Which school for a non-Chinese speaking 5 yrs old kid?

T

temajie

Registered User
Hello,
My daughter is currently attending K2 in a local kindergarten (international stream).
Her teacher urged me to apply for ESF Y1 for next year but I am afraid she cannot make it at the interview as English is not her mother tongue (she understands a little but speaks very little) and she is also very shy. International schools are too expensive for me. EMI schools starts at 6 yrs old (P1). So what else can she do? Is K3 the only alternative? The thing is there is no proper K3 in her school, the 5 students attending K3 are sharing the K2 class with her so it means if she goes to K3 next year she would have to do the same year again (with probably different tasks in class and homework adapted to a 5 yrs old girl but still, she is likely to get bored after a few weeks...)
What do you think? I don't see any solution :(
 
What is her mother tongue? There are a fair number of schools which cater to various communities including Japanese, Korean, German, Indian etc ....
 
Mother tongue is French and the only French school is the French Lycée FIS which we cannot afford. I also looked at some small French speaking "schools" (which are actually language schools) but I did not quite like them. Besides, we may well go and live in the United States in 2 years so I would prefer her to get used to English instead of being immersed in a French environment (she already has that at home).

Would you recommend me to speak English to her sometimes so that she feels more comfortable and start talking a little (before the interview)? I never did that because it is not my mother tongue and I thought she would make my mistakes but I may have been wrong, it would have helped her a little may be.

And also: are there children here that did K3 in the same kindergarten than the one they did K2? Any feedback?

Thanks again.
 
The ESF does provide a fair bit of support for children whose first language is not English and perhaps would offer the better support compared to local EMI schools.

I'll ask a few people who have their children in local schools to see what they think and if they can comment on here.

I personally do not think there are any issues with speaking English with your child. It will build her confidence, which is in my opinion more important than making mistakes. I know lots of French speakers who speak a lot better English compared to my 20 words of French and they can get their point across just as well as native speakers.

With regards to FIS, there are two issues 1) cost - not sure if they do have scholarships or financial assistnace programs, but would be worth checking as I know several other national schools have support programs for their citizens and 2) French medium - I'm not sure if they allow French speakers to enter the English stream.
 
When you say that ESF provides support for children whose first language is not English, you mean once they have started ESF school or as preliminary preparation to ESF?
Thank you for your advice and for the link I have already looked at a few days ago.

Please I'd like to read experiences of people who sent their kid to English-speaking K3, thanks.
 
Put her in a Cantonese speaking class, so she'll learn Cantonese and also get a form from the kindergarten so that she'll get into a local school. There is a tick box to indicate non-Chinese speaking children on the form. You may be a bit past the deadline for the first phase of primary application, but you should be able to go ahead with phase 2. Foreign children of this age learn languages really fast so don't be too concerned. A good Cantonese primary with foreign children is Gin Mao Sheng in Fanling. There is strong h/w support there.
 
Your daughter is 4 years old right? You only need to submit the application to local primary schools next year. ESF starts Grade 1 at 5 years old but local school starts their primary education at 6.
 
Hi
The issue re bilingual children (I read that your child's maternal language is French, but I am not sure what the paternal language is) is that they associate language with the parent. So each parent should stick consistently to their own maternal tongue. This is the advice given.
I realise in practice you are trying to help, but not sure that it will really help matters to change languages in order to try to teach your child yourself at home (experts do NOT recommend this).

What you could do is help by buying books and allowing your child to hear the language (music,rhymes,playgroups)
The child must be proficient in at least ONE language. Most sensible choice is the mother or father tongue.
French school in HK has a French section, bilingual classes (Eng/French - but following the French curriculum) and International section (separate headmaster and English curriculum)
With a French passport your child can automatically attend FIS and it may be worth enquiring re grants,now.
The passport gives you no priority, in the International section, however.
 
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