Keystone Magazine Keystone Magazine 5th EN | Page 30

T
he concept of the “keystone,” in architecture,
in biology, and at our school too, is that
without the one stone or species or concept,
that the structure or organization will not hold up.
It will fall apart. Thus the keystone at the top of an
arch holds the arch together, and a keystone species
is vital for keeping an ecosystem functioning. Here
at Keystone Academy, each of our three keystones is
essential for the school’s carrying out its mission of
educating well.
Many families are specifically drawn to our school
because of its keystone about Chinese culture. We are
dedicated to promoting Chinese culture and identity
in a world context. There are few if any schools that
will provide an international-style education while
allowing students to continue to develop a deep
connection with Chinese history and literature and
culture. This is a keystone concept; without it, we are
not Keystone Academy.
built on the communication skills of reading, writing,
speaking, and listening. Their placement on this
continuum depends on the age they started learning
the second language, how much schooling they had in
each language, how often they use each language and
in what types of situations they use each one.
It is a rare person who is ambi-bilingual. Not many
Keystone students are or will be ambi-bilingual. For
most, Chinese will be their number one language.
That’s fine; in fact, that linguistic connection to
Chinese culture is a major element of Keystone
bilingualism and Keystone’s commitment to teaching
and promoting Chinese culture. Our responsibility
here at Keystone is to graduate students who are
at home in both languages, so that they can go out
into the world and make a mark in either language.
Thus building up English skills, from primar y
through secondary school, is vital for our students.
By grade twelve, students are having more than 80%
of their classwork in English. While it is likely that
their tertiary education will be also in English, we
are confident and proud that their knowledge and
understanding of Chinese language and culture will be
deep.
In the secondary school, with our second keystone,
we take advantage of our boarding school tradition to
create an environment where we build character and
community throughout our residential setting. The
ability to connect with students morning, noon and
night during the vital years of high school lets us work The inter-mingling of the t wo lang uages has
to this goal. Without it, we are not Keystone Academy. interesting ramifications for brain development. In
a bilingual brain, there are not separate locations
The third keystone of bilingualism is the one that I for the vocabulary and grammar of each language.
want to focus on in this piece. We are a school that They’re together, all entwined. Brain researchers have
doesn’t just teach two languages; we are a school found that vocabulary words for the same concept in
that values the use and practice of both English and different languages are “parked” in the same place in
Chinese. Keystone is not an international school the brain. When a bilingual person grabs a word in
where English is the default language. English is not one language, the other one is often made available,
the fallback for students from different cultures to even if it isn’t used.
find a medium for communication. However, we are
not a school that conducts the business of education A research study was done with Chinese-English
in a traditionally Chinese way either. We are a school bilingual people, asking them to judge how alike two
that is linguistically inclusive. English and Chinese English words were in meaning. Even though they
are valued and are necessary for our functioning. In were asked the question in English, about English
order to meld our western, international, and Chinese words, their responses were affected by whether or not
traditions, bilingualism is a defining keystone of our the Chinese characters for the translations of those
school. Without it, we are not Keystone.
words were written similarly. Their judgment about
the two English words’ similarities and relationship
Inside a Bilingual Brain
was impacted by those words’ Chinese translations.
The simple definition of a bilingual person is someone Even though they didn’t need Chinese for this English
who is proficient in two languages. There aren’t very question, it was immediately available to them, and in
many perfectly truly bilingual people. There are fact useful to them.
some people called ambi-bilinguals who don’t even
have an obvious dominant language; both of their Hav ing all those ex tra connections and ex tra
languages are of native-like proficiency. Few folks information in the brain might sound like being
are equally split 50-50 in their language proficiency. bilingual requires the brain to work more. Perhaps
Most bilinguals fall onto a continuum of bilingualism so, but consider the advantages. There are attitudinal
30 The Keystone Magazine