Bilingual education on the rise in China as parents seek to ready their kids for life in a more globalized atmosphere

By Zhang Xinyuan Source:Global Times Published: 2016/10/9 20:13:39

Different teaching methodologies and belief systems can sometimes cause conflicts between Chinese and Western educators. Photo: IC

When 13-year-old Yang Chao graduated from a local elementary school in Beijing last year, his parents had a big decision to make - what kind of school do they want to send him to next? They could send him to a local school, where he would learn in Chinese, or an international school, where he would learn in English. Instead, they chose the best of both worlds. They decided to send him to an international school that teaches bilingual classes.

 "We don't want him to go through the pressure of a college entrance examination in China, so we decided to send him to an international school," said Guo Min, Yang's mother.

"I also don't want him to just abandon everything a Chinese school and environment can offer at such a young age, which I'm afraid might happen if he goes to an international school that only teaches English courses. Also, the all-English courses might be hard for him."

Caught between wanting an international educational background for her son and wanting him to remain grounded in his native language and culture, Guo said a bilingual school was a reasonable compromise.

Luckily, there are a variety of schools in Beijing that teach a hybrid of Chinese and English curriculums with both Chinese and Western teachers in a Western school environment.

The demand for bilingual international education has been surging in China in recent years due to the increasing number of Chinese students who want to get a Western education without losing touch with the Chinese language and education curriculum, and expats in China who want their kids to take in the best part of the Chinese education system.

According to a South China Morning Post report in June, the number of international schools in China reached 597 in 2015, surpassing the United Emirates to rank first worldwide.  

A comprehensive foundation

The rising demand for bilingual education is due to the Chinese enthusiasm for studying overseas.

According to the South China Morning Post report, "the number of Chinese students studying overseas rose at a compound rate of 17.5 percent a year between 2007 and 2015, and amounted to 523,700 students last year."

Although Guo wants her son to study overseas, she elected to have the early stages of his education remain partly Chinese because she wants him to have a solid foundation.

"China is more international now. I believe my kid will have an advantage if he can speak several different languages and have a broader view of the world. That could be achieved if he studies overseas," Guo said.

"A lot of people accuse the Chinese education system of being rigid and all about cramming, but it also guarantees that students can achieve better academic results, especially in majors such as math and science."

Guo's belief has merit. In recent years, the Chinese method of teaching has been getting more global recognition. According to a Telegraph report in July, more than 8,000 schools or about half of the total number of schools in England will adopt the South Asian approach to teaching, which is used by schools that excel in math, including institutions in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong. The report said the decision was taken after 15-year-old students in the 8,000 schools were found to be unable to perform basic calculations.

The majority of the Western schools that come to China offer a Western-style education with Chinese methods, including language. It's a strategy that seems to be working.

Wycombe Abbey, a girls' boarding school in Buckinghamshire, South East England, will offer a hybrid of the Chinese and English curriculums when it opens its doors in China, the BBC reported on its website in February. The school will teach international GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education) and A-levels alongside a Chinese curriculum in mathematics, and about 90 percent the student body will be local Chinese.

Parents who send their kids to international schools want English language immersion, but also want to retain their own culture. Also, if they change their minds and go back to the Chinese education system, a bilingual education would make the transition easier.

"I also worry that if I let my son study in an all-English language school at such a young age, his ability to speak and write good Chinese will weaken, and he would lose touch with the Chinese culture," Guo said. "I want my son to learn from both the Chinese and Western world."

More Chinese and Western parents are choosing a bilingual education for their kids to make them more well-rounded while remaining grounded in their roots. Photo: IC

Greater adaptability

More expats in China are also choosing to send their kids to bilingual schools.

Charlotte Wells, a stay-at-home mom who has been living in Beijing for eight years, sends her son Andy to a bilingual elementary school.

"Most expats just stay together and don't step outside of that circle, but since we are already here, it makes no sense, so we try to merge into the local community as much as possible," Wells said.

"My son learned how to speak daily Chinese quickly, and his Chinese is much better than mine." 

Andy also learns about Chinese culture at school. He learned the history of jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) and why seniors should eat before the youngsters, and even explains customs to Wells from time to time.

Recalling the initial difficulty her son experienced in class, Wells said she thinks the brief discomfort is worth it.

"Although the teacher taught them the English vocabulary first, it was still difficult to understand, and the Chinese math was difficult for him, not to mention learning in two languages," she said. "Gradually, he became more competent. When he was in the second grade, his math level was equal to that of a third grader in the US. I think it's because of the bilingual education through which he learns two languages, culture and education systems. He is a fast learner, willing to try new things and has a different way of thinking."

Conflicts between East and West 

Despite all the positives, teaching two somewhat different curriculums can have its drawbacks, sometimes with significant consequences. In August, Shattuck-St. Mary's School (SSM) stopped its expansion school on the campus of the Bayi School in Beijing. According to a report on faribault.com, a Minnesota-based newspaper, SSM and Bayi parted ways because of belief and methodology conflicts.

The school's president Nick Stoneman was quoted in the article as saying that the American school felt relations "were becoming untenable with the encroachment from our partner."

Andy Pez, the education director at China HHS, a bilingual education institution in Beijing that offers various subjects to Chinese students, said that when the Chinese education methodology meets the Western style, there are usually conflicts.

Chinese teaching is about repetition and exams, while the Western style is about discovery and discussion, and openly looking for the answer rather than having the answer given to you, he explained.

Pez teaches math and science. When teaching a math problem, he would sometimes encourage his students to explore different answers, only to be told by some of them that their Chinese teacher already told them one fixed answer. He said situations like these might make the learning process more difficult for the students, who are handling two sets of ideas at the same time.

"I think gradually, as more Western schools set up Chinese branches and explore bilingual education, and the Western and Chinese staff understand the cultural and education differences better, the bilingual education model will become more mature and really show its advantages," Pez said.

"The students can freely wander between two different languages, learning systems and cultures, which will ready them to learn more new things quickly, and create a global person that will suit in the internationalization wave."