speak cantonese at home but study in IS

Ruby1219

I had the same 'methodology' as popolung.

My son is now in IS Year 4 already. Both me and my husband are home grown Hongkies. We speak fluent  but not very good English. We talked to our son is English before he got into IS kindy. So did our Philipino maid. While, our relatives & friends spoke to him in Cantonese. Me and my husband talked to each other in Cantonese. I would say, at that time, my son's exposure to English and Cantonese would be about 90:10. He did not speak/ understand much Cantonese at that time.

Once he got into IS kindy. We switched to talk to him in Cantonese. While,he talks to our maid in English and he watches TV and read books in English mostly. Now, I think his exposure to English and Cantonese is about 70:30.

Now, his Cantonese is not perfect but fluent. Although he sometimes uses wrong words or grammar. While his english is very fluent with native ascent. Although his teacher said he's not as good as the foreign kids (of course!) but it's perfectly fine for his study in IS. And the teacher said it can be improved easily along time when he grows up with more practice.

Just my 2 cents and hope this would help.

Ruby

popolung

原帖由 Ruby1219 於 09-2-7 22:49 發表
I had the same 'methodology' as popolung.

My son is now in IS Year 4 already. Both me and my husband are home grown Hongkies. We speak fluent  but not very good English. We talked to our son is Engli ...

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Thanks for proving my concept to be right, as my daughter is only K2 now. Though she can speak not bad Cantonese now (but I think she can't read Chinese at all as I intentionally don't teach her now) but still 80-90% she is speaking English. Once Y1 interview process finish I will gradually switch back to more Chinese / Cantonese focus, and hope I can do it just like what you said.

Ruby1219

popolung,

Wish you success!
Surely you will face difficulty and the process won't be smooth. The kids would hesitate to talk to you in Cantonese. I think English is much easier to master.
Besides talking to him in Cantonese, I also put him into extra curricular activities that teach in Cantonese, e.g. art, swimming etc. As he needs to socialize there, it would be a stronger motivation for him to talk to his peers in Cantonese.

Ruby

popolung

原帖由 Ruby1219 於 09-2-8 11:47 發表
popolung,

Wish you success!
Surely you will face difficulty and the process won't be smooth. The kids would hesitate to talk to you in Cantonese. I think English is much easier to master.
Besides  ...

actually she can now master Cantonese quite well, but I guess the most difficult part is read and then write....... right?   Anyway this is what we choose and hope will not be too hard to do it. Thanks again!

小謙伯伯

很多家長只知道母語對外語學習的負面影響，因而著力於用各種方法維護孩子學英語的環境和純正性。他們忽略了母語其實也可以正面的幫助孩子(乃至成人)的外語學習。

小謙正式返學已一年多，現在是K1，他爸爸和媽媽都會英語，但除了看書時間沒有特別跟孩子用英語談話，家傭也說本地話，不說英語。由於小謙對天文學特有興趣，而天文學的書本和網上知識都以英文的比較多，所以可以說這年他的學科知識主要是從英語來的，但我們當然沒可能全用英語教他，都是用粵語講解，而用英語說那些專門名詞。如果是普通一些的名詞(如太陽系的行星)，則會同時以粵語和普通話加說。這樣學習讓小孩子學會了很多我們從前到中學才會的英文字，例如gravity, atmosphere, orbit, galaxy, universe 等。簡單的 phrases 他也可以重覆來說(但自由造句則還未可以)，例如他曾經在昇降機內突然問我，"伯伯，Mercury 係咪 the first planet from the sun 呀？" 嚇得昇降機內的另一個伯伯 literally taken aback。有時我想，如果因循著學英文一定要全用英語來教，這年來大概我們只能夠跟他簡簡單單地講下bedside story 吧。

JYFC

My daughter & myself both have oversea passport.

Originally I thought she was in Category 1 that's why she got accepted by ESF kinders. Since ESF kinders do not have interview, I suppose we may have advantage with the oversea passport & attending IS nursery.

Before we submitted the application for ESF primary, I just ask her teacher out of curiosity which category is she in? To my surprise, she is in category 2. May be they will assess the child when they are in school. My daughter obviously speak both eng & cantonese in class so that's why she is in category 2.

The oversea passport won't help you much with the priority. it is the English levels that matters & for details pls check out the esf website.

原帖由 BabyMiMi 於 09-2-5 23:08 發表
One of my friend' gal and my son do not hold any overseas passport but are accepted by ESF this yr.  However, my another friend's son who holds an overseas passport is in the waiting list.  So, I thin ...

wcllks

popolung and Ruby,

I also adopt the same "methodology." My kid is now in ESF primary. If I had to make a choice, I would make the same one

My daughter can speak both English and Cantonese fluently now. She fix my pronunciations sometimes. I remember one time I said "pyjama" (without the ending 's') and then my girl replied, "pyjamas, with an 's'." Of course, it is really true that we need to work hard on promoting writing and reading Chinese at home.

popolung

原帖由 wcllks 於 09-2-10 22:34 發表
popolung and Ruby,

I also adopt the same "methodology." My kid is now in ESF primary. If I had to make a choice, I would make the same one

My daughter can speak both English and Cantonese fluen ...

Yes, my daughter in K2 already "fix" my pronouncation too, and will try my best to start to teach her better Chinese, though not easy.  

Today I started "testing water" by asking her: "later on I willl take you to learn more Chinese as it is a lot of fun" and you know what she said: "hmmm, better not"......

So it is a no easy path, but I will try my best, but at the same time, I will not push. Just try to make it happen, naturally! Once they really find sometimes fun in Chinese they will stick their head there sooner or later. I still think for us in HK it is easier to teach them Chinese ourselves than teach them English, at least we can read and write better.