BILINGUAL
EDUCATION
QUALITY
CANADIAN
EDUCATION
EXCELLENCE IN
THROUGH
EXPLORATION
LEARNING
WHY MAPLE BEAR?
At Maple Bear students become:
CURIOUS: Passionate about knowledge and learning.
CONFIDENT: Deeply aware of their talents and potential.
INDEPENDENT: Prepared to lead their own lives, and decide their own paths and destiny.
ANALYTICAL: Able to think freely & shape their own beliefs.
FLEXIBLE: Adaptable in a world where change is the only constant.
CREATIVE: Always motivated and enthusiastic about asking “what if?”
PREPARED: In possession of the knowledge and tools necessary for an outstanding performance at college, at work and in life, in their home country or abroad.
GLOBAL: Bilingual and culturally literate for a global future.
Why choose Canadian education?
Canada’s education system consistently ranks among the best in the world. Maple Bear Australia has been developed from the ground up by Canadian and Australian early childhood education experts, incorporating the very best of both countries’ practice.
The Canadian approach is based on a child-centered and activity-driven methodology. However, the Maple Bear curriculum is designed to achieve specific and measurable outcomes in respect to literacy and other subject areas, such as maths and science, through a purposeful and intentional approach. In particular, the Canadian curriculum and methodology supports the learning goals and educational standards set in the Common Core. And finally, Maple Bear places a heavy emphasis on social and emotional development because learning cannot take place without it.
In 2018, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranked Canada #1 in the English-speaking world in science, math and reading. As in 2012, 2015, and again in 2018, Canada maintained strong performance and outperformed other English-speaking countries in all three evaluations.
Benefits of a bilingual education
Bilingual education is the use of two different languages in the classroom instruction of academic content. At Maple Bear, students study all academic subjects in either their native language or English, depending on the subject and grade level.
Students don’t just memorise vocabulary in a Maple Bear classroom. This is a key difference between the programs offered at Maple Bear and the ESL training offered at other schools claiming to offer a bilingual education.
Furthermore, at Maple Bear, students begin learning English in pre-school using a student-focussed English immersion learning system based on Canadian educational pedagogy and best practises.
There have been concerns that teaching children two languages at once only confuses them. Fortunately, there has been much research—much of it conducted by Canadians—which shows that far from handicapping children, bilingual education can offer benefits from infancy to old age.
So what are the benefits of bilingual education for young learners?
For a start, it’s very good for English-language development, a goal of many of our parents who chose Maple Bear for their children. Young learners have also been shown to have:
- better concentration, analytical skills and multi-tasking capabilities;
- they learn to read sooner than monolingual students;
- they have an increased sense of self-worth and identity;
- they have the ability to live abroad and learn other foreign languages later in life;
- enjoy exposure to more than one culture which leads to a global perspective.
Numerous studies have confirmed that being bilingual actually makes a person smarter as it has a profound effect on the brain, improving cognitive skills and sharpening memory.
How is Maple Bear different from an international school?
Besides the obvious wide gap in the price of tuition at a Maple Bear school compared to an international one, Maple Bear conforms to local education regulations, offering fully articulated local curricula in addition to the Canadian program.
This opens up many more educational options for Maple Bear students: they are prepared and capable of moving easily between the Canadian system offered by Maple Bear and their own country’s system and can do so at any time during the K-12 years. They are also prepared for entry into a university at home as well as abroad if they so choose and are not tied to just one system.
Quality is assured at all Maple Bear schools
Maple Bear schools benefit from our distinguished academic faculty of Canadian trainers, curriculum writers and quality assurance personnel.
The Maple Bear program is a living, breathing curriculum that is constantly being updated. We have a large faculty of experienced teachers and education administrators that we draw upon to develop new curriculum, new training materials and methodologies and school policies. We undertake periodic student assessment at schools to benchmark student performance.
Maple Bear provides continual professional training and support for our teachers. Trainers from the Maple Bear Faculty mentor teachers and introduce them to the latest pedagogies and instructional strategies.
Every Maple Bear school undergoes an annual inspection that covers everything from safety equipment to classroom performance. On a regular basis and drawing on the experience of training staff in schools, we review and update our curriculum to reflect the latest developments in the field of education and changes in local regulations and requirements. All Maple Bear schools have clean, secure facilities and low student to teacher ratios.
Our goal is to establish quality schools that will provide an excellent education experience to students for generations to come.
THE MAPLE BEAR PROGRAM
FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES
All instruction in the Maple Bear Preschool follows educational principles which have made Canadian practice so successful:
Outcomes are defined: Learning is targeted to achieve very specific learning outcomes. It is clear what the children need to learn.
Canadian performance standards are applied: Canadian performance standards determine the learning outcomes. Maple Bear students are expected to achieve performance levels similar to Canadians.
Curriculum development for English-language subjects is done in Canada by Canadian experts.
Canadian style teaching strategies are implemented: Canadian teaching strategies encourage student independence, strong literacy skills, higher level thinking and problem solving.
A sophisticated set of learning resources are used: Learning resources include books, manipulative materials, visual materials, electronic media, and computer technology.
Assessment of student learning is based on Canadian standards. In all cases, Canadian programming exceeds the requirements of local elementary education authorities in each country.
BILINGUAL IMMERSION
Bilingual immersion methodology is used in Maple Bear schools to develop competence in languages. This means that children learn to listen, speak, read, and write in both English and their native language by surrounding them with conversation and instruction in both languages.
In Australia, our students are immersed in English, plus a specially developed second language curriculum that strongly emphasizes on bilingual language and literacy. Children learn in both languages right from the first day!
By the end of Senior Kindergarten, Maple Bear students will be able to
- communicate effectively in both languages by listening and speaking
- have a good understanding of alphabetical symbols
- read basic text in both languages
- use phonic strategies to approach new words
- use writing strategies appropriate for beginners
- use and respond to media
PRESCHOOL CORE CURRICULUM
Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfill their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future opportunities. Maple Bear sets high standards to ensure children’s readiness for elementary school. Maple Bear gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provides the right foundation for good progress through school and life.
English Language Arts
By the end of Senior Kindergarten children will communicate effectively in English by listening and speaking, will have a good understanding of alphabetical symbols, will be able to read basic text in English, will be able to use phonic strategies to approach new words, will be capable of using writing strategies appropriate for beginners, and finally, will be able to use and respond to media.
Personal and Social Development
Children will learn to share, to respect others, to listen, and to understand that people have different talents and functions in our society.
Science
Children will demonstrate curiosity about the natural world, demonstrate knowledge of characteristics of common materials and identify cycles in nature using techniques of observation.
Creative Activity
Children will understand colour, shape and use of media to express ideas. They will be able to describe responses to music, art, drama and dance.
Physical skills and well-being
Children will develop physical skills (such as balance and flexibility), an awareness of health and safety rules, an understanding of sharing, taking turns, cooperation and socially acceptable behaviour.
Mathematics
Children will become problem solvers. They will learn about patterns in the environment, number concepts, comparisons, sets, basic formal operations (e.g. adding and subtracting), 2-D and 3-D objects, simple graphs, basic measurements, estimation and basic probability.
Language development and acquisition
Children enter Maple Bear School with some basis in their home language. In learning their first language children pass through several stages in predictable order: listening, developing understanding, speaking, reading and writing. Successive stages begin while preceding stages are still in development. When Maple Bear children learn English as a new language their development in English proceeds through the same stages in the same sequence as in learning their first language. Research shows that learning two languages at an early age offers both linguistic and cognitive advantages.
Immersion methodology is used in Maple Bear schools to develop competence in English. This means that children learn to listen, speak, read, and write in English by surrounding them with conversation and instruction in English. Children learn in English right from the first day.
Literacy, which includes listening, speaking, reading and writing, is one of the most important goals of the Maple Bear program.