10 tips to choose bilingual school

Educating in two or more languages ​​is a great challenge that requires perseverance and dedication on the part of parents and the educational team. The latest data indicate that the implementation of bilingualism now reaches 318 schools and 91 public institutes. Before this offer, know some keys that help parents to choose the best bilingual school for your child, it becomes an important task.

10 keys to choose the best bilingual school for your child

Choosing the best bilingual school for your child is a difficult task that requires an in-depth knowledge of the center's educational project and some other important aspects of the election. Some of these keys to choose a bilingual school are:


1. Unit of the educational team. The first thing the school should have to get a good education for your child is a strong unit. That is to say that the whole center has to be involved in the teaching of English to the students. Parents should see that both the management and the teaching staff make a strong, and especially coordinated, commitment to bilingualism, integrating English as an element of the classroom and day to day.

2. Teachers with a good level of English. Most of the schools are demanding to accredit level C1, corresponding to the Advanced, to the future teachers of English. This measure is a way to ensure that English teachers have a high level of language, a necessary requirement for the language to be integrated into the school naturally without losing sight of the quality of education. In this regard, we must remember that just as important as the level of English, will be the management that the teacher has of the subject.


3. Continuing education of teachers.In addition to requiring a good level of English to the teaching team, it is necessary that the center ensures that teachers have continuous training in all aspects. Besides being continually recycling their English skills, teachers must be trained in many other aspects. Advances in the classroom, such as the introduction of the digital board, can not be effective if teachers are not trained to work with new technologies.

Many applications bring English to the classroom. However, a digital whiteboard will be used as a traditional blackboard if teachers do not receive the necessary training to work with that technology.

4. Spanish teachers and native teachers.The best option for the students will be a combination of Spanish teachers and native teachers. Although there is currently a tendency in schools to hire native teachers, the presence of Spanish teachers who know English will often help the child, who will gain confidence in the side of a teacher who shares their language and with whom it will be easier to express themselves .


5. Native assistants in the classroom. The presence of native assistants in the classroom is a support for the tenured professor who will offer the students the possibility of practicing conversation in English more fluently, more hours and with a native person who will always offer them more up-to-date English.

6. Important presence of English during school hours. The best way to learn English is by dedicating many hours. However, sometimes many schools do not give enough time for the child to learn this second language naturally and acquire it progressively. Thus, checking how many hours each school spends teaching English must be an essential requirement when choosing a school.

7. A common method of learning. Each teacher has a method to teach English, however, it is necessary that all teachers are guided by the Common European Framework of Reference for languages ​​in order to unify methodological criteria and avoid possible conflicts between two teachers who have a different vision of how to teach english

8. English in everyday life. If children use English in the classroom for academic purposes only, when they leave school they will not find a context in which to use what they have learned. Therefore, it is necessary that teachers teach them to use the language on a daily basis, that is, for day-to-day things: ask permission to leave the classroom, ask, say hello and say goodbye, etc.

9. Reading texts in English. Making reading in English a habit should be another of the school's objectives. If the children get used to reading in English they will expand their vocabulary and comprehension of texts and, in addition, they will take this acquired habit home, where they should continue to foment it.

10. Accredited evaluation. Finally, it is important that the school follow an accredited evaluation system that grants students official English level accreditations (University of Cambridge, British Council, Trinity College Londony, the Official Languages ​​Schools of the Autonomous Communities). This is not only a way for children to get useful titles for when they are adults and face their future work, but also makes it easier for parents to track their children's progress in school.

Patricia Núñez de Arenas

You may also like:

- How to get the school right

- Choose school for children

- When and how to enroll children in school

- The relationship between parents and the school

- Financial education reaches schools

Video: 10 Tips To Prepare & Succeed Before Nursing School


Interesting Articles

Being a mother increases productivity

Being a mother increases productivity

Reconciling work and family life It is the great challenge of many families and a problem for many companies. Although today many mothers manage to combine work and family effectively, in the...

The accent and the tonality when learning languages

The accent and the tonality when learning languages

Music is a good ally when it comes to teaching our children to grasp the different sounds related to human language. The different tones offered by the musical pieces will help them to capture...