Our Bilingual Vision at the French American School of Silicon Valley
At the French American School of Silicon Valley, our focus is educating our students to become bilingual, life-long learners, with a globally-minded view of the world. The goal of our school has always been to provide our students with an academically excellent bilingual and bicultural education which empowers them to succeed in both the French and American education systems and to fully realize their potential as global citizens. While at our school, children are encouraged to adopt ways of thinking and expression that reflect an appreciation for cultural differences and multiple world views. Within our tight-knit community, these four core values help to guide our work and reflect what we strive to foster in our students: CRITICAL THINKING, ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE, RESPECT, AND LIFE-LONG LEARNING. The French American School of Silicon Valley works to create a collaboration between faculty, staff, students, and our families to make our bilingual vision a reality in the lives of our students. By focusing on the bilingual benefits our students can receive, while fostering the four core values in the education we provide, we are preparing the next generation to become leaders who are tolerant, open-minded, and capable of achieving great success.
Bilingual Benefits
Open-mindedness, tolerance, and diversity
The French American School of Silicon Valley prides itself on having faculty, staff, and students who come from all over the world. Each person brings with them their perspectives, ideas, and unique experiences. This allows our children to spend their days within a warm and inviting world community. The ability to share and exchange with others fosters a greater understanding and appreciation for various cultures. Within our school community, we are proud to have more than 25 languages spoken and 45 nationalities represented.
Increased Cognitive Abilities
The French American School of Silicon Valley community also recognizes the cognitive benefits of being bilingual and strives to maintain a curriculum which continues to challenge students who are recipients of improved cognitive and sensory processing due to becoming bilingual. Studies have shown that a bilingual language-learning advantage may be rooted in the ability to focus on information about the language while reducing interference from languages they already know. This ability can allow bilingual people to access newly learned words more easily, leading to larger gains in vocabulary than those experienced by monolingual people who aren't ask skilled at inhibiting information.
Improving Cognition and Delaying Dementia
The cognitive and neurological benefits of bilingualism also seem to extend into older adulthood. Bilingualism has been found to be a means of fending off a natural decline of cognitive function and maintaining cognitive reserve: the efficient utilization of brain networks to enhance brain function during aging. Older bilingual people enjoy improved memory and executive control relative to older monolingual people. In a study of more than 200 bilingual and monolingual patients with Alzheimer’s disease, bilingual patients reported showing initial symptoms five years later than monolinguals did. Likewise, bilingual patients were diagnosed more than four years later than monolingual patients.