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My 4 year old finally gets to decide on her own school

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RachaelLau

Barker

Joined: June 23, 2006
Posts: 145

Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 10, 2008 - 11:51 AM
Post subject: My 4 year old finally gets to decide on her own school

A year ago, we landed in Shanghai. I found a school which I believe is the best for my daughter. Its 3 & 3 bilingual school. Good curriculum, great facilities, gentle teachers, near my house and great prices! I couldn't have ask for more.

Alright, I have a hidden agenda too. Though its more bilingual, it has much more Chinese influence. The English native teacher teaches for only 1 hour a day. I desparately wanted her to learn Chinese. I mean who doesn't want their kids to pick up Chinese from China? Furthermore, we are Chinese Singaporean. We need to be bilingual.

But 1 year later, I ended up having a kid who hates school and still cry her way to school. She gave me that hateful eyes whenever I drop her in school every morning. Definitely not what I can tolerate over such long period of time. So mission failed.

The reason is she don't want to speak and learn Chinese. And she put this very strongly to me whenever she told me why she hates school. I must say she is one stubborn girl. Its just hard to imagine how can a 3 years old persist for so long on something she doesn't like.

3 days ago, I change her school to Learning Habitat. An English base and small scale kindergarten with one period of Chinese a day. Now I see the change in her.

Well, she still doesn't like to go school. But she come home with a broad smile everyday and talk about her school. One her first day, she came home telling me, "Its really true, they all speak English, only a little bit Chinese. Its great."

Actually, I am still in a dilemma. I am not sure if I am doing the right thing. The fact is, eventhough she doesn't like the school. She learns so much from there. From a pure English speaking toddler to be able to speak Chinese so fluently within a year. And I have just traded all the achievement just to keep her happy when she goes to school.

I am just wondering if there is any other mum who had similar experience like me. Changing a great school which your kids really learn just because they don't like it? Is that a right choice?

Rachael

StMichael

Ranter

Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 586
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 10, 2008 - 05:36 PM

Depends on how you look at it, Rachael. Granted I was already in high school by that time, but the fact that my father "forced" me to pick a "Chinese" high school to go to allowed me to kept my Chinese roots alive. It was very tough for me then - I flunked my Higher Chinese every year, and was the subject of much teasing because of my weak Chinese (though I was "king" when it came to English). If not for my father, I may have ended up in ACS and possibly be a "banana" instead of a "potato" (Singaporeans will understand the difference).

As an educator, though, I want to say that it is important for the young child to like her school and her study environment. The learning curve accelerates when the child likes her teachers, likes the environment and so forth.

_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com

freedelia

Rocker

Joined: Nov 27, 2006
Posts: 657

Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 11, 2008 - 03:53 AM

I believe that for a 4 year old emotional comfort is much more important than curriculum. I am sure you don't want to raise an emotionally scarred child.I personally hate the Chinese education system and i think it traumatizes kids for life (by laughing at their mistakes, encouraging comparisons between students, insulting and ridiculing done by teachers in front of other kids and many many other reasons). I want my kids to learn Chinese too, but not at any cost.

Also, I believe that a happy child, a child who feels understood by his/her parents is a lot more responsive to parents' requests. What I mean is that if your daughter will feel that her needs are important to you and will see that your main goal is to make her happy, she will do her best to make you happy in return. I am sure that one hour of chinese language done the right way, that she loves and enjoys will be better over all than 5 hours of Chinese she hates.

I know Learning Habitat. It is, in my opinion, a good environment for exposure to Chinese language. The fact that they have a Chinese teacher in the classroom at all times (or most times for older kids) and they have ayis helping the kids get dressed/undressed, change shoes, go to th bathroom, etc, in my opinion helps a lot with the Chinese. And it is, at the same time, a structured (the way Asian parents prefer) but friendly learning environment.

I think you made the right choice and I am sure seeing your daughter excited about going to school (it will happen soon) will show you that it was the right decision.

RachaelLau

Barker

Joined: June 23, 2006
Posts: 145

Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 11, 2008 - 03:23 PM

freedelia wrote:

I am sure that one hour of chinese language done the right way, that she loves and enjoys will be better over all than 5 hours of Chinese she hates.

I like what you have just said. Now she is definitely happier in going to school. Considering the fact that she stop crying before getting in the school bus just after 2 days in the new school versus crying for the past one year.

Now I read Chinese story book to her everyday. But she still give me that boring look. And nope, she will not open her mouth and read Chinese words unless there is some kind of reward. Well, at least better than none.

But this can probably last for the next few months. She is currently only going for half day school. Next year, she will be 5 years old and the school no longer offer half day school and they are raising the school fee. We may not be able to afford it. So I need to hunt for other option.

I am just wondering if there is any other school like Learning Habitat that charges about 4000RMB per month. It could be a half day or full day.

freedelia

Rocker

Joined: Nov 27, 2006
Posts: 657

Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 11, 2008 - 03:48 PM

There are some downtown, but I would not recommend them for a 5 year old, as they are very disorganized and the teachers are often not very good and have no idea about child psychology and best ways to teach young kids. See my post in the Local Kindergartens thread for some names and prices.

The best school in town (my opinion) for this age (2-6 years old) is Stars and Stripes. It is a little cheaper than Learning Habitat (5500 for full day) but not as cheap as 4000, and do not offer half day for children over 3. But it is by far the best school I have seen (I am an education major and I have seen almost all the kindergartens in Shanghai). They recruit their teachers directly from the US from a university in Michigan that offers one of the best early years program in the States, the curriculum is just perfect (might seem too easy for Asian parents, but it is just perfect for Western parents), the facilities are warm, welcoming and offer a lot to be explored by the kids. Also have huge outdoor area, with grass, sand, slides and a swimming pool for the summer time.

Definitely go and see the school. The chinese exposure is not as much as at Learning Habitat, as there are no Chinese teachers in the classroom, but they do join play time, meals and other activities and there is a chinese class (60-90 minutes) in the afternoon every day. My son's chinese has gotten really good over the past year since he's been going there. And he has fun in Chinese class (they do all sorts of interesting activities, arts, songs, etc.)

I am glad to hear your daughter is having fun at school, this is what every child deserves!

RachaelLau

Barker

Joined: June 23, 2006
Posts: 145

Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 13, 2008 - 06:45 PM

That's a very good piece of advice. Thanks. I will check it out one of these days.

happyhere

Seeker

Joined: Jan 27, 2007
Posts: 47

Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 14, 2008 - 03:11 AM

My youngest child spoke only English when she started at a local Chinese kindergarten in Shanghai. She is Eurasian. We purposely avoided looking for a 'bilingual kindergarten' but rather looked for a really good Chinese kindergarten. We found one. The teachers were all university or normal school graduates, and the facilitities were excellent and purpose-built. The teachers and assistants concentrated on developing verbal (putonghua) and basic Chinese literacy skills (mostly in year 3), social skills, and physical skills. Our daughter spent almost 7 hours there each week day for three years, (from 3 to 6).

Yes she cried for the first few weeks because she had not been in day care and was scared to be off on her own for the first time especially in an enviornment where she initially did not have language skills .But eventually she was fine. And within a few months she was fully engaged in all kinds of fun activities. In those three years she accomplished a lot. She developed a native-level Chinese ability, (We kept her English developing at home.), learned how to use an abacus, learned basic addition and subtraction, learned to kick a dianzi with such spirit, jumped rope, played all kinds of games, drew pictures, used clay, mixed paints, planted flowers, sang songs and recited poems, danced, gave little show-and-tell speeches, participated in small and large group games, participated in little plays, etc. She made great friends, developed excellent coordination skills, and gained social, physical and academic confidence. She had an extremely smooth transition to primary school. She left her kindergarten having spent three years with the same group of students and the same teachers and assistants (This was a real plus.). They were a friendly and cohesive little group..

I think it worked because the school didn't try to be something it wasn't, ie a bilingual school. I am dubious of many kindergartens that claim to be 'bilingual'. I think many kindergartens in Asia often over-extend and over-sell themselves claiming and trying to be 'bilingual', and they end up not really succeeding at doing the essential things a kindergarten should do. If you want your child to learn Chinese in kindergarten, wny not go the emersion route and find a good local Chinese kindergarten.

freedelia

Rocker

Joined: Nov 27, 2006
Posts: 657

Status: Offline

Posted: Apr 14, 2008 - 07:49 AM

Because a kindergarten is not good or bad based on academics, but on the way they treat a child emotionally -- which is an area in which every Chinese kindergarten I ever stepped foot in fails. I would love for my Children to be fluent in Chinese, but at the same time, I would rather they were happy kids, allowed to be silly, loud, not finish their food and a lot of other things kids should be allowed to do, but in CHinese kindergartens they aren't...