Every Elementary child receives a 50-minute Intensive Chinese lesson each day. Children are assessed at the start of each school year in the areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening and then grouped according to the degree of Chinese fluency. Advanced students are taught from the Chinese National Curriculum; beginner to intermediate students are taught from the MSB Chinese curriculum. All lessons are led by native Chinese speakers. The language of instruction and communication is entirely in Chinese, as well as all of the learning materials.

The MSB Guided Reading Program aims to promote English literacy and fluency through weekly lessons with our English Department. As with Intensive Chinese, students are assessed at the beginning of each school year and then grouped according to grade and ability.
Guided Reading lessons are an opportunity for students to read aloud and engage in purposeful discussion with their peers. For children in Grades 1 and 2, these sessions are extremely helpful in improving phonemic awareness, sight-reading and the ability to analyze and critique the text.

The Novel Studies Program is a natural progression from our Guided Reading Program that strives to promote our student’s literacy development in an enjoyable and engaging way. Our English literacy program has been developed to build areas such as comprehension, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency and writing. Our upper elementary and middle school students will bring the understanding and skills developed in their younger years and use them to delve into more substantial pieces of literature.
This program starts from a more structured, teacher-led environment in Grade 4, with the aim of guiding students into student-driven classes. As the students become more familiar with exploring literature, they will start to take control of the lessons by organizing discussion material for their own novel studies. In the higher grade levels they will take control of the meetings in completely student-managed groups with minimal oversight from teachers. This, in accordance with Montessori principals, aims to foster a sense of ownership and self-efficacy towards their learning.
We have curated a broad selection of classics and contemporary award-winning novels that students are eager to dissect and discuss in depth. As well as giving the students the skills necessary to explore themes in literature, we aim to encourage a genuine love of reading and the sharing of thoughts and opinions on that literature.