The Native School

Is bilingual education in Asturias truly effective?

Since its introduction, the Bilingual Program has experienced rapid expansion in the educational landscape of Asturias. Three out of four grant-maintained schools and many private schools now offer bilingual programs. However, families’ experiences corroborate that, in most cases, students do not achieve the expected level of bilingual competence and still need extra-curricular reinforcement and private language academies to ensure optimal progress in acquiring English. The English School of Asturias, is a benchmark in linguistic immersion in the English language. Our Headteacher, Ms. Zoë Roberts, can help us answer these important questions:

How effective are the average Spanish ‘bilingual’ schools?

In a typical Spanish bilingual school, only a variable number of subjects per course are taught in a foreign language, ranging from one to three subjects per school year, adding just a few extra hours of English in non-linguistic subjects, which usually focus on Social and Natural Sciences, Arts education, Music or Physical Education, in most centres. In these few classes, it is only required that a minimum of 50% of the content is taught in a foreign language, making it impossible for a student to achieve fluency and mastery in English. The influence of the environment and students’ natural tendency to interact in their mother tongue necessitates a much more complete level of immersion in the school environment and a mastery of the language by the teaching staff at a native level to ensure real communicative competencies in all types of situations. Therefore, at The English School of Asturias, we strive for a truly immersive environment provided by a unique faculty with international and native teachers in Asturias, supported by fully bilingual, experienced, and highly qualified teaching assistants.

Could a student from these bilingual schools adapt to real immersion at The English School?

Many families ask us this same question when they are interested in joining our educational community. Every student who joins our school, receives personalised advice and support in the process of adapting to English immersion. Achieving full bilingualism is a cherished goal for families. Achieving it within school hours frees up time for leisure, study, and sports. It also allows students to learn third languages much more easily without worrying about English, which is indispensable today. Many supposedly bilingual educational proposals are, in practice, little more than a mere memorization exercise for students. If a student cannot express their knowledge in their own words in the foreign language, they are not bilingual. This fluency, the production of original messages without the help of a memorised script, is the true test of linguistic competence in English.

But almost all bilingual schools have at least one native conversation assistant. Are these assistants really effective?

Very often, schools only have a single English language assistant for the entire school, and they are mostly university students without teaching experience. This obvious limitation, given the reduced effective contact with each student, is made worse by the fact that the certified teachers teaching the bilingual subjects are only required to have a recognized level in the foreign language between C2 and B2, which means an intermediate-high level of competence. This often forces students on those bilingual programmes to memorise and replicate word-for-word explanations from the book, and many sessions with the assistants are almost unproductive, as they cannot establish a fluent dialogue with the students.

What are the keys for our children to achieve an optimal level of competence in English?

At The English School, this goal is naturally achieved from the age of three in an experiential learning environment focused on awakening natural curiosity and interest in experimentation from self-confidence. Thus, the key to success in acquiring English is part of enjoying learning, sharing experiences, knowing one’s abilities, and fostering the capacity to overcome new challenges. In an international environment where English is our common language, any student adapts quickly, regardless of the course and the time of the school year they join the school, as we keep our enrollment open and have a methodology that combines the solidity of the English Curriculum in the initial stages, Early Years, with the internationally recognized qualifications of Secondary Education, IGCSE, culminating with our full certification to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. At the English School of Asturias we stay at the forefront of education without abandoning our solid academic foundation and without losing our family atmosphere.