THE IVY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
A SPANISH IMMERSION SCHOOL
STUDENT LIFE
Mandarin
As part of our commitment to creating well-rounded, confident leaders for the next generation and beyond, we consider fluency in more than one language to be of utmost importance. Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. High-quality language education should foster a child’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable children to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping children to study and work in other countries.
The top three languages spoken worldwide by primary and secondary language speakers are Mandarin, English and Spanish. Mandarin Chinese has over one billion speakers worldwide and is the political and cultural language of China. The Spanish language has 466 million speakers worldwide and our location in Texas offers many immersion and cultural opportunities to enhance the Spanish language learning experience. Furthermore, Mandarin, in contrast to Spanish (a Romance language) and English (of Germanic roots and origins), is tonal in its spoken form and its written form is based on characters. This contrast between the three languages offers our children wonderful breadth in their linguistic studies.
Our Mandarin classes last 30 minutes per session and are held two times weekly. Our children acquire proficiency in listening and speaking, understanding of and appreciation for other cultures, and age-appropriate proficiency in reading and writing the foreign language. Our Mandarin instruction is linked in content to all subjects taught in the regular classroom (i.e., math, science, history, geography, art and music).
After-school Enrichment Classes brought to you by:
Tap~N~Toe Dance
UNIFORMS
Music
STEM
STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teach the four disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEM integrates them into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications. Our STEM classes last 30 minutes per session and are held two times weekly.
Visual Arts
Art, craft and design are an integral part of human creativity. A high-quality art and design education should engage, inspire and challenge children, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. As children progress, they should be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of art and design. They should also know how art and design both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation. Art classes last 30 minutes and are held M-F.
Music and Movement
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire children to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and to increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As children progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose and to listen, with discrimination, to the best in the musical canon. Music and Movement classes last 30 minutes and are held once a week