Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Chinese primary school?
I've finally received the letter confirming the allocated primary school for girlet. Still in a dilemma whether to send her to a chinese school as both d'hubby and myself were not chinese educated. In fact we're 2nd generation of non-chinese educated people. What we like about chinese school is of course learning mandarin, the discipline, and supposedly better teachers (compared to the kebangsaan schools). Also more affordable than private schools, which she'll probably attend in secondary school. But we're worried that she can't cope, or we can't help with her homework.... don't even know half of what she's learning now in kindergarden. Have to formally enrol her by end of the month. Would appreciate if any experienced mothers share your thoughts.
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13 comments:
sorry..can't help you here..but even for me who took Chinese as second language back when I'm schooling, I still need to send my girl to Chinese Enrichment class.
All my three girls attend/attended Chinese primary school. Hubs and I know up to 1,2,3 in Chinese and he, at least can write his Chinese name.
It's a struggle, but if you hang on with a lot of understanding and love, the kids come out winners!
My two elder girls struggled with Chinese and excelled in all other subjects. Eventually with extra Chinese tuition and little pressure from Hubs and I they did better than expected for UPSR! The youngest one, now in Std. 3 is going through the same predicament.
Many people are surprised when they find out that my girls are tri-lingual and more often than not, impressed because they speak English well. They switch to Mandarin when we're at restaurants to order food. Of course when they are up to no good, they also converse in Mandarin so that mum and dad don't know what they are planning.
It's a painful journey that I wanted to give up many times but hung on and now enjoying the rewards!!
Erm, I think you better ask Brother Smell Hua what happened to our cousin Sze Leu when they sent her to Kuen Cheng. She practically failed everything and in the end her dad had to change her to Alice Smith.
Thanks Rachel, I am sending her to Chinese Enrichment class now which will prepare her for primary 1. Really hope that's sufficient.
Bentopet : What you said is very reassuring. It may be a struggle, but you do reap the reward in the end. Thanks!
Mei : I think Sze Leu didn't try at all because she knows that Alice Smith is always an option. Your bro is the one insisting on Chinese school. He regrets not learning the language.
Honestly speaking, it will be an opportunity for you and yr DH to pick up mandarin - speaking and reading/writing! Starting from basics mah!
Not to worry, I am sure both of you will do well by sending her to chinese school.
Well, Emily. I can speak mandarin, being from Johor afterall. I'm trying to learn to read now alongside girlet. Guess what she said. "Mummy, why your memory so bad?" Haha...
Can't help you on this as in 2 more years I will also blog about this topic in my blog. Me and my hub, both can't read in chinese but we can speak though. Even now my Le-Ann knows better mandarin than both of us.
Ok, if all else fails, there's Ah Kong! hehehe
I'd like to add one more thing, my husband taught me NOT to have a 'pitiful' kind of attitude towards the kids "Chinese education" (to feel that they are 'suffering') because the kids pick up on this and they too fall into this 'negative' kind of mood. Just stay as positive and as encouraging as possible.
Both my elder kids, 19 and 16 are now grateful that they did their 6 year stint in a Chinese school.
Being tri-lingual is definitely an advantage. There is a price to pay for a good thing!
I hope I won't get shot down for this. But I think it all depends on whether your kids has a liking for the language.
I attended both chinese and government school in primary, but do not keep in touch with the language, having like other forms of medium more. so I couldn't read the papers and could only recognise hawker stall signs "kai fun" "kon low mee" etc
But my other siblings who keep in touch with the language could still read Chinese papers, even though they reside and work in UK, Miami, Aust or US after their graduation and marriage. Me, I live in an Asian country, but do not keep in touch with the language, forgot most characters.
While I do realise that Chinese school is very much favoured nowadays, I still think it depends on the kid. No harm trying out Chinese school. If you don't think it's for girlet, you can always opt out later.
Thanks Bentopet, for your encouraging and practical words. Will definitely put that into practice.
Allthingspurple, you're absolutely right. Whether Chinese school is suitable really depends on the kid. But we wouldn't know til the kid have tried it. So will probably go the "no harm trying" route.
Thank you everyone for your input!
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