Only American Girl in Asian Mandarin School
Only American Girl
in Asian Mandarin School
Not only is our daughter the
only American at her Mandarin
school but also the youngest, smallest,
Not only is our 10 year old daughter the only American at her new Mandarin school but also the youngest, smallest, and only Caucasian at this five star high school with 1000 students! Last week was her first day.
This is the Mandarin-speaking introduction that she prepared for her class and she volunteered that first day to be class " Monitor",( not knowing before hand what that meant) so she gets the special tie, badge and tie pin and always leads the female students when they get in lines to go to assemblies and such with a Mandarin command. Monitors get green ties, Prefects get blue ties and the rest don't have any. She was so proud to surprise us with this news that first day!
Our daughter is not the only foreign student as there are many foreign Asian students from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Japan, Laos, Indonesia mainland China and Pakistan that come to this school as boarding students along with the many locals. ( About 1/3 of the students are foreign). There are 1000 kids in the school from 7th grade to 12th grade and it's on 33 beautiful acres with 5 sceince labs, a stadium, 2 computer labs, music hall, three basketball courts, and more.
We had hoped to put her in a younger grade because of the language challenge, but instead we are skipping our ( just turned ) 10 year old into the seventh grade here as she can do the work and it's a great fit for her Mandarin Chinese language and cultural needs. This is the primary reason that we came to Malaysia and Asia, so she can become as fluent as a native in her Mandarin. She has been speaking Chinese since birth, but it is also the weakest so far of her triligual mother tongues since her parents are monolinguals so have limitations on guiding her.
We have found attending local foreign schools the best way to immerse deeply in a second or third language and a culture. That means she is skipping from a fourth grade in Spain in Spanish to a seventh grade in Mandarin with high school kids, but since she also homeschools in English at her own pace, she can handle the work easily as the school saw by her international tests. So far, it's working wonderfully, better than we had imagined and she is having a lot of fun!
We have been told it is one of the best places to learn Mandarin Chinese and their openess to foreign students is part of the advantage because unlike most Chinese schools, they have a foundation class that allows foreigners to take begining Mandarin while they are catching up. The local kids who have been taking Mandarin from first grade, go to separate Chinese classes and also have to take Malay as one of their langages besides English. The classes comprise both foreign students and local students and only separate for Mandarin, so each one can go at their pace.
It was actually quite difficult to find an all Mandarin school that would work for us because we are not residents of Malaysia, don't own a home here in their popular 2nd home plan, nor are we working here. That made it impossible to go to a government ( public school) in Penang and all of the primary Chinese schools are government schools. After several failed attempts and much help from friends, we are very happy to have found this school.
Our New Year's Eve was a little different than many, as we spent half the day at orientation for new students at her school. We really like the people that we have met there so far. The orientation presentation from 9AM to noon was almost entirely in Mandarin, but our daughter understood some of it and we could pick up some of it by the media presentation pictures and from what we had already read in their brochure.Much of it was totally over our heads.
Math, science and computer lab will all be done in English and all the teachers are bilingual, so Mozart will be able to get assistance while she strengthens her Mandarin language skills. We have been working with a tutor online ( her excellent teacher from her Johns Hopkins University CTY course), the tuition school here ( an afterschool program) and Mango online courses since we arrived in November.We've also been immersing by watching Mandarin TV, movies, listening to Mandarin conversatioin tapes and talking to locals. Most seem excited to know that we are interested in teaching her Mandarin.
All schools in Malaysia start at the beginning of January for 10 months, instead of September like at home, so everyone has been on a holiday since November when we arrived. We will get her a private tutor to help her even more, she comes to our home to assist with her Chinese homework. The tutors have all been on holiday, so we had to come up with other plans to help her prepare for school here in Mandarin, but now that school is in session again, we're doing it the same as most locals do. We actually found this tutor from our neighbor who uses her for their son who goes to a Chinese school.
Chinese has many different dialects and even the Chinese here do not speak Mandarin as a mother tongue, but just about everyone from 40 and under speakes Mandarin here , in China and much of Aisa. This is one of the advantages of learning Mandarin in Malaysia because they are better set up to teach it as a second language while still being able to immerse with the Chinese culture. All of the books stores have lots of great, cheap Mandarin books and videos for every age level and my friends who have also lived in China, say the choice and quality is so much better than in China.
There is a lot of support and resources for learning Mandarin because so many kids do it here in Penang with a majority Chinese community who want their kids fluent in Mandarin and demand rigorous schools. Mozart has always wanted to wear a uniform to school. I suppose her love of Harry Potter, those uniforms and the ever popular show in Spain, Patito Feo, had an influence there and the fact that she has never gone to a school with uniforms before. Uniforms seem to be de rigueur in Asia and Australia, so Mozart was thrilled to get hers with her embroidered Chinese name on the pocket and also to go to the mall afterwards showing it off. She had watched many other kids in the mall in uniform and now she was one of them!
She also always wanted to go to school by bus since she never did that ( we lived close enough to walk in Spain and California) and loved the perk of getting her own cell phone that came with that opportunity so that we can always be in touch with her. Cell phones are not allowed in her school, so she will have to turn it in when she arrives and pick it up when she leaves. The bus is really a new van and it picks her up and delivers her door to door. It's been very exciting for her to fulfill these dreams!
We found out the first day that they pick up 12 kids and they are all boys but her and all much older. When she told me that information in the dark ( it is dark when she leaves for school, but becomes light by the time she arrives at school about 45 minutes later at 7:30) on her first bus ride, I was a bit alarmed and worried for her. But she loves the bus ride and the playful boys that take it with her as they have already become friends in the first week. Two of them are Prefects at the high school.
They also have a cafeteria which was also on her wish list as Spain's system is quite different and they only have food for the after school kids ( called "Comodore") since school was out at 2 and that is the time of the main meal. Here ( because it is a boarding school) she can eat both breakfast on the first break around 9:15 ( school starts at 7:40) and lunch around noon, so she is excited about that too and the idea of always using chop sticks and having lots of noodles. We'll also provide nuts and apples for favorite portable snacks.Her hair must be in a bun, or one or two braids, so we picked up matching scrunchies when we went to the mall for a movie after the orientation. Both the school and the school van/bus are air conditioned, so we also got a sweater so she can keep warm as they tend to like strong air conditioning here. ( We bring sweaters for the movie theaters). Alas, she did not eat ANYTHING at all the first day as she was a bit intimidated by the thousand kids and how to do it in Mandarin, but now, after just 1 week, has found some good friends and delicious favorite foods that she loves, so we solved that problem quickly.
The school is 6 days a week 7:40 to 2:30, to 3:30 on Wednesday, and until noon on Saturday. They say they are very interested in a well rounded global eduaction and have students who have been to Universities around the world. 90% of students continue their tertiary education. It's my understanding that the main reason for the longer day on Wednesday and Saturday classes are for the MANY extracurricular activities like sports, societies and clubs. Mozart is very excited about participating in some like drama, choir, karate and dance. They may limit the young kids to just one, we'll see.
She is in a special foundation class that is comprised of both Chinese locals and foreign students. Her Mandarin starts at a first grade level in Chinese and her Mandarin books are the same as our neighbor' son who is in first grade at a Mandarin school here. So just like Spain, we luck out with her getting the same foundatational school language training as a local would in reading, writing and speaking the language from grade one on up, while being immersed in all her classes in Mandarin. This advantage is because this high school take many foreign students as most regular Mandarin schools would mean she would have to jump into Mandarin at her grade level amongst students who have been taking it daily since preschool or speak it as a mother tongue.
Mozart was very happy to discover their very large library filled with both English and Mandarin books. She was thrilled to learn that the first period every day was for book reading and book reports from books they would get from the library. By looking over her many new school books, it looks like the only real challenge will be the Mandarin, so we are happy with that as that is our focus. The first day she found out they have a contest for who reads the most books and does the most book reports, so she read twenty in the first five days and has already filled her first book report book, when the rest of the kids are on one book, so looks like she has a shot to win that one since it is so up her alley.
She had an amazing first week and really likes the kids. As always in school, her favorite subjects are recess and lunch, plus she loves her bus ride home because the boys make her laugh. There seems to be a real innocence and exceptional sweetness to the children. The girls in her class are from Indonesia ( a set of several cousins of Chinese origin) and Thailand and both sets absolutely adore her. The boys are Chinese Malaysians, Korean, Thai and most are 12 or 13, but three of the Thai girls are 16. They tell her they love her and kiss her on the cheek, which was quite surprising to Mozart, but she loves it. She is not so fond of some of the boys in the class that always tease the girls, are rough and swear.
She thinks she is the weakest in the school in Mandarin, but the other foreign students are also weak in Mandarin, so the teachers mostly talk in Mandarin, but do give some English instruction so everyone understands. They have daily assembly where they sit on the hard floor crossed legged for an hour or two and that is all in Mandarin. It appears most of the work, besides Mandarin, is extremely easy for Mozart. In math class she finishes her work well before anyone else and she has asked if she could go ahead to do more pages, but the teacher says she must just sit and wait for the others. Some of the kids are in green shirts now which is their gym uniform, as they are waiting for their white shirts with embroidery to be done.
One sometimes hears horror stories about Mandarin schools ( most from China) but our experience with all the people we have met from the Principal, to the Discipline Master to the Teachers has been nothing but wonderful thus far. Confusious was on display in the auditorium at orientation and they mentioned him as the good character of the students is part of the school intention. They also said in English that they are honored to have us in their school. We're happy she has this chance to immese deeply in Chinese culture as well as the language. I was pleased to read Mozart's school book that is called "Guide to a Happy Life" which is based on Chinese sages from the past, primarily Confusious. Like this quote from Chapter Five:
"Human beings, regardless of nationality, race, or religion- everyone- should be loved equally. We are sheltered by the same sky and we all live on the same Planet Earth. A person of high ideals and morals is highly respected. What people value is not based on outside appearance."
I'll keep you posted about our experience and my thoughts about language learning for kids. We have also been discussing it on our Soultravelers3 Facebook Page, so feel free to join us! On our way home we took a taxi because we had spent several hours at the mall for a movie and shopping for groceries and things. The driver was Indian but had been born here and traveled to and lived in many places. He spoke many languages including bits of 6 Chinese dialects. When we told him what we are doing, he spoke to Mozart in Chinese and they carried on a little conversation. He said to us that her accent was wonderful ( that principal at the school said that too) and that "you are doing a very good thing for your child". Obviously we hope he is right!
What do you think about kids learning Mandarin, Spanish or any second language or culture?
I think its great! I have nothing to say but congrats on a job well done. I’m extremely impressed, and she will be fluent in NO TIME.
I am simply awestruck, and yet at the same time, not surprised, by her self confidence and her eagerness to embrace the routines of school. That quote at the end from the book, The Guide to a Happy Life, is utterly fantastic and so appropriate for Mozart. She is getting all the best the world has to offer in so many places . . . and that is what a child deserves! What a fantastic human being she is already — and how great that it seems she is ready to make the most of this opportunity.
Thank you for sharing! What a great report!
What an awesome and inspiring post. Yes, you are doing an awesome thing for Mozart, and she will turn out to be an exemplary global citizen of the world. I wonder whether they have in Penang similar language and cultural immersion options for much younger children, in pre-K. If you hear or know of any program, I would appreciate hearing about it. They say language learning is the easiest when they are very young, and I would like my daughter to be fluent in 4 or 5 languages by age 5, if possible (and one of these languages to be Mandarin). My brother-in-law’s kids are fluent in 3 languages, with perfect native accents and I think it is wonderful they can totally switch from one language to another with no difficulty or confusion within the same conversation and depending on whom they are addressing. It is jaw dropping what young kids can do! And Mozart is such a child!!!
Thanks for sharing about your child’s experience. You are definitely doing the right things in exposing her to a variety of experiences.
My wife and I are all for learning second, third, fourth languages. We were both Peace Corps volunteers and, when possible, will speak to our young children in Armenian (we served in Armenia). Though we prefer to have them learn a more universal language, this is a start for them.
Thanks for posting and look forward to your continued journey.
That is absolutely wonderful. I think Malaysia is the perfect place to learn Mandarin. The sky is the limit for Mozart when she grows up. Multilingual, knowledgeable about culture and geography, a whiz at everything she does and of course filled with confidence because of here interesting young life. Great post.
First of all best wishes for 2011. Living in Belgium has the benefit of learning a 2nd language from a young age. Living in Brussels as we do we need 2 languages. Our son, 8yo has now started french as a 2nd language and will learn english and spanish in high school. When we travel our kids love to go to the bakery, the local grocerystore or order their own food at a restaurant and thus need to learn some words in the language of the country where we travel. I think it is just wonderful that Mozart is doing what she is doing and that her age seems to be not a problem.
Wishing you all the best!!
Nika
Great post. I’ll be bookmarking it for the future. In addition to our kid having multiple passports we definitely want him to speak multiple languages as well. Mandarin is first on that list. He’ll have the advantage of a Cantonese and a bit of Mandarin speaking Mom but we’ll definitely want a proper school based education as well. We had contemplated living in Singapore for a bit but will definitely be considering Malaysia as well
So exciting to read about your experiences. Mozart is a brave girl! I’m glad she is loving all of her new experiences and making new friends. My daughter has been in a Spanish immersion school in the US for the past year and a half and we just moved to Antigua, Guatemala in part so she can attend school all in Spanish. She starts next week!
Loved this post – she looks positively joyous to be a monitor in those photos 🙂 Her mastery of so much, at such young of an age is a testament to the potential children hold within them if they are given the opportunity to continually learn, explore and be challenged. Looking forward reading more about her progress in this school 🙂
Aww, Mozart seems like such a tiny, spunky little girl. She’s going to be light years ahead of the typical college crowd once she grows up.
It’s great that she’s coping well at a new place. Other kids have a hard time adjusting to a new place. I admire her flexibility and openness towards other race. That video of her as class monitor is really great.. It is something to be proud of. Congratulations for having a wonderful daughter.
Marlana- Aw, thanks! Nothing like immersion to help fluency,eh?
Margaret- You are so sweet! I feel the same, but she is my kid. 😉 Thanks as always for your support & encouragement!
R&M- Thanks so much for letting me know you liked it!
Violets – So appreciate your kind words & yes I think they do have things for preschool children, but I will try to find out more. Indeed, children learn languages easiest from birth, BUT they can lose the languages just as quickly, so it is a long term commitment for parents & lots of work for the parents. MANY native speakers fail to raise their kids in their native tongue even when that is the intention if they live in a land where another language is dominant. I’ve seen kids as old as 11 or 12 lose their mother tongues! 5 fluent languages from birth will give you a run for your money. 😉 But we started on languages in the womb & it has all been worth it!
Like music they will need to maintained for years & I had no idea what that meant for 2 instruments & 3 languages that all need daily practice. LOL Good luck, it’s a wonderful gift to give a child that will help them in soooo many ways.
Brett- thanks so much! Speaking a second language from birth is definitely the best way to go. It may seem odd at first, but soon becomes second nature.
Dave & Deb – Aw, thanks! I do think Penang, Malaysia is the perfect place to learn Chinese & we’re sooo happy it is working out so well. It is one thing to plan things & yet another to carry them through. 😉
Looks like a wonderful opportunity and a great way to submerge into learning! Good luck with everything and hope the schooling goes very well!
Wow, what an experience! I am amazed that your daughter is skipping a grade, immersing herself in a a school like this, and really enjoys this challenge. I read this from my perspective and this would scare the crap out of me! What a great story and look forward to updates on how she does in school! Again, WOW!
This is amazing! It is very inspirational what you are doing. Traveling the world has been a great teacher for me, and I am so glad ‘Mozart’ is getting that experience. She will be able to have a great advantage later in life being multi-lingual. I recall the joy when I saw her as a baby, and it is fitting that her example is an inspiration to many people now. I am inspired. 🙂
Nika- Thanks & it is wonderful to hear your stories! Europe is such a great place to learn and use many languages..you are blessed with that location and making the most of it!
I was worried that it might be a bigger challenge for Mozart now at 10, but three weeks into the school & it is going really well. She is a brave girl, we helped prepare her well for the challenge & the girls in her class are very sweet, so I think that all helps.
Halfnine- That will be an advantage for your child! We chose Penang over Singapore because it is much cheaper and less “big city” atmosphere. So far it seems to be a fantastic place to learn Mandarin in this school & the weather has been much better than S’pore this winter. ( I don’t know if this is normal or not).
Amber- That is exciting and your daughter ( and you) are brave too! I hope she is enjoying her experience as much as Mozart is!
Aw, thanks Shannon for your kind words! I agree with you that children have endless potential and there is much we can do to support their learning.
Ha! Odysseus, yes she IS tiny and spunky. I can’t even imagine her as a college student yet, but I bet she will surprise many people in her life ( she already does). 😉
She is quite discreet about her travels to most people & kids..so I imagine that will be the same. I am an open book type, but she is more private like my husband in many ways.
Thanks Steph! I think the key is preparing a child well for change. Also her nature is one that enjoys the stimulation of new things and people and learning.
Migrationology – Thanks, it’s been fantastic so far ( 3 weeks) hope it stays that way! 😉
Ha, thanks Jeremy! She is actually skipping TWO grades as she just finished 4th grade in Spain and it WAS a scary challenge for all of us. BUT she does homeschool in English at this level and higher, so we thought she could do it.
We hadn’t planned this skip, it was just the only choice, but seems to be working well. When you are in schools just for the language, it gives one some more leeway..although we certainly did not want her swamped in every subject while immersing in her weakest language.
Most of the kids in her class are 13 ( and she is a young 10 with a fall birthday) but it seems to be working fine.
I think it is a bit like living a Harry Potter fantasy for her with all the newness. ;)She comes home happy. 😉
Aww, thanks Nat, so good of you to drop by and leave a sweet comment! Made my day!! Yes, travel is a blessing & education in itself.
I am really grateful that she is getting this opportunity too and I hope this language & cultural education through travel & foreign schools serves her well in life and to understand we are all one.
Happy to hear it inspired you. I remember when I first heard you sing when you were 16 and it touched and inspired me! 😉 You still inspire me with your beautiful voice.
I love how we can all inspire each other. 😉
Mozart was a joy baby & is still full of joy. She is the light of my life, answer to my prayers, so I am honored to be her mother & do what I can to support her growth.
It was a REALLY hard first day for Mama 😉 but seems to be the best choice for her and also an important addition to the school as few if any in it have ever known an American kid.
Funny, where life leads us!
Hi there,
I stumbled upon your blog on accident but I just wanted to say that your daughter is adorable! I’m a young college student from CA studying abroad in Singapore and trying to improve my Chinese (like your daughter I am also blonde haired and blue-eyed and speak passable Spanish, and I’m really impressed you were able to teach her it from birth if you aren’t a native speaker… boy I wish my parents could have done that!). It’s so great that she’s so confident in a foreign language/culture, because even though I’m technically an adult I still have trouble with that. Kudos to you for raising her! Learning other languages is so much fun and opens so many doors. Personally, I want to join the Peace Corps. 🙂
Isn’t it quite expensive to send you child to international schools like this one?
We are moving to Thailand for close to half a year and most schools seems financially way out of our league…
Dana- Thanks for your kind words & welcome..so glad you found our blog! It’s been a lot of work to raise a fluent as a native triligual/triliterate from birth as monolinguals, but worth the effort.
Just as it has been to raise her also playing two instruments ( violin since 23 months & piano from 3) as both take daily practice so that what she learns is not lost.
It has been more work than I imaged & now I understand why many native speakers even fail to raise their kids as bilinguals.
BUT if one has that intention, it can be done. It’s just a lifetime commitment because kids can lose language as easily as they pick them up.
We just figured it was easiest for her to get this when young & she can always add languages if she wants when she is older. Having 3 dominant languages in 3 different language families will make that easier.
Luckily she also gets exposed to many languages in our travel so speaks bits of many.
Sounds like you are off to a wonderful start yourself. Leaning about other cultures and languages teaches us all much and supports creativity and hopefully world peace.
Mads- No, this school is VERY cheap. The Chinese schools here are not the same prices of the international schools here. Mostly locals go to these schools so must be at prices that the local Chinese can afford. They are also the highest rated schools.
The international schools are primarily for expats and they have both American and British International schools. They are above our budget and not what we are interested in.
I think they teach a little bit of Mandarin there, but she could do that in America for free at many public schools. Those kids who learn languages like that usually never learn much, so we find that useless.
We do have friends here in the International schools. One family is from Hungary and they are here so their children can be fluent in English and the international schools here are much cheaper than the international schools in Europe.
We don’t see the point in going to international schools and prefer mixing with locals and immersing deeply in the language and culture ( both here & in Spain). International schools do not have one mixing with locals very much and tend to be high costs ( many expats jobs pay for the schools).
One reason we did NOT go to Thailand is because they do not have good Chinese schools.
We also do not like the sex trade there.
There are Thailand kids in our daughters school because they send their kids here for a good education in Mandarin.
Thailand is close to Penang, but a world of difference as far as schools.
I think what you are doing for your daughter is awesome – I’ve book marked your blog as I was searching for families travelling the world – something we plan to do in future – this post was especially interesting as my eldest was born in China and is losing her mandarin now – we are heading back to China for the summer so that my kids (5 and 3 when we go) can have some total immersion time! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences – it gives me hope for raising multilingual world aware kids
Thanks Kirsty for your kind words! It does take a LOT of work to keep kids fluent as they lose languages as quickly as they gain them ( I’ve known native speakers who have lost their mother tongues even as old as 12!!). BUT it is worth the effort for sure!
Thanks Kirsty for your kind words! It does take a LOT of work to keep kids fluent as they lose languages as quickly as they gain them ( I’ve known native speakers who have lost their mother tongues even as old as 12!!). BUT it is worth the effort for sure!
I’ve said it before, but it is so cool what you’re doing. I’m amazed at how you as “mono-linguals” can raise your daughter with 3 mother tounges! I know it takes some work (my kids are bi-lingual Swedish/English)! An open mind helps too 🙂
The new school looks Fantastic!
Thanks for sharing your journey around the world with us!!
What an incredible child and what incredible experiences you’re opening up for her!
How did you find out the mechanics of enrolling in a school in another country? I have tried searching the web for such information but it’s been difficult to get concrete information.
Thanks!
Heidi
Aw, thanks Maria! It DOES take a lot of work and commitment to raise bilingual or trilingulal kids even if you are a native speaker and in fact many that attempt it fail or just raise receptive kids ( ones that understand generally but don’t really speak the 2nd language) Even that is hard. The schools and immersion are certainly big aids for us, but we did work hard on this the first 5 years without international travel. So happy to hear you are raising your boys as bilingual! Thanks for your kind words!
Thanks Heidi for your kind words and enthusiasm! It is really difficult to find out this information. We try to find locals via expat groups or other ways ( forums, blogs, social media, contacts etc) and ask them or gather as much info as we can. Mostly though it is easiest to do it on the ground. Trial and error. It happened to be quite easy in Spain. We some how got a number of someone in the school in Spain before we left and talked to the one person who spoke English there. Here is was MUCH more difficult because we wanted a Mandarin school and it took LOTS of trial and error on the ground before we found this school. Luckily it is working out well.
(Sorry if this is a repeat, not really sure whether my comment posted the other day)
I love hearing of your travels and life – thanks for sharing!
How did you find out details about how to enroll a child in a school in another country (or whether you are even permitted to do so)?
We are planning our own travels now and considering trying to enroll our kids in schools abroad in the future for immersion (language and culture), but I’m having difficulty finding information on which countries allow foreigners to enroll as students and how to go about doing so. Any leads you could provide would be most appreciated!
Thanks!
Heidi
Hi Heidi I hope you can see these now as your first one showed up and I answered it a few days ago. Typepad is sometimes odd here, so I try to redo them all and hope you can see them now.
It is hard to do this in advance and I am the only one I know who has done this kind of immersion. I just always have the attitude that if there is a will there is a way. If we could not have gotten kidlet in school here we would have tried China next…they do not make it easy here in the primary grades.
If you are in a country that gets lots of poorer immigrants trying to get free public schools it will be much harder. If the schools make money for each student it will be much easier. 😉 The later was our case in Spain and the former, the case here in Malaysia. We had to go to a secondary school to get a private school ( with mostly local ethnic chinese). It’s cheap. If you are paying the school or the school gets money, it is definitely to your advantage. Be aware that other cultures can mean VERY different ways..ie it is common in Malaysia and most of Asia to cane kids in school for misbehavior and they are VERY strict. We do not believe in capital punishment but this is part of the culture. Caning means getting hit with a cane on the hand for very bad behavior. If you go into a foreign school you are under there rules. So far it has worked out for us ..but this part was a big stretch for us. ..yet is part of the culture and not done in a harsh way at her school. ( The kids usually have warnings) so she has not had that happen to her…but she has witnessed it. So keep this all in mind. BUT we think it’s been the best way to immerse into a culture and language.
Very interesting! It’s cool to get a peek inside what the language school is like there. Is your daughter a genius? I mean, literally? I’m very impressed with her achievements.
Hey Gray! Thanks, glad you enjoyed taking a peak at her 5 star high school in Asia. I am grateful that I got a few photos! It’s actually a very popular Chinese school here and been around forever.
Ha! No she is not a genius, just a very normal, bright kid. She has done some unusual things ( like walking & talking at 6 months and teaching herself to read at 2) so she does tend to learn early and quickly, but that is her normal. It’s part of the reason we took this trip ..to support her learning at HER pace.
She is good at languages, piano and violin because we have given her a lot of support in those areas since she has always had interest in them.
She likes to play more than anything and I think that is the most important work of childhood. 😉 Our goal is just to give her a good foundation for life.
This is so great. I love following your blog. It’s positively inspiring.
Can I ask how you found out information about enrolling a child in a school in a foreign country? I have been searching the web but I’m afraid I haven’t gotten very far. Any leads you can provide would be most appreciated.
Congratulations, she’s obviously very gifted and an inspiration all on her own! I can only hope my daughter and son approach life and school with the same enthusiasm.
Heide- hmmm, I think I have answered this twice..very thoroughly..so I am not sure why you keep asking it or what more you want.
We find it easiest to do on the ground once there and talk to locals for the best info.
Thanks for your kind words!
Wow! Your experiences never cease to amaze me. What a life she is having, and what an even more wonderful one she’s going to have ahead of her for this experience.
Aw, thanks Lara. I take that as an especially high compliment coming from you as I know you also grew up with a traveling background that has supported your life.
It’s been a real pleasure to give her these experiences and to raise her as a citizen of the world. We certainly hope it enriches her life forever and that she also passes on the benefits to her children. 😉
I came to this post via another one on learning abroad. My eldest, now 9, became very interested in China in 2008 and we enrolled him that fall in a Mandarin classes (CSL). He exhausted the CSL program and we’re still trying to figure out what to do next.
So, reading about this experience is just delightful! We haven’t got the option to go to Malaysia, but it seems like an utterly wonderful adventure for Mozart! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing! I’ll be perusing for other posts/updates from the last 8 months, as well.
I’ll also be checking out Mango and any other tips you may have on Mandarin. My son was also one who was complemented on his accent and the speed with which he picked it up – and I don’t want to let that proclivity and interested go to waste!
Thanks!
May I know the name of this Chinese school? We will be relocating to Penang soon.
I am purposely not mentioning the school on our blog by name PCLP, but if you contact me via our contact page ( which goes to my email addy) I will give you that info.
http://www.soultravelers3.com/contact-us.html
I really appreciate this post! I want to immerse my children into German as that is the language I am most familiar with (my mom is German). We use Rosetta Stone and watch some shows that they are familiar with online in German. However my dream would be to have them attend a school in a German-speaking country. How did you figure out which schools to send Mozart to? Is there a website or message board you can recommend? Thanks in advance! And I agree with the taxi driver–a wonderful thing you are doing for your daughter 🙂
Thanks Michelle,
One of these days, I should do some posts about enrolling kids in foreign schools, just haven’t had the time.
Every place is different so there isn’t just one way to do it, but if there is a will there is a way.
We are tenacious, so just keep trying til we do it.
You might appreciate the answers I gave to Heidi in this thread of comments about our experience.
Good luck!