Hi All,
My son received offers from these 2 schools, and I'd like to get some inputs on them, to see which one will be more suitable for him. He's currently 5yo, so it'd be an entry to Casa/Prep year - which then continue to Primary years.
A bit of background about us:
- We moved to HK from Australia. Plan to stay until at least the time when my son finishes Primary years (7 years from now), or maybe longer, then back to Australia - but this may change if our work situation changes.
- We speak English at home. My son could only speak English now plus few Mandarin words from summer class.
- Both my husband & I were South East Asian born Chinese. But had lived in Australia for a while. Husband can speak & write Chinese, I can only speak basic Mandarin.
One of our wishes moving to HK (aside from better work offer) is to expose my son's to Chinese culture and be able to learn Mandarin easier. But we'd prefer to send him to Intl school as our longer term plan is to eventually move back to Australia and as mentioned before, work may bring us back to Australia sooner than planned - so it'd be easier for my son's to adopt back if he goes to English medium school in HK.
The pros and cons of the above choices - as I see it - are below. Wonder if anyone with info (or better - with kids in these schools) could provide some inputs on them?
IMS
+ more explorationary learning with montessori system
+ full immersion - all classes were thought by 2 teachers: english & mandarin speaking
- not to sure how easy to later on move from montessori system to normal schooling?
- not sure how well the full immersion works?
- more expensive school fee
KCIS
+ more established school with track record of mandarin teaching
+ cheaper school fee (around 1/2 of IMS)
- heard it's rote learning?
- mandarin will be taught as a 2nd language only: 40-60 mins a day, will this be enough?
Many thanks All.