Sunday, October 21, 2007

Teaching Overseas - Language Support

Teaching overseas when you have children can involve a lot more consideration than if you don't have a family to consider. One thing you need to inquire about when you are looking at an international school abroad is what languages they offer students.

Most schools will offer a number of foreign languages for your child to learn. If your child has already been learning a language, you may want to find out if they will be able to continue at your new school.

This is an important consideration if you are moving to an IB school because all students are required to learn a language other than their mother tongue. In grades 11 and 12 (years 12 and 13) this is particularly relevant because your child will be expected to sit the Diploma exam which presumes a prior knowledge of the language.

If you are moving to an IB school and your child has never studied a foreign language before, ask which languages are offered at the ‘ab initio’ level. This is the level that Diploma students can enter a language for the first time.

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