Academic Program
The Bethesda International School (BIS) team is committed to the cultural and linguistic development of the bilingual child by creating cognitive, physical, musical, language, social, and service learning activities that are integrated in the curriculum and carried out in Spanish.
BIS is a September through June, Saturday morning program, 9:00 am- 12:15 pm for the Primary school, and 9:00-12:30 p.m. for middle and upper school, structured in seven consecutive
workshops: Reading Workshop, Music Workshop, Writing Workshop, Spelling Workshop, Publishing Workshop, Puppet Workshop and Theater Workshop.
The Spanish Immersion Program academic program is truly international at all grade levels. Subjects are taught in Spanish with a global perspective. Course topics are aligned with the social studies and language arts curricula of the schools that the students attend during the week. Students enrolled in this program are on track to take Spanish Language AP examinations in 11th grade, and Spanish Literature AP and IB Spanish examinations in 12th grade. Continuing their Spanish language instruction on the weekend allows them to study third and fourth languages during the regular school day in middle and high school.
The BIS Spanish Immersion Program offers Spanish for native and near-native speakers in grades Pre-K through 12, with direct admission of students learning Spanish as a second language in the Pre-Kindergarten. Students who have acquired Spanish as a second language may be admitted to upper level classes with permission of the School Principal and the grade level instructor.
From grade 6 onwards, the Reading and Writing workshops integrate World History in the World Literature Studies. This range of activities encourages the students’ participative use of the target language, offers them occasions to extend their receptive and expressive vocabularies, and provides them with learning experiences suited to a variety of learning styles. Students create a meaningful project in each workshop, share their projects with their workshop partners, family, teachers, and other community members, and participate in community activities related to their learning objectives.
BIS Topics in Literature and Social Studies
- Pre-K: Songs about colors, numbers, the alphabet, celebrations. Games and projects in Spanish.
- K-1 Identity: All About Me; My Family
- 2-3 Community and Heritage: Citizenship; Children’s Rights
- 4-5 Natural Environment: Ecology; Native American Tribes of the US. Cuentos de la Selva by Horacio Quiroga.
- 6 Democracy: The US model and historical links to Ancient Greece and Rome.
- 7 Modern Nations: World Geography and historical links to the Middle Ages. Myths from Africa, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
- 8 Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and the Encounter of Cultures; Spanish Renaissance; Naufragios by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca; Chac Mool by Carlos Fuentes; The Age of Cervantes
- 9-10 The Spanish Civil War and its effects on Contemporary Spanish Literature and the Arts; Pre- AP/IB Preparation
- 11-12 Contemporary Latin American Society and Politics reflected in Literature and Film: AP/IB Preparation.