Our Stepping Stones children are beginning to learn languages and need support and scaffolding as they start to communicate and express themselves in English and Mandarin. A Mandarin Teaching Assistant is present for the full session, providing environmental language learning by authentically speaking in Mandarin and engaging with children during learning experiences in the classroom.
For our Pre-School children, parents can choose from our English, Bilingual and pure Mandarin streams. Children in the English stream are joined by a Mandarin Specialist for a daily 30-minute immersive Mandarin session following the Mandarin Scope and Sequence learning outcomes. In our Bilingual stream, we use the approach of one curriculum, two languages. Both languages follow the Inquiry Projects and EYFS learning outcomes, in addition to the Mandarin Scope and Sequence learning outcomes. The Pure Mandarin stream is taught solely in Mandarin, providing a rich language experience for children. It is acknowledged that Mandarin may be a child’s additional language; therefore, teachers will use the principle of differentiating and scaffolding language learning to support each child’s learning needs.