French is one of the most spoken languages around the world, trailing only Spanish, Chinese, and of course, English. According to a study by Rutgers University, over 275 million people around the world speak French. It is an official language in 25 countries, and the only language apart from English that is spoken on all seven continents.

With its popularity and international significance, it’s no surprise that French is a second language course in many schools around the world, especially in an international city like Beijing. One such school in the city is the Canadian International School of Beijing (CISB). Although English is the main language of instruction, CISB has always encouraged learning the French language for its students, unsurprising considering that French is one of Canada’s official languages. All students can take French as an elective class from the ninth grade, and the language is widely used in the school’s extracurricular activities and projects.

To find out more about learning French in an international school environment like CISB and the importance of the language in intergovernmental organizations, we talked to Leila Rabord, wh has been CISB’s French teacher for the past three years. She’s been an IB French teacher for 10 years and hails from France’s capital city, Paris.

Leila Rabord

“For international students, the biggest difficulty in learning French is often the verb conjugations and pronunciations,” Rabord says. “To guide students through these difficulties, I only let the students learn a few new conjugations at a time, and encourage them to practice the verb conjugations they already know on a regular basis. This way, it allows them [to]solidify the basics and continually enhance their memory. The best way to learn these verb conjugations is to keep revising them.” She also recalls her students’ incorrect pronunciations when they first started learning French, and the monumental improvements they have made. By adding oral exercises into every unit of study, her students were able to learn how to correctly pronounce within three to four months.

Gradual bits of progress and change like these always gratify her. While teaching methods of regular oral exercises and revision may come across as boring, it pays dividends. She recalls spending countless hours with a student doing mock exam papers and teaching the student how to recognize the verb conjugations. In addition to making use of various school resources such as the library’s extensive French-language book collections, the student worked hard to improve and eventually got a final grade of seven in IB French, the maximum grade. Upon hearing this, Rabord was extremely proud.

Students at CISB

Rabord believes that to have true mastery of a language, one must regularly practice it. Outside of classroom learning and instruction, she recommends spending 30 minutes to one hour every day learning a second, foreign language. She also suggests exploring various means of learning a new language, such as through music, movies, and online videos. Exploring other means of learning would sustain a student’s interest in the language, she says.

French, like English, is an official language used in many intergovernmental organizations around the world, such as the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Red Cross, and the International Court of Justice. Therefore, mastering French is becoming an extremely important skill for students who are interested in working in these organizations in the future. As one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations, France attracts tens of millions of tourists from around the world. In Rabord’s view, knowing even just a little bit of French will make the traveling experience in France (or in any French-speaking country for that matter) more convenient and fun. When traveling to francophone countries, students that learn French will also be able to apply what they have learned into the real world, and greatly enhance their confidence and enthusiasm in expressing themselves through the French language.

Students at CISB

“In today’s globalized world, speaking only one foreign language is not enough. Whether you’re in China or overseas, knowing a few foreign languages can increase your chances of employment. Learning more than one language will not only enrich your thinking but also open your eyes to new cultures,” Rabord says. “More and more companies and organizations are looking to hire talents who have sound cross-cultural understanding and can exercise cultural sensitivity. Learning and mastering different languages will inevitably reinforce these traits.”

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This article is an adapted translation of an article that was originally published on our sister site, jingkids.

Images: jingkids, Unsplash

According to an article from Beijing Education Circle on Monday, 20 public high schools will be offering international education programs and teaching international high school courses in Beijing this year.

However, schools that offer dual Chinese and overseas curricula must balance meeting the requirements of both systems, without overloading students’ schedules, and entrance to such schools is highly competitive.

According to the report, which cites data from the 2020 Beijing General High School Enrollment Plan released by the Beijing Education Examinations Authority, 2,180 students are now enrolled in such programs, a 30% increase on last year. A total of 26 international education programs are being offered across the 20 public schools, of which 20 are Sino-US education cooperation projects, 3 are Sino-British, 1 is Sino-Finnish, and 1 is an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme.

Three more Beijing schools have begun offering international curricula for the first time this year: Beijing Middle School, The High School Affiliated to Renmin University Hangtiancheng School, and The High School Affiliated to Renmin University Shijingshan School. All three of the new schools will be offering Sino-US high school curriculum, in which they will partner a high school in the United States. A total of 250 new students from these schools have enrolled this year.

Beijing Middle School

Beijing Middle School’s Sino-US High School Curriculum Cooperation project sees them partner up with Glen Rock High School in New Jersey, US. A total of 100 students in the city have so far enrolled in this program which includes standard American national high school courses, AP courses, and other elective courses. By taking these courses, students will also be able to achieve the required course credits as laid out in the Chinese National General Middle and High School Education Curriculum Plan and meet the graduating standards of Beijing Middle School. At the end of the course, students will be issued a general high school graduation certificate, which will meet the admission requirements of universities in China and around the world.

The High School Affiliated to Renmin University- Hangtiancheng School

The Sino-US High School Curriculum Cooperation project of The High School Affiliated to Renmin University Hangtiancheng School is actually an extension of the school’s Sino-foreign cooperative education project, which has been running for the past 16 years, with a focus on aerospace science and technology, and chemistry.

This program is a three-year curriculum and students must complete Chinese national curriculum courses and exams. Students may also take elective courses and AP courses, to take part in the global AP exams organized by the College Board in May annually. Those who pass the AP exams will also receive an AP exam certificate.

This year, 60 students from middle schools across Beijing have enrolled in the program. Spots for this international education program were limited and to be considered for admission, students had to pass the city’s high school entrance examination and obtain high marks in an English proficiency test.

The High School Affiliated to Renmin University- Shijingshan School

The project in the Shijingshan campus of The High School Affiliated to Renmin University is closely modeled after the partnership the Xishan district school has with Tabor Academy in Massachusetts, US.

The curriculum combines Chinese high school courses with standard American AP courses, which are taught by international teachers, in an immersive all-English instruction environment. This year, 90 students from middle schools across Beijing have enrolled in the school’s international education program.

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Images: Courtesy of Adobe stock footage, Beijing Middle School, Baitaohui, and Sogou

On Jul 5, International Baccalaureate Organization released candidate results for 2020, and many students were disappointed by their awarded grades, which were significantly below what had been predicted. Close to 10,000 students have since signed a petition, calling for “justice” for their low grades. Another separate petition was also created, pushing for new grades to be issued. Furthermore, the hashtag #IBScandal has been used on social media platforms as students express their frustration.

How were the results calculated?

Under the International Baccalaureate, each subject group is graded on a scale from 1 to 7, with seven being the highest score. Furthermore, up to 3 additional points can be awarded for the Extended Essay(EE) and Theory of Knowledge (TOK). The maximum score for the Diploma Programme is 45 points. This year 170,343 candidates took the IB, culminating in a global average of 29.9. The diploma pass rate is 79.1%.

IB scores are usually calculated using end-of-year written examination results, and to a lesser degree, coursework and in-school assessments. This year, due to COVID-19, the May 2020 series of exams were canceled and the IB announced that results will be calculated based on coursework, internal assessments, teacher predictions, and historical data.

“We will be using vast historical assessment data to ensure that we follow a rigorous process of due diligence in what is a truly unprecedented situation” they announced at the time. “We will be undertaking significant data analysis from previous exam sessions, individual school data, subject data as well as comparative data of schools who have already completed uploading requirements and those who have not. We will require schools to submit the coursework for all candidates. We will externally mark work that is usually marked by teachers, instead of taking samples and applying moderation.”

Criticism of the 2020 grading model

The recent grading model the IB has used to award grades has received much attention, with critics expressed concerns regarding issues such as the socioeconomic status of schools. Furthermore, a widely expressed concern related to the effect of teacher predictions on the scores, as teachers have been found to provide lower predicted scores for students of color and students from disadvantaged communities.

In response to criticism from an article, the IB stated that the recent grade distribution of results corresponds to grades from past years. Furthermore, they are confident that grades have been awarded fairly.

In regard to their grading model, the IB stated that: “It was also checked against the last five years’ sets of results data, to ensure that it would provide reliable and valid grades for students. Prior to the attribution of final grades, this process was subjected to rigorous testing by educational statistical specialists to ensure our methods were robust.”

“The stability of results for students has been maintained for the May 2020 session. The mean total points for May 2020 DP students show small increases in the average grade achieved compared to previous years. The grade distribution level is also in line with the previous four years of results data.”

“The IB is confident that it has awarded grades in the fairest and most robust way possible in the absence of examinations, and the grades awarded to students are of equal value to those awarded in any other year. This level of confidence means that the DP and CP certification documents awarded to students for the May 2020 session will be the same as any other session.”

Candidates react

Linda Yang, a recent graduate from Beanstalk International Bilingual School (BIBS) believes that the issue is more nuanced than students simply receiving lower grades than they hoped for. “Candidates were both harmed and encouraged under the IB’s mode of assessment this year.” She emphasized that each group subject came with different challenges such as oral assessments and internal assessments (IA’s).

“The justice of the IB results very much depended on each independent subject group. The nature of various assessments offered different challenges and requirements for each individual candidate. Additionally, some candidates may have had more opportunities to work/study for their assessments.”

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Images: Green Chameleon (via Unsplash), International Baccalaureate Organization 2020