Bilingualism
Students who study a bilingual (Spanish-English) curriculum acquire the competence and complete management of English. In order to assess their proficiency, Cambridge University examinations are applied at different levels of the process.
In order to achieve this objective, complementary activities are planned to reinforce the language acquisition process. In this sense, the institution offers its students the possibility of attending summer camps or student exchanges in Canada or England. Gimnasio el Hontanar has an agreement with the Alberta Educational Division in Canada, where sixth grade students take an immersion trip to Canada to live as exchange students. In England, Gimnasio el Hontanar has an agreement with Buckswood School, located in Hastings, southeast of London, where students who opt for exchanges can attend an academic period. These experiences of trips abroad allow our students the practice and refinement of English and the possibility of having an exchange of different nationalities and thus educating and enriching important aspects of British and Canadian culture.
International Language Policy
Gimansio El Hontanar is an educational institution that promotes the learning of Spanish as the official language of Colombia and the first communication tool through which the environment is recognized, knowledge is built and socio-affective relations that transcend in the integral development of the individuals are established.
In addition, due to the recognition of the social condition of the individual and the challenges of belonging to a global community, Gimnasio El Hontanar incorporates the teaching of a second language as a life opportunity for students and as a tool that establishes real links in a global community.
Within a globalized world, learning different languages ensures that individuals expand their ability to interact with other individuals, facilitating in turn the exploration and construction of different knowledge. Likewise, knowledge and recognition of other communication systems, contribute to the formation of linguistic attitudes of tolerance and respect towards other individuals.
The main objective of language teaching at Gimnasio el Hontanar is to complement the pedagogical strategies that allow the students to develop the mission of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and especially the communicative component of the IB community profile.Communicative Objective
Students will understand and express ideas and information with confidence and creativity in different languages and forms of communication. They will be willing to collaborate with others and do it effectively. Students will strengthen the linguistic skills in their mother tongue and in the second language, forming fluent and inquiring readers, writers, and thinkers, safe and bold speakers, and open-minded, reflective and supportive mindsets.
Communication Code of Conduct
Gimnasio el Hontanar is aware of the need to generate strategies for efficient and effective communication, the school has structured a protocol for oral and written communication amongst the different members of the community. This protocol is grounded on the following principles:
- Assertiveness: communication in the Hontanar community is respectful and warm, avoiding the use of generalizations or expression that might be perceived as offensive or degrading by members of the community.
- Empathy: Understood as the ability to take into consideration the emotions of both parties.
- Clarity: All communications must be easy to understand by the listener/reader, minimizing the risk of misinterpretations or ambiguity that may generate conflict.
- Observance of official channels and institutional processes: communication lines must consider the contexts and persons directly involved and the corresponding institutional instances that work as efficient and adequate.
- Optimization of institutional resources: we promote the efficient and responsible use of all communication means of the school, including the website, agenda, social media, and telephone communications.
Language Principles
- We believe in the appropriate use of oral (verbal and nonverbal) and written language in all school, family and social contexts.
- We believe in the importance of the reading habits as the basis of thinking and communicative processes.
- We believe in the importance of educating creative and effective writers.
- We believe in the importance of oral communication as a fundamental aspect of cultural identity and as a means of social interaction.
- We believe in the importance of the adequate use of technological resources and audiovisual media as communication means.