local or international?? hurry!!

[loupou]

Mary,

I meant alternatives to the usual local regime of lots of tests and homework.

Roger, my kids went to local kindies through K3, not too many tests. Things changed A LOT when my daughter entered primary school. That's when the pressure really began. We persisted through P1 and P2, but then switched to an ESF because we decided that she would do better in a mother-tongue environment, and also because the burden of checking the homework, and keeping track of all the assignments and papers going to and from the school was too much for my husband. My friends whose daughters are still attending that primary school told me that the pressure has been ratchetted up another notch now that they are in P3.

If your child's mother-tongue is Cantonese, or one parent is a stay-at-home parent (or only works part-time), or you have a child w/ VERY good concentration, then you and your family might still be able to handle a "typical" local pirmaryschool using Cantonese medium. But otherwise it is very hard.

Some people asked me "why didn't you send her to a local school in English medium like DGS" simple answer - beacause she didn't get in.

 

[Vivian]

I've already selected a kindergarten for my daughter and she will enter K1 next year. The kindergarten provides local stream class for Cantonese speakers and International class for Engish speakers. Since I think Chinese is more difficult for beginners than English and i do hope she can learn both Chinese and English well, I plan to send her to the local class of the kindergarten, and later to an English primary school. Is that OK? Actually now we speak Madarine and English to her, a English/Mandarine school would be perfect. But there is no such school near my home, and some in Kowloon Town are too expensive. So, if she will stay in the local class for three years, is it good for her to shift to an English primary shool and can she be admitted? Any advice and opinions are wellcome.

Vivian

 

[shaz]

This is what most parents do, but as long as the child's English is up to scratch when they reach primary it shouldn't be a problem. Although the kids can loss one or the other language quite easily in kinddie, like my son who is now in english speaking kinddie, he speaks peferct english but rusty chinese after leaving the local kinddie last term. ESF school entrys are on english command basis as for the other styles likely english should be top notch for entry. I found that children who go to local kinddies (and although they speak english at home) there english is not as good as say a child who went to english kinddie. just what i have observed. good luck, it's not an easy decision.

 

[mong1972]

My 2 cents worth: With upcoming China, I feel Chinese is impt for the future, esp. the simplified version. My daughter is 5 and she attends the Singapore Int'l School, which offers bilingual curriculum. I teach part time there as well.

The curriculum offers a fantastic plate for the kids in terms of play, studies and activities, both in English and Putonghua.

 

[Vivian]

So, at Singapore school, they teach kids simplified Chinese? but i'm teaching my daughter traditional Chinese, because i think it's good for her to learn the characters she can easily find in her daily life first, then teach her simplified Chinese later when she reachs four or five.

Another issue about language, which some parents have mentioned before, is the age limit for a kid to learn a foreign lauguage. say, do you think after three years old, or older, he or she can learn a new foreign lauguage and speak it very well? :dance:

 

[Sandrine]

A big struggle - local or international

We wanted to send our girl to international school but have also applied for St. Catherine?s (a local kindy in Kowloon Tong) as back up. Now my husband wants to send her to St. Catherine?s in Sept (K1) so that she can learn Chinese. His argument is, our girl is fluent in English (she speaks English because we speak English to her) and if she goes to an international kindy now, she will never learn Chinese. He believes that after the 2 or 3 years, we can still apply for an international primary school (haven?t decided which one). I doubt whether it is possible.

While I heard that the English standard at St. Cat?s is high but when compared with international kindies, there should be a gap. Although my girl speaks English now, it is likely that once she starts school and when her classmates all speak Cantonese, she?ll prefer Cantonese and lose the English? Or will she be able to speak fluent Cantonese in addition to English? It?s hard to say. Let?s say she can maintain her spoken English, but what about her reading and writing skills? I?m not sure if she?d be ready for an international primary then. During the interview for international Primary, is the child?s reading and writing skills also tested?

If my girl didn?t learn Chinese in an international kindy, will she still be considered for international primary that offers Chinese like Phoenix?

Any parents here whose children went to local kindies and got admitted to international primary please share your experience. Any views are appreciated.

 

[shaz]

I wish i could answer that question for you. From my own experience kids can lose one of their languages quite easily. Like we were in UK for 3 weeks and my ds had almost lost his Chinese. He spent his first K1 in local kinddie and after i came back from my uk trip i decided to change to an international one. His English is fluent now and his canto. is so so. When he was in canto. school his canto. was v. good and english was so so and he has a british mother - how can that be??? anyway, i tell you st. catherines is not that good in terms of its facilties - v. old and there and too many kids at that kinddie, i wonder how the kids get any attention there. moving on, i know that the international schools and local english speaking ones do require a very good command in english as part of the interview and in most instances their scroing is based on it. dont know if reading/writing is tested. most int'l schools offer simple madarin lessons or other languages if pref such as french. i am stuck myself as to where to send my ds to primary, i mean we have all the int'l ones but they are 2 expensive and increase even more in secondary, as my ds is an english speaker i have limited options but to maybe try those other local style schools such as PLK which are taught in english offering canto. lessons too.

i have a friend who's child did her 1st 2 years in international and then went to a local kinnie in her last k3 year and by then she didn't seem to have too much of a problem, so i dont know. its a real headache and i wish at times i was just in uk so i wouldn't have to worry about this whole school system here.

 

[Roger]

My son picked his Cantonese back up after 8 months in the UK and is now fluent in all 3. However, if he hadn't gone to the local kindy, he wouldn't have learnt it, even though he is a HK citizen. Hart, are you both expats or are you mixed or both Chinese? If one of the latter 2, why don't one of you speak English and the other Chinese? That way the little one maintains both languages. I would recommend sticking to the local system if you intend staying here for any length of time as a knowledge of Chinese is really important now that China is becoming a more powerful country. In addition, native English speakers tend to end up monolingual due to the eagerness of others to learn their language, leaving them at a disadvantage.
As for local schools, I am told the Christian & Missionary Alliance one behind Landmark North is very good, and has good English standards as well. However, we native speaker families will always have to give the kids some extra English if we use the local system.

 

[shaz]

I get where your coming from Roger BUT there is no way my son could attend the local stream as i can't help him with the heaps of homework - my hubby is to busy to help too as its a full time job the homework.

 

[kmazurk]

pre-school choices

I am writing a story about pre-schools -- the pros and cons and would like to interview people who currently have children in them, and have something to say about early childhood education in Hong Kong, and the interview process children must go through to get into some primary schools. If you are interested in talking to a journalist, please contact me at 2831-2529.