the monolingual and bilingual way at FGZ
Content - Short description
Pioneers in bilingual education
Bilingual education meets the requirements of a globalised world. Freies Gymnasium Zürich has developed a bilingual programme with this in mind. Freies Gymnasium Zürich was the first school in the canton to found a bilingual Progymnasium in collaboration with Lakeside School (Küsnacht). This built a bridge between genuine bilingual primary school education and the upper school of the Gymnasium and marked a pioneering achievement in truly bilingual education in the Canton of Zurich.
In 1997 English lessons were introduced in the 1st class of the lower school of the Gymnasium and the Progymnasium at Freies Gymnasium Zürich before the mandatory date. Three years later our school was the first Gymnasium in the canton to also offer the study profile «Economics and Law» bilingually.
Mother-tongue teachers
Freies Gymnasium Zürich offers the following bilingual programmes:
- Lower school of the Gymnasium (1st and 2nd grade)
- Progymnasium (1st and 2nd grade, without Latin)
- Upper school of the Gymnasium (3rd – 6th grade)
Both the German and the English parts of the programme are taught by mother-tongue teachers.
High academic demands on students
The education programme is distinguished by its high quality and innovative nature. Lessons are taught by special subject teachers and the programmes are aimed at students with very good knowledge of both German and English who have no difficulty following lessons at native-speaker level. Our students have set themselves the goal of achieving the Swiss Bilingual Matura.