Bilingual Education

What can you expect in TTO in years 1 to 3?

Years 1 to 3

If you choose to start TTO, more than half of your lessons will be taught in English. The only classes that will not be in English will be Maths and both the modern foreign languages (Dutch, French and German) and the (optional) classical languages (Ancient Latin and Greek). This is also the main difference between schools who offer Fast Lane English and TTO schools: the former only offer extra English lessons, while TTO involves not only extra English lessons, but also includes a myriad of subjects that are taught in English. Moreover, Antoniuscollege Gouda offers two additional TTO-exclusive subjects: bilingual attitude (bia) for first-year students, which focuses on developing your speaking skills, and European and international orientation (eio) for second- and third-year students, which focuses on different international points of view.

Being taught in English so much does take some getting used to, especially in the first few months, but you will not be alone: your classmates will definitely feel the same! Your teachers will speak English to you, all the materials for the TTO subjects will be in English, and you and your peers will be expected to speak English to each other as much as possible. Together you will work on improving your English speaking and writing skills, and since you’ll be spending so much time working on this you will pick it up very quickly. After the autumn break, you will have gotten used to it.

All of your teachers have a high level of English – they have had to pass the Cambridge Advanced exam or the Cambridge Proficiency exam, and some of them are native speakers – and they are experts in teaching their subject in English as well. They have also been taught how to help you improve their English (through Content and Language Integrated Learning, or CLIL), since you will speak English in class more than half the time, but you will only see your English teacher for a few hours each week.

While speaking a lot of English with your teachers and classmates is an important part of TTO, it also includes some extracurricular activities as well. For example:

• In your first year, you are visiting England. Some of the activities there are spending two nights with a host family and visiting a local school.
• In your second year, you are going on an exchange. Denmark or Spain are possible destinations. This includes staying with a student from that country and participating in several (school) activities with them – and of course their class and your own class. They will also pay a return visit to the Netherlands, during which time you will again participate in several (school) activities with them.
• In year three we organise a Great War Project, which will teach you about World War One. This project includes a visit to Ypres and a visit from the Phileas Fogg Theatre Company, who will let you experience the Great War in a very different way.
• In years 2 and 3, you will have the opportunity to participate in the Junior Speaking Contest. This means writing and giving a speech to your class about a predetermined subject, and one student from each year will participate in the regional round.
• Additionally, additional TTO activities are considered every year, such as a cricket challenge.

After finishing your third year, you will be given an official Junior TTO Certificate and take the Cambridge First exam. If you pass the latter exam, you will have proven to be better at English than the average 5 havo student (CEFR: B2 level).

Year 4 to graduation

The current situation

Students in year 4 and above are currently not officially able to follow TTO, since the Antoniuscollege Gouda is a Junior TTO school. However, the school does already offer a number of senior TTO subjects, and is looking into becoming a senior TTO school. More information about becoming a senior TTO school can be found after this section. For now, let’s first take a look at what we currently offer.

Havo

Havo students spend years 4 and 5 working towards the Cambridge Advanced exam. Passing this exam proves that your English is better than that of the average 6 Vwo student (CEFR: C1-level). This will also make it easier to study abroad.

Additionally, you will visit Oxford and/or Cambridge, which includes a visit to a university.

You are also allowed to spend a week doing an internship abroad, but this is something that you will have to make your own arrangements for.

Vwo

Vwo students will pass their Cambridge Advanced exam in year 4, and years 5 and 6 will be dedicated to following the English Language and Literature A programme of the International Baccalaureate (IB). This challenging programme has been designed for native speakers, and is an official pre-university education. It teaches you important skills such as writing high-level essays, critically evaluating the texts you read and giving presentations. Passing the IB exam means that you usually won’t be required to take English proficiency exams if you decide to study abroad, and it often provides an extra advantage if you have to partake in decentralised selection or if you want to do an internship abroad after graduation.

For TTO students, Social Studies (maatschappijleer) is replaced with the subject Cambridge Global Perspectives and Independent Research (GPR). This is also a pre-university subject which analyses big global issues in great depth. It teaches you critical thinking, how to set up research projects and writing research papers. If you choose to write an Independent Research Report, this replaces the research project all secondary-school pupils in the Netherlands have to write (profielwerkstuk).

Additionally, you will visit Oxford and/or Cambridge, which includes a visit to a university.

You are also allowed to spend a week doing an internship abroad, but this is something that you will have to make your own arrangements for.

Senior TTO school?

In 2020-2021 we will investigate what it will take for the Antoniuscollege Gouda to become a senior TTO school, and our ambition is for the first senior TTO class to start in 2021-2022.

A common misconception is that becoming a senior TTO school means that students will be able to do their final exams (CEs after Dutch “Centraal Examen”) in English. However, all Dutch students are required to do CEs in Dutch, so subjects such as history, biology and chemistry are taught in Dutch from year 4 onward.

There are a number of subjects that do not include a CE, such as Social Studies, General Arts (CKV, after Dutch “Culturele en Kunstzinnige Vorming”) and Physical Education. Senior TTO schools will usually offer most or all of these subjects in English, and TTO students are required to write and present their final research project (the previously mentioned “profielwerkstuk”) in English.

When can you start TTO?

Aside from the “normal” requirements to be admitted to havo or vwo (your primary school teacher’s advice and the score for your primary school’s standardised test), we do an individual intake with every prospective TTO student. This intake consists of a conversation with a TTO teacher, during which you introduce yourself in English to demonstrate your bilingual attitude (your willingness to speak English). Moreover, the teacher will ask you questions such as why you are interested in TTO, and whether you have given the extra activities and requirements sufficient thought.

Your level of English is not important to be admitted to TTO; this is something we will help you improve. What is important is that you are willing to speak English, even if you are not entirely sure how to say something; that you are prepared to put in extra effort even when the going gets tough; and that you are willing to work hard.

If you want to get a taste of TTO before sending in your application, you are encouraged to visit the TTO information evening, do a masterclass or follow a TTO class for a few lessons. For questions and more information you can send an email to antonius@carmelcollegegouda.nl. 

Quality control and costs

The European Platform / Nuffic are responsible for monitoring the quality of bilingual education in the Netherlands. They set the standards for bilingual schools and regularly visit them to assess the quality of the teachers, lessons and curriculum.

In order to ensure the quality of the bilingual programme, the school does have to spend more money on this programme. This not only includes the TTO activities and exchanges, but also the additional English lessons for TTO students, the Cambridge and IB exams, additional schooling for TTO teachers and the development of suitable materials for the TTO lessons. The school pays for part of these additional expenses, but we also require a contribution from parents/guardians. For years 1 to 3 the annual contribution is € 450 euros, for havo 4 and 5 it is € 325 euros, and for vwo 4 to 6 it is € 415 euros. Additionally, the students are required to bring their own device in the form of a laptop or iPad.

* The TTO contributions may not be an obstacle to register your child for the bilingual programme at our school, if so please contact the financial department Mrs S. van der Stok s.vanderstok@carmelcollegegouda.nl. For more information about financial support you can visit www.antoniuscollegegouda.nl/Praktische-info/financien.