Choosing bilingual or monolingual program when getting into international school?

“Choosing a bilingual or monolingual program is choosing a language operating system for your child. No program is better, suitable program is the right pathway for the future direction of your child.”

This sharing is from Dr. Thu Phan – Executive Director of Scotch AGS – 100-year-old Australian School in the first session of the seminar series “Explore Australian Primary and Middle School” took place on the morning of March 18 at Scotch AGS, 300 Hoa Binh, Tan Phu district.

Main activities in seminar:

• School tour and experience learning
• Information seminar “Explore Australian Primary and Middle Schools at Scotch AGS”

Activity 1: School tour and experiencing

At the beginning, the Scotch AGS admissions staff guided parents to tour the school’s facilities before students participate in experiential activities.

The space for students to experience is arranged in many different rooms. The games are designed colourfully and lively with levels from easy to difficult to help students actively create, promote their meticulousness and inquisitive spirit.

At the primary level, students joined in activities such as modeling clay, piercing beads, recognizing numbers, doing calculations, listening, reading, and telling stories. For secondary school students, they participated in sports games at the football field, intellectual games such as Tangram wooden puzzles, challenged their thinking ability by analyzing situations and solving problems, or participated in speaking English with the teachers at Scotch AGS.

Activity 2: Information session

The main activity of the event was an information session for parents interested in primary and secondary education at Scotch AGS. The Head of school introduced an overview of the teaching philosophy and specific curriculum for each grade level as well as answered all questions that parents are concerned about.

Opening the conference, Dr. Thu Phan – Chief Executive Officer, member of the Science Council of Scotch AGS shared that choosing a bilingual or monolingual program for your child has attracted great attention from many parents. With the desire to help their children speak English early, many parents orient their children to study in a monolingual program. However, there are still doubts about whether their children have forgotten their Vietnamese identity.

On this issue, Dr. Thu Phan said that learning bilingual or monolingual is choosing a language operating system for your child. Both programs have specific benefits. No program is better, a suitable program is the right pathway for the future direction of your child.

Agreeing with the above view, the school representative at the seminar said that each educational program has its own advantages. If parents choose a bilingual program, the main language that students learn will be Vietnamese, and English is the second auxiliary language. This will help them develop both languages at the same time, flexible in learning and communication. The monolingual program will have advantages for those who want to study or develop their career abroad. As a result, it is good preparation to conquer the world’s top universities.

Regarding the learning path, Dr. Thu Phan said that the training program at Scotch AGS applies almost the entire Australian national training program for Primary and Secondary levels with the orientation of equipping students with comprehensive skills to help them easily become global citizens. In some subjects, the school will select and adjust to suit the context and development needs of Vietnamese students.

In addition, the program will integrate Vietnamese cultural subjects such as Literature, History, and Geography to help students study the international program while deeply understanding Vietnamese culture. This is also the desire of parents when expecting that their children will not forget their national identity despite accessing modern education.

In particular, at the primary level, the school’s training method focuses on educating and nurturing students’ character through specific actions. A school representative shared:

“Personality education is an element that needs to be prioritized and must be done properly. Education should not abuse explanations and dogma. It should be taught through practical action.”

For example, Scotch AGS has designed sets of behaviors based on the need to develop 8 personality dimensions (Resilient, Purposefulness, Discipline, Inquisitiveness, Courteousness, Grateful, Helpfulness, Integrity) into 2 icons: smiley face and sad face. If students do it right, they will get a smiley face, if students do it wrong, they will get a sad face. From there, they will distinguish what they should do to improve their own shortcomings.

In addition, the application of information technology in management and learning support for students is particularly focused by Scotch AGS with the SEQTA application. This is an outstanding teaching and learning support system that has been used by more than 2200 schools with 395,000 students in 60 countries around the world. Through the application, parents can monitor their child’s daily learning situation, exam schedule, assessment results, strengths and weaknesses so that parents can work with the school to support their children’s learning in the best way.

At the end of the seminar, the head of school answered all the questions and aspirations of parents around the shared topics.

In summary, the seminar “AGS Space Adventure – Explore Australian International Primary and Secondary School” gave parents a comprehensive view of Australian education as well as highlights of the Australian Primary and Middle School at Scotch AGS.

Through this event, parents had an overview of the Australian National Curriculum (ACARA) – the main program for Primary and Middle Schools, understanding personality education methods through action as well as the importance of using technology in management, teaching and learning at Scotch AGS.

“Explore Australian Primary and Middle School at Scotch AGS” is a series of information seminars organized by Scotch AGS school with the desire to provide useful information to parents and students about the Australian education, training philosophy and curriculum for Primary and Middle levels at Scotch AGS. Register to attend the seminars to learn more about useful educational information and easily to choose a learning environment for your child.