Most people would agree that one of the best things about Beijing’s international community is the wide range of cultures and languages you come into contact with. Being part of this community positively impacts our children’s development, helping them to grow into internationally-minded global citizens. However, since international schools in Beijing teach primarily in English, adapting to this new language environment can be a challenge for students from the international community who didn’t grow up in a primarily English-speaking household. 

In the distance past, some international schools teaching in English avoided or reduced the use of students’ home languages. However, research has increasingly shown that drawing on students’ home languages and cultural background can help to validate and enforce their personal identities, while also providing a strong foundation for learning other languages. 

CISB’s BML program includes one-on-one and small group instruction and co-teaching

This concept is at the core of the Bilingual and Multilingual Learners (BML) program at the Canadian International School of Beijing (CISB). “CISB has had a language support program since the school opened in 2006, but in 2019, our elementary school decided to change the name from English as an additional language to BML. We wanted to change the way we view BML/EAL students from a deficit to a strengths perspective, one that emphasizes competencies and potential, and focuses on resilience and empowerment,” Rose Muralla, BML department head, says. “We also wanted to create an environment that celebrates diversity in language and multilingualism.”

The goal of the BML program is to reach each child’s full language potential by making authentic links to their Homeroom class’s curriculum and providing a differentiated approach for each student. Data from in-class and formal assessments (including WIDA and MAP assessments) are used to determine a student’s needs, and the BML teacher designs targeted instruction in speaking, listening, reading, and writing using leveled texts and materials.

“I had a hard time writing sentences before joining the BML intervention program. Doing the different activities we do every day, now I feel more confident in writing sentences and trying to spell words on my own.” — Martina, grade 2

For example, for new students at CISB, the focus will be on building functional language to ease their transition. This might include building a bank of classroom vocabulary, such as classroom objects, and teaching phrases and sentence stems that will allow them to communicate with teachers and classmates. Sentence stems, in particular, can be useful for bilingual and multilingual learners, since they give children the tools to focus on what they are trying to say rather than how to say it. Grade 5 Chinese student Harry told jingkids that “in BML we can learn many things to use in my homeroom class. We use many materials. For example, we have tiny phones to hear yourself reading in a quiet voice. We also have A to Z blocks to make words.”

Regular BML support might include BML teachers supporting students in small groups or one on one, and co-planning and co-teaching with Homeroom teachers. “Having more than one teacher in the room creates multiple perspectives or ways of teaching a concept and gives another set of eyes for assessment or feedback about students that can contribute to meeting a student’s needs and recognizing gaps,” Rose explains. 

Students taking part in CISB’s reading intervention program

This year, the BML Department has also started a reading intervention program where students get extra support from CISB’s interventionists to develop reading, vocabulary, phonics and comprehension skills aside from the support they are regularly getting from the grade level BML teachers. At the end of the six weeks, the BML teacher, the homeroom teacher, and the intervention teacher determine if children need to continue in the intervention program. “BML intervention helped me learn reading strategies like sounding out the words (phonemes and graphemes) so I can read and write words and also to make a picture of what the words mean in my head,” grade 2 student Oskar says. 

“I struggled with phonics but now my phonics is good. I like my BML reading because I can find a lot of funny things in the stories.” — Cedrick, grade 5

Beyond simple English language proficiency, CISB’s BML program is about recognizing that although a student might come to CISB needing support in expressing themselves in English, they might already have the background knowledge to understand the concept they are learning in class in their mother tongue. As Rose concludes, “BML at CISB is different because we are not just supporting our BMLs with their English language skills but also empowering them to embrace and celebrate their mother tongue and culture.”  

Images courtesy of CISB

Thank you to the whole of the BML department for their invaluable contributions to this article

The Jin family consists of Jin Leili (father), Zhang Yuhong (mother), and Jin Churong (14, nickname Niuniu). Yuhong received her MBA education abroad, and after experiencing the huge difference between Chinese and western education systems, she chose an international school over a public one for her child. At the same time, she wants her child to also have the chance to learn Chinese and have access to classic Chinese literature such as song lyrics and Yuan verse. The bilingual curriculum Beijing International Bilingual Academy (BIBA) offers exactly meets her demands. Niuniu started at age 4 in BIBA and has been enjoying her school life there very much. BIBA for her is not just a school but her second home. The advantage of the Bilingual approach in education stands out obviously after Grade 5, when both Niuniu’s Chinese and English levels were good enough to be considered as her first language. Western education systems attach more attention to developing a student’s unique perspectives. The decade-long learning process under a bilingual curriculum has gradually influenced Niuniu’s way of thinking, and her understanding of Chinese and western culture has been shaped accordingly.

Favorite part of school life
Science class and band practice. I’m currently in our school’s chamber music ensemble, and my own student-led band plays classical music.

Best project/activity that you’ve done
My research report for last year’s science fair on quantum mechanics.

How has learning two languages affected your life?
It makes more books from different cultures accessible to me, also adds variety to my perspectives and makes my views better rounded.

A bilingual project that you really want to do in the future
A project for funding and raising awareness for the issue in my Global Perspectives course. Hopefully, by doing this, more people will understand the importance of protecting the environment.

Do you keep a bilingual journal/diary?
I have a journal, written mainly in English, but there is some Chinese embedded throughout.

Curriculum Spotlight: Bilingual Education

“Bilingual” isn’t a curriculum in itself but is an approach used by numerous schools to deliver instruction. Parents should note that for a native pronunciation, learning must take place before age 7. While fluency can be achieved at any age, the feat becomes harder as a child or adult grows older and if motivation wanes at any point.

What’s unique about a bilingual education?
A bilingual education seeks to put two languages in the part of the brain that considers a language as primary. This means the language is used as a skill rather than a subject. A good bilingual program will include both culture and language in multiple subjects, as the two can’t be separated, and using both languages beyond studying grammar and topical vocabulary.

How is it applied?
The split between languages can be 50:50, 30:70, with co-teachers, split-days, or in rare cases, simultaneous teaching. Trilingual education might be available in some programs, such as Eduwings, where German is included. If a parent is committed to providing an academic atmosphere at home with the child’s native and home language, an immersion program can be created by sending an English-speaking child to a Chinese-only program, for example.

How well does this education system prepare students for the real world?
Many mid-manager jobs in international companies across the world require bilingualism as a minimum requirement. Another issue parents’ face is that children might become bilingual, but not bi-literate.

Where is it offered?
Many schools claim to be bilingual, when in fact the program offered is actually second language learning. A Chinese kindergarten might claim to be an English bilingual school, but English is taught as a subject or foreign language, with students meeting to speak and learn in English for only a forty minute period, five days a week or less.

Photo: Dave’s Studio

This article originally appeared on p16-17
of beijingkids School Choice Guide 2018-2019.

In anticipation of the Beijing International School Expo on January 16-17, we will be highlighting local and international schools around Beijing from the upcoming 2016-2017 beijingkids School Choice Guide, which comes out on January 4.

PKU College Preschool is an international and bilingual preschool branded through Peking University. Our mission is to cultivate our students to become great Chinese and world citizens with remarkable leadership, creativity, and international perspectives. Our three-dimensional education and high-dimensional achievements pedagogic theory embodies our educational philosophy. We focus on students’ physical and psychological health while guiding them to find their interests. As a result, students intrinsically care for self, others, and the environment while reaching their full-potential through independent and comprehensive skills development.

Founding date: May 2010
Age range: 18 months to 6 years
Grades offered: Preschool
School type: International bilingual preschool
Total area: 8000
Curriculum Description: Chinese curriculum and US Common Core Standards
Boarding Program: No
Number of students: 350
Is the school accredited by the Ministry of Education? Yes
Foreign passport holders accepted? Yes
Local Chinese students accepted? Yes
Tuition fees (2016-2017 academic year):
•    Application fee: N/A
•    Tuition fees for one academic year: International class: RMB 60,000-85,000, Bilingual class: RMB 45,600-68,000
•    Other (deposit, uniform, bus, capital levy, etc)
•    Uniform fee: RMB 1,200
•    Transportation: RMB 500 per month
•    Lunch fee: RMB 400 per month
Lunch offered: Nutritionist-approved breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with some Western snacks.
Nationality of students: China, US, South Korea, Japan
Primary teaching language(s): English (international class), Chinese (bilingual class)
Average class size: 20
Average teacher/student ratio: 1:4 (Nursery), 1:5 (Casa)
School hours: 7:30am-5:00pm
After-school activities: Violin, traditional Chinese painting, kung fu, cooking, roller skating, taekwondo, soccer, golf, Chinese chess, pottery, creative arts, basketball, dancing, singing, and English
School facilities: Outdoor playground, a library with thousands of picture books and a SmartBoard, a kitchen, an art room, one multi-purpose room, one Mommy and Me room, two piano rooms, central air conditioning, and 24hr hot water.
School nurse or doctor available on campus? Yes, full-time school nurse available
Contact: Entrance of Chaolai Forest Park, 9 Xinbei Lu, Chaoyang District (8491 8189, info@pkucollege.com) bjby.pkucollege.com朝阳区新北路9号（朝来森林公园门口）