Chinese Schools


Not too long ago, selecting a Chinese school that was appropriate for your child was much simpler. You sent them to the school closest to your home. Now, with the growing influx of Chinese immigrants, some parents may find several different schools in their neighborhood to choose from. Here are some important factors to consider when selecting a school:

  • Dialect. Most schools offer instruction in either Mandarin or Cantonese, with some schools offering instruction in both. If you speak Mandarin at home, you will be more readily able to assist and reinforce your child’s language lessons if they were also learning Mandarin. The same is true if you speak Cantonese and your child is attending Cantonese classes. Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong and Guangdong (Canton), while Mandarin is spoken in the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.
  • Phonetics. Mandarin is usually taught in either Pinyin (拼音) or Zhuyin (注音符號), which is also known as BoPoMoFo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ). These two systems of Chinese phonetics associate a particular sound with a symbol. For example, the b sound in Mandarin is represented by a “b” in Pinyin and a “ㄅ” in Zhuyin. Pinyin is the current system of romanization used in the People’s Republic of China, and is also the standard used by the United States as well as the United Nations.
  • Characters. Chinese characters may either be written in the simplified style (简体) or the traditional style (繁体). The simplified style is used in the People’s Republic of China, while the traditional style is used in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
  • SAT II – Chinese. Some Chinese schools offer specific preparation for the SAT II – Chinese with Listening examination. This high school-level examination tests reading and listening comprehension, as well as sentence completion. The listening portions are spoken in Mandarin Chinese, while the reading passages are in both traditional and simplifed Chinese. The sentence completion portion is administered in traditional and simplified Chinese, as well as Pinyin and BoPoMoFo.

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