Our family is looking to spend a year in Kunming. Can someone please recommend a couple international schools in Kunming?

How old are your children?

There is only one truely international shcool in Kunming. The one school is Kunming International Academy. You can visit their website at www.kia-china.org.

KIA is a Christian school but I guess one year couldn't harm too much. You could also hire a teacher full time, 300 US$ a month is a reasonable alternative to Chinese or private schooling if we're only talking a year. Might also consider taking the plunge and enrol the kids in a Chinese school. Would pretty much guarantee them having a decent command of Chinese after 12 months.

The children will be ages 8 and 15, second and tenth graders during the time we are in Kunming. Both have some knowledge of mandarin, having been in dual immersion language programs since kindergarten. The older child can read, write, speak and understand Chinese pretty well. I would like very much to put them in a Chinese school, but I don't know how to go about that. Anyone have any experience doing this? Would I need to pay? If so, how much?

There is the Canadian Kunming Secondary School. Most subjects are taught in English by Canadian teachers. There are some Chinese teachers for subjects such as Chinese and Chinese history. Tuition was about 60,000 per year but it may have gone up. Accommodation is extra. It's occupying space at the north #10 middle school on the north end of Beijing Rd.

I don't know if they expect you to do the entire 3 years or would accept a student for one. On graduation from grade 12, students get both Chinese and Canadian diplomas.

There is the American International Highschool GED/ACT programme at Dianchi that does the full GED curriculum. The medium of teaching is English, but outside the classroom all the kids speak Chinese. The can also offer UXCEL credits.
I think the students take GED tests in some subjects at the end of year one, and so even if your children only attend one year, they could take some form of internationally recognised certification (accepted by universities) with them.
They usually take kids from age 16, but they might make an exception.

I also know the Canadian prog which is the British Columbia curriculum.

I know little of KIA, other than that is seems to have a good reputation.

There is also Kunming #1 school GCSE A'Level programme. This is the British senior highschool programme. This is a 2 year programme.Students in the UK would usually start this at 16 years old, but there are exceptions to this.
The results of these exams are used for university entrance.

A lot will also depend on where you live. #10 is in the far north of the city. KIA and the American Int HS are off DianChi Lu, to the South, and AmIntHS is about 4-5km further south than KIA.
Rents in DianChi may be higher, but the air is cleaner and it is closer to the lake, with less traffic.
North Kunming will be better if you want more of a western lifestyle with Cafes and a Metro store. Beijing Lu is also on the Metro line (when it opens). But traffic along BJ Lu is heavy.

I have PMd you.

We just went through this in August 2012. I sent you a PM with the details.

For everyone else, we have our 2 kids in Chinese kindergarten and elementary school. It took a month to get all the details figured out to get them into school and the first month of actual school was a hard transition. Now, the kids have adapted and things appear to be decent.

Biggest piece of advice: Have a Chinese person help. You'll get no where fast trying to get this done on your own.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed replies. I'm doing some research based on your recommendations. Appreciate the input very much.