BILINGUALISM AT BELS: IGCSE FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH,
A NEW SYLLABUS IMPLEMENTED IN GRADE 9 AND 10
“Bilingual education is widely acknowledged as being
the future direction of language learning in schools. By
‘bilingual education’ we mean the use of two or more
languages as mediums of instruction for non-language
‘content’ subjects, such as physics or mathematics 1 .”
Bilkent Erzurum Laboratory High School will have its first
exam series for IGCSE First Language English in May 2015.
In order to increase the level of the bilingual approach in
the instructional process, IGCSE First Language English
offers students a great command of language that they
will need throughout their academic studies at BELS.
They learn not only the specific terms needed for a
subject like chemistry, they also learn everyday language
that is not in standard grammar books.
Based on our experience, we recognize that some
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learners have basic difficulties understanding exam
questions in international programs. Thus, BELS started
implementing IGCSE First Language English in Grade 9
in 2014. Our educators have been able to observe that
students who construct a solid English background in
early grade levels have less difficulty in IBDP programs in
terms of using their English skills.
With this notion and educational belief, we are going to
have our first IGCSE First Language English examinations
in May 2015, and our students will be tested on higherlevel
English language skills.
1) Imam, H., C. & Shaw, S. D. (2012). The CIE
bilingual research agenda. Research Matters. Issue
14. June 2012. pp.42–45