put my son into 2 kinderg... do you think it is a good idea?

[fatchai]

hi

my son studies in an international kindergarten and will begin R2 after this summer holidays. he still can't speak cantonese nor interest in learning Chinese either. do you think it is a good idea if i enroll him to a local kindergarten near our home next semester so he has more chance to study Chinese.
In the morning he will be attending the local kindergarten then he will study in international kindergarten afternoon as usual. do u think it will be tough for a 4 years old boy? i don't mind if he starts K1 from scratch in the local kinder but i m not sure whether the school would allow it. Or would it be any other better solution for this?

 

[carang]

i know of a few children who do this... but i don't understand why you would keep him in the international kindergarten, unless english isn't your first language and you want to ensure he speaks/understands that as well.

 

[fatchai]

my wife isn't a local Chinese hence English becomes our primary language in a family. before i tot my son would pick up Cantonese from the local environment but it wasn't really the case. nevertheless, Chinese is an important subject in school and i need to encourage him to pick up the language as well as improve his interest in learning Chinese.

 

[carang]

he's not in a cantonese environment at home and he's in international kindergarten.... how did you think he would pick up cantonese? he has to be exposed to it if you want him to learn it.

both of my kids go to a cantonese kindergarten. we are extremely happy with it AND both of my kids can now use cantonese at the playground!

 

[lesliefu]

personally i would not recommend sending kids to two schools - i've taught kids like that and from what i've seen it takes them about 1 semester to physically get used to having 2 schools to attend in order for them to really start enjoying and learning in school -they will always be fine in the morning school, but it is in the afternoon school that kids will get tired and might act naughty / be exhausted and learning is not 100%. after 1 semester they will eventually get used to the having 2 schools, but you've already wasted 1 semester.

if you want to learn cantonese you just have to make sure that your child is exposed to cantonese at home / in school on a regular basis so that they will pick it up naturally. you should decide what your priority is as a family and then decide which school system to send your child too. good luck with whatever you decide! learning has to be fun for kids to pick it up easily...

 

[thanka2]

I wouldn't do that to my son. My son will be 4-years-old in November this year. We speak mostly English at home although my husband's first language is Cantonese. We chose a kindergarten that has a good balance of Cantonese, English and Mandarin teaching but is definitely a local school. There are other foreign children who go to this kindergarten as well as Chinese children who were born and have lived abroad. My son thoroughly enjoys his time at kindergarten in the morning but he is so exhausted when he comes home at noontime. He is often already asleep on the bus when he comes back and then takes a long nap--at least 2-4 hours in the afternoon. I don't think it's fair to keep your child in school for so long in two different learning environments because there will come a time that he won't have a choice and will be stuck studying all day. Why not let him have a little time to just be a kid and rest and play? If you really want your child to learn Cantonese, just put him in a good local kindergarten that also offers English and Mandarin. You'll save a lot of money over the international schools as well.

 

[bonita]

Maybe instead of 2 kindergartens, sign him up for Cantonese-speaking activities like art, music or sports classes. They're usually just once or twice a week, but it's much more fun to learn through play.

 

[ptoche]

good question, we face a similar dilemma, let me share our thoughts: we have a 2 year-old son, mom will mostly speak Cantonese, dad will mostly speak English, and like many Hong Kongers we'd like our son to have English as a strong language, with very good Mandarin and Cantonese! sounds ambitious, but I've seen many kids handle multiple languages, and it's definitely feasible in the right environment. What I keep hearing is that it's difficult to switch from an International school to a Local school (is that even true?) for this reason, mostly, we have wanted our son to go to a local school. However, I also hear that these local schools can be tough, with lots of homework, so we are open to a later switch to an international school should our son be unhappy with the local school. Is that a good strategy? I personally think that his experience will depend mostly on the kind of teacher he gets, rather than the school, but well let's see. Another concern is that the local school (Victoria, Ho Man Tin) is only 3 days a week (mornings) while the international school (Kingston, Kowloon Tong) is 5 days a week (afternoons). We feel that 3 sessions a week is too little. But 3+5=8 sessions would be too much (especially since the morning session ends at 12:30 and the afternoon session starts at 1:30). What to do? We intend to start with both schools and see how it goes, with a view to dropping out of one shool after a month or two...

 

[fatchai]

i agree 100% your point of view.
i have decided not to put him into 2 kindergartens. it makes him too stressful

I wouldn't do that to my son. My son will be 4-years-old in November this year. We speak mostly English at home although my husband's first language is Cantonese. We chose a kindergarten that has a good balance of Cantonese, English and Mandarin teaching but is definitely a local school. There are other foreign children who go to this kindergarten as well as Chinese children who were born and have lived abroad. My son thoroughly enjoys his time at kindergarten in the morning but he is so exhausted when he comes home at noontime. He is often already asleep on the bus when he comes back and then takes a long nap--at least 2-4 hours in the afternoon. I don't think it's fair to keep your child in school for so long in two different learning environments because there will come a time that he won't have a choice and will be stuck studying all day. Why not let him have a little time to just be a kid and rest and play? If you really want your child to learn Cantonese, just put him in a good local kindergarten that also offers English and Mandarin. You'll save a lot of money over the international schools as well.

 

[fatchai]

read the post from thanka2. enroll your son to a local kindergarten where he can learn both English and Chinese.

good question, we face a similar dilemma, let me share our thoughts: we have a 2 year-old son, mom will mostly speak Cantonese, dad will mostly speak English, and like many Hong Kongers we'd like our son to have English as a strong language, with very good Mandarin and Cantonese! sounds ambitious, but I've seen many kids handle multiple languages, and it's definitely feasible in the right environment. What I keep hearing is that it's difficult to switch from an International school to a Local school (is that even true?) for this reason, mostly, we have wanted our son to go to a local school. However, I also hear that these local schools can be tough, with lots of homework, so we are open to a later switch to an international school should our son be unhappy with the local school. Is that a good strategy? I personally think that his experience will depend mostly on the kind of teacher he gets, rather than the school, but well let's see. Another concern is that the local school (Victoria, Ho Man Tin) is only 3 days a week (mornings) while the international school (Kingston, Kowloon Tong) is 5 days a week (afternoons). We feel that 3 sessions a week is too little. But 3+5=8 sessions would be too much (especially since the morning session ends at 12:30 and the afternoon session starts at 1:30). What to do? We intend to start with both schools and see how it goes, with a view to dropping out of one shool after a month or two...