The
Canadian International School (CIS) in Singapore prides itself on making sure
their students are equipped with skills that enable them to thrive and achieve
ambitious and worthy goals in an increasingly globalised world. With this in
mind, the school launched a new bilingual Chinese-English programme in August
2014 for children aged 4 to 6. The reaction to the programme has been
remarkable - currently there are 13 bilingual
classes across both campuses with plans to open further classes for students up
to age 7 in January 2015, and up to age 9 in August 2015, to meet the growing
demand.
The reasons for the programme’s popularity
are diverse. Having two fully qualified teachers in each classroom at all times
(one teacher is a native English speaker, the other a native Chinese speaker),
appeals to many parents. Others like that the programme is fully aligned to the
IB Primary Years Programme, promoting intercultural understanding, inquiry
based learning and key features based on current “best practice” in teaching
and learning. Another highly valued factor is that students receive a balanced
exposure to both languages and class sizes are capped at 20 students in Junior
Kindergarten (1:10 student-teacher ratio), 22 students in Senior Kindergarten
(1:11 student-teacher ratio) and 24 in Grade 1 and 2 (1:12 student-teacher
ratio).
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