About the French Program
The International Studies (IS) program
The International Studies (IS) Program is an international dual language acquisition program combining the best of what American and European schools have to offer.
- The IS program provides two to three hours of daily of language instruction.
- In the upper grades, it often includes math or history taught in the foreign language as well.
The International Education (IE) program
The International Education (IE) Program is a strong academic program designed to prepare motivated students for the rigorous International Baccalaureate (IB) program in high school.
- The IE program offers a strong academic curriculum that stresses multi-cultural learning and provides foreign language instruction in French.
- It’s not as intense as that of the IS program, it gives students just one hour of foreign language instruction per day.
Students in the IE program begin studying their chosen language much later than IS students, in sixth grade or later vs. first grade.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) program
The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is a comprehensive, demanding, pre-university course of study established by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
- The IB program actually begins in eleventh grade, but most students enter the program on a pre-IB status in ninth grade, taking preparatory honors-type courses.
- To obtain the coveted IB Diploma, students must write a 4000- word extended essay, conduct independent research, complete a community service project, and pass extensive examinations in six subject areas, of which foreign language is only one.
- These tests are graded by IB examiners throughout the world, with final scores being determined by the Chief examiners in Cardiff, Wales.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Homologation?
- Miami-Dade county public schools and France have an agreement whereby an American homologated school curriculum is approved by the French Ministry of Education.
- Currently, ISCHS is the only school in the Miami-Dade system which is homologated by France. FIPA has played a large part in obtaining and maintaining this certification.
What is the Label FrancEducation?
- Label FrancEducation is a seal of quality for French dual language education awarded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Agency for French Education Abroad.
- There are 36 schools in the United States that have received this recognition, including our own Coconut Grove Elementary School, Sunset Elementary School, G.W. Carver Middle School, and ISPA (the only schools in Florida to do so).
- The accreditation need a minimum of 30% of subjects that must be taught in French and teachers must be highly qualified, certified, and fluent in French; the school
What is the DELF?
- The DELF and DALF are diplomas awarded by the French Ministry of Education to prove the French-language skills of non-French candidates or even French students who didn’t come from homologated schools.
- High school students in the IS program are qualified to sit for the DELF exam, but exams must be taken in a certified exam center. Alliance Française is now offering to take the exams.