3e International School
3e International School began in 2005 and has grown into an institution of 175 students from Nursery through Grade 6. The school aims to develop "creative thinkers and collaborative learners who are able to move respectfully and appreciatively across cultures," through a research based curriculum developed especially for this education model. Classes are conducted in English and Chinese with half of every day devoted to each language. Within this inquiry based program a balance of child-initiated and teacher directed activity is provided to support children's development across the entire curriculum.
3e provides a familial setting and caring community, which fosters a sense of belonging, close connections and confidence. Strong home-school links promote understanding, provide support and develop partnerships in children's learning. 2 English teachers, 2 Chinese teachers, and 3 Specialist teachers (Art, Music, and Physical Education) collaborate to form children's teaching and learning teams, and model cross-cultural collaboration.
3e's approach to teaching language arts focuses on contextualizing learning through broad exploration and creative application of language. It integrates with all other curricular domains, including mathematics, science, creative arts, global, cultural and social studies, intrapersonal and interpersonal knowledge.
3e's Chinese and English teachers collaborate on a daily basis to ensure students maintain balanced and consistent development in both languages. Cross-classroom implementations and differentiated instruction foster greater vocabulary development and deeper conceptual understanding.
Two language-specific environments in every grade at 3e ensure equal focus and attention on each, with no language taking precedent over the other in this full immersion approach. English and Chinese are both taught as primary languages, contextualized by meaningful cross-curricular connections for deeper understanding and real life applications. A common curriculum framework drives a coordinated and collaborative approach to learning and development across languages and classrooms, which is focused on the target of fluency for every student in reading, writing, speaking and listening and viewing.
No arena of development is more important than a child's ability to develop interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence. In the intrapersonal realm, 3e aim to foster "emotionally intelligent" students who have a strong sense of self and others. Towards this goal, students become increasingly self-aware, appropriately assertive, effective managers of their own feelings and emotions, handle stress, and become personally responsible. In the interpersonal realm, 3e aims to have children develop the social skills that allow them to have positive relationships with others, to live within the bounds of societal expectations, and to participate well in groups.
As children mature cognitively, they continually construct new or expanded understandings of their world. 3e students gather information about the physical nature of objects and other physical phenomena; discover what makes things happen and change and how objects interact with another. The ultimate goal in this area is to have children acquire, apply, adapt, integrate, and evaluate knowledge.
The ability to adapt to change and diversity becomes a significantly important feature of children's lives as they grow into adulthood. At 3e, we foster a student that not only respects differences, but one that genuinely appreciates and enjoys the learning opportunities that come from cultural/linguistic diversity.
