local or international?? hurry!!

loupou said:
About switching from Int'l to local. Forget it. It's possible the other way 'round,
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i oppose!!! hehe, meaning this in the friendliest way possible so don't get offended because this is just a oppinion based forum (this is for the mods)
well, i think it really depends on the age, i went to international school since pre-nursery, at home we communicate in english and seldomly mandarin (when we learnt new words).. 3 weeks before Y4 started for me (and Y2 for my sis), my parents made a rash decision for us to switch to local, they decided that it was too late for my brothers (Y6 and 10) to switch.. We didn't know a single word of cantonese so my sis and I had to repeat the year we did (Y1 and 3), we stuck through it, although it was hard and i struggled a lil at first, with a bit of help the skl reluctantly gave,i managed, by the end of my elemantary skl years, to come first in chinese dictation, only losing marks for adhd prone errors (well kinda) i got distracted and repeated a word or puctuation.. can't rmb)... i managed to keep my english (although my sis' level did deteriate a lil) level kinda high- it got a lil um rusty-ish when i tried to explain myself when i felt reli frustrated...
i did eventually, after Y7 go back to international, or rather cut off chinese in schools- i attended boarding school, just like both my brothers did (one started age 10).. My sis did fine tho..
Sorry for the long reply, but the point i was trying to get through was it is possible, never say never AND Never let the fear of striking out get in you way... one of my fave quotes by babe ruth..
it is possible.. i went on to learn french, german (dropped those after a year) AND spanish(<-- did a gcse in that, although i deeply regretted dropping french for it, it was fun).. i must admit,the 6th language was hard to cram it.. i still however rmb um.. a few lines.. with languages u have to practice n use them every so often..
hola guys
 
Now i have heard cases that from IS to local or local to IS, the student need to repeat one year

i agree with bababy
it is not possible only if rejected by the local school

if you are given a choice,
master more languages
or master more knowledge/skill of different kinds?

bababy
you mean you like French most because it is fun?
 
Ok, I've got a couple of questions to add to the list. Like many of you, I am an expat with a HK Chinese husband. Right now our daughter (who is nearly 4) is in a local kindie (K1). She seems to be doing ok, is always happy to go to school. So far we plan to send her there next year as well for K2. My hubby is in medical school here and has only one year left. We hope to go back to the States for his residency and to live, but we won't know until a year from now if that is possible. Our plan was that if we were to stay here that we would send our dd through the local school system. However, I have many concerns about that, one of them being that her Chinese won't be strong enough to do well in that setting, and also that I won't be able to help her with any homework (and dh will be too busy in his residency... working probably 80+ hours per week).

With that said, I have a few questions:

1) Are there governement subsidies for ESF schools? (specifically Kennedy school).
2) My dd's primary language is English (what we speak/read at home), but since she's going to a local kindie, how hard would it be for her to get in to an ESF school?

Thanks for any help!
 
Oh, I thought of a third question...

For the local primary schools, how do you find out which Band each school is?
 
1) Are there governement subsidies for ESF schools? (specifically Kennedy school).

the subsidy has been reflected on the tution fee they charge you

2) My dd's primary language is English (what we speak/read at home), but since she's going to a local kindie, how hard would it be for her to get in to an ESF school?

not difficult going to ESF,
communicate to her more using English
 
I am currently a NET attached to a local primary school. From my observation, unless you are planning to put your child in an extremely great local primary school, it's a horrible system to be stuck in. My poor kids don't have time for anything fun. Even if there was a fun slot brough in, the amount of yelling that takes place in the classroom is kills any element of fun for a child.
So, if you are going local, seek out good local schools. I have just completed an observation of Kowloon Tong Government Primary and without a doubt, the school has taken in the best of EMB's suggestions and under the current principal, it is one of the best I've seen in HK.
 
yes, you do have to repeat a year, in best consideration for your kid's (s') welfare.. although i still hate my parents for [putting me through that, it's an experience i'd recommend to any one (esp. if the family and parents are supportive enough), it actually gave me an insight to the real life and ways of hk.. it made me think "hk" style..
and if english is their mother tongue then local kindie --> esf should be no prob.. o and please can anyone tell me wat dd is? is it actually pronounced dee dee?

Vrindavan said:
if you are given a choice,
master more languages
or master more knowledge/skill of different kinds?

bababy
you mean you like French most because it is fun?
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i would be greedy and pick the in between option..seriously, at first i thought definitely skills as just being fluent in more than one language wouldn't do jack, surely.. then as i typed it out i thought well maybe being fluent in a few languages is a skill in its own right.
sorry, i could've explained myself more clearly, i regret dropping french for spanish because although spanish was in a way easier n fun because it sounds quite sunny/bouncy and passionate, i still don't know much spanish and i didn't do french because of the teacher but i still remember some french!! avoiding sounding too stupid and ditzy but I only admitted to/ started regretting not continuing french when i hit the coasts of southern france!!! esp. when the guys said salut and bonjour to me, i was dumbstruck because they were reli hot, and i didn't understand much of the other stuff.. (apart from may i have a i think it's crepe de sucre or sumthing like that, where's the bathroom, il y a and douche) anyway this is getting muchas aburridas (am i correct?) so ya.. the point? i want to learn french again!! it would come it quite handy and although its image (to me) is formal, strict, fashion capital's (bar milan's italiano) language.. it's some what exotic when it comes to the coasts.
 
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There is no official banding of schools in HK
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Oh... thanks for clearing that up. I thought there was because other people talked about getting into a "band one" vs. "band five" school or something like that.

So if there is no official banding, how do you know what is a "good" school?
 
>>no official banding


i guess there is a banding, but it is not release to the public, thus only school principal and some teachers from that school will know its own school banding.
 
Well, im back, my son is halfway through primary 1 now, we met in the middle, he attends a DSS whereby instruction medium is english for lessons except for mandarin and chinese as a second language, so everyone is happy. the school seems fairly relaxed at the moment and not too demainding on the kids. this way my half/half son will ge tthe best of both worlds :agree:
 
My son is also halfway through P1. Although we do have homework and exam issues (my son is actually doing OK), the school (Pentecostal Yu Leung Fat in Fanling) is extremely supportive and is welcoming to non-Chinese children, although lessons are in Cantonese only. I'm sure that if a child had non-Chinese speaking parents, that some homework-support arrangement could be worked out with the school
 
glad your son is doing ok Roger, mine even though he speaks cantonese prefers an english speaking enviornemt and is thriving at school beause of it. he is very reluncant to speak cantonese at the moment.
 
ctrbabe1

Schools of the same cluster compare results... e.g. catholic school principals spend an arvo comparing performances. Primary schools are not banded! Bands have been decided based on some schools producing good kids going to good schools consistently and some even publish their results... this is what my C.D. head's just told me. There is no formula... a lot of it is perception.

Some schools have open days, perhaps you should consider checking them out. Otherwise, you can always p.m. me and I'll ask my team of local teacher's their thoughts... They are my best advisers being parents and teachers of the local system.

A DSS is probably your best bet... if not, check out this school... Kowloon Tong Government Primary School. I noticed that most of the local teachers with children in my school place their children in a DSS! Interesting isn't it?
 
Thanks for the info, Spockey. One more question. What is DSS? This is the first that I've heard of it. (I think...)
 
shaz said:
when my son goes its $2200 per month.
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Hi, shaz,

I am also looking for a good DSS with English and Mandarin for my 5-year-old daughter. Would you mind telling me which DSS is your son studying in now? Many thanks.
 
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