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     - Photo via Ministry of Education - |
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Published on Thursday,
October
28, 2021
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The Ministry of
Education announces advancing bilingual
education, English and Spanish, in more
public high schools in the country.
According to the ministry, the incoming 2022 school year will have students from the Liceo Ciudad Neily in Puntarenas Province and the José María Gutiérrez in Liberia, Guanacaste Province receiving lessons in English and Spanish. The bilingual class model has already been implemented, as a pilot program, in the country for five years at six public schools. Students have all been taking bilingual courses at these schools beginning their first year (known as the freshman year in the US) to the fifth year (known as the senior year). The bilingual plan is already being developed in Liceo de Nicoya and Liceo de Colorado in Guanacaste Province, Liceo de Higuito and Liceo Sinaí in San José Province, Liceo de Santo Domingo in Heredia Province, and Liceo San Rafael in Alajuela Province. The ministry said that when surveying students in the pilot program of their final year of high school, by using the Common European Language Framework, they found that about 90% of the students reached satisfactory levels of bilingualism. According to Guiselle Cruz, Minister of Education, the importance of bilingualism in the education of new citizens helps their successful integration into the globalized world. "We work on the development of students with communication skills that allow them to interact verbally and in writing, so that they are trained as Costa Rican citizens with new study and work opportunities," she said. The bilingual system in public schools aims for students to achieve a level of proficiency Level B2 which corresponds to independent users of the language, or those who have the necessary fluency to communicate without effort with native speakers. And also students reach a C1 level which allows for a full range of functionality at work or in an academic setting, they can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognize implicit meaning. Advancing bilingual classes in public schools and colleges is part of the educational program of the ministry with the goal of expanding and improving the coverage of the foreign language throughout the country. As part of the government effort to allow more people to learn the English language, earlier this month, the Public Learning Institute opened more than 600 scholarships. ------------------ Should the public education authorities speed up the bilingual education plan for all public students? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com            
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