A question for all Chinese parents that have/want their children learning English....

Question

If your child had an English teacher that he/she really liked, and that you both have known for over a year.. how would you feel about sending your child alone or along with some of their classmates to stay with their teacher in their home country (Canada or America) for 3 or so weeks?

Their teacher would provide daily activies, field trips, their own room in their house, food, transportation.. everything. They would have a detailed schedule of all the events they plan on doing and daily sit-down English lessons.

Their teacher would provide and take care of his/her students all day everyday and make sure they are learning English, experiencing the culture, and have a great time.

As a Chinese parent, what do you think of this? I am a teacher currently working in China and absolutley love my students, and are equally adored by them. I feel sad that I am leaving to go back to my home country in a few months, and don't plan on returning to China anytime soon. I was thinking of advertising this idea to my school and seeing how the parents react.

Another question I have is.. can middle class Chinese families afford this type of opportunity? A roundtrip flight would cost about 6000RMB, not to mention the food allowance and the fee charged by the teacher.. I was thinking 3 weeks would cost a parent roughly around 2000-30000RMB (that includes flight & everything), the more students the cheaper it would be obviously.

Anyways.. this was just an idea.. I would LOVE to do this. But dont want to throw out such an idea until I know how realistic it is.

So as a middle class/upper class parent of a child that you eagerily want to learn English.. would you pay around 20,000 RMB for 3 weeks in a Western country with your child's teacher?

Answer 1

I think they would like the idea if it doesn't cut into their regular academics, say if it took place over a summer, because in the end their child will return to the competitive academic world of China, where they have to keep up to secure their futures. They can't afford to get behind. However, many Chinese parents do wish their kids to learn good English, and allowing their children to be submerged in an English environment would be the best way to do that, so I would say they would be receptive to the idea. Thus, the main concern is cost. An average middle class family might have trouble affording this kind of trip. You will have to look into how this budget would work and address it at the same time you propose the idea. In addition, I wonder how you would secure visas for these children? Would the government allow it? As far as I know, the only way to get a visa into the US for minors these days is if you legally adopt them. If they are over 18 years, then can then get a student visa if they are accepted into a university. Other than that, I'm not sure how you would be able to get them entry. However, good idea, and I hope it works out for you.

Answer 2

i`m not a parent so don`t be mad if i said anything wrong . but i am chinese .

my parents would say yes, but i live in the US and my parents are from HK . a typical chinese parent would let if they knew the teacher really well , because more than half of them are like overprotected .