Local Kindergarten to Intl Primary School

cathygum

My son is 3 years old now. We hope he can study in international school from primary years but at the same time we do hope to expose him to Chinese learning as much as possible, so we are sending him to a local kindergarten this September. (We did applied for ESF, GSIS and IMS but still on the waiting lists. After thorough discussion with my husband, we decided to go for local kindergarten because of Chinese learning).
Do you think our decision will weaken the chance of my son to enter into international school after kindergarten?
Thanks for any comments and suggestions~

964000

absolutely will weaken the chance. most IS require native english level.Also I dont see any benefit from studying local KG in chinese learning.

gatochat

My son is in local kindy and has applied to international primary schools.  We've had interviews recently and are waiting for the results.  
I have been very pleased with my son's improvements in his Chinese at his local kindy.  He has learnt some good English too and knows all the alphabets phonetically.  He doesn't not go to any extra classes after school.

cathygum

原帖由 964000 於 14-01-12 發表
本帖最後由 964000 於 14-1-12 19:30 編輯

absolutely will weaken the chance. most IS require native ...

Thanks for your reply. I hope my son can be exposed to a 'Chinese learning/playing environment' as much as possible in preschool stage so that he will not resist Chinese learning IF he can study in an intl primary school later. That's my thinking behind...

shadeslayer

原帖由 cathygum 於 14-01-12 發表
My son is 3 years old now. We hope he can study in international school from primary years but at th ...

What options do you have?  You don't even have one IS offer.  Weaken or not, do you have a choice?  You just have to make sure his/her English will be at a high level and pray for the best result in the future.

There are local pupils entering IS from local schools every year at every grade.  And there are more and more new IS. So there is certainly hope.

lui

原帖由 cathygum 於 14-01-12 發表
My son is 3 years old now. We hope he can study in international school from primary years but at th ...

I think the risk is getting higher. To be very honest, it is really competitive in IS school admission. They are looking for those with very fluent English.  Studying in. Local kg is no way better than IS kinder. If I were u, I will try to do more Chinese reading with him at home but putting him in An is kg.

cathygum

gatochat 發表於 14-1-12 20:20
My son is in local kindy and has applied to international primary schools.  We've had interviews rec ...

Thank you for your sharing! Do you mind if I pm you for more information and advice? Many thanks!

tcbobo

My experience is: Chinese learned at kindergarten can be forgotten almost completely after studying in IS primary for a few months.

cathygum

shadeslayer 發表於 14-1-12 20:43
What options do you have?  You don't even have one IS offer.  Weaken or not, do you have a choice?   ...

Thanks for your reply. We have only applied 3 IS that I mentioned. After the decision to go for local, we didn't apply other IS/English kindergartens like Starters School, Woodland, SWCK etc...My son is raised in a bilingual environment so I hope we can maintain his level of both languages. If possible, can you share with me a bit on the interview format for IS primary? Thanks~

cathygum

lui 發表於 14-1-12 21:19
I think the risk is getting higher. To be very honest, it is really competitive in IS school admissi ...

Thanks for your reply. I agree that fluency in English is very important for applying IS. From my observation until now, my son likes to speak English (and read English books) much more than Chinese, this is why we made such a decision to put him in a 'more Chinese environment' in early stage so that he won't be too resistant to continue learning Chinese in the future (whether it will be taught by me or tutor). I understand it is very competitive in IS admission nowadays and that's why we have such a dilemma...sigh...

cathygum

tcbobo 發表於 14-1-12 21:23
My experience is: Chinese learned at kindergarten can be forgotten almost completely after studying  ...

Thanks for your reply. Your child also went to local kindergarten and now in IS primary? Would you mind to share with me the interview format of IS primary admission? Thanks~

lui

原帖由 cathygum 於 14-01-12 發表
Thanks for your reply. I agree that fluency in English is very important for applying IS. From my ob ...

Well. For me, i think almost not us to make choice nowadays . It's the school to pick us rather we select. Have that said, to increase the chance getting in IS is the first priority and getting in is kg is the most promising way. U cannot hold two belief, which is quite contradict. The other mom is well said, chinese learnt can be almost forgotten after studying in Is for a few months. It's all about exposure. If u think Chinese is important , forget IS. Otherwise U will be 兩頭不到岸

shadeslayer

原帖由 cathygum 於 14-01-12 發表
Thanks for your reply. We have only applied 3 IS that I mentioned. After the decision to go for loca ...

Mine got to an IS at a even later stage, which is not applicable to you. I guess for interviews you just need to keep up his/her English and curiosity.

minirat

cathygum 發表於 14-1-12 20:28
Thanks for your reply. I hope my son can be exposed to a 'Chinese learning/playing environment' as m ...

May I know which language do you guys speak at home?

cathygum

原帖由 minirat 於 14-01-13 發表
May I know which language do you guys speak at home?

My husband speaks English and I speak Cantonese to my son.

minirat

cathygum 發表於 14-1-13 13:04
My husband speaks English and I speak Cantonese to my son.

This is pretty similar to our case.  I am the only one speaking to him in English whereas my husband and the other family members speak to him in Cantonese.  He speaks both languages now like your boy.  In order to prepare him for IS, I put him in an IS kindergarten and I am not worried about his Chinese at all coz he can pick that up at later stage, given that he is not in a complete native English home environment.  I share some of the parents' views above, that learning a language at this age might not be forgotten anyway if he is not given the same exposure at later stage.  I would rather concentrate on brushing up his English and prepare him for IS entry now and pick up Chinese later.  He can always take extra lessons to catch up if you think the exposure at school is not sufficient.