Academic Excellence and Suzuki Integration

The Role of the Teacher

Teachers are well-trained and provide meaningful and excellent instruction. They set temporal, interpersonal, and physical environments that will allow each child to develop competencies in artistic, literary, mathematical, scientific and social spheres. They care deeply about their students and strive to find interesting ways to present material that will challenge individuals and ensure success for each student. They encourage students and believe that every child can learn. Teachers model the pursuit of continuing advancement and higher achievement. Fostering the desire to learn and emphasizing the joy of learning is the most important role of the teacher.

The Role of the Parent

The educational process involves three equally important participants: children, teachers and parents. Parents are recognized as the child’s most important teacher, now and always. Parents have the right –and should be encouraged to be active contributors in their children’s activities, classroom, school and development. The school welcomes parental involvement in a wide range of ways. Parents participate by giving time and talents and serve as an advocate for the school in the community. Parents reinforce, enrich, and extend the learning experience at school. Some examples include helping children complete assignments, reviewing material, and gaining first-hand experiences to aid understanding and retention of learning through discussion or trips.

The Role of the Student

Each student is responsible for helping create a warm, caring environment where all individuals can succeed. Within this supportive environment, each child is respected and celebrated as an individual with unique strengths to build upon, and challenges to master. Students see themselves as individuals who welcome the opportunity to try new experiences, risking potential failure to succeed; they know that if they take one small step at a time, they will accomplish their goals with the support and guidance of their parents, teachers, and peers.

French Program K-6

The French program is taught through the Accelerated Integrative Method (AIM).  Students are introduced to the vocabulary with gestures. Ideally, they speak with the teacher or independently, throughout the class – which is the key to internalizing the vocabulary.  It is probably the only class your child will have where the teacher requests that he/she speak throughout the class!

The beginning of the program focuses on learning single words, which are then associated with other vocabulary in phrases and sentences.  Once the students have mastered these, they move on to learning new vocabulary within the context of a story, which they eventually dramatize.  This is followed up with written work – questions, fill in the blank activities etc. Everything is presented orally before the written word is introduced.

Vocabulary is continually ‘recycled’ through:

•  the play
•  music written for the play as well as other songs.
•  games and activities that are set up to reinforce particular structures.
•  conversation in class during group work or discussion sessions.

As the program progresses students eventually learn how to:

•  paraphrase a story in their own words.
•  do some creative writing in which they may rewrite the ending or change some components.

There is a French only rule in class. The gestures are a good support when a student is trying to convey a thought.  He/she may remember the gesture but not the word. In this case, he/she gestures and the teacher provides the word. Conversely, if the child is at a loss for a word, the teacher can gesture it for the child to say, thereby providing correct structure without interrupting the flow of the thought. 

This kinesthetic, oral and visual approach is very effective in addressing different learning styles.  The scaffolded activities and recycled vocabulary allow every child to be successful in learning this language.

Assessment and Results

Students are assessed in a variety of ways.  As well as on-going informal assessment, the school has three formal reporting times, followed up with parent-teacher interviews.  The students also have a chance to assess their learning with their parents at our student-led conferences where they take a positive look at their progress, celebrate their advancements and set goals for future improvements.  All students in grades three and six write provincial achievement exams each year. In addition, students write cumulative tests in math and language arts at the end of the year.  Please visit our website to view our student achievement results. 

Suzuki students as a group continue to score higher compared to the provincial averages. It is also important to note that this is only one measure of our students’ work among many exciting and enriching learning experiences and skills they display throughout the year.