我自己英文唔好, 但我都想囝囝英文好, 比佢讀國際學校...

imcutebaby

會唔會好難呢??校方會唔會要家長英文底好, 先會收個小朋友呢???

babyoush

我都有少少係因為呢個原因，所以打算送我2個寶貝去讀國際學校，我諗應該唔會太難掛

ekkw3786

I wouldn't go as far as saying it is impossible for a Cantonese-speaking kid to go to an int'l school, but IMHO, it would be best if the kid possesses a fair grasp of the language before being sent to an int'l school. It would be extremely difficult for the kid to start picking up the language from scratch coz as another bk member pointed out before, Eng is taught in an int'l school as the kids' first language. My nephew's experience is that he spoke practically no Eng at all when he was sent to an int'l pre-nursery and he ended up not knowing what's going on in class most of the time, despite his having spent almost one (academic) year over there.

In my daughter's classmates' case, I noticed some of their parents speak Cantonese to them outside school, and that between those kids they speak Cantonese outside class. I wondered if they have a good idea of what's being taught in class. My suspicion was confirmed by the teacher during the parent's meeting who said that sometimes those kids had problems understanding what's going on... :cry:

babyoush

ekkw3786,

So do you mean I have to speak English without any Cantonese at home? Actually I speak both English and Cantonese to my daughter and so far she understands what I am saying and also what my maid is saying. I can speak no Cantonese with her but I afraid my parents cannot. My daughter stays in my parents' home in the day time, what do you think I can do to improve my daughter's English? Thx for your comments!

ekkw3786

babyoush, may I ask how old is your daughter? I prefer thinking the learning of two languages as a competition, which in your case is b/w you and your parents. You have the advantage of being the mum in this competition - I'm sure your daughter much prefers learning from you. Thus don't worry about your parents speaking Cantonese to her, if you speak a fair amount of Eng to her (and remember, not half Cantonese half Eng). If you want her first language to be Eng, then I'd think speaking only Eng to her is a must, but then it will depend also on her age now. :wink:

cccandy

Most international schools require students can speak fluent english.  Depend on the age too, if your child is young, fluent speaking english is the minimum, if your child is older, written english is also required.  If you really want to send your children to international school, better do it when they are young because once children use to the local system, they will be reluctant to write.

drckwong

ekkw3786, would you share your experience with those parents whose English level are not good but want their children to study in the international schools ???
Thanks a lot!!!

babyoush

ekkw3786,
How about the case with her cousin? My daughters are 18 months and 7 months respectively. In the day time they will stay in my parents' home with their 6-year-old cousin (going to P1 in Sept.), my daughter loves to play with her cousin and he speaks Cantonese almost all the time. Actually I found out that my daughter had learnt some naughty things from him already such as jumping on the sofa, I am worry about the learning of language will also be affected by this little cousin, what do you think? I think the difficulty for me is time, my daughter stays in a Cantonese environment longer than an English environment   

ekkw3786

drckwong, to be honest here I don't have experience with such parents as you mentioned and I'd say it could be difficult in their situation. I would get the kid admitted in an int'l kindergarten or an int'l class (a genuine one) of an ordinary kindergarten as early as possible (such as pre-nursery), knowing usually it is easier to do so when the kid is young, and thus not supposed to have a good command of Eng. (or any language) yet. The kid would learn Eng. in school, but since I couldn't help much at home I'd enroll the kid in some Eng. playgroups or other interest classes conducted in Eng. As I said earlier tho I don't think it is strictly necessary that the kid is a native Eng. speaker for admission to an int'l school I do believe a fairly good grasp of the language is the minimum to be asked from an applicant.

ekkw3786

babyoush, I could only share my own experience. I started speaking Eng. only w/ my daughter long before she could speak her first word. Both her parents worked during daytime and her caretakers were her grandparents, who spoke nothing but Cantonese. Everyday, she was in a Cantonese environment for a longer time than an Eng. environment. Yet, she picked up Eng. only during her early stage of language development. I found it amazing and that's why I said earlier that being the mum is a definite advantage in such a competition of languages as the one I had. It is interesting my daughter started picking up Cantonese only when it had been quite a long time into her language development and the way she did it was she translated what she had in mind from Eng. to Cantonese - of course not perfectly and many times she ended up speaking broken but funny Cantonese. :

But honestly I wouldn't know what to say about the effect of a Cantonese-speaking playmate - you know, the interaction b/w a kid and his/her playmate is so much different. Tho I still believe the advantage of being the mum invariably plays a significant part in this situation...

babyoush

ekkw3786,
Same with what you said about the effect of her playmate, starting from 3 or 4 months of age, I joined different playgroups with my daughter which all are conducted in English. I hope to find some English speaking friends for her and now 18 months old, I enrolled the playgroup in Woodland. I want to maximize the environment and chance of learning English but still I am worry about my own English level will affect her learning. I want my daughters' English much better than mine. May be the better I want, the more I need to worry about. Anyway, really thanks about your sharing, hope our children can have an enjoyable school life and bright future.

ekkw3786

I'm sure your girl is a happy soul as she has a caring and devoted mum. Given her exposure to the Eng. language thus far I would think she has a good chance of getting admitted to an int'l school! Tho, hope you don't mind but I'd like to say that don't take it too seriously when it comes to Eng. learning. You could end up unintensionally pressuring yourself, or, more importantly, your daughter. After all, languages are just tools one uses to communicate and I think it is always good for us parents to know which one our kids use best for this purpose. Multilingual capability would be good to have, but having it doesn't secure you a bright future, and not having it doesn't necessarily mean you are doomed... Having said that, if your girl has achieved a level of proficiency in Eng. and shows interest in it, there is no reason why you should stop developing her Eng. further. In any case, the most important thing is, as you said, that our children can have an enjoyable school and bright future!  :wink:

babyoush

Thank you so much. I am very happy to talk with you. May be I really give too much pressure to me and also my daughters. I think it is time to relax. The result is out of my control what I can do is just try my very best

Saturn

ekkw3786,

Your posting was a good piece for sharing in BK.  You have very good written Eng. & I trust you're also proficient in your spoken.  I also communicated with my son almost the same way like what you did to your kid.  I believe now my son's first language is Eng. as a result of this.  I feel little regret for having put too much emphasis on the Eng. side because he doesn't speak Cantonese to us anymore now even if I changed back to talk to him in Cantonese 2 years ago.  So, the situation is this, I talk to him in Cantonese & he answers me in Eng.  He only talks to his grandparents in Cantonese in phrases & with wrong grammar & funny accent.  He also doesn't like to learn Chinese that much & is shy of using Cantonese as his tool for communication.  

I don't mean to show off my son's Eng. ability but to point out the disadvantage of the way I did.

Saturn.

CherylMum

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[ 本帖最後由 CherylMum 於 09-11-17 17:17 編輯 ]

Saturn

CherylMum,

The reason why I did it this way was that I originally planned to send my son to CWBS & heard that the school won't accept the kid if they hear him/her talk in Cantonese.

In the past I discussed with my hub about using which lang. (Eng/Cantonese) with our kid.  He said there won't be any problem for our kid to learn Cantonese from TV & the surrounding environment in HK even if we send him to IS.  But now I would say it is very hard because he doesn't even watch Chin. programme.

I do agree with you now!  I even don't believe he could survive in a local school & IS is his single choice.

Saturn.

CherylMum 寫道:
Frankly, I don't think communicating with your kids in English is good to them.  Learning the mother tongue (i.e. Cantonese in Hong Kong) is very important to their language and cognitive development.

CherylMum

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[ 本帖最後由 CherylMum 於 09-11-17 17:18 編輯 ]

Lorry

i agree with CherylMum, i am also planning to send my son to IS.  My belief is that he will pick up the English from school and I will speak with him Cantonese at home.  If and when he insists in speaking English to me, i would say to him that please talk to me in Cantonese as I dont understand your English (because you speak too fast) just make up some unharmful excuses and give them chances to speak in Cantonese.  As Chinese, learning Chinese language and culture are very important.  I will plan to give private tutor to my son for famous chinese phrase with the meaning behind, i am sure it would form a crucial in his life in 20/30 years when he works...... China is getting big, so part of us want our kids to learn good English, but we also have to keep them on the right track for learning good Chinese (either Mandarin or Cantonese) as well.

This is just my own personal feeling, please dont get personally.

CherylMum

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[ 本帖最後由 CherylMum 於 09-11-17 17:18 編輯 ]