new thinking in old Moscow

Teachers everywhere say the same thing ~ each student in their class is different.

Schools are, too.

For example, it might be easy to bunch all the international schools around the world into one kettle and say they are the same. Wrong. Take one category ~ the bilingual schools ~ and they, too, come in different sizes and shapes.

The ideal bilingual school (or multilingual ~ why stop at two languages?) would offer half the curriculum in one language and the other half in a second. There would be a bilingual environment at the school with students and adults conversing easily in several languages.

I’ve came across yet another variation earlier this month in Moscow where the education ministry still likes to keep close control on the curriculum. This is a school that is making every effort to be bilingual despite the government’s strict rule of eight hours per week for English and four hours for a third language.

The school’s strategy to overcome this limitation is to offer a supplementary curriculum via e-learning. Depending on their age level, students can take an additional 12 hours of English on top of the already loaded Russia syllabus. Now, that’s heavy lifting for most students but they are hungry to learn and gladly embrace this e-learning option. Their e-coursework is being monitored in England and America by teachers half a world away.

This clever school is using the internet’s full power to help create a bilingual environment ~ right under the very noses of the bureaucrats.