Bilingualism has long been a topic at the forefront of educators minds – Is it useful? Does it work? What affects does it have on learning. In a recent study by the World Economic Forum the results are simple. Bilingual students learn better in the second language than their natural language! It is the ability offered by knowing a second language that allows us to decipher what is accurate and what is not when we read or see material that is developed. This is a real skill in a world of AI (Artificial Intelligence).
This is because in our natural language we can have false memories which affect our preconceptions on what we read or hear, in a second language we don’t have those preconceptions. What does it mean to us as educators in an International school? Simply by teaching in a second language, with the 90% our students who have English as a second language, we are already developing their analytical skills for the future.