One in Internation+One in local

almom

原帖由 matthewdad 於 09-3-28 23:03 發表
My friend's younger son can communcate with other in English, Mandrain and French even he is in P6 of the local school & of course he can communicate with his elder borther who stuided in IS.  It is i ...

It is quite different between "learning" a language as a second language and "using' a language as a first language. Local schools students learn English as a second language. International schools students use English as a first language. That is a big difference.

I am sure your friend's son must be a bright kid if he is able to handle 3 foreign languages (I presume that he is cantonese speaking and thus mandarin is probably quite "foreign" to him) at the same time. But I would say that if these are second (third, etc) languages to him, it would be quite different from what we expect as a first language.

International school students use English as a first language. Even if they are local born chinese children, they are expected to use English as a first language at school. English classes in international schools are beyond grammar, comprehension and writing, etc. They do not learn English as merely a foreign language but they use English in a lot of critical analysis, discussions, etc.

Outside schools, casual conversations involves a lot of culture (including pop cultures, sports they play, etc). It is very hard for non-native speakers to be exactly involved in casual conversations and keep conversations rolling.

As an example. All students in Hong Kong learn English. However, even students that have high grades in English are mostly unable to involve in a complete English conversation. They are probably quite good at reading or writing English but are still unable to go beyond what they learn in class.

Unfortunately, things like pop cultures, girls' (boys') talks/gossips are something that are not taught in class. This is also one of the differences between being in an international school and a local school with high English standard.

And thus, local school + after school English classes would still not be the same as going to an international school.

Having said that, I must clarify that I did not mean that international schools are better than local schools.

What I wanted to say was that, parents should be aware of the differences of international schools and local schools. We are talking about things beyond the differences in language skills.

[ 本帖最後由 almom 於 09-3-29 22:38 編輯 ]

almom

原帖由 matthewdad 於 09-3-29 23:39 發表
His younger son finished IS kinder and year 1(only learn English + private tutor onMandrain) before sending to local P.1. Of course his younger son 's speaking english (as what you says) is not as goo ...

My message was drafted based on yours regarding your friend's son situation.

I maintain that local school + lots of English tuitions would still not be able to replace the environment and culture at international schools.

On the other hand similar things apply to the Chinese of international schools too.

My comments had nothing to do with Twolovely boys queries.

[ 本帖最後由 almom 於 09-3-30 13:15 編輯 ]

almom

Twolovelyboys,

Sorry I did not made it clearer in my previous message to Mathewdad.

May be I can share what I think more on your query.

I do not know anyone with one child in a local school and one child in an international school. However, I do not think the cultural differences would really be a huge problem. Whether 2 siblings can get along, pretty much depend on the effort they are willing to put. I have seen so many siblings speaking the same language and never get along.

Although personally I would not do what you intend to do, but I do respect your choice and you must have your reasons to do so. It would not be easy to have children going to schools so different, but I would say that nothing is impossible. It would totally depend on the effort you and your children are willing to put in maintaining harmony within the family.

Unfortunately, I am unable to contribute more regarding this but I think I remember there are a few parents that do have children in different schools (ie one local + one international). Hope they are still around and can share their experience.