Local schools

I expect my child to be truely native in 3 languages, English, Cantonese and Mandarin that is why I put her into the local schools.


I find a lot of international school students have limited spoken and especially reading/writing skills in Chinese. It is easier to learn English than it is to learn Chinese especially writing Chinese characters. If you anticipate to stay in the Asia region is very important to learn Chinese and the earlier the better.


If learning language is not your concern then take the easy root by going to an international school.


Going into the local schools is tough, especially if the parents do not speak/read Chinese. But there are many direct subsidized schools which are affordable, use English as medium of instruction and Chinese is taught to near native level.


Depending on the parent's expectation of their child dictates what education structure you put your child under. There are pros and cons. You have to weigh out these.

we just went looking for a kindergarten for our son, he will be 3 this november and they said he can go to kinder on September. So we start going to an international school and talked to the head teacher about how we want our kid to learn the cantonese language, and she strongly said that a lot of expats parents really want to send their kid to a local school for the chance for them to let the kid learn cantonese, but she said a lot the kids are totally lost.......


So next step we went to a local school.....and we heard a lot of positive views from the teacher there, she mentioned that kid around those age adapt to an environment very fast, she said they have students who never speaks cantonese and they are fine, and the teacher told us to give it a try. And the school fee is only 1,200/month, but if we can be able to get the government voucher we will be only paying 100-200/month.


So then we decided to let him go to the local school and pay someone to help our son do his homework. We will try it for a year, if doesnt work we will bring him to an international school. Besdies local school now have english lessons as well everyday, they told us they have an expat english teacher as well.

Yes, English is taught everyday in local schools and NET teachers teach approximately once a week. So your child will also learn English and if the parents speak English at home, then there should be no problem with this language.


Children learn amazingly quickly and before you know it there are able to communicate in whichever language they are taught.


I now an expat family from Canada who put their children into local kindergarten and primary school and are fluent in 3 languages!

nice to hear a good story about it, hope our son will get the same benefit. But how did you manage about the homeworks? honestly this is the thing we are worried about, no one at home can read chinese or speaks chinese

There are two sides to this argument. One, you just let your kid trod along, you will be amazed that he can keep up...... if you are not concern about him getting high marks in exams/test/dictations etc. Or two, if you really like him to excel and push him a little hire a local speaking tutor. There are many local students/private tutors/part-time mothers willing to give private tution. I have used university students which are very good and charge cheap rates especially if you negotiate for your tutor to come on a daily basis for say one hour daily for several times a week. You can find them advertised on supermarket boards and on the internet. Your expenses on private tutition are still alot cheaper than international school fees! Alternatively, you can try tutition centres which are everywhere. You take all your homework to the centre after school and staff will explain the homework set and complete it there.


Good luck! Just don't put too much pressure to complete all homework, you can tell the teacher that your child need extra time to complete the task or wish to waive so much homework if your child is unwell or not up to finishing all homework in one evening.

How did you find the local school and complete the application process?

I have heard for the good schools it is very competitive to get in, etc...

we went to several local schools and international schools, its not that hard to get into, we live at the south side of Hong Kong where there are a lot of schools, so far the only school we can't get into is the victoria international school, there is a long waiting list.


But then we are talking kindegarten here, I know for primary its hard to get into, but are already starting to apply to ESF.

We are a French family, with only French and English spoken at home, and our daughter started local kindergarten last September, half-day only. She really enjoys it, in November the teacher told us that she could understand most of the instructions, and for the last couple of months, she is now talking !

International schools were not an option for us in view of the price, plus we wanted the school to be closed to home, to avoid unnecessary traveling for our daughter. We visited 5-6 schools in our neighborhood, and decided for this one for several reasons:

- they offer half-day program in Nursery class

- they were comfortable to have a non-Cantonese speaking student

- fees.

The schools always ask to 'interview' the child, but it was more to meet her than to assess her, and none of the schools mentions any restriction to get in.


There is no homework as such, sometimes some coloring maybe, and we don't really follow up on that, as at this stage we don't really want to bother her with that. However since February, I've arranged for the daughter of one of my colleagues (hig school student) to come home twice a week to play with my children in Cantonese, read them stories etc... Since then, my daughter is much more comfortable talking in Cantonese, and even my son who hasn't started school yet is picking up Cantonese. The 'tutor' also translates all the information from school to me.

We are extremely happy with our choice, as we can see our daughter communicating in Cantonese with other kids at the playground. We are planning on doing the same for our son in September, and our daughter will probably start full time then.

"Children learn amazingly quickly and before you know it there are able to communicate in whichever language they are taught. "


Indeed. Our daughter, just turned 2 at the time, learned English (to her age level, obviously) in 3 weeks from our helper and in kindergarten. Children learn at a baffling rate.

About 12 years ago we sent our oldest child off to local nursery/ kindergarten to learn some Chinese. We really were looking for a Mandarin nursery and before the hand-over there were not many nice options. However, there were tons of bright and cheerful Cantonese schools in our neighborhood. He stayed for 3+ years and was always happy at school. In the later years there was some character homework, but the teachers always ensured that he knew what to do. He was the first expat child to attend, but four years later when his brother followed there were several other expat children. They all learned to speak Cantonese well.


At the time I can not say that we were long-term xpats, but just thinking one should learn the local language.... since it could only be a plus. Today, we are still here..... and my boys feel very lucky to be able to talk with anyone, understand the local jokes, never feel a divide at school whether expat or local, and to participate in any gov't kid's programme with such ease. They both love HK (perhaps more than the parents) because they are truly immersed in living here.


Both attend international schools where they have studied Mandarin for years. Without question, there is a lot more Chinese in the local schools..... but the quality of Mandarin is not always very high since the emphasis is on Cantonese. The Cantonese background has allowed both to be streamed into the advanced levels of Mandarin with mostly Chinese students. And today, they are fluent in Cantonese, more than conversational in Mandarin, and read and write about one year behind local school standard.


Whatever English kindy learning was lost in the first few years was quickly made up in primary school. But the ease of learning Cantonese in a kindy environment can not be regained later. Whether to go local or international for primary afterwards is an ongoing debate; both have their merits and some really depends on the child's learning style.

Thanks for your valuable experience/comments ltxhk.


That is the very point I am trying to make!


Early learning of Chinese makes a difference to your child's progression later. By learning early ( I mean from kindergarten and especially in primary school) builds an excellent and strong foundation to your Chinese learning.


I must say your experience with your children 12 years ago has changed somewhat. Since the handover in 1997 and emphasis on Mandarin has created a stronger language learning structure in the 3 language taught in local schools.


Furthermore, if you learn Cantonese which is the traditional character writing is in fact more difficult and switching to the simple Mandarin form of character writing makes the task easier. Not so easy the other way round ie. Mandarin to Cantonese.


More importantly as mentioned by ltxhk the expat children with fluent Chinese are able to integrate into the society better rather to restricting to "English only" form of communication. They are accessible to the market in that if they wanted for example to seek part-time/summer jobs. In the future, if they remain in Asia, Chinese is an advantage not only from a career point of view but when working in the local/mainland market and to getting down to the "nit and grit" of the real world of working, Chinese is essential. At least you will know if you are getting a stab in the back!


If parents speak English at home there should not be any significant impact on the child's English learning. English as a language can be easily picked up and even learnt later in life. I doubt many adult learners can pick up Chinese language and traditional form of character writing as quickly as a child!


Parents have many choices of schools in Hong Kong (but getting accepted into them is another matter!). There are local schools with excellent elite schools, church sponsored schools and private organization sponsored school. A more diversified list of "direct subsidized schools" are excellent choice for expat with limited budget. Of course, the selection of international schools, ESF and PIS under the ESF umberella.