The Bilingual Programme from Preschool to the 1st grade level of Lyceum
Platon School offers Greek-English Bilingual Classes, from Preschool to the 1st grade level of Lyceum, implementing a unique programme in Greece in which children learn the Greek language and tradition in the breadth and depth dictated by our Greek identity while, at the same time, they learn English as a native language as well.
We strongly believe that Platon School’s Bilingual Programme is one of a kind in our country because:
- It is supervised and certified by the IB International Organization
- Children are taught for half their school hours in English
- English are taught only by teachers who are native speakers
How is the bilingual programme structured?
Children are taught English in:
Nursery, Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten for 3 hours per day
In Primary School, Gymnasium and the 1st grade level of Lyceum they are taught for 15 hours per week (Partial Immersion Programme)
The learning process in English is developed, as in Greek, through two parallel and complementary approaches:
- “Learning the language”
- “Learning with the language”
Children apart from language structures are also taught other courses in English such as Music, Information Technology, etc, the number of which increases per grade level. They also write all their transdisciplinary or interdisciplinary projects in English.
Students in our School learn to be citizens of the world, understand and respect the culture, morals and customs of other societies. In the context of the Bilingual Programme they participate in celebrations important to the English and American culture such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, St Patrick’s Day etc, and, of course, they come to contact with Anglophone countries and their peoples.
English language acquisition certifications
The primary goal of the Bilingual Programme is for children to experience both the English and the Greek language.
Our experience-based approaches “learning the language” and “learning with the language” smoothly lead to “becoming certified in the language”.
Our students are fully prepared to sit language acquisition certification examinations held by the University of Cambridge, the University of Michigan, etc. Their preparation is smoothly integrated into the entire learning process so that children do not perceive examinations as an end in itself.
Moreover, the MYP Certificate, awarded to students after their eAssessment (ePortfolio and on-screen examinations) in English and a broad range of knowledge, certifies successful completion of the MYP and is also another certification of our students’ English fluency recognized worldwide.
Multilingualism
A key element of our philosophy, but also of the International Baccalaureate philosophy, is Multilingualism, not only as an indicator of academic or professional advantage but also as a substantial pathway to the understanding, mutual respect, communication and collaboration between peoples.
At individual level, any new language children learn offers them a new way of perceiving and thinking stemming from that other language’s culture. Thus, experience-based knowledge of one more language multiplies everyone’s possibilities to conceive ideas and generate solutions.
PLATON School is open to diverse languages and cultures and the dynamics of their civilizations. On the basis of our students’ wishes and the demands of our era we offer a broad range of languages which constantly increases. Apart from Greek and English, some languages taught in our school are:
- French
- German
- Russian
- Spanish
- Arabic
- Chinese
The English language is introduced from Nursery both in the Greek Programme (two hours per week and three hours in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten) where it is taught experientially as a first foreign language and in the Bilingual Programme (three hours per day) where it is taught as a native language.
A third language is introduced in the 3rd grade of Primary School in both Programmes. Children may select between French or German (three hours per week in the 3rd grade level and four hours per week in the 4th grade level).
The Trilingual Programme
Students attending the Bilingual Programme may, from the 1st grade level, come to contact with an extra language of their choice initially through play, crafts, singing, theatre, multimedia, etc to gradually learn its written and spoken form.
