What Is The Bilingual Baccalaureate?
In recent years, it has become common for children and young people to decide to learn other languages. Those students who finish secondary education and are interested in acquiring a foreign language, can choose to study in centers that offer the Bilingual Baccalaureate.
You must bear in mind that the schools that carry out Bilingual Baccalaureate programs teach some subject or content in a second language; This should not coincide with the maternal one of most of the students.
The bilingual educational programs are aimed at ensuring that students master both languages by the end of the school term; Furthermore, they seek to facilitate the process of transition from one language to the other and improve proficiency in a foreign language.
Currently, there are more and more schools offering bilingual education. Despite this, not all educational agents are in favor of the system as it is implemented.
Why not oppose the Bilingual Baccalaureate?
On the one hand, they consider that the teaching of both a language and a subject should involve a planning and learning process.
From its origins, the Bilingual Baccalaureate has wanted to impose itself in such a way that it has caused a selective process of the students; Thus, at the end of Secondary Education, students are separated according to their knowledge of the language.
Subsequently, this type of teaching cannot be introduced at the same time that both human and material resources are cut in schools.
Finally, they also point out that the students of the bilingual model acquire fewer competences in those subjects that have been taught in the foreign language.
Characteristics of the Bilingual Baccalaureate
The following points refer to the characteristics of the Bilingual Baccalaureate:
- Students take exactly the same subjects as in a non-bilingual school.
- Between 30% – 50% of the subjects are in a foreign language.
- Classes are taught by native teachers.
- Multiculturalism: students study the history and culture of the country of the spoken language.
- Acquisition of a more international and global vision.
7 benefits of completing the Bilingual Baccalaureate
Next, we show you the seven main benefits related to the Bilingual Baccalaureate:
1.- Ease of learning a foreign language
Taking the Bilingual Baccalaureate is a fast and effective way to learn a foreign language. This learning process develops naturally and in parallel with the acquisition of the mother tongue.
2.- Improve reading and writing skills
Bilingualism has been shown to help develop superior reading and writing skills; likewise, it facilitates the subsequent learning of languages with similarities in rhythm, intonation or grammatical structures.
3.- Knowledge of oneself and the outside
Acquiring foreign languages contributes to the knowledge of cultural diversity, facilitates social adaptability and also has a favorable impact on self-esteem and self-confidence. In addition, it allows to develop a mental openness beyond culture and way of life.
4.- Increase professional opportunities
The fact of incorporating learning a foreign language easier it possible to acquire a high level of proficiency in it. In this sense, we can affirm that it favors access to knowledge and possible better job options in the future.
5.- Improves mental health
Knowledge of a foreign language brings long-term benefits to a person’s mental health.
According to Ellen Bialystok, a professor at York University (Canada), speaking two languages can delay the diagnosis of dementia problems by five years. In the case that three languages are mastered, this value reaches an average of 6.4 years.
6.- Resolutive capacity
The bilingual brain develops new abilities to process and handle stored information; thus, the ability to solve problems more easily increases.
7.- Greater concentration
Finally, bilingual students achieve a higher level of concentration; This is because they have to work with more information, keep the languages separate, and access each of them in a timely manner.
In short, the Bilingual Baccalaureate is a more than interesting option for those young people who want to learn a foreign language. If you notice that your child has a facility with languages, do not hesitate to encourage him to study in centers that offer bilingualism in their educational programs.
