ESF Primary Mandarin

[slamdunk]

Any Mandarin/Chinese speaking families with children in ESF who can share their views on the level of Mandarin taught at ESF Primary (e.g. Kennedy?) Curious to understand the level of Mandarin from Y2 onwards when they are streamed and in particular whether the level of Mandarin taught at Pathway 3 is high.

Does anyone know how it compares to other international school mandarin programs (e.g. CIS, CDNIS, Sing IS, KCIS)? I know some are English/Mandarin bi-lingual schools so have heavier language focus but wondering how Pathway 3 compares.

An ESF Secondary mum (Chinese speaker) told me she was surprised and satisfied with the Mandarin level at WIS for her son after a transfer in from local (English medium) school. I'm wondering if the streaming works at primary too for Mandarin speakers.

 

[MommyTo3]

My child is in Pathway 1 but I have heard from other moms (local families) who have children in Pathway 3 at my daughter's school that's it's quite a lot of work, homework, etc. from Y2 onwards. But it's not Kennedy. My daughter gets homework and homereaders in Pathway 1 (Y2) but I heard that students on another ESF don't get anything ... so there are clearly differences. Hope you get some answers. It's only 1 session a day (45 minutes in our case), my daughter has 7 sessions a day.

 

[slamdunk]

Thanks MommyTo3. Am curious to see if ESF has had any success since implementing a stronger (and more competitive) Mandarin program with the daily lessons.

 

[rani]

I don't know what pathway we are in.
But we dont get homework at Kennedy.

 

[MommyTo3]

I don't know what pathway we are in.
But we dont get homework at Kennedy.

So different Bradbury also nothing. My daughter has a weekly sheet (5-10 min), weekly reader, reading and vocab website to use.

 

[kiwiinoz]

My daughter is pathway 2 at QBS. We get weekly homework sheets (including writing chinese characters, pinyin and linking chinese characters to pictures), a reader as well as she often has to listen/recite from an audio CD/workbook. I know some of her friends in pathway 3 go to Taiwan or the mainland on their school holidays to reinforce/practice their Mandarin fluency to keep up with the pathway 3 class.

 

[slamdunk]

thanks all

 

[Lemontea]

Hello, what do 'pathways' mean? How do u know which ESF and Intl schools have what pathways? Thanks ?

 

[MommyTo3]

Hello, what do 'pathways' mean? How do u know which ESF and Intl schools have what pathways? Thanks ?

The pathways are done at ESF, not sure how other schools work. In Y1 all children have mandarin together, 4 sessions a week. After Y1 they are being put in 3 different pathways based on mandarin knowledge. Pathway 1 is the easiest, 3 the hardest. Every pathway has a final goal set at the end of Y6, depending of course based on their starting point. Most foreigners are in 1, sometimes 2. Pathway 3 mostly has Chinese speakers, some who already speak Mandarinat home. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Lemontea]

Thanks mommyto3!

So I guess you don't get to 'choose' which pathway ur child goes into? Instead the school assesses the child's mandarin and assigns them into the pathways, is that correct? Thanks!!!