The Joy Of Teaching In Bilingual Schools
By Chris Woolf
When you learn the points on a compass in clockwise order, the chances are you heard the phrase ‘Never Eat Shredded Wheat’. But how do you navigate this in a Chinese bilingual school, where most of the students really have never eaten shredded wheat, don’t know what it is, and have a great deal of more pressing linguistic priorities that the points of a compass?
I’m the International Director at Wellington College International, and one of the great pleasures of this role is visiting our international family of schools: 6 in China, 1 in Thailand, and 1 in India opening in September. I recently returned from leading the reviews of three of our schools in China, international schools and bilingual schools too. I had thought the defining feature of each was the type of passport the students held, but I was wrong. In both, language learning is a priority. But in a bilingual school, the seamless collaboration between co-teachers, and the constant switch between them, which for the students means moving from one language to the other, is utterly extraordinary.
Passports first; to attend an international school in China, you have to be a foreign passport holder. To attend a bilingual school, you can have a Chinese passport. But bilingual means exactly that and so much more. The bilingual Huili schools uses a Chinese and Western co-teaching approach which we say ‘creates a truly immersive bilingual learning environment for pupils. Our teachers, both Chinese and international, work closely together to ensure a balanced development in both languages, and more importantly, to master the delivery of multi-subject bilingual learning.’
The website would have you believe that ‘pupils respond enthusiastically to this blended approach which emphasises the importance of Chinese history and culture while also cultivating an international mindedness’ and the website would be right. It was amazing to see teachers planning together, and supporting each other in different subject areas. Chinese teachers even support the delivery of English, identify misconceptions, and help students make extraordinary levels of progress.
Pastoral care models thrive in this context too, the English-speaking co-teacher leads the wellbeing lessons for students, and the Chinese co-teacher leads the interaction with parents, which keeps them fully involved in and supportive of their child’s learning.
The team I was with in China included Delinda Wu, Chinese Principal of Beijing International Bilingual Academy and Executive President of Institute of Learning and Research 海嘉国际双语学校.Her view is that, such is the scope and depth of the programme, ‘in 10 years’ time, this model of learning will have an impact on the world of education in this region’.
Bearing in mind that teachers do not complete a PGCE in bilingual education, and that much of the training is done in-house, this really is impressive. Teachers reported that they feel “integrated, and rely on each other in a bilingual context.” Students told me that they ‘like the way education is done here’. It is easy to see why. The values of the school are universal; kindness, responsibility, respect, integrity and courage. But the curriculum goes beyond this, with students well on the way to achieving genuine bi-culturalism. They will be equally at home in western or Chinese culture, each enriched by the other, and with a truly global understanding of the influences of both on the world around them.
With lessons in multiple subjects in both languages, they are bringing this to life in imaginative ways. In the Huili School Hangzhou, the Chinese Social Studies curriculum looks at 地球的运动 or ‘Movement of the earth’ in grade 7. Meanwhile, the English Social Studies programme investigates 资源与能源 or ‘Resources and Energy.’ This course then examines 工业革命 ‘Industrial revolution’, when the Chinese programme focuses on 中国历史：明朝至清朝 ‘Chinese history: Ming Dynasty-Qing Dynasty.’ Each course is worthy of study in their own right, of course, but collectively they are greater still.
If we can see past the sometimes negative headlines about China, teachers will find living and teaching in China extremely rewarding, professionally fulfilling and enormous fun, especially in a bilingual school.
So what should you bear in mind if you are considering stepping into a bilingual school? Flexibility and a willingness to learn are pre-requisites in most schools, but even more so in this context. But beyond that, you might be surprised how much actually looks familiar. Co-planning is normal in most year groups or departments, and this just takes it that bit further. The same is true of team teaching. Lots of schools do this to some degree; a good bilingual school does this really well.
Transitions between teachers need careful consideration to play to each other’s strengths and experiences. Sometimes it is not the native speaker who gives the best explanation of the difficult linguistic concept. The teacher who has had to learn the grammar in the classroom rather than in conversation often breaks the concept down the best for the students to learn themselves. Either way, planning this with a colleague will lead to strong outcomes for the students.
You need to enjoy this close collaboration, and if you do, the shared planning experience is a real pleasure. It is a great practical approach to providing excellent proactive and purposeful mentoring. You don’t need to be bilingual yourself, but an interest in language and language acquisition, is certainly helpful. Many colleagues do embark on their language learning together, which is a good way to do this, and lots of fun. It models bilingual learning for students, and also helps you pick up on comments students make in the classroom that they don’t think you will understand!
Teaching in a bilingual school helps you distil key words and vital skills in a way you may not have done before, and helps you push new boundaries along with your pioneering students. Displays take on extra meaning, changing them frequently to support the language learning in a new topic is a really important way of helping students learn even more.
Embracing every opportunity is a great way to get the most out of the experience. Supporting learners in your subject with their English will probably teach you lots about your use of language too.
And so back to the compass. How does a bilingual school help students find the right way round a compass? Never Eat Sea Weed. Easy.
With thanks to Dean Clayden of the Institute of Learning, Wellington College China, for the first discussion about compasses!
