The Autonomous Region of Madrid has become a pioneering force in educating children through what is known as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL); that is, bilingual programmes in which pupils learn subjects from across the curriculum in a foreign language – usually English. This approach requires teachers to have a broad range of strategies for teaching while helping pupils to reinforce the language of learning and the language for learning, in addition to a strong command of the foreign language.

Students who study the Degree in Primary Education in the Bilingual Group learn through experiencing the CLIL approach during their university teacher training. They carry out their practice placements in bilingual primary schools, and write many of their projects and work throughout the degree in English. In addition, at the end of the 4 -year degree, they are qualified with the English Mention (Mención en Lengua Extranjera – Inglés), which means that they are specialised in teaching English as a Foreign language to young learners and provides them with a highly-valued, in-demand skillset.

Graduates of the bilingual group frequently go on to work abroad thanks to grants from diverse funding bodies, such as the ones offered by the Ministerio de Educación, in English-speaking countries such as the USA, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or Ireland, as a career starting point. In addition, they have advantages in their opportunities to study or carry out the teaching practicum through the Erasmus+  programme. Thanks to this, many of our graduates have had the chance to practice teaching in countries with the most advanced educational systems, such as Finland, Denmark, Ireland, UK, Sweden and others.

 

Student perspectives

 

"Cursar el grado de educación primaria en la modalidad bilingüe ha contribuido de manera directa en el incremento de mi competencia lingüística, aportando un aprendizaje de gran uso de cara a obtener la habilitación bilingüe al finalizar el grado. A nivel profesional como futura maestra, el grupo bilingüe me ha enriquecido, ofreciendo la posibilidad de vivir el método AICLE en profundidad y desde dentro mientras lo estudiábamos de manera académica.”     – Blanca Diaz Topete, graduada en junio de 2020

 

 

“Becoming a teacher is not only acquiring basic knowledge on the subjects we are going to teach but also learning strategies to work with children and understand their behavior. Within this, the bilingual UCM teaching studies prepare you to deal with both of them, and although you can think there is a lot of the theory and less practice at the beginning, then you realize that a lot of professors try to make your studying experience practical and innovative, and that is exactly what matters and what we need in a teaching world that is always changing and evolving. Also, the bilingual group, especially the English subjects, helped me to succeed in oposiciones, and gave me a new more global vision of the English language for my teaching profession.”    - Ahinoa Acebrón Hernández, profesora de Educación Primaria, graduada del Grupo Bilingüe en 2018