Why Choose the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme?

It is a daunting task to find a primary school offering the best curriculum to help nurture a child, but the search is easier if you choose one offering IB’s Primary Years Programme (PYP). The PYP helps students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills through a trans-disciplinary approach to learning while making holistic connections across traditional subjects.

The PYP is an inquiry-based, concept driven programme specifically designed for young learners between the ages of 3 and 12 years. Students are encouraged to be globally minded by developing an international perspective where diversity is welcomed and celebrated.

A distinguishing feature of the PYP is the six trans-disciplinary themes of global significance. The students engage in meaningful, relevant inquiries that focus on making significant connections to the world, and developing enduring understandings. Each Unit of Inquiry is organized under one of the trans-disciplinary themes, and in every school year the themes are revisited with increasingly complex information, key concepts and skills from the core subject areas of Math, Language, Social Studies, Science, The Arts, and Physical, Social & Personal Education.

Through the attributes of the IB learner profile and the demonstration of the PYP attitudes, the PYP encourages international-mindedness and a passion for learning. Students are asked to reflect constantly on their learning, and take meaningful action based on new discoveries.

The PYP aims to create a curriculum that is engaging, relevant, challenging and significant for learners in the 3–12 age range. The curriculum is transdisciplinary, meaning that it focuses on issues that go across subject areas.

As a flexible curriculum framework, the PYP is able to accommodate the demands of most national or local curriculums.

Here we have an example from a private school in Ontario, Canada, followed by webinar and videos from the International Baccalaureate Organisation, explaining the curriculum in more detail.

https://www.guelphtoday.com/spotlight/spotlight-why-choose-the-international-baccalaureate-primary-years-programme-824818

http://www.ibo.org/uk/schools-teachers/pyp-webinar/

http://www.ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/curriculum/

http://www.ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/what-is-the-pyp/who-can-offer-the-pyp/

Knowing your correct English language proficiency level

Reaching your utmost potential is the ultimate aim of body-building training, but starting with the right weight is the most important initial step to getting stronger each day.

The language learning process has similarities to weight training: just as it is important to prepare your body using the right weights, starting the language learning process at the right point is also essential. Starting at a higher level will make the process too challenging, and it will also make the teacher’s job of reaching the learner problematic. Likewise, input below the learner’s level will not be constructive for them. Therefore, the most important initial step of the language-learning process is knowing where to start.

But asking learners to evaluate their own proficiency level may not always reveal accurate results because a language learner may believe that their proficiency is higher – or lower – than it actually is. The cultural background of the learner is one of the main factors influencing inaccurate assessment.

Another reason why self assessment may not be accurate is, again, related to cultural norms: learners having too low or too high expectations of themselves. If language learners are not educated in a culture that encourages them to be autonomous learners and to set goals for their own learning, they might feel insecure in determining what to expect as foreign language learners.

With any task, it is important to have detailed criteria to correctly assess strengths and weaknesses. The Global Scale of English (GSE) is a remarkable tool that measures a learner’s proficiency via a granular structure. By identifying what they can already do – and what else they need to be able to achieve in order to progress to the next level – language learners can determine the right point at which to start their learning journey.

Visit www.english.com/blog/english-language-proficiency to learn more.

The alignment of Starters, Movers and Flyers and Key for Schools

Cambridge English presents the results of studies into a comparison of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Starters, Movers, Flyers and Key for Schools. These studies show that Young Learners English (YLE) tests cover pre-A1 to A2 levels. Strong performances at Movers indicate A1 and a strong performance at Flyers indicate A2. The correlation of Key for Schools grades, and shields at YLE is also identified.

We are now able to define the relationship between Flyers and Key for Schools with more precision. Young Learners English exams do not precisely map onto one CEFR level and in consequence a broader range of performances should be expected and managed in the classroom.

The studies were carried out to ensure that scores from all Young Learners English exams could be compared in a simple and clear fashion. This has also made a clear and simple relationship between the Young Learners results and the CEFR. When the exams were aligned and compared the results showed that there is a change of two shields as you move from one level to the next: two shields at Flyers is equivalent to four shields at Movers; and two shields at Movers is equivalent to four shields on Starters.

The link to the CEFR is now precise with each CEFR level representing a range of two shields. For example, CEFR level A2 covers four and five shields on Flyers; and CEFR level A1 covers two and three shields. The alignment diagram, which appears on the back of every Young Learners’ certificate, also shows how young learners’ shields compare to scores for Key for Schools and the Cambridge English scale. The alignment works for listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV0Ha1SnlsE to learn more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV0Ha1SnlsE

Presenter: Mark Elliott & Kathryn Davies (2018, Jan 24). The alignment of Starters, Movers, Flyers and Key for Schools and the impact on learning [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV0Ha1SnlsE