At Westbourne, we believe in supporting students by bridging the gap between school and university. At the beginning of Year 11, our students are offered the choice of studying Spanish or Mandarin as their acquisition language in the IB Diploma Programme.
The choice of Mandarin and Spanish as our chosen languages isn’t a fluke. Rather, these are the two languages in the world spoken by the largest population as a mother tongue language. Mandarin has 1 billion and 197 million native speakers, while Spanish comes in with 399 million native speakers. [1]
Facilitating the widest global access for STEM careers, Mandarin and Spanish, alongside English, are the languages of the 21st century. For example, a Sydney student of Chinese descent will most likely already be proficient in Chinese, the addition of Spanish – even at a beginner level – vastly expands their horizons.
Opening doors to international opportunities and facilitating global collaboration
Working in STEM frequently involves intensive teamwork as you work on solving global problems. When you have the ability to communicate, collaborate and connect in another language it can make you a better, more open and effective team player.
STEM careers provide the ideal example of this collaboration in action. Different countries and teams working together on projects related to health, vaccine discoveries, robotics, space exploration and many others – are just examples of effective global teams making discoveries by sharing insights across cultures. Learning languages builds our capacity to work well with others in the 21st century global workplace.
From excursions to watch Spanish films to homemade goodies by our very own Ali, here’s a peek at how we make learning Spanish fun!
[1]Most Common Languages Infographic 20 July 2021