ESF Primary Mandarin

[MommyTo3]

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!!!

That's correct, the Mandarin teachers put them in the respective pathways, usually in 4 groups, there is usually a 1, 1A (slightly more advanced, and the majority is in 1), 2 and 3, but some year levels have a 1, 2, 2A and 3. Just depends on the ability levels. Occassionally people are moved, but once you're in 1, it's hard to get into 2, however, I can imagine people dropping from 3 into 2. Not sure about that.

 

[Lemontea]

Got it. Thanks!!

 

[Lemontea]

Do they teach traditional or simplified mandarin?

 

[MommyTo3]

Do they teach traditional or simplified mandarin?

Pretty sure it's simplified, at some point they'll start using the Chinese Made Easy textbook series ...

 

[PermanentRes]

I just read a post from 2 years ago saying that ESF Mandarin classes are a waste of time. I can tell you that, 2 years later, nothing has changed, at least for expat families without a Cantonese or Mandarin speaker in the home. This means your child will most likely be in Pathways 1, which is basically a holding tank for Western children until their half hour or hour of zoning out is up. The comments from Kennedy, Glenealy and Bradbury parents are similar - after several years of Mandarin, the children find Mandarin boring, can barely speak a word, and the experience has put them off learning languages completely. If you are considering ESF (at least on Hong Kong Island) and you care about Mandarin or languages in general, you will need to get a tutor.

 

[MommyTo3]

I just read a post from 2 years ago saying that ESF Mandarin classes are a waste of time. I can tell you that, 2 years later, nothing has changed, at least for expat families without a Cantonese or Mandarin speaker in the home. This means your child will most likely be in Pathways 1, which is basically a holding tank for Western children until their half hour or hour of zoning out is up. The comments from Kennedy, Glenealy and Bradbury parents are similar - after several years of Mandarin, the children find Mandarin boring, can barely speak a word, and the experience has put them off learning languages completely. If you are considering ESF (at least on Hong Kong Island) and you care about Mandarin or languages in general, you will need to get a tutor.

I personally wouldn't call it a waste of time. My oldest is now in PW2, has homework weekly, visits websites, etc. The only thing I recently heard is that the focus is on speaking not so much on writing, learning characters which I kind of agree with. My children enjoy it, and are trying to get better. I did hire a tutor for her now that she's in PW2 since she's kind of taken back but willing to learn. She's quite reluctant speaking other languages besides English in general. At our school there are several Caucasian children in PW2 (not 3). Every school is different but if you really want to get something out of it, I agree a tutor will definitely help. Plus, it really depends on your child's personality.

 

[bbd]

Has anyone here manages to get their child from path 1 into path 2? We started with a tutor for our daughter last year and she has improved a lot. I just don't have any way of knowing if it is enough to jump her into the 2nd path. And possibly, even if she is good enough there may potentially not be places in the class. If anyone has any experience on this I would love to hear. Do I speak with her mandarin teacher or the head of mandarin to approach this?

 

[MommyTo3]

My daughter went from 1 to 2 this year. Not quite sure why. They had a lot of new children in her year (with no prior knowledge). According to the teachers, she's in between, too good for 1, but struggling with 2. However, her personality doesn't help (shy, etc.), so they try to push her up instead of keeping her down. I did hire a tutor and she says same thing, kind of in between. But we (and she) are giving PW2 a try and we'll see how it goes. I talked to the teachers quite a bit since I was quite worried about her being in PW2 but it's actually going quite OK, especially with the help of a tutor.

 

[testuser]

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

What school is your child in? It frustrates me that this is not documented on every single school's site, as the curriculum is the same, across the board.

Here's what I have from the Discovery College site.

What is the Mandarin pathway system?

The Mandarin Pathway system is common to all ESF and PIS schools. The range of Mandarin ability is very wide, as some students enter the school with no experience of the language while for others it is their mother tongue and they are proficient at speaking and listening when they enter Year One.

At Discovery College we have three pathways that are decided on by the following criteria:

Pathway 3

Students who have demonstrated a level of proficiency (oral and written) through our formal and informal assessments
Students with Chinese background (i.e. one or more parent speaks Cantonese or Mandarin)

Pathway 1, 2

Students who have demonstrated a beginning or developing understanding through formal and informal assessments
From Year 1 to Year 3, school merge Pathway 1 and 2 students and have mixed proficiency class.

Students are assessed either at the beginning of the year or in some cases at the end of the previous year to determine the most suitable pathway. Ongoing assessments throughout the year also determine whether a child may need to shift Pathways. If this is the case, we will notify you of the changes.