Another issue is that a large number of the kids in international schools will not be staying on to live in Hong Kong and although learning Chinese would be excellent it is not critical. I do find it amusing that my daughter learns Putonghua but not Cantonese. I suppose if this was a critical consideration for us then we could get a private tutor for that (and me as well .
Well for business purposes, it makes a lot more sense to learn Putonghua than Cantonese and the reading and writing is the same. I know of no international school that teaches cantonese.
There are many international school graduates that went back to study in North America that have found work back in Asia in part because of their reasonable fluency in Mandarin.
Let's face it though, a language isn't really learnt in a classroom, you get the basics there and the rest is really up to the individual. Many kids graduate from International Schools and they are far from being great in English and some can barely be understood when they speak.
Chinese is a complex language and it requires far more work than most kids are prepared to put in to be fluent especially when they have a full load of courses that are far more important in terms of getting them into university.
I don't think it's realistic to expect most kids to master 2-3 languages and all their other subjects. Many parents seem to forget that being a kid is also supposed to mean having some fun, do sports, do arts and develop into complete social beings. They are not little automatons being programmed at will...
Last edited by gilleshk; 10-08-2009 at 02:03 PM.
Having to go through the same issues as well.
My thoughts (based on no real knowledge...) was that staying in local system through primary level would get the chinese reading and writing core and potentially better 3 R's (does that show my age???), then change to international system for secondary level where developing life skills would be better.
Does that make sense?
Well that's the same as what we are thinking. Spoken language at home works, but obviously reading and writing are a different ball game.
As noted above kids should above all have fun, many parents here fire their kids into any extracurricular classes without thought. That's not what we are looking at! I understand where Hull is coming from in the expats here then gone but there are thousands of mixed families here as well who will be staying! Therein lies the problem, we only have one or the other in terms of education.
So it seems maybe primary in local and then secondary in either International or ESF is the only option.
"seem to forget that being a kid is also supposed to mean having some fun, do sports, do arts and develop into complete social beings. They are not little automatons being programmed at will... "
this is the problem that i have with local schools. all they produce, it seems, is automatons.
my kids ARE well rounded. i've been in the ed "business" in hk for over 14 yrs, so i think i'm fairly well versed in the whole "system".....i'm having a hard time deciding which is more important to me:
1) a child who can think for him/herself, solve problems etc (of course this is extremely important)
or
2) a child who can communicate with his grandparents and other family in native chinese (this is extremely important to me as well).
it seems to me that in order for me to have #1, i need to choose an international school. but for #2, i need a local school. there's nothing out there that provides both. that's the rub.
It's very reasonable and I know several mixed couples that have gone that route. It allows the kids to be fairly fluent in cantonese, get a good grip on the reading/writing and save loads of money.
Just have to support their English to make sure they don't hit a wall when they switch...
well there is a school which my friend went to. it is a government funded international school.
Sir Ellis Kadoorie Secondary School (west kowloon)
Sir Ellis Kadoorie Secondary School (West Kowloon)
It is full of ethic minorities. But nowadays, the government want to save the resources. More & more chinese students are going in.
It's not just about that, although in later life if they go away they can write. It's about fitting in locally, being able to read the menu in a restaurant, etc both with friends and family. It's about being able to work here as an adult in a more local setting and have an advantage when learning simplified characters / Mandarin. I have found that the more Chinese characters I know personally opens up more experiences for me and has made not only the understanding of simplified character much easier but has helped enormously with learning Mandarin. The kids are Chinese as well as Western, so make the best of both!