interactive school maps student results international students why choose CBE? site map contact us rss feed faqs
home parents about CBE career and technology strategy Chinook off-campus daycare educational resources Encore CBE faqs fees and waivers field trips forms you need high school directory hot topics kindergarten middle years noon supervision planning and transportation preschool provincial testing programs registration scholarships school calendars school councils special education student records/transcripts student results subscribe to system messages transportation students adult high school upgrading career and technology strategy CBE library CBE self-serve password tool Chinook off-campus continuing education D2L Encore CBE international internet safety online learning programs scholarships school calendars student mail student records/transcripts student results student voice/student leadership transportation partners corporate health supports getting involved recognition vendors careers teach at CBE career opportunities compensation and benefits new employee orientation work environment and culture contact us media important message to the media news releases/psa/advisories quick facts archives staff CBE webmail D2L portal SIRS & Media 4Learning staffroom CBE self-serve password tool

Where is it? l How does it work? l Benefits l General Inquiries

Language Programs

German Bilingual Program

Embrace the World auf deutsch pdf

Give your child the gift of another language, culture and way of thinking! Contact one of our German Bilingual schools today - personal tours are always available. View more resources, curriculum and policy about German language instruction at Alberta Education.

schools offering the German Bilingual Program

Elementary (Kindergarten to Grade 6)	Junior High (offering Grade 7 German Bilingual instruction beginning in September 2010 with future plans to expand to Grades 8 and 9 in the next two years)
Bowcroft School 3940 – 73rd Street NW Calgary, AB T3B 2L9 Phone: 403-777-6020 Contact: Frank Moeller (bowcroft@cbe.ab.ca)	Thomas B. Riley School 3915 – 69th Street NW Calgary, AB T3B 2J9 Phone: 403-777-7260 Contact: Meike Thomsen (thomasbriley@cbe.ab.ca)

what are the benefits of a Bilingual Education?

On the surface, bilingual education is about learning a second language. Looking more closely, one will realize that second-language learning is about much more. Meaning-making goes beyond the spoken words. The voice they are said in and the body language accompanying them are even more important.
Some cognitive benefits
- Greater flexibility in the use of strategies to solve problems and a greater number of cognitive strategies, students learn to pattern incoming information by trying to make connections between already established knowledge and the new information. It makes sense that bilingual children are much better in problem solving and pattern finding. They have learned two words for everything, whereas a monolingual child only had to learn one word for each item in their environment.
- Bilingual children often outperform monolingual children in IQ tests. Chin, N. B., & Wigglesworth, G. (2007). Bilingualism: An advanced resource book. New York: Routledge.
Some affective advantages in knowing more than one language include an increased appreciation, respect, and understanding of another culture. In a world of merging cultures, an open and inviting attitude towards other cultures is essential for a peaceful world.
Increased employment opportunities.
Increased post-secondary opportunities.
Increased opportunities to work in Germany (Memorandum of Understanding between Canada and Germany allows for easy access to work Visa’s for young professionals).

For more great reasons visit the website of the Goethe Institute's Why Learn German? website.

how does the German bilingual program work?

Students require no previous knowledge of German for admission to Kindergarten or Grade 1.
German language skills will be tested for later admission.
Build fluency in both languages (English 50% & German 50%).
Explore rich traditions and experience German culture first hand.
- Receiving a Schultüte on the first day of school in grade 1,
- St. Niklaus Day
- Community celebrations such as Oktoberfest.
Calgary is offering German bilingual education since 2002

Why should I choose the German Bilingual program at the Calgary Board of Education?

Dedicated parents result in a high retention rate of students.
In elementary, a 50/50 split in instructional time between English and German allows students to build fluency in both languages. Children learn to understand and respond appropriately in German in a range of everyday situations.
At the end of Grade 6 students may take the A2 level Zentrale Deutschprüfung which is a Common European Framework Reference level proficiency exam. For more information on language credentials see Language Credentialing in the CBE. Students are able to repeat the exam again in junior high school.
In junior high, students are taught mathematics in German as well as German Language Arts.
After Grade 9, students may take the B1 language exam, which may allow them to enter into 300 or 400 level German language courses at the university level, giving them the required language competency necessary for graduating with a BA.
Planning ahead? Students planning to study abroad should be interested in the Deutsches Sprachdiplom II examination which meets the language requirements for entrance into Germany's highly regarded universities.
The Canadian and German government have a Memorandum of Understanding (Youth Mobility Program), which enables young workers to obtain working visas for Canada or Germany easily. If you already speak some German, it might be fun to work in Germany for a couple of years!

How does second language learning help shape the learner's identity?

Language identity has three components:

(a) language expertise—how well you speak it;
(b) language affiliation—your attitude and affective connection towards the language; and
(c) language inheritance—did your mom, dad, family speak the language. Language inheritance has nothing to do with how well a person may speak that language. Block (2007) says: “One can be born into a language community—a question of inheritance and possibly expertise—but then later in life develop a strong affiliation to, and expertise in, another language community” (p. 40).

A child does not learn a second language in a vacuum. With a language, culture is taught as well. A child who is growing up with two languages is also learning the ways of behaving appropriately in two cultures.
Becoming bilingual is more than learning to speak another language. It also includes knowledge multi-sensory facts like hairstyle, clothing, facial expressions, gait, dance, music, signs, and so forth.

How can parents help raise a bilingual child?

Developing literacy in the first language is important to helping children learn a second language well.
Encourage your child to teach you ‘everyday’ German phrases at home and to read books and view videos with you.
To foster the language and to encourage a child/youth to speak it, parents should try to be involved in the community of that language when possible – in our case the German and/or Austrian community. Through this they experience the value of using German by giving the child a small immersion experience.
To attain fluency in a language, total immersion opportunities are extremely important. This helps sustain motivation and improves speaking skills, which is often the most challenging for second language learners. Try to seek out and take advantage of opportunities to be immersed in the German language locally and globally.