My partner and I settled in the UK before relocating to HK, but we don't originally from the the UK. We will probably move back to the UK when our DS is in Y4 or Y5.
He is currently 4yo and going to a local kindergarten where everyone speaks Cantonese. We have been doing OPOL at home since he was born. I speak my first language Mandarin to him and my partner speaks to him in French. We have a Filipino nanny who only speaks to him in English, and English is also our common language. He switches between 4 languages on daily basis.
We'd like to keep him multilingual or at least trilingual. Our dilemma is what kind of primary school we should choose for him. There are four options.
- British school providing Mandarin as the secondary language. Since we are planning to move back to the UK before he takes 11+ exam, sending him to a British school seems to be an easy transition for him in the future. But the problem is that English will become his dominate language very soon, which I personally like to avoid at his young age. Although Mandarin is taught as the secondary language in the school, it's not a compulsory or examined subject, I am not sure how much he will learn from the school course. Also French isn't a subject till later years. So we will probably end up enrolling him with additional language courses or try really hard to improve his other language proficiency levels.
- French international school offering a bilingual pathway in French and English. I think my DS should be able to be at least bilingual in French in English if we send him to the french school. But as for Mandarin, he would have a little exposure through the school. It will mainly rely on me to teach him Mandarin or hiring a private tutor.
- Bilingual (in English and Mandarin) school with International Baccalaureate. We think Mandarin may be the hardest language among French and English, and English is the most universal language. So bilingual in English and Mandarin seems to be a good option. But the competition of getting into these kind of schools is fierce. As they are very popular among Chinese parents, it's highly competitive. Kids are expected to be able to read story books on their own at age 4-5 during the school interviews. We are applying for it with little hope of getting an offer.
- local school with Chinese (Cantonese) as a medium of instruction. Normally English is taught as the second language in the local schools and they also emphasise Mandarin. Kids in the local schools can be strong in English grammar as they take English learning seriously. However I am not a fan of the local education system, as there are too much rote learning, and sports are not their interests. Chinese parents in generally are very pushy. I don't want to be a tiger mom/dad, but DS may be at the bottom of the class in term of academic achievements if we are too chill.
Are we too greedy with a hope of finding an All-in-One school? which one is the best suitable option for us?