PIONEERING AND INMERSIVE PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT IN BASQUE AND ENGLISH
At Hegoa school, Intxaurrondo, we offer this innovative pedagogical model, the focus of which is inclusive plurilingualism. The objective being the provision of equal opportunities to all pupils when it comes to accessing education and language skills. “Let’s learn about languages, to speak a common tongue” (The Council of The European Union, 2005)
THE PROGRESSIVE NATURE OF THE PROJECT
Hegoa has, since its very beginning, had a particular special awareness of the importance of languages, something reflected in our education project. Our new trilingual model, with special focus on Basque-English, is already up and running this year with two, three and four year olds. “Our objective is to provide our pupils with an approach to the school curriculum that is equally accessible to all, regardless of their social, cultural, economic or linguistic background”
The Pycto Proyect: This project encompasses the three languages, Basque, English and Spanish. Pycto is a methodology used to teach literacy with a heavy emphasis on the use of images, while also developing creativity and language skills.
Science in English: STEM subjects are taught in English from the 3rd grade onwards, using activities designed to develop logical and scientific reasoning.
In order to meet the demands of our modern society, our pupils will be called upon to have strong language skills in Basque and English; a lingua franca to facilitate communication, and thus enabling them to progress in an ever more globalised world.
However, the wellbeing of the children attending Hegoa is also our fundamental objective, therefore, acknowledging the importance of the mother tongue of our pupils as the basis on which to build links with second or third language learning skills is our priority. Hence, the focus of second and third language teaching is through course contents, something widely considered by many researchers (Mary Met-University of Maryland, Jim Cummins-University of Toronto, Do Coyle-University of Edinburgh, and Jaisone Zenoz-University of The Basque Country), as the most fitting approach in a multilingual educational context, which is the case at Hegoa Anglo-Basque
Our teaching staff possess a high level language profile in English, Basque and Spanish and receive constant training in teaching methodologies and didactics, as well as in the integrated treatment of languages. A number of native English speakers, who interact with pupils of all ages, also form part of our team.
