What is Maple Bear and bilingual education?

Interview for report.cz and olomoucky.rej.cz

The new Maple Bear Preschool offers preschool education for children starting this school year. An elementary school will also be built on Kosmonautů Avenue, where the preschool is located, next year. What is Maple Bear, how does it educate children and what are the advantages of this type of education?

Maple Bear is an international education network, which at any given moment counts more than 450 schools worldwide. Maple Bear schools offer quality bilingual education that is based on Canadian standards.

How is Maple Bear Olomouc different from typical Czech schools?

The Maple Bear Olomouc educational program is based on bilingual education and Canadian standards. Another, somewhat special feature of the school is that the staff and children wear uniforms.

What is bilingual education?

Bilingual education is, in short, bilingual education. That is, education in which instruction is presented to children, pupils or students in two languages simultaneously. The aim of bilingual education is not only to acquire and develop skills in the foreign language, but also to focus on the mother tongue.

The Maple Bear Olomouc kindergarten provides bilingual education for children as young as 3 years old, is such education suitable for such young children?

Generally speaking, the process of acquiring a language - whether mother tongue or foreign - is a very complex process with many pitfalls and there is still much unexplored. However, even so, experts agree that it is the preschool age, a time when children are still developing their speech centres, that is most fertile for foreign language acquisition. I deliberately use the term "acquisition" instead of "learning" because at such an early age we cannot really talk about learning. Children acquire language quite naturally at this time, without the need to memorize vocabulary or grammar rules as you know from regular foreign language teaching.

If a child comes to Maple Bear with no previous experience of a foreign language, how long does it take to see results?

This is very individual. The process of acquiring a foreign language in this way can be summarized in several stages. Among the initial ones I would mention: listening - the child listens, often does not understand - at this stage repetition, imitation of what I want the child to do, gesticulation are extremely important. Listening, understanding - simple instructions children are able to understand within a few days. Ordinary, everyday instructions no longer need to be repeated, illustrated, gesticulation is not so necessary. Listening, understanding, speaking - this is a very important milestone - many children start to answer questions. At first in one word and later in increasingly complex ways. When children start to initiate conversations on their own, or start speaking English to each other, it's almost a win-win.

Bilingual education is not the only thing Maple Bear offers. What about Canadian standards?

It is true that the Maple Bear education program, its methods, strategies and forms of education are based on Canadian standards. Among the most important ones I would mention:

• Individualization and differentiation - each child or student has different characteristics, skills, own potential. The goal of the educator is to tailor the program to these differences so that every child has the opportunity to experience success.

• Education that makes sense - this is education that makes sense to children. Everything that is presented to children should have a clear correlation to the world around them. For example, if we want children to learn a small multiplication table, we must first show them in the real world. This way they will understand that it is a skill that is needed and they will gain the necessary motivation.

• Future-ready skills - Instead of memorising facts, Maple Bear emphasises future-ready skills. These include, for example, critical thinking, the ability to work as a team, but also the ability to take risks and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Do children graduating from Maple Bear receive a Czech or Canadian education?

Maple Bear Olomouc is a Czech school that teaches according to the current Czech regulations. We differ only in the form in which the content is presented to the children and the fact that we teach everything bilingually.

This year we already have a kindergarten for children from 3 years old and in the next school year we will open a primary school. Can children who have not gone through kindergarten also join? How can parents find out more. Are you planning an open day?

Of course, even children who have not attended kindergarten can enter the first grade of primary school. There are very effective methods to quickly integrate these children and ease their transition from one type of institution to another. We regularly announce open days on our website and social media, but parents can also arrange a personal meeting outside of these days via our website. We are happy to give any such parent a tour of the school and pass on more information.

Link to the full article here: kindergarten and soon primary school. Maple Bear relies on bilingual education | Olomoucky Report