Interview
Q:
How can the International Primary Curriculum
(IPC) be best implemented within the framework
of the Bilingual Immersion Program?
A:
The theories within the IPC like discovery, inquiry, and
international mindedness are no different from any
immersion program, so it will fit very well. Everything in the IPC is
integrated – students are not learning in isolation – and students
have the ability always to ask new questions. This is good teaching
practice and is consistent with what we will accomplish with our
Bilingual Immersion Program.
In terms of implementation, we will need to decide, within each
unit, which language will be used to teach each concept. And we
will need to ensure that no concepts are repeated – if the theme is
to study about seasons in English, for example, students may be
talking about the seasons in English, but will use Chinese to talk
about any related topics to seasons. The concepts and skills that
students acquire will be transferrable between languages and act
to reinforce, but they will not be studied twice in two languages.
Mary Jew with (left to
right) Dr. Leo Gomez,
Dr. Santiago Wood, and
Dr. Libia Gil, Office of
English
Language Acquisition
(OELA), U.S. Department of Education and
Dr. Karen Cadiero-Kaplan, California
State Department of
Education, U.S.
“At Keystone, we will use the
language as a tool to deliver
knowledge.”
Q:
Many Chinese parents may not be familiar with
bilingual immersion and the IPC. What measures
will you take to increase parent’s understanding of
Keystone’s primary school curriculum?
A:
Research shows, and I know from personal experience,
that successful schools are ones that have a lot of parental
involvement; parents are informed. So we will work to inform
parents in many different ways. We will conduct information and
partnership workshops for the parents. Information workshops
may involve parents in the same lessons and activities t