The third language programme at The Giles School offers all students higher academic achievement, specialized cultural knowledge and versatile communication skills that expand mental, cultural and economic possibilities.

With better cross-communication skills, multilingual children can engage diverse cultural communities, build international links and enjoy expanded global employment and travel opportunities. Today, more than ever, children who are fluent in three or more of the world's principal modern languages will display exceptional adaptability to accelerating technological change and shifting global currents in which linguistic resources become increasingly valuable.

Mandarin and Japanese

French is the core language for all subjects at the Pre-K (age 2.5) level, with English and a third language - Mandarin or Japanese - introduced in Grade 1. Continuous early exposure to a third language through daily instruction allows children to attain rapid verbal and written fluency with native-like grammar and pronunciation. There is a clear continuum between the length of multiple language study and better scholastic attainment.

Upon graduating, Giles School students are typically two or more grades ahead of their peers in the core subjects of English, math, science and social science as well as world languages. Improved academic performance is one among several benefits that third language study offers children at The Giles School.

Brain Benefits

Multiple language learning changes the brain and increases its capacity to learn.

Native culture is wired into our brains as children and becomes second nature. Cultural tastes seem natural because they are so deeply wired, but they are actually acquired. In other words, cultural filters determine what is available to perception - what people sense and how they make sense of it.

Research indicates that Western cultures approach the world analytically, dividing up or isolating what they see, whereas Eastern cultures approach the world more holistically, looking at the whole context or the relations between things. These differing cognitive styles parallel differences between the brain's two hemispheres, with the left processing sequentially and analytically and the right processing simultaneously and holistically.

Significantly, children of Asian immigrants perceive in a way that reflects both cultures. When two areas of the brain interact, they influence each other and form a new whole which is more than, and different from, the sum of its parts. Similarly, when young children learn several languages, they can look at the world from dramatically different perspectives because they possess a broader range of processing strategies.

It is also speculated that the areas of the brain used to learn symbol-based languages are not identical to that used for Western languages. In other words, there is a definitive brain benefit to learning an Asian language as a 3rd language rather than an additional Latin-based language.

Cognitive Advantages

Language learning involves far more than mastery of grammar and vocabulary. Multilingual children also display particular advantages in thinking. Faced with a choice of three or more words for each object and idea, the tie between a word and its concept becomes looser as students grasp different connotations for corresponding words in different languages. Sensitivity to different associations allows children to think in ways that are more fluent, flexible and creative. The value of multilingualism in terms of enhanced concept formation and cognitive flexibility is incontestable. This gives children an advantage in other areas that involve abstract thought such as math and music.

Communication Advantages

Fluid mobility between languages heightens students' awareness of communication. Because language affects how children construct the world, the use of different languages affords an enlarged vision of their world. Literacy in three languages improves children's ability to convey ideas in different styles and to recreate meanings in different settings. Native Mandarin and Japanese language teachers at The Giles School offer the advantage of authentic cultural expertise and unique teaching practices, uniting language learning and cultural learning.

Cultural Advantages

By immersing students in different cultural practices, multiple language learning at The Giles School allows access to different histories, traditions and rituals. Participation in several language worlds of experience affords appreciation of different literature, music, food and entertainment through diverse cultural customs. Recognizing the diversity of language and culture, children can actively enter into multicultural life.

Character Building

People tend to shy away from things they don't understand, things like technology and new languages. Language learning at The Giles School helps children to rise above their insularity and to explore new ideas through other cultures. By developing empathy with other cultures, children display increased tolerance. Interest in cultural variation leads students to negotiate their own values in terms of other cultural norms. Ultimately, increased knowledge raises children's self-esteem and increases security in dealing with alternative perspectives.