I am currently hoping to find an international school that places emphasis on Putonghua and English as their medium of instruction. Currently my daughter is enrolled in a local school but we have had enough of weekly dictation and rote learning & would like to find other alternatives. What schools would be suitable and given my limited knowledge of international schools, I understand Chinese International and Kiangsu Chekiang may be good options. My husband is Australian and eventually we would like to send her back to Australia for further studies and with that in mind, does anyone know whether the Australian system will recognise any of the above curriculum run by the above schools. We've decided to rule out the Ausralian International School as they do not have a strong background in Mandarin. Would be really grateful for any comments in respect of the above.
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I would also love to receive comments regarding their experiences with the Chinese International and Kiangsu Chekiang or any other recommendation. Many thanks in advance..
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MC
19 yrs ago
Do a search on this site, there are many written about these 2 schools. Chinese int'l (CIS) is the only true international school that teaches mandarin properly aside from SIS. Others all have mandarin programs but they are nothing compared with CIS. However, the mandarin at CIS can be overwelming and may come at the expense of better English. SIS is also good, but very Chinese to a certain degree. Again, it is a balance. There is no perfect solution.
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There is one other school, it is relatively new, but sounds like an excellent alternative. It is the ISF, Independent Schools Foundation. It instructs in both Mandarin and English (immersion program for both languages, teachers are all native speakers), and it also follows the International Baccalaureate curriculum, so essentially, it should be easy to integrate into other international schools afterwards. I would suggest looking into it. I followed the IB curriculum all throughout high school, and it was really academically challenging and totally worth it.
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Hi MC, did read all the other posts which were all helpful. Hi Sfparishhk, I have heard good reviews about ISF. The only thing is that they have no track record given the school was formed in 2003. I am very tempted to send my child there as the ratio of teachers per the website is 1:10.. wow. I would be really grateful for any comments from parents in ISF or CIS which are probably the two options I would be looking into...
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MC
19 yrs ago
Interested Party. my daughter has been at CIS for almost 4 years so I kind of know that school well. Too long to write. I will send you a PM.
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Good luck getting into Chinese International School.
For Reception (age 4), 88 openings & well over 400 applicants so far. So roughly a 20% acceptance rate. Upside? Acceptance rate at CIS is much higher than at St. Paul's Coed....
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ltxhk
19 yrs ago
You could consider the Canadian International School in Aberdeen. Mandarin programme is 5x a week with kids at the end of primary fairing as well or better than SIS. Out of the international schools, the Mandarin programme is probably only second to CIS..... but you will not have to sacrifice as much in terms of the English, Maths and other subjects.
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