We live in a fast moving world. People learn and work more and more location-free. This leads to an international society. Children grow up as world citizens. As such they meet other cultures, learn foreign languages and a large variety of skills is solicited.

At De Groene Vlinder we see it as our task to increase the children’s awareness of other cultures. This leads to understanding, tolerance and enrichment. The skills that children require to discover, communicate, collaborate, solve problems and network are useful to build bridges between cultures.

To give substance to the global citizenship of our children in an increasingly internationalizing world, we use two specific tools: English from groups 1 to 8 and IPC.

English from group 1 to 8

De Groene Vlinder offers English for groups 1 to 8. We do this by putting the English course on the roster, but also by offering English integrated in various other disciplines. In this way English is addressed several times a week. It has been proven that English as of group 1 is only useful whenthere is sufficient frequency. That's why at De Groene Vlinder you can hear toddlers in the “home corner” exchanging English words with each other.

During the 18-19 school year, De Groene Vlinder teachers attended several training days to improve didactics and increase English skills. In addition, the entire team went on a language-learning trip to get even more inspired. For the school year 19-20 we will again heavily invest in this area.

In school year 19-20, cooperation is established between SALTO (the board that includes De Groene Vlinder) and IPC to jointly develop a customized English-teaching method. This method will be the new way of addressing English at De Groene Vlinder.

IPC

With IPC the children always work for a period of time on a specific theme. The method used is always the same. The theme starts with a particular kick-off. This is an excursion or another special activity intended as an introduction. Then comes the harvesting of knowledge; what do the children already know about the subject? After this, based on learning objectives (I learn ... I can ... I know ...), an explanation is given about the theme that covers what the children are going to research, discover, learn and which skills are hereby developed. All steps are visualized on the learning board. In this way the children can see what they are discovering and learning throughout the theme. Although there is an integrated offer, the various disciplines are separately visualized on the learning board, as a framework creating an overview. The theme always ends with a festive activity in which children show each other, but also parents for example, what they have learned and discovered.

The skills that are addressed at IPC are derived from the 21st century skills. The IPC works with investigative and discovering learning. Both are best clarified through the images below.