A teacher from the UK has been recognized for her innovative approach to teaching foreign languages to the young.

Fiona Moffat, from Falkirk, in Scotland, was awarded an international prize for her French program aimed at babies.

Ms Moffat founded Lingobaby in 2008. The course exposes children aged zero to five years to foreign language sounds in the expectation that picking up a second language will be easier when they are older.

There is no pressure to repeat the sounds they hear, although Ms Moffat says that babies as young as 15 months were repeating simple words and phrases such as "bonjour," "au revoir" and "merci."

The 33-year-old, who also teaches modern languages at Bannockburn High School and looks after her son Ruairi, opened the Children's Language Centre in Airth, Scotland – the first of its kind.

"If children are exposed to the sounds of a language before the age of nine months, they're much more likely to pick the sounds out at a later age," the educator told the BBC.

"We've also had a lot of comments from parents who are coming to classes that it just makes language learning normal."

She plans to expand Lingobaby to offer languages other than French.

The prize was awarded by Piccolingo, a European Union campaign promoting foreign language learning for children. Entrants from all over Europe were invited to submit teaching ideas via Facebook.

Ms Moffat was given language books worth 50 Euros for winning the contest.

14 February 2010