The Benefits of Chinese Immersion School
About 18 months ago, we had a parent/teacher meeting at my 6 year old daughter’s school. She was doing really well. In fact when we spoke to her Chinese teacher (they did 45 minutes of Chinese a day), she suggested my daughter was doing so well that she would benefit from extra classes. I balked at the idea, since I felt the school day was long enough without extra tutorials at the end of it. Then one of my neighbors told me she was sending her daughter to a bilingual Chinese English school. In the initial years they have an immersion program, with 70% Chinese and gradually they shift to 50/50. We had a look at the school. It was a hard choice as she was very happy in her current school amongst all the other ‘expat’ children. But she considered herself to be partly Chinese, even if she has blonde hair and blue eyes, as she was born in Hong Kong.
A year ago we took the plunge. I stopped working to support her and become involved with the school. I was petrified. Not just about the language learning (which we couldn’t support at home), but also the different culture, teaching style, school environment. She thrived. She loves school, she loves learning and speaking and reading and writing Chinese. She’s enthusiastic about everything. So now we’ve decided to send her brother there as well. Yes, there were moments of frustration and desperation- homework I didn’t understand, school reports I couldn’t read. But the school and other parents have been very supportive. Not only is she learning a language, but she’s understanding a whole culture and she’s realizing that who you are doesn’t depend on what you look like or what language you speak.
Gweipo is blogging about life in Hong Kong, music, books, cello, education, learning, young children, learning mandarin, arts and recreation, being a global nomad, expatriate life, photography, food, and anything and everything that catches her interest.
