CLUB OVERSEAS

[Song22]

Power Puff:

Hi, are there KS parents residing overseas? Can share information, stories and concerns.

Hello hello! yes I am! Waiting for this \"thread topic\" for a long time!

My family is living in China and I have 2 kids of 12 (ds) & 11 (dd). I think the main concern I have now is, ds is going to return to Singapore next January to start secondary and most likely, he will be staying in a boarding school and I am going to miss him.

What about you, where are you living?

Also calling for other former overseas parents to join, Simkhoo, please join and share your experience!

[sharonkhoo]

Song22:

Also calling for other former overseas parents to join, Simkhoo, please join and share your experience!

Thanks for the invitation, but I don't really 'belong' now! For those who don't know me, I have lived overseas for most of the past 18 yrs, but recently returned to Singapore for good. My girls are now 14 and 16yo. I'll be happy to contribute if I think I can help.

[Power Puff]

Hi, my family’s also in China. 1 child in kindy, the other’s just started primary school. Guess the key concerns for most parents would be education and medical care? Read an interesting thread about SPERS-for returning students even though my children have quite a long way to go…


Was concerned about the kids’ English standard at first (and us coping with the Chinese standard here!) but now I feel it’s better to concentrate on managing their emotional and physical well-being …Am taking each day as it comes.

Has anyone sent their kids for immersion programme in a primary school here and did they cope well? Am thinking of doing that for ds during the next summer hols, perhaps for 1-2 weeks. Wondering if he will like it so much (being in a familiar English-speaking environment after all) he may not want to return to China?

[Power Puff]

On a different note: how do you parents cope with being in a different country? SAHM (or F)s, Working mums/dads?

[Song22]

Hi Power Puff


I am at Shanghai, where about are you?
Yes, the key concern is education. After being through the whole primary life with my kids here, I must say that they have quite a fruitful time in Shanghai. My kids were in local chinese school for the first 3 years, and subsequently an international school.

Being at Chinese school (they were in a very popular local school in Shanghai) when they first started their education, they learnt to be discipline and cultivating good study habits. The teachers that we encountered at the local school are not only great but superb. They teaches with passion, know their subjects very well and \"very on\". I always tell my dh that I am even not as passionate as them teaching my kids! At this school, my kids build very strong foundation in Chinese and Maths. However, the kids worked hard every day, they reached home at 5pm, and need to do a few hours of homework daily. But then, tuition is not needed.

My kids transferred to International school at Grade 4. Reason being they need to bridge their English to Singapore standard. My kids enjoy the international school very much. They enjoy learning, going to school, and knowing friends from all over the world. The school covers subjects like history, geography at primary level. So my kids know the the basic geography stuff, WWI, WW2 quite well, it is very interesting.

I think for managing their emotional and physical well being, kids are easily adaptable especially at such young age. They would feel comfortable as long as parents are comfortable settling down. I would say that since you are in China, make full use of their strength here, like learning Chinese etc.

My kids did go back for immersion in P1 & P2 only, afterwards, I become lazy

Are your kid in international or local school? How long are your planning to be here? Wow, you are already thinking of spers, good to think ahead though

My dd will likely return next year to do spers. My ds did not do spers since he already dsa to a school.

Btw, i am a working mom and I find it is easy to work here since kids return home from school at around 5pm.

[jetsetter]

Hi Song:


May I know what’re the school fees of the local sch that your kids used to attend?

Why did you transfer to the international sch at Grade 4, and what’re the fees like?

Btw, I’m not overseas now, but my hubs and I have lived overseas (14 years and 6 years respectively). We came back for the sake of our kids education as we’re not sure abt the local sch curriculum in China. Is the Eng std in local PRC sch very low? Are there many SG kids there, or other Asian kids from HK, TW or Malaysia?

Is enrichment necessary in PRC? Was under the impression it’s a norm.

Tks!

[sharonkhoo]

Power Puff:

Has anyone sent their kids for immersion programme in a primary school here and did they cope well? Am thinking of doing that for ds during the next summer hols, perhaps for 1-2 weeks. Wondering if he will like it so much (being in a familiar English-speaking environment after all) he may not want to return to China?

I registered my girls in a Singapore primary school from P1 onwards as we weren't sure when we might return. I arranged for them to be in the Singapore school alternate years for periods from 5 wks to 5 mths. 1-2 weeks may be too short to make friends and really experience school. And you have to get uniforms and books, so it doesn't seem worth it for a very short period. They enjoyed their time in Singapore school. The first time was between taking them out of Chinese school and putting them in international school, so they didn't need to go back to Chinese school. They weren't too keen on Chinese school anyway as their Chinese is not good and we speak only English at home, and they found the hours really long. They loved international school though, so we never had a problem going back to China after being in Singapore.

[Power Puff]

Thanks, Song22 and slmkhoo, for your sharing.


We’re in Guangdong. My kids are in local schools where Mandarin is used all the time except for English lang lessons.

As Song also mentioned, the work ethics and discipline of the staff and students are strong. It seems ds’ teachers are particular about revision and expect parental involvement in guiding their child especially in reading, and completing the moral education book together. There is quite a lot of focus on building up the students’ independence. We are hoping that at the end of our stay here, the kids will become lot more confident speaking and writing in Chinese and pick up important life skills along the way. The onus is on us parents to provide a good English language home environment.

The primary school is certainly much more academic but kids from Grade 1 can also sign up from among a huge variety of ‘interest’/recreational’ classes catered to beginners, intermediate and high/school team standards. I like that the kids can try out different activities from a young age and slowly find their niche, unlike in Singapore.

Are there parents who have enrolled their children only in local China schools, then returned to Singapore to continue primary schooling? Were the children able to cope well?

[Power Puff]

Oops forgot to ask Song22:


Your kids went through the whole primary school system in a local public or private school? How did they cope with the demands of the Chinese language? Did you have to engage a tutor for them? Thanks.