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Need Suggestion for local/DSS Primary

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  1. #21

    Join Date
    Apr 2005
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    my son's school is a local aided school. there are quite a few expat kids in the school, too. so, it's not just chinese & mixed kids.

    there are 2 streams at the school, because it is a school designated for non-chinese speakers.
    A stream is chinese. all subjects are taught in chinese, except english. the chinese class is conducted in putonghua.
    B stream is English. all subjects are taught in english, except chinese.

    because my son's in A stream, yes, his mathematics is in chinese (just got 100% on his exam!), but if he were in the B stream, it would be done in english.

    assemblies etc are all in chinese, so even the B stream kids, get more exposure to cantonese than they would ever get in an international school.

    best thing about the school????

    $0/month fees!

    emmie likes this.

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    74

    Howard Coombs,

    I noticed in a previous post of yours that your children go to Lingnan primary school. As you are both westerners and your children attend primary school, I was a bit surprised to find this out given your response. Can you share a bit your experience with your kids learning chinese, and to what degree tutors/study centres played a part?

    Also, how did you find communicating with the staff and handling the notices from the school?

    Thanks


  3. #23

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    13,099

    My kids attended Lingnan kg (Cantonese)
    followed by KCS primary (Mandarin)
    and then English schools for secondary.
    aside from that, they;ve had constant Cantonese based extracurricular activities of various sorts.
    We've had tutors in the house, every single day for the past 8 years; they've not only helped with homework and general tutoring, they helped with general communications.

    What part of my response did you find surprising? I just relayed my personal experience having raised 3 tri-lingual kids with yellow heads and round eyes in HK.

    bryant.english likes this.

  4. #24

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    74

    I didn't realize to what extent you used tutors. Thanks for sharing your experience; from my perspective/background I find it pretty edifying.

    Appreciate how forthcoming everyone has been!


  5. #25

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    When dealing with 3 kids who need Chinese help and parents that have zero Chinese, there is no other choice but to have tutors around.
    Mind you, these tutors were not "educators" : meaning that we didnt hire highly qualified teachers costing hundreds of dollars per hours. The tutors were mainly mainland university students helping kids out with things when they were getting stuck.


  6. #26

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Tuen Mun
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    My suggestion to any local parent who:

    a Is not wealthy
    b Wants their children to have a traditional education
    c Wants their children to be fluent in English

    is get a helper who speaks English well and CBeebies on NOWTV. That'll set you back 4000HKD per month.

    Even 1 hour every day with a Cambridge educated English professor will not come close to giving your children the fluency of an immersion experience with an 'almost' native English speaker IMHO.

    It's funny, if parents took my advice I'd be finished but I sincerely believe this point to be true.


  7. #27

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Tuen Mun
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    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    My kids attended Lingnan kg (Cantonese)
    followed by KCS primary (Mandarin)
    and then English schools for secondary.
    aside from that, they;ve had constant Cantonese based extracurricular activities of various sorts.
    We've had tutors in the house, every single day for the past 8 years; they've not only helped with homework and general tutoring, they helped with general communications.

    What part of my response did you find surprising? I just relayed my personal experience having raised 3 tri-lingual kids with yellow heads and round eyes in HK.
    Perfect....I am following in your footsteps with my boys. This gift we are giving our kids, the choices, the doors that will open for them that we never dreamed about!

    Every parent must make their own choices but please, please don't live here an miss the chance to give your kids at least two languages and cultures....
    HowardCoombs likes this.