Have a listen to what a range of peoples have to say about why their children are in Bilingual Education in our bilingual schools and units

The Many Benefits of Bilingual Immersion Education

Pride, Confidence, Personal and Academic success at school, language learning. 

*Bilingual Education * is the use of two or more languages for teaching and learning curriculum knowledge in educational institutions from Early childhood to tertiary education

In the Pacific region this is often also called Pacific Medium Education (*) as the languages are used as Mediums for curriculum teaching and learning with English across at least 8 -13 years and covers Early Learning ECE  to adult education programmes.

The goals and achievements of Bilingual Education include learning our family languages; speaking, reading and writing which we call language maintenance and rejuvenation so our children can pass this treasure on to their children down the generations to come. It also ensures greater educational knowledge ability and usually success in all curriculum areas of education taught through both languages.

The teaching of languages as separate timetabled  language subjects in schools has been found to be not nearly as successful as Bilingual Education in learning languages. The most recent proven method of language learning and teaching in European Union and Asian schools is called CLIL -Content Learning in Languages.This approach is now considered to be one new approach in the field of  Bilingual Education.  

Bilingual Education world wide includes all forms and uses of one language (single medium (*) Immersion approaches, its  professional education, research and conferences fields. Only in Aotearoa NZ in Māori education is a distinct separation often drawn by Māori  between Bilingual and Immersion Education due to  unique historical circumstances in the establishment of the Kura Kaupapa Māori Immersion schools.

Bilingual Education is important because:

• It is the strongest indicator of current and future success in education among many Pacific and world communities who have been subject to long periods of colonisation by European and Asian power cultures. These colonial experiences have often left communities believing that Education can only be carried out successfully in English.

• It has been found that minority languages in former Colonial nations only survive if communities have access in educational settings to quality Bilingual Education programmes in their own languages and English  as well.