creativity and artistic representation as well as fostering the children’s intellectual development through encouraging young children to explore their environment and express themselves through all of their available expressive, communicative and cognitive languages.

A few quick facts about US!

  • As the first official Reggio Emilia Approach® Pre-school in Vietnam, we provide early childhood education for Vietnamese children aged 2 to 6 years old. The launch of Little Em’s is the first step in the creation of an educational continuum through the Embassy Education Group, leading from pre- school through high school and beyond for Vietnam’s future ambassadors.
  • ‘Learning through play’ is at the core of our beliefs
    Play is vital for the development of the brain and helps to build children’s communication skills, to understand their place in the world and to explore their feelings. We will then create a “learning- through-play” environment for children where the child’s learning will be observed, recorded and documented by teachers. Furthermore, play also builds self-worth and resilience. In fact, play is such a crucial element of a child’s life that it’s been enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 31 states that “every child should have…the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts”.
  • A global mindset in a local setting – At Little Em’s, we value the philosophy of “180 East – 180 West”. We are passionate in providing an international education environment and give children access to world, but locally rooted in their Vietnamese culture.
  • Situated in the heart of Saigon’s District 3, Little Em’s is a nature wonderland, with world-class facilities – our environment is essential in the Reggio Emilia Approach®, which is seen as “the third teacher” for our children.

We strongly believe in an inclusive and integrated education for all children, where they can share their joy, help each other overcome challenges and live in harmony with each other. We also believe in the uniqueness children bring to diversify and develop their group of peers. This uniqueness can be the language they speak or the way they explore the world and solve problems. From this viewpoint each child, including those of special rights, are a wonderful resource and valuable opportunity for the whole class.

A special rights child is a child that, during their development, faces difficulties in body and movement control, language, communication, behavior and social interactions, emotional regulation, adaptation to the environment, cooperation with adults and peers. These difficulties can be temporary or may persist for a long period of time and indicate that the child needs and has the right for special support in order to fully develop their potential.

Here at Little Em’s, we have developed a specific program to integrate children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs F84.0 based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diseases – DSM-V, 2013), indicating difficulties in social interaction, language and communication and restricted and/or repetitive behaviors. We enroll in our classes ASDs children requiring low or substantial level of support (level 1 and 2 of DSM-V), accompanying them with a special teacher in a ratio of 1 teacher to 2 special rights children.

Once a special rights child joins Little Em’s Pre-school, Dr. Simona Bossoni, our Special Rights Program Director and Head of the Children Developmental Department of Gia Khang International Hospital in District 7 (GIH), helps the family and the child to follow the best procedure in order to receive a proper diagnosis and a complete functional evaluation at the hospital based on the most reliable tests available in the world today. This functional evaluation covers all the developmental areas, including gross and fine motor skills, expressive and receptive language, social and playing skills, cognition and personal independence according to the Early Start Denver Model approach (ESDM). This functional evaluation will be followed by an educational evaluation at Little Em’s to help parents and teachers understand the child’s adaptation, their skills and difficulties that may occur in our pre-school environment.

Dr. Simona Bossoni works closely with our special rights teachers to provide them with expertise and strategies to support the autistic child in their growth. Together with teachers and the family, we will create an Individualized Education Program (I.E.P.) for each child and we monitor the progress every 4 months or depending on the necessities of the child. The I.E.P. consists of the strategies and the adaptations that the child will need to fully integrate into the Reggio Emilia Approach® curriculum with other children, based on their abilities. We regularly work with parents and external experts to effectively develop the child where our goal is for each autistic child to enjoy their time at Little Em’s, have the opportunity to see the world through their own eyes and begin their pathways to actualizing their talents such as history-making people like Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Steve Jobs, Michelangelo, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Isaac Newton, and many more … who were on the autism spectrum.

Approximately 10% of children at Little Em’s are of special rights. These children have the opportunity to enjoy all curriculum activities, explore and develop projects with their peers, and vice versa. This non-discriminative approach brings benefits to all children, regardless of their developmental specificity. Children with special rights will feel a sense of belonging to the community of all children, gain confidence and learn how to successfully solve problems with their classmates. Dialectically, ‘regular’ children will develop the respect for diversity, the ability to pay attention to their specific way of communication, and non-verbal negotiation skills.

A child with special rights is a treasure for all children and a unique opportunity to creatively develop the 100 languages of the entire school. Research shows that children who enjoy diversity in their community and experience tolerance towards their peers in childhood usually become more caring and emotionally intelligent adults, and as a result have a greater chance to become successful leaders.

It’s widely acknowledged that a healthy body equals a healthy mind. Children learn better and feel happier when they enjoy physical activities regularly. That’s why sports are among our school’s priorities, with swimming at the AquaLab, fun physical activities at the Little Em’s Institute of Sport, learning self-defense through Vovinam and exploring mindfulness through Yoga.

Our Enrichment Program has been carefully curated as we believe that “children need the FREEDOM to appreciate the infinite resources of their HANDS, their EYES, and their EARS, the resources of FORMS, MATERIALS, SOUNDS and COLORS” (Loris Malaguzzi).

Kindermusik is the world’s leading provider of music-based education for children from 4-months through age five, enjoyed by over 1 million families in more than 70 countries. Kindermusik’s curriculum is built on the research of psychologists, neuroscientists and experts of early childhood development. This research shows that music does more for children than bring them joy; it helps their brain cells make the connections needed for virtually every kind of intelligence.

Based on the research of psychologists together with certification in accordance with the international body, Yoga Alliance, Yoga Planet is a pioneering provider of yoga through the medium of story-telling. Children, as “astronauts”, are transported to YOGA PLANET, where their curiosity and imagination will be provoked, where they will learn, play and meditate using colours and images, create and immerse themselves in interesting stories about life and everything around them.

As Vietnam’s leading music and performing arts academy that showcases world-class facilities and the most updated international curricula available, Soul Music & Performing Arts Academy (SMPAA) is focused on lifting music/performing arts education in Vietnam to a new level. With a vision to build the next generation of GLOCAL CITIZENS of Vietnam – individuals with GLOBAL mindsets and LOCAL values – SMPAA cultivates the holistic development of our students through the arts.

© 2020 EMBASSY EDUCATION GROUP ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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