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NLai,
In ISs, English is the first language and Chinese is only an additional language. It is very difficult to expect children to have similar Chinese standard as their counterpart in local schools.
ISs have very limited time assigned for Chinese classes and the time is split into teaching the language itself, introducing Chinese culture (eg why eating mooncakes in mid-autumn festival, why having dragan dance during Chinese new year), and some Chinese history. You can imagine how much times is left for actually teaching the language. With the limited time spent, you cannot expect the teacher to be able to go through the textbooks in a very in-depth manner. For example, even if we are talking about the same Chinese poem 靜夜詩, local schools and international schools would probably be teaching it in a totally different approach. Local school children might be learning about the structures of different types of Chinese poem, while IS children would probably be just learning how to write the words and the meaning of the poem.
IS secondary schools have no special stress on teaching Chinese history and culture. They do teach cultures and history of different countries or nations, but would not spent more time on teaching about China. For example, my child in Year 7 have learnt about Japanese Noh Theatre "能劇" in Drama, and have leant some Chinese history in Humanities. My children's school (Renaissance College) has no national background. I think other schools like CANIS or AIS might spent relatively more time on Canadian and American history respectively. But what I notice so far, is that RC do not specifically spend more time on Chinese history or Chinese culture in classes, just because Hong Kong is a city in China. They do try to decorate the school a bit by, for example, putting up lanterns during moon festival and Chinese new year and encourage children (Chinese or western) to wear Chinese outfits during those times, and they have organised after schools fairs during those special festivals. However these are not part of the cirriculum, but rather merely after school events.
On the other hand, IS are learning English in a totally different way as local schools. English in IS is considered a first language and is "taught" as a first language. For example, even Year 7 English is mainly literature appreciation and critics. Students are asked to read certain books on their own at home, and then go back to school to discuss the content. Of course some time would also be assigned to do writing and grammar etc..
So, you can see that we are talking about different approach and expectations in teaching English and Chinese in local and international schools. And thus, we see very different results in the standard of the languages.
It is not practically and not reasonable to expect IS children to have Chinese standard comparable to local school children. So parents should be aware of this.
I think ultimately, it depends on what a parent want. I chose international school because of many reasons. Language was only one of the reasons (I want my children to have native English skills) and there are also a lot other reasons why I prefer international schools. Being weaker in Chinese is an unavoidable "result" of my choice. I feel perfectly fine with my children's Chinese standard. They are not as good in Chinese and are trying hard to keep up with reading and writing Chinese, but I am happy with their other skills they have acquired all these years. Skills that I think if I had chosen a local school, would not be as well developed as now. |
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發表於 08-4-9 12:28
