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Local schools and language
Posted: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 10:48 am
by wannamove
I have heard that the language programs in local schools are tougher than
International Schools. When asked to elaborate my friends could not give me more information. I am wondering if someone here has heard about it and think it is true.
My questions will be
- what languages are we talking about?
- at what age do they start these languages?
Thank you
Posted: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:11 pm
by sundaymorningstaple
Languages, with a few exceptions, at
International School levels will be taught as a foreign language. When taught at local schools, they are taught as a 2nd language. You start learning from K through A levels.
Posted: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 7:26 pm
by wannamove
Thanks for the clarification. Just curious - what languages are we talking about? The national languages?
Posted: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 8:02 pm
by maxidog
My son's 4 (nursery class, not even K level) and will be going to a local preschool from October. At that age, they have a Mandarin class every day for 1h15m with a teacher who cannot speak English. There are schools where the second language is another language (e.g. Malay I think) but usually it's Mandarin.
Posted: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 8:02 pm
by sundaymorningstaple
yes. Tamil, Mandarin, Malay or English
Posted: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 8:49 am
by wannamove
sundaymorningstaple wrote:yes. Tamil, Mandarin, Malay or English
Thank you for all the information
Posted: Thu, 01 Sep 2011 4:11 pm
by boffenl
Not all schools have a large enough cohort to hold a full class in each language, so some kids (Tamil in particular) may be bussed to a different school or community center for their classes which would be combined with other smaller coherts from different primary schools.
My daughter is in P4 and has had Mandarin instruction as a mother tongue (not as a second language) since the first day of Primary 1. Their times are from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours of Mandarin per day. Not sure if this changes the older they get or not.
Posted: Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:13 pm
by wannamove
boffenl wrote:Not all schools have a large enough cohort to hold a full class in each language, so some kids (Tamil in particular) may be bussed to a different school or community center for their classes which would be combined with other smaller coherts from different primary schools.
My daughter is in P4 and has had Mandarin instruction as a mother tongue (not as a second language) since the first day of Primary 1. Their times are from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours of Mandarin per day. Not sure if this changes the older they get or not.
Thank you! I am thinking about Tamil as a mother tongue so I need to find a school that has a big enough group for a language class I guess. Thanks again