INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
The pedagogical focus of our center is based on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).
CLIL is a method based on the integration of content learning and the learning of a foreign language. The learning of a foreign language, be it English or Spanish, occurs naturally and motivates students, creating a context in which they can enjoy learning new curricular content while practicing and improving their skills in the given foreign language.
It is thus an interactive and communicative method in which the student is a continuous participant in the teaching-learning process.
This method is based on four concepts known as The 4 Cs of education (Coyle 1999):
Content: immersion in the knowledge and understanding of contents specific to a curricular subject.
Communication: use of the foreign language as a tool for communication
Cognition: the development of cognitive skills that connect the formation of knowledge and language
Culture: the introduction of a cultural context that opens perspectives towards knowledge of others and one’s self
To develop these concepts, CLIL is supported by a technique known as “scaffolding”.
Using this resource, the Montessori guide offers support to the student in order to achieve new skills, concepts or levels of understanding.
As such, curricular content is developed during the Montessori work cycle through different strategies of thinking.
This routines of thinking are techniques or patterns that invite the student to reflect. They play a very important role in the organization and systematization of the thought process, becoming an integral part of the learning process in a given subject.
They are simple routines, involving few steps and helping to focus the attention on mobility of thought and generating a strong scaffold to develop understanding.
Some examples of Thinking Routines used in our Montessori learning spaces include:
Visual Organizers: Allow learners to order in physical space the information, ideas, knowledge or thoughts that we are working on or that are the object of our learning process. They are especially efficient for those students who are visual learners.
Thinking Lighthouse: A combination of strategies aimed at illuminating and guiding thought toward deeper learning and understanding. Its efficiency comes from the direct involvement of the student in the learning process, as these strategies encourage motivation, hands-on activities and the acquisition of meaningful contents and abilities.
Metacognition: Its objective, in-depth knowledge of what we know and how we learned it, helps maintain the learning strategies that work for us and identify what needs to be modified. It involves the ability to self-regulate in our ability to learn how to learn in order to gain more autonomy in the learning process.
Thinking Techniques: Encourages flexible thinking and transference. It involves inquiry and asking meaningful questions to students that allow them to think, look for and discover the answers, communicate them and exchange them. It should be systematic and continuous in order to develop in depth-learning and efficient thinking.
Based on these premises, Greenleaves Montessori offers its learners a natural context for the development of language at any age or level, building on the foundation of previous knowledge and always with a native speaker.
To evaluate the level of understanding and growth that each learner acquires in the English language following international standards, the center prepares all of our learners, starting at 8 years old, for the TOEFL American English exam, recognized by more than 6,000 institutions in 136 countries.
The pedagogical focus of our center is based on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).
CLIL is a method based on the integration of content learning and the learning of a foreign language. The learning of a foreign language, be it English or Spanish, occurs naturally and motivates students, creating a context in which they can enjoy learning new curricular content while practicing and improving their skills in the given foreign language.
It is thus an interactive and communicative method in which the student is a continuous participant in the teaching-learning process.
This method is based on four concepts known as The 4 Cs of education (Coyle 1999):
Content: immersion in the knowledge and understanding of contents specific to a curricular subject.
Communication: use of the foreign language as a tool for communication
Cognition: the development of cognitive skills that connect the formation of knowledge and language
Culture: the introduction of a cultural context that opens perspectives towards knowledge of others and one’s self
To develop these concepts, CLIL is supported by a technique known as “scaffolding”.
Using this resource, the Montessori guide offers support to the student in order to achieve new skills, concepts or levels of understanding.
As such, curricular content is developed during the Montessori work cycle through different strategies of thinking.
This routines of thinking are techniques or patterns that invite the student to reflect. They play a very important role in the organization and systematization of the thought process, becoming an integral part of the learning process in a given subject.
They are simple routines, involving few steps and helping to focus the attention on mobility of thought and generating a strong scaffold to develop understanding.
Some examples of Thinking Routines used in our Montessori learning spaces include:
Visual Organizers: Allow learners to order in physical space the information, ideas, knowledge or thoughts that we are working on or that are the object of our learning process. They are especially efficient for those students who are visual learners.
Thinking Lighthouse: A combination of strategies aimed at illuminating and guiding thought toward deeper learning and understanding. Its efficiency comes from the direct involvement of the student in the learning process, as these strategies encourage motivation, hands-on activities and the acquisition of meaningful contents and abilities.
Metacognition: Its objective, in-depth knowledge of what we know and how we learned it, helps maintain the learning strategies that work for us and identify what needs to be modified. It involves the ability to self-regulate in our ability to learn how to learn in order to gain more autonomy in the learning process.
Thinking Techniques: Encourages flexible thinking and transference. It involves inquiry and asking meaningful questions to students that allow them to think, look for and discover the answers, communicate them and exchange them. It should be systematic and continuous in order to develop in depth-learning and efficient thinking.
Based on these premises, Greenleaves Montessori offers its learners a natural context for the development of language at any age or level, building on the foundation of previous knowledge and always with a native speaker.
To evaluate the level of understanding and growth that each learner acquires in the English language following international standards, the center prepares all of our learners, starting at 8 years old, for the TOEFL American English exam, recognized by more than 6,000 institutions in 136 countries.