In Elementary school, our students use the building blocks from preschool to learn how to learn, preparing them intellectually and socially for the educational and life journey ahead.
Our approach to bilingual instruction opens up exciting opportunities in developing critical thinking skills and moving our students from concrete observations to abstract reasoning, a fundamental element of the French Curriculum.
Beginning in first grade, classroom instruction takes place 80% in French and 20% in English, with students engaging in French, history, science and math with their French homeroom teacher, who is paired with an native English-speaking teacher for English and special projects. Unique among bilingual schools, French language instruction is concentrated to ensure our students achieve true written fluency, which can be challenging in an English-speaking environment that surrounds them in New York City.
Language development is at the core of our primary school. In order to become bilingual, children need to experience the many dimensions of language (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in both languages in a motivating, reassuring environment that makes sense to them. We look at bilingualism as its own language and not merely the combination of learning both at the same time.