Bilingualism at LIA

How is LIA bilingual?

At LIA, we practice bilingualism daily. Each day the children are taught alternately in the two languages, often in blocks of several successive periods in the same language.

At LIA, all children are taught half the weekly time in French and the other half in English.

At LIA, the teacher’s primary language determines which language is used in the classroom. Except in very exceptional cases, the teacher does not translate. This is what is meant by “learning by immersion.” To help communicate their teaching points and facilitate understanding for some children, our teachers may use pictures or dramatic expression, for example.

At LIA, the concept of dominant language and partner language makes it possible to adapt the instruction provided to a given child’s linguistic profile.

Each student’s level of proficiency in his/her dominant language must be at least equivalent to that required in a monolingual course at the same age. As soon as possible, the child will also be taught, in his partner language, at the level of his age group.

At LIA, certain subjects are sometimes taught in French and sometimes in English:

• mathematics
• science, in periods of 5 weeks.

Other subjects will be taught one year in French and the following year in English.

At LIA, moving beyond bilingualism, multilingualism is encouraged. We take every opportunity to make the most of our students’ skills in other languages, placing a high value on them and making connections between them and the languages studied.

The role of the mother tongue

A child’s “mother tongue” is the foundation upon which all other languages are built.

Even if a child’s mother tongue is neither French nor English, he must have a strong command of this language and be able to both read and write it. If this should be the case for your child, we strongly encourage you to do what it takes to ensure he obtains a strong command of his mother tongue.

We are convinced that language and culture are very closely linked. By learning a new language from someone, the child discovers the specificities of that person’s culture, including humor, worldview, and other cultural attributes.