INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Kindergarten and Elementary
At GreenLeaves, we believe that the best way to make our boys and girls bilingual begins with education in an international school.
Learning a language from an early age and becoming familiar with using it in any activity, are guarantees for achieving a proper mastery of a second language.
Our goal as an international school is therefore to be able to offer quality bilingual teaching without the need to study abroad.
Recent studies by prestigious American and English-speaking universities, psychologists and neuro-scientists describe the major benefits a bilingual education brings at an early age.
This is a period that coincides with the school stage. For this reason, GreenLeaves Montessori’s professionals, insist on learning a second language during the period of the Infant and Primary Education.
We also know that the brain’s left hemisphere is more dominant and analytical in logical processes, while the right hemisphere is more active in emotional and social processes, although no clear separation has been made.
The fact that language includes both functions, while the brain’s lateral function develops gradually with age has contributed to the hypothesis of a critical period.
According to this theory, children learn languages more easily because their brain’s plasticity in development allows them to use both hemispheres in acquiring languages, while in most adults, language is limited to a single hemisphere, in general, the left.
Keeping in mind this position, GreenLeaves considers that learning a second language during childhood helps children achieve a deeper understanding of social and emotional contexts.
By contrast, recent studies show that learning a second language in a mature age shows less emotional partiality and a more rational focus than in their mother tongue.
Additionally, learning a language at a young age helps the brain to stay healthy and active, to be much quicker and more agile and also increases creativity, concentration and memory. For this reason, GreenLeaves Montessori school is committed to a quality education based on the standards of bilingualism.
That is, we seek to accompany bilingual boys and girls able to use two languages to communicate effectively and always considering that the most balanced bilingualism is what comes from childhood and whenever there exists continuous use of both languages.
Keeping in mind all the aspects mentioned above, GreenLeaves Montessori puts into practice this bilingualism, having in all environments two Montessori guides to carry out the tasks of co-education: A native American guide and a native Spanish guide, both working in cooperation to teach the contents and educational abilities following the American curriculum and the pedagogic domains of Montessori.