If you want to allow your child to thrive in a multicultural environment, bilingual school is a great solution.
In bilingual school, your child develops in a caring environment, open to the world, which mixes cultures, languages and nationalities.
This will pave the way for pursuing higher education abroad and international education and career.
We met Miriam with her two children at the “Swiss” school SISD Who tells you about his choice for this bilingual IP school in Dubai.
Hello Miriam, can you tell us a little bit about your family? First name, age of your children, how long did you live in Dubai?
Hello! We are Swiss and we have been with family in Dubai since October 2016. I mention “with family” because my husband and I lived in Dubai between 2004 and 2009. Also, our eldest daughter Nora was born in Dubai in 2008. At that time, the circle was over, we returned to Zurich, Switzerland, where our 3 year old son Leo was born in early 2011. My husband told me we wanted to return to Lausanne because he was French-speaking Switzerland and the company he worked for offered him a new position in Dubai.
We made up our minds very quickly as we knew what to expect when coming to Dubai with kids. We know they are going to grow up in an international, multilingual / multicultural and sunny environment.
Why did you choose Swiss School (SISD)?
Unlike many of my friends and acquaintances, we have never seen any other school (yet there is a huge selection in Dubai!). When SISD opened in 2015 very close friends told me that when we decided to go back to Dubai it was clear that our children would go to this school.
I will not hide from you its importance to the “Swiss” aspect, as at that time the founder, director and person responsible for admission all knew that Swiss. It gave us hope. But we also wanted our children to continue to speak French fluently while studying English at 2Th Language.
The bilingual aspect clearly impressed us
Looking at the enthusiasm of our children (they are 5 and 7 years old) who discovered this school and visiting the campus, we know that we have made the right choice.
Your children are in the bilingual section, can you quickly explain to us how primary and secondary things are done? Are you satisfied with that?
I find the school to give a cleaner version of the bilingual, i.e. immersive total, because there is a real change of languages from one week to another (grades 4 and 5) or a co-teaching model for younger students (from KG 1 to grade 3).
Secondary, computer modifications and languages are distributed according to the subjects, some courses are in English and some in French (or German).
We are very satisfied because we wanted our children to be able to communicate, think and reflect in at least 2 languages, even if one language is important, it is natural.
They have the opportunity to learn 3 languages by using them on a daily basis (because Arabic should not be forgotten), which is far from learning a language “with a book”.
In your opinion, what is the general state of education? SISD ?
Overall we are really satisfied. After these 5 years in SISD I realized how difficult it is to add teachers. We live in an international environment and this city has an impressive presence in all areas including education. If there is a problem during the year, it is almost impossible to change a teacher, which is complicated and incomparable with other parts of the world.
What can you say about the Francophone community for SISD? Is it easy for a Francophone child to integrate into it?
If I take the example of our children, the beginning is complicated, they learn that they do not speak a word of English, they are very frustrated. But from day one, they received appropriate, motivating and motivating support. Someone who can help you always speaks their language. Also there are many special events throughout the year according to the countries featured. So for the French, it is the week of the Francophone, the chandelier and others.
But I would like to highlight the multiculturalism that exists in SISD, children develop above all in an international environment
The Francophone community sometimes has trouble understanding what IP is. How do you think you can explain it in a few words?
In fact, not all parents know about IP! We were with my husband. International Bachelorette is a less traditional subject than Swiss, French or English. It is concept based, so it teaches students to explore themes in all subjects rather than dealing with each subject in isolation. Academically, through various researches for different projects, it helps the students to become more confident, independent and critical.
I will give parents 2 tips:
– IP is different from other courses, so do not compare courses with each other
– Find out. SISD’s management teams help here, and workshops are regularly held to help parents understand how learning is done with IB.
If a relative who wants to settle in Dubai asks you to describe SISD In three words, which would you choose?
For me, SISD is an ambitious, innovative and unique school.
“Freelance alcohol fan. Coffee maven. Musicaholic. Food junkie. Extreme web expert. Communicator.”
