I am wondering if there are any primary schools near Green Lake/Yunnan University that allow foreigner (US Citizens) children to attend their schools? I have an 8 and 10 year old that have been in Mandarin Immersion school in the US, and I would like them to continue in Mandarin while we live in Kunming for a year. Any information on the subject would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I don't think it would be possible if your kids are only staying for 1 year. There's a lot of paperwork involved in registering a child to a public school. How about a training center like Keats or the other Chinese language schools advertised here? With private language training schools they can usually start right away.
You MAY want to query the universities, which typically have "affiliated" schools, such as Yunnan University, Yunnan Normal University, etc.
@Liumingke: " How about a training center like Keats"
I guess it's a bit different to put a kid to Chinese language courses in training center vs. putting them in primary school to be taught the full range of subjects in Chinese language.
I believe they want their kids to immerge
in Madarin Chinese. This is just another avenue if they can't enroll in public schoola.
Maybe, but kids aged 8 and 10 probably need the other education as well, and that 's probably bigger concern than getting Mandarin immersion (being in China already).
The requirements for pubic school are many for
Chinese students much more so for foreign students I believe. Notice how nonone has given any suggestion how this can be done. The OP also wants the school to be near so and so place. I would like to know if the parents have been able to accomplice this.
I have not learned for that kind of "many requrements" for public schools. After all, Chinese kids are required to attend.
I think that priority in public schools in Kunming is given to families who own property in the area.
To my understanding, this relates to requirement for housing developers (jointly with local government) to reserve sufficient
amount of school buildings for every square footage of real estate in the same area.
Therefore those who purchase the real estate, are essentially paying for the local school infrastructure as well, and therefore the priorization.
After that, remaining public school slots is allocated to outsiders - but I don't know how that goes between Chinese and foreign outsiders. I'd currently guess on first come, first served registration regardless of nationality.
When we were considering the nationality issue for our mixed child (1yr now), one thing to think about was the accessibility of his future schooling.
In this research we never found any red tape (or even rumours) that would prevent foreign passport holders from enrolling in Chinese public schools, as long as the language barrier and political and cultural indoctrination are acceptable, and there is available space in the school.
Our kids (dual nationals) are US Citizens and all have been blocked from attending local schools.
The principal told us have the consulate or embassy write a letter to the education bureau requesting assistance and as long as space (as per JanJal noted above) is available - they can be admitted.
Only problem with this process - the US Consulate American Citizen Services refused to write the letter. They'll fly out to ensure a convicted drug dealer and terrorist is treated well - but writing a letter requesting equilateral and equivalent support for the children of US citizens is apparently impossible.
Not particularly pleased or impressed with US Citizen Services...or my perceived lack of.
Michael: "Our kids (dual nationals) are US Citizens "
That's actually interesting, if the kids indeed still are dual nationals eg. holding Chinese passports and hukous as well as foreign passports.
China's nationality law says that Chinese persons who acquire foreign nationality, automatically lose their Chinese nationality, but many argue that the Chinese nationality must be separately renounced.
Your experience there shows again, that Chinese nationality, or at least the privileges it gives, seem to be automatically lost even without renouncing anything.
Did you tell the school authorities that the kids are dual nationals, or did they learn it on their own?
