Local schools and language

[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

[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.

[wannamove]

Thanks for the clarification. Just curious - what languages are we talking about? The national languages?

[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.

[sundaymorningstaple]

yes. Tamil, Mandarin, Malay or English

[wannamove]

yes. Tamil, Mandarin, Malay or English

Thank you for all the information

[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.

[wannamove]

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