Since the 2015-2016 academic year, IES Nieves López Pastor has been immersed in the Bilingual Plan of the Andalusian Community. Moreover, in the present 2020/2021 academic year, the French language has also been added to the plan, thus becoming one of the three secondary schools in the province of Jaen to implement plurilingualism. We consider that the learning of one or more foreign languages together with the mother tongue, becomes a great advantage for the integral development of a person.
Bilingualism contributes both to the students’ command of the languages and the consolidation and reinforcement of specific knowledge.
But not only that, studying some subjects in English also provides them with useful tools to face a more rewarding professional career.
Since ours is a multicultural high school, given the amount of immigrants that the village hosts, the awareness of other cultures and the ability to communicate in two or more languages, improves the students’ resources to socialize and promotes creativity.
Our methodology is based on the CLIL approach (Content and Language Integrated Learning). This methodological trend refers to the teaching of a wide variety of subjects such as history and geography, sciences, technology or PE through a foreign language. Its main aim is to develop the teaching and learning process from a meaningful and active perspective, making the students the protagonists of their own learning process.
Each academic year, we count on the presence of a native English-speaking language assistant, (from this year, we also have a French assistant), who helps the bilingual teachers in their classes by practicing oral conversation, providing phonetic and grammatical correction, and collaborating with them in the production of instructional material. This brings the culture of the foreign country closer to the students, making the learning of the language more interesting and attractive.
