International school or home schooling for non-English speaking child?

Hello FinMom!

Welcome to Expat.com

Hope somebody could best guide you, but as you might have guessed, English is very important for international school. Why not find a private teacher who could help your child to learn English?

Also try to see with the international schools over there what they might have to propose you!

Regards
Kenjee

The good news is that most international schools have ESL (English as Second Language) classes to support proficiency in English for their students.

I have been through a similar exercise with two children who went into classes not speaking a word of the language used. After 3-4 months they were both quite competent and at 6 months not noticeably different from the other kids. So take heart that children are very adaptable and it would be a wonderful opportunity for an inside track for your daughter to learn English. However, she will probably also need a lot of support from you at home to help her along and give her confidence.  The class sizes my children were in were under 20 pupils.

Personally, I would say home schooling and English classes on the side would be a sad way for her to live as she needs social contact.

The criteria to consider are:
Budget for schooling
Area where you will live because of commuting to work
Curriculum (e.g. British, Australia, French, German, etc.)
Size of school (many are too big in my opinion and your daughter would benefit from small school/small classes)

I am afraid you are going to have to do a lot of research to find a school which is similar to the one your daughter attends in Finland in terms of size.

This website may help you with some basic information on cost and location, as well as a link to their individual websites. One of the first issues is to understand the difference between private and international schools, the former usually follow the local Malaysian curriculum, but not all. For example, there are Chinese private schools which are very good indeed and follow international courses of study.

http://schooladvisor.my/schools/

Hi,

Thank you for your replies!

My husband´s office would be at: Avenue 7, Bangsar South City, No. 8 Jalan Kerinchi, 59200 Kuala Lumpur. Is there any nice residental areas close by?

My husbands´s expat contract includes at least house and car allowance but we would probably pay the school costs so the most expensive schools are absolutely out of the question + my child will return to Finland after 2 years so I am not willing to invest a fortune on school costs.

As many of you probably know Finland has ranked among the best countries when it comest to the PISA tests done to children and the schooling is totally free here as it is in all the Scandinavian countries so it feels strange to pay such a huge sums to schools. Since my child will do her secondary and A-levels here in Finland I am confident that she will receive a quality schooling and good tools for the future. For me the most important thing would be that while we are in KL she would learn proper English and get some international experience and friends from different cultures.

I was also thinking that I might follow my husband a bit later next spring after my first born has completed the second grade here in Finland so we would stay in KL for about 1,5 years. Do you know do these schools with ESL programs take also children that do not speak a word of English? If not I think the home schooling is the only option for us. Then I just need to sign her to some English language school and hobbies for the social contacts. I will keep my 5 year old (turning 6 next year) home and put her to English classes because she will start school when we return to Finland (at age 7). I think that the schooling costs are ridicilously high for children that age...

Thanks!

Apart from the tuition fees, there are also some one off payments to join schools, so for such a short time I can understand your idea to home school. At least your children will have one another for company. I think the British Council has English lessons for children.

http://www.britishcouncil.my/english/courses-childrenhttp://www.learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/

However, the quickest and easiest way to learn is the immersion method - being alongside English speaking people. When my kids started English classes at school they were embarassed they spoke it already........and ended up having some other lessons for a while as they were bored.

Malaysia and the Far East has a very different lifestyle than Europe. I lived have also lived in Scandinavia. In KL most expats live in high-rise condominiums which have pools, gyms, tennis courts, children playground etc. A car is essential as well and everything is very car-centric.  Bangsar and Bangsar South have some nice condos and Bangsar has two shopping malls and the area would be very close to the office. But there are no parks or public green spaces.

The best about living in Malaysia is the wealth of places and other countries to visit easily.

Thank you so much!  I have lived two years in Bangkok so I have some idea about expat life in Asia.

We also have a couple of cats so I guess we can´t rent a condo but a house instead? Dogs are not allowed in condos so does the same go with cats?

It would also be nice to live somewhere with parks and greean areas. My husband would have a car to drive to the office but I don´t drive so any ideas of a nice area where you could live without two cars?  Is it unsafe to use taxi during the daytime? I used a lot of taxis when I lived in BKK  but I´ve read some terrible stories about terrible taxi drivers in KL (drug addicts etc.) Any suggestions?

Because of the horrible rush hour traffic situations it is important to choose the right area to live. I dont think there are any green open areas apart from Desa Park City, which has houses.  It might be something for you to enquire about. The commute to Bangsar South would be at least 1 hr. although it seems so close. Unfortunately cats are also not permitted officially in condos, although there are lots of strays wandering about with kittens in the streets.

Apart from Desa Park City, Beverly Heights may also be of interest to you, as it has a communal swimming pool and I think a shuttle to KL City Centre (park and playground, Suria mall, twin towers, walkway to Pavilion and Bukit Bintang, etc.)

http://beverlyheights.com.my/?page_id=2594
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