Chinese International Schools

[cadavi]

Hi - wondering if I can get some opinions on which International Schools in Singapore have the best Chinese language programs? Any opinions on Canadian or Invictus (Centrium) in particular? I have a 7 and 9yo - Thank you

[abbby]

I'll prefer Canadian International School or Stamford American International School for the chinese programs.

Not sure about Invictus cos I do not like where they are located in an office building.

[PNGMK]

None of them. If you really want your child to have a strong Chinese language program I would put them in a local school. I can tell you the difference is amazing. The International Schools will teach them a bit of spoken mandarin but almost no characters IME.

[Lisafuller]

My daughters friends from Singapore American School speak pretty good Mandarin. I disagree with PNGMK. Unless your children have a pretty good foundation in Mandarin they will struggle very badly in a local school. The curriculum is too intense and difficult for foreigners who haven’t been exposed to the language since they were very young.

[PNGMK]

I was implying OP should start them young. I agree local school mandarin is not for older kids with no intensive mandarin schooling.

[Lisafuller]

I was implying OP should start them young. I agree local school mandarin is not for older kids with no intensive mandarin schooling.

OP mentioned her kids are 7 and 9. They will be very far behind if they enter local school at this point. They would probably need hours of extra class and tuition just to pass local school Mandarin exams.

[PNGMK]

Yep. Although local school starting age is 7 I suspect it's too late unless she does a full on immersion program or tutoring for months.

I'll challenge my local 10 yo against any International School kid in Mandarin any day by the ways.

[Lisafuller]

Yep. Although local school starting age is 7 I suspect it's too late unless she does a full on immersion program or tutoring for months.

I'll challenge my local 10 yo against any International School kid in Mandarin any day by the ways.

Definitely too late. Should have started since preschool. We had our daughter enrolled in a bilingual preschool for this specific reason, we didn’t want her to be behind the locals in her primary school.

[International Flan]

My child went to Canadian International School since very young and couldn't even write their own name in Mandarin when becoming a teenager. To me, that's very telling how good the Canadian International School (CIS) mandarin program is. This is first-hand experience, so not sure why people go on about how good the mandarin program in CIS is.