The dilemma of school choice for multilingual DC

[SplendidXOZ]

We are a multicultural family and have been living in HK for a few years. Before relocating to HK, my partner and I were settled in the UK. But neither of us originally from the UK.

Our DS currently in a local kindergarten where Cantonese is used as the medium of instruction. He mainly speaks Cantonese in the school. We have been trying OPOL (one person one language) method at home since he was born. So I speaks to him in my mother tongue Mandarin, my partner speaks to him in French, our Filipino nanny speaks to him in English and our common language is English. DS switches between four languages on daily basis. He is coping well at the moment. He is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. French is the weakest to him among all languages. He can understand French without a problem, but doesn't speak much. We really hope that he can be multilingual or at least truly trilingual (English, Mandarin and French).

We are thinking of moving back to the UK in a couple of years before he takes 11+ exams. But whether it's possible depends on our job situation. Now our dilemma is that what kind of school that we want to send him to while we are still in HK. There are a few options.

1. British international school

pros:

• It teaches British national curriculum, which provides an easy transition for DS to settle in in an English school later on.
• We appreciate British education

cons: Mainly concerns is the language

• Mandarin is taught as second language, so we may still need to get a private tutor for him.
• French doesn't exist for the lower grades

 2. French International School

pros:

• The French stream is a Bilingual pathway in French and English, which we more likely to choose if we decide to send him to FIS.
• The students are pretty diverse.
• They also have an international stream that follows British curriculum in English and math. I only guess it may be possible for us to switch from the French stream to the international stream if needed.

cons:

• Mandarin in the school can be ignored, as it's treated as the third language. Strong support outside of the school in Mandarin learning is the must.
• I am not sure how easy for him to switch from French national curriculum to British curriculum in the future.
• I heard some negative comments about French way of teaching...But the teaching style in FIS may be different from how it is in France.

   3. Bilingual IB school for English and Mandarin

pros

• It provides sufficient language resources for English and Mandarin. It's easier for my DS to become native in Mandarin.

cons

• It's hard to get in, because the bilingual schools like VSA, ISF are very popular among local and mainland families and super competitive.
• Most of the students are from local or the mainland. The culture is hardly international.

    4. Local Chinese school

I know it's not multilingual...but we think Chinese including Mandarin and Cantonese are most difficult language to learn compared to English and French. I have seen a few multilingual kids/adults who went to local schools in HK for primary eduction and then were transferred to IS from secondary school. In this way, he doesn't only can be native in Mandarin but also in Cantonese.
The cons are obvious and similar with the option 3. Chinese parents very pushy in general. If we don't want DS to be at the bottom of his class in term of academic results, we may have to become tiger mom/dad. Is it worth to choose this path because of Chinese?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

What about other subjects?
Which school offers a well-rounded education for him?
And extra-curricular?
Where do you hope he’ll attend university?

He’s only kindergarten age right now, perhaps you need to see a bigger picture, away from languages, which can be picked up by multilingual kids very quickly later on.

For 11+ I'd recommend a local Chinese school with extra enrichment in English and French as it would probably have the strongest all round teaching.

Where do you think he will go to uni? I'd educate in the language he is the most likely to use it

I would choose the French international school with the bilingual English/French pathway. Continue doing OPOL at home. Then in a few years' time you could get a private tutor to teach literacy in Mandarin.

If you follow this approach then your child should end up speaking Mandarin and French as native languages (which is logical if his parents are Chinese and French) with English a very close third. If you do move to the UK before secondary school then his English will catch up and probably take over at that point, but he'll have the solid grounding in Mandarin and French.

I'd go British or French international stream.
I don't like the PYP curriculum, and would be very wary of mainland Chinese parents in options 3 &4.

That's amazing to speak all those languages. My grand mother was Austrian but wasn't allowed to speak German when she came to the UK (after the war). My dad always regrets him not learning German from her, as he would have taught it to us too!

i’d say, keep going strong with your OPOL, that is transportable wherever you go

there is not one route

for schools, without being in the French International School bilingual Primary Section and even 6e, 5e it is super difficult to ever be able to properly integrate as French

Or, if that is not a priority for you, then CIS

imho keep your minds open to boarding in UK say from Year 9 or 10. There are some brilliant options, csfc to name just one, and the traditional ones. Educational consultants in hk can help you navigate this early.

Oh and I’d use purely French and Mandarin at home as much as poss so DC rarely hears you speak Englisj

Thanks for your advice. I'll reply some your questions later. Just to add some more details that he is only 4 yo right now. When he is about 9, it may be time for us to move back to the UK for his eduction. So he is likely to go to uni in the UK unless he wants to choose somewhere else.

Despite the appeal of Cantonese, I would be wary of sending to the local system because of the political interference.

Thanks for all above suggestion.

@PlatinumBrunette , I do agree with you about needing see a big picture. With regard to ECA, IS is definitely much better than the local schools in HK. So the 4th option is the least favorite.

@MissScarletInTheBallroom Actually I also prefer FIS because it seems to be more multiculture, and there is more chance for my DS to be trilingual.
We just learned that the bilingual pathway from CP (the first year in primary school) is only available for students who have been at FIS from preschool or at least 1 year with approval from the child’s French and English teachers. That means he can't just get accepted by the bilingual program, and will need 1 year to accelerate her French level first in FIS. Also the English part follows American International Section (AIS) rather than English national curriculum. My partner feel it would be too many changes for him to go from a local kindergarten to French International education system, then move to a bilingual program with AIS, and then switch completed to English national curriculum.

4 family languages is always tricky it seems. If French, Mandarin and English are the preferred family languages you need to reinforce those. Can you find a nanny who speaks Mandarin or French? That will balance out whatever is spoken in school.
Of all the 4 language families i know, the DC best one has always ended up being what the nanny spoke!

Since DS is in a local kindergarten, he likes to speak Cantonese and Mandarin. Unfortunately once he joins an IS, he may lose the ability to speak Cantonese, because it's not a home language and people can live in HK without speaking it (sadly), although it's the main local language. He is comfortable with speaking English, normally starts with speaking English to strangers.

We do have a French babysitter who comes once per week and also he has been in a weekly French playgroup since he was 18 months. I really don't know after so much effort has been made in French, why he still only speaks French at a basic level (No problem with listening).

French is a much, much harder language to learn to read and write than English and the French education system is much weaker than the English education system. I recommend you send your child to a French-English bilingual primary school and to focus on French acquisition by getting a French nanny (Filipina nannies who speak poor English are a wasted opportunity for multilingual families and many live to regret that choice).

I really don't know after so much effort has been made in French, why he still only speaks French at a basic level (No problem with listening) he doesn't speak it because he doesn't have to @SplendidXOZ . He knows your partner speaks English because that's what you speak together. In my experience, small children do what they have to do. They don't do it because it's clever or because they can see it might be useful one day - they do it because they need to communicate. It's only when they are much older they wonder why they didn't keep up a language they could have been fluent in by which point it is too late. In your situation I would put him in the French international school - then he will have to speak French at school (and will have friends who also speak French) he will also reinforce his English there. His Mandarin (and Cantonese to some extent) will be maintained by you (it's not called mother tongue for nothing) and by the fact he is living in a place where these languages are spoken all around him. From personal experience with my own DCs, I think the early years of the French system (maternelle and primaire) are the best and the earlier you can start the better. If you can get him into the habit of speaking French from a young age he will be more likely to keep this up with his father as he gets older. It will also give you the option of applying to the Lycée in London. If you are thinking about moving back to the UK then you will need to get used to reinforcing the Mandarin yourself - much easier while you are living in Hong Kong so double down on it now so he is happy to continue when he gets to the UK (and he will feel more self-conscious about speaking a language no-one around him is speaking). Multilingualism looks so easy to those looking in, but it takes an enormous continued effort to reinforce it. Children don't do it because they want to look clever (in fact it can be the very opposite - they want to fit in and be like others). Mine grew up with English, French and German - German fell off the radar after we left Germany and moved to London, but DS has picked it up after a year abroad in Berlin with his degree and is inevitably asking why we didn't force them both to keep it up as children. The answer is because they had French at school, English at home and any Germans we hung out with in London invariably spoke both those languages so the DCs couldn't see the point. We also knew quite a few families with a French father (in the UK) or an English father (in France) where the kids were not fluent in the paternal language - they understood, but did not speak it well.

French is easy to pick up if good knowledge of English. Mandarin is very different and will be important for job opportunities. I would probably go for option 3. And perhaps get a french tutor

I suspect like English and french, Cantonese will be easier to pick up if he knows mandarin

If ib is international baccalaureate that is a great qualification if you end up staying in hk. If he goes to school in UK I would look for a school that offers it.

Personally I would have him educated in at leat one Chinese language and one European language