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"Hundred Languages of Children" exhibition
from Italy to run at Fresno State this fall

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by Tom Uribes

"The Hundred Languages of Children," an internationally acclaimed traveling educational exhibition from Reggio Emilia, Italy, will come to the Fresno State campus from Sept. 15 through Dec. 15.

Early childhood educators from throughout the state, students and others interested in children will be invited to the exhibition of children's work from the preschools run by the city of Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy and considered by experts to be the best early education system in the world.

The exhibit will be displayed in the Joyce M. Huggins Early Education Center in the Atrium area of the Education Building. The exhibit will be free of charge and open to the general public. Guided tours for groups will also be available for $5 per person.

In conjunction with the exhibit, an educational institute, "Reggio Emilia and Beyond," will be offered through Extended Education and will include four weekend courses. Dr. Shareen Abramson, director of the Huggins Center, said the courses will be taught by foremost early childhood authorities, who will examine specific strategies to enhance children's linguistic, cognitive and creative development.

Hours for the exhibit will be Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and closed on Sundays.

The Huggins Center utilizes a curriculum influenced by the Reggio approach with the 200 children it enrolls every semester. The children at the center range in age from three months to 12 years old, with priority and financial assistance given to children of low-income student parents attending the university.

"The exhibition celebrates the potential of young children that can be realized when teachers and families work as partners to provide stimulating, intellectually challenging contexts for learning. The Reggio approach is based on the belief that early artistic and creative education are critical to intellectual development," Abramson said.

"The system allows children to speak the 'Hundred Languages,' or to express their ideas through linguistic, musical, visual, mathematical, and kinesthetic representation."

The traveling exhibition has appeared in Washington D.C., New York, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Santa Fe, and Boulder. The exhibit has received wide acclaim at its previous showings.
Funding for the exhibit and allied training has been provided by the Child Development Training Consortium (California Department of Education), the Bonner Family Foundation, and the Fresno County Office of Education.

For information about the exhibit and tours, contact the Huggins Center, Ext. 8-0225. For information about the educational institute, contact Extended Education, Ext. 8-0333.