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While studies indicate that 33 million people worldwide are bilingual, English ranks first among these languages. While the average age of learning English in our country drops to 7, the solution for parents who want to invest in the future of their children at an early age is bilingual schools.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.

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ISTANBUL (TR) - While mobile devices have become widespread and inevitable facts of life, it is estimated that there are more than 5 billion internet users worldwide. While this situation triggers the need to know a foreign language, the data published by Preply indicates that the number of bilingual people in the world has reached 33 million. Many parents around the world whose mother tongue is not English are making their children learn it as a second language until the average age of 10 to prepare them for the future at an early age. In Turkey, this age is as low as 7, and families prefer bilingual schools so that their children can master English as well as their mother tongue. Izmir-based Eraslan School, which has implemented Bilingual Learners, a bilingual education program developed with 25 years of experience, is already investing in the future of its students by starting bilingual education from kindergarten.

Pointing out that bilingual children also develop their ability to think and analyze in a multi-dimensional way, Nur Canbaz, Eraslan School's Deputy General Manager of Education, said: "Many fields including science and academia, especially the business world, are rapidly globalizing. This globalization brings with it the use of a common language. As Eraslan School, we are opening the door for children to use English at the mother tongue level starting from kindergarten with our bilingual education program, Bilingual Learners, which we have developed together with academicians who have signed international projects. In this way, we both prepare our students for the future at an early age and remove the boundaries in education as well.”

Bilingual teachers for kindergarten students

Nur Canbaz stated that with the program they designed, children receive education in two languages ​​starting from kindergarten and said, “Two teachers accompany our students at the same time throughout the day at Eraslan Bilingual Kindergarten. One of the Bilingual Program teachers communicates only in Turkish, while the other communicates with students only in English. Our primary goal is to enable students to express themselves easily in the language of their choice and to establish bonds with their teachers in the classroom environment. We observe that our students who adapt to the bilingual education environment resort to the Translanguaging technique, which means using the language alloyed. While peer communication and peer learning increase rapidly among students who have passed the translanguaging stage, students realize that both teachers use different languages. In the following processes, we observe that our students started to communicate in English with their English-speaking teachers and in Turkish with their Turkish-speaking teachers.

Nur Canbaz continued: “In other words, our students are able to switch between two languages ​​and think in two languages ​​while they are still in kindergarten. More importantly, we design lessons suitable for each student's learning style. In this ecosystem, where we use differentiated teaching techniques, students can be divided into stations and consolidate their achievements in the areas most suitable for them. They use two languages ​​both at the stations and at every stage of their individual and team projects. In this way, our students lead a bilingual school life.”

Students continue with a two-module bilingual system in primary school

Underlining that the languages ​​of academic education at primary school level are English and Turkish, Eraslan School Deputy General Manager for Education Nur Canbaz said, “We have built our primary school education program on the basis of maintaining school life in two languages. In our program, in which we have created a system with 2 modules, the first module covers the 1st and 2nd classes, while the 2nd module covers the 3rd and 4th classes. Our students starting the 1st module take mathematics, science and life studies lessons in two languages. In the 2nd module, our students continue these lessons with their bilingual teachers. In this way, in both modules, they learn information, concepts and terminology in two languages, especially in the literacy process. They carry out interdisciplinary project studies, travel, theater, special day and week activities in both their mother tongue and English in a holistic way.” 

Secondary school courses are supported by academic content in English

Nur Canbaz stated that the secondary school programs were created as a result of the collaboration of academicians from various universities and teachers, and that the bilingual academic life which started in primary school was supported by a more intense academic content in secondary school and left its place to English mathematics, English science and English social studies lessons. With the CLIL (content and language integrated learning) technique, students' academic achievements are measured and evaluated in both languages, and regular feedback is provided for their individual development. Students are preparing for university by transferring to Eraslan High School, which is a member of the College Board and where the academic language is English and Turkish.”

They take college courses in high school

Nur Canbaz pointed out that the courses at the high school level are carried out by academicians and said, “We are a member of the College Board, which was established in the 1900s to improve the university preparation process in the United States and offers high school students the opportunity to take college introductory courses. Starting from the 10th grade, our students can attend undergraduate courses with the Advanced Placement (AP) program according to their language proficiency. It is a program recognized by 3,300 distinguished universities around the world and universities such as Koc, Sabanci and Ozyegin in Turkey. Thanks to the AP program, our students chart the path to their careers before they even start university.”

At Eraslan High, students also attend elective courses such as economics, philosophy, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, international relations, art history and psychology that offer them a technical and global perspective from the moment they start high school, and increase their intellectual skills.