Enrolling at a Chinese state school.

Beware - I only have anec-data for you... no direct experience.

One of my key resources for planning our move to China is a close friend who just returned from a 3 year stay with his family in Hangzhou. He and his wife are native Mandarin speakers, and speak only Mandarin in their home. They also had their son in weekend Mandarin classes. When they moved to China, They placed their son in Chinese public school. I believe their son was 10 at the time of the move. According to the family, the first year was brutal and required a ton of extra work. Subsequent years got easier. Only by the third year was their son (more or less) on par with his peers.

My son is 9 and has had a Mandarin nanny since birth. We thought he was conversationally fluent - he has no problem conversing with other Mandarin speakers. Our friends evaluated him and HIGHLY recommended we go with a bilingual school instead of a public school. They commented that he probably would not pass the language entry exam anyway.

As your daughter is 4, you might be in a different situation; but if she has not been exposed to the Chinese language, this could be a traumatic experience for her and the family.

Again, I have no direct experience here... just sharing my own research as we prepare for our move.

Mike.

Gonzo_hen_hao wrote:

Beware - I only have anec-data for you... no direct experience.

One of my key resources for planning our move to China is a close friend who just returned from a 3 year stay with his family in Hangzhou. He and his wife are native Mandarin speakers, and speak only Mandarin in their home. They also had their son in weekend Mandarin classes. When they moved to China, They placed their son in Chinese public school. I believe their son was 10 at the time of the move. According to the family, the first year was brutal and required a ton of extra work. Subsequent years got easier. Only by the third year was their son (more or less) on par with his peers.

My son is 9 and has had a Mandarin nanny since birth. We thought he was conversationally fluent - he has no problem conversing with other Mandarin speakers. Our friends evaluated him and HIGHLY recommended we go with a bilingual school instead of a public school. They commented that he probably would not pass the language entry exam anyway.

As your daughter is 4, you might be in a different situation; but if she has not been exposed to the Chinese language, this could be a traumatic experience for her and the family.

Again, I have no direct experience here... just sharing my own research as we prepare for our move.

Mike.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Although my daughters primary language is English, my wife has made a point of speaking Mandarin to her from a young age. She is not fluent, but has a grasp of the language.

In a perfect world I would love to send her to an international school, but from what I understand the fees are very high in China, more than a private school in the UK, so not something we can realistically afford.

I understand that it may be tough for the first few years, but am hoping that she would still be young enough to adapt quickly.

The crux of the current problem is to find out if she would even be allowed to join a public school with only one Chinese parent and being UK born herself.

If I understand my friend correctly, your daughter would need to pass a language entrance exam before being enrolled. This might be different at her age. Probably the best thing to do would be to research the schools in the area you want to live, and contact them directly.

Mike.

I have had several students, whose parents were both foreign, that went to public Chinese schools. So from my understanding, your child should be able to enroll in a public Chinese school.

KnowWander wrote:

I have had several students, whose parents were both foreign, that went to public Chinese schools. So from my understanding, your child should be able to enroll in a public Chinese school.

Many thanks.

Seems there is hope.