Learning Curve: bilingual education for the IB diploma
Bilingual education loosely refers to programmes in which a native language and a second language are taught as subject matter and used as medium of instruction for academic subjects.
Parents recently came to me with some interesting questions about bilingual education. Do students have to undertake all subjects in both languages to attain a bilingual International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma? Can students decide which language they will study a subject in? Is bilingual education delivered in the same way in each school?
Bilingual education loosely refers to programmes in which a native language and a second language are taught as subject matter and used as medium of instruction for academic subjects. In Hong Kong, there has always been demand for children attending local schools to be fluent in English and Cantonese. International schools have generally required students to study a second language other than English; in the past decade, there has been an increasing demand for students to attain near-native fluency in the second language as well. Mandarin, French and German are among the common languages which students have elected to be fluent in.
To answer the first question: the IB confers a bilingual diploma when a student can satisfy two specific criteria. The first one is undertaking a combination of any two Group 1 subjects in different languages and passing each with a grade of 3 or above. Language A1 subjects are now collectively referred to as "studies in language and literature" and are designed for students studying in the language they are most competent in. It presumes that students have studied, or at least been exposed to, literature prior to undertaking this course. There is, however, no formal requirement for prior learning.
Various schools will use different methodologies which emanate from different models of bilingual teaching.
The assessment criteria include a written assignment on world literature, oral commentary and two externally assessed papers. More is expected of higher level students in the areas of interpretation, literary appreciation and personal response.
The second criteria is that students will undertake a Group 3 (individuals and societies subjects such as business and environmental systems) or Group 4 (experimental sciences) subject in a language other than the candidate's native tongue, passing each with a grade of 3 or above.
To sum up, students will still undertake six subjects. However, they will be required to write literature and language papers in two languages and take one other subject in the second language. And this second subject cannot belong to Group 5 (mathematics and computer studies) or Group 6 (arts).
As for delivery systems, it's safe to say that various schools will use different methodologies which emanate from different models of bilingual teaching.