WHY MAPLE BEAR?
At Maple Bear students become:
CURIOUS: Passionate about knowledge and learning.
CONFIDENT: Deeply aware of their talents and potential.
INDEPENDENT: Prepared to lead their own lives, and decide their own paths and destiny.
ANALYTICAL: Able to think freely & shape their own beliefs.
FLEXIBLE: Adaptable in a world where change is the only constant.
CREATIVE: Always motivated and enthusiastic about asking “what if?”
PREPARED: In possession of the knowledge and tools necessary for an outstanding performance at college, at work and in life, in their home country or abroad.
GLOBAL: Bilingual and culturally literate for a global future.
Why choose Canadian education?
Canada’s education system consistently ranks among the best in the world.
In 2015, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranked Canada #1 in the English-speaking world in science, math and reading.
In science, Canada ranks #7 in the world. In math, Canada ranks #4 in the world. In reading, Canada ranks #2 in the world. As in 2012, and again in 2015, Canada maintained strong performance and outperformed other English-speaking countries in all three evaluations.
According to the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Canada consistently out ranks the United States and the United Kingdom, often by significant margins.
In fact, Canada ranks ahead of the systems in the US and the UK because the OECD measures an entire country’s system, not just hot spots of excellence which are not accessible to all due to geography or cost. In the vast Canada public system, every child has access to quality schools.
Canada excels not only in studies in the English language, but is also a world leader in bilingual education.
Benefits of a bilingual education
Bilingual education is the use of two different languages in the classroom instruction of academic content. At Maple Bear, students study all academic subjects in either their native language or English, depending on the subject and grade level.
Students don’t just memorize vocabulary in a Maple Bear classroom. This is a key difference between the programs offered at Maple Bear and the ESL training offered at other schools claiming to offer a bilingual education.
Furthermore, at Maple Bear, students begin learning English in pre-school using a student-focussed English immersion learning system based on Canadian educational pedagogy and best practises.
There have been concerns that teaching children two languages at once only confuses them. Fortunately, there has been much research—much of it conducted by Canadians—which shows that far from handicapping children, bilingual education can offer benefits from infancy to old age.
So what are the benefits of bilingual education for young learners?
For a start, it’s very good for English-language development, a goal of many of our parents who chose Maple Bear for their children. Young learners have also been shown to have:
- better concentration, analytical skills and multi-tasking capabilities;
- they learn to read sooner than monolingual students;
- they have an increased sense of self-worth and identity;
- they have the ability to live abroad and learn other foreign languages later in life;
- enjoy exposure to more than one culture which leads to a global perspective.
Numerous studies have confirmed that being bilingual actually makes a person smarter as it has a profound effect on the brain, improving cognitive skills and sharpening memory.
How is Maple Bear different from an international school?
Besides the obvious wide gap in the price of tuition at a Maple Bear school compared to an international one, Maple Bear conforms to local education regulations, offering fully articulated local curricula in addition to the Canadian program.
This opens up many more educational options for Maple Bear students: they are prepared and capable of moving easily between the Canadian system offered by Maple Bear and their own country’s system and can do so at any time during the K-12 years. They are also prepared for entry into a university at home as well as abroad if they so choose and are not tied to just one system.
Quality is assured at all Maple Bear schools
Maple Bear schools benefit from our distinguished academic faculty of Canadian trainers, curriculum writers and quality assurance personnel.
The Maple Bear program is a living, breathing curriculum that is constantly being updated. We have a large faculty of experienced teachers and education administrators that we draw upon to develop new curriculum, new training materials and methodologies and school policies. We undertake periodic student assessment at schools to benchmark student performance.
Maple Bear provides continual professional training and support for our teachers. Trainers from the Maple Bear Faculty mentor teachers and introduce them to the latest pedagogies and instructional strategies. We also have partnerships with the Province of Manitoba’s Department of Education as well as the University of Winnipeg where Maple Bear teachers can take courses leading them to a Masters in Education.
Every Maple Bear school undergoes an annual inspection that covers everything from safety equipment to classroom performance. On a regular basis and drawing on the experience of training staff in schools, we review and update our curriculum to reflect the latest developments in the field of education and changes in local regulations and requirements. All Maple Bear schools have clean, secure facilities and low student to teacher ratios.
Our goal is to establish quality schools that will provide an excellent education experience to students for generations to come.
THE MAPLE BEAR PROGRAM
All instruction in the Maple Bear Elementary School follows educational principles which have made Canadian practice so successful:
Outcomes are defined: Learning is targeted to achieve very specific learning outcomes. It is clear what the children need to learn.
Canadian performance standards are applied: Canadian performance standards determine the learning outcomes. Maple Bear students are expected to achieve performance levels similar to Canadians.
Curriculum development for English-language subjects is done in Canada by Canadian experts.
Canadian style teaching strategies are implemented: Canadian teaching strategies encourage student independence, strong literacy skills, higher level thinking and problem solving.
A sophisticated set of learning resources are used: Learning resources include books, manipulative materials, visual materials, electronic media, and computer technology.
Assessment of student learning is based on Canadian standards. In all cases, Canadian programming exceeds the requirements of local elementary education authorities in each country.