While taking a breath, parents should continue to work hard for their children's studies.
According to a global education development report, China's parents attach the third highest importance to their children in the world.
In order not to let their children lose at the starting line, parents show their magical powers like "eight immortals crossing the sea" and try their best to send their children to the best schools.
As a result, the "God Beasts" were put in different cages, some called public schools, some called private schools, some called civilian schools, and some called "aristocratic schools" ...
This micro-story will focus on the international schools that everyone cares about, and let you know where the international schools are expensive through the stories of several parents, Chinese teachers and foreign teachers. Is it worth it?
The following is their true story:
Text | Lu Lin footballer, Jason Wu
Edit | Li Sisi
Mr. Tian, 45, is a parent of an international school in Shenzhen.
When my son was in the fifth grade, I sent him to the leading "pure" international school in Shenzhen.
The so-called "pure" international schools can only be attended by foreign students. The school staff, principals and teachers are all foreigners, and there is only one or two China teachers who teach Chinese.
Parents who choose to send their children to this school are generally foreign public officials and corporate executives who come to work in China.
I chose this school because its teaching quality, software and hardware facilities are world-class. More importantly, international schools generally teach in small classes, with each class 16~25 students. The teacher-student ratio is very different from that of public schools.
In public schools, there are generally about fifty students in each class. Even if the teacher is patient, it is impossible to take care of all the students.
In contrast, the advantages of small class teaching in international schools are highlighted.
Of course, the cost of international schools is much more expensive. The tuition fee for me to go here alone is 220 thousand a year. In addition, there are all kinds of extracurricular training, living expenses, and study abroad in winter and summer vacations every year, nearly 300 thousand a year.
I am the CEO of an enterprise, and I can afford it, but I need to help my children become foreigners first.
With the help of the intermediary, I spent more than 10,000 yuan to buy a "green card" from an African country, which made my children qualified for admission and became one of the few China students in the school.
Because my wife is engaged in foreign trade and I know English myself, my children have been exposed to English since childhood. When I first entered an international school, my children didn't have much pressure on English teaching, and there were no obstacles in communicating with foreign teachers and classmates.
Last year, my son was admitted to a top private junior high school in the eastern United States with excellent TOEFL and SAT scores. The tuition and accommodation fees were $70,000 a year.
However, both at home and abroad, sons who have received small class education and international school courses are more independent than children in China. In March this year, an epidemic broke out in the United States. 13 years old, booked his own plane ticket, transferred from Qatar to Hong Kong and returned to Shenzhen.
During his stay at home, in addition to online classes, he also set aside time to exercise for himself every day. His perseverance was beyond my expectation. Even his foreign classmates said, "It's rare to see China children so self-disciplined!"
Although I regret sending my son abroad so early, after all, his mother and I both grew up under the education system in China, and received traditional public education from primary school to university. I hope he will go through the college entrance examination like us.
Helpless, since attending an international school, children have more ideas. Even studying abroad is his own choice and his parents can only support it.
Ms. Zhang, 32, is a Chinese teacher in the international department of a public school in Beijing.
There are usually three kinds of international schools in China: one is pure international school, which only recruits foreign students; One is a private international school, which mainly recruits students from China; There is also the international department of the public school, which is accepted by both Chinese and foreign students.
All types of international schools teach European and American courses.
There are several types of families in China who send their children to international schools:
One is that the economic conditions at home are particularly good, and living in a luxury house and driving a famous car is completely "not bad money", that is, I hope that my children will go to an "aristocratic school" and receive a different education;
One is that there is no local hukou, and there is no way to take the college entrance examination in the local area, so I have to study in an international school with unlimited household registration. This situation is particularly common in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen;
There is also a class of students who usually get average results in the senior high school entrance examination or fail to get into the ideal high school. If they take the national college entrance examination, they may not be admitted to a good university, so they choose to study abroad.
In the past, everyone talked about studying abroad, mostly in the last category. But in recent years, there are more and more students in the first two categories, and my school also belongs to the first two categories.
We are the international department of public schools, mainly teaching AP courses. AP course is a preparatory course for American universities in high school, and its test scores can reach university credits, which is very helpful for applying to European and American universities.
But in our school, there are many Chinese teachers and few foreign teachers. Classes are also explained in Chinese, but English papers are used.
When the International Department was first established, the teachers were mainly drawn from the teachers in the College Entrance Examination Department. All teachers have graduated from top universities in China and have rich teaching experience.
Now the scale and reputation of the international department are growing, and the requirements for teachers are getting higher and higher. English teachers are required to be masters from top universities in China or TESOL graduates from foreign universities, and subject teachers must also be masters or doctors from famous universities.
Our treatment is the same as that of teachers with the same education in public schools.
Although the income is not as much as that of teachers in private international schools, it is still very attractive to teachers, because it can solve the problems of establishment and hukou, and the stability of teachers is relatively high, with little loss.
Ms. Feng is 38 years old and a parent of an international school in Shanghai.
Originally, I didn't intend to send my child to any "noble school", but he didn't get into a key high school, and I didn't want him to make do in an ordinary high school, so I sent him to an international school in Shanghai.
This school is the international department of a university in Shanghai. The class place is on the campus of the university, and the teaching style is similar to that of the university, and a hierarchical day study system is implemented.
Here, high school students can choose their own courses, take different classes and go to different classrooms, and their classmates will change constantly, unlike ordinary high school students who are all fixed in one classroom.
However, this school will divide students into key classes according to their grades, and the tuition fees for different grades are different.
The students with the best grades are in Class A, and the annual tuition fee is 6.5438+0.7 million yuan, while the students who are slightly worse are in Class B, and the annual tuition fee is 6.5438+0.4 million yuan. The teachers in Class A are similar to those in Class B, but Class A has two more hours of classes every week than Class B. ..
Class C students have the lowest grades and the lowest fees, and the teacher is worse than Class AB.
My son is in Class A, originally wanted to go to England, and chose the A-LEVEL course with British academic system. There are more than 20 students in the same class, all from China.
Most students choose to live on campus, but my son has a chronic genetic disease since childhood and his diet structure is quite special. He has a special recipe for three meals a day and can't eat it in the school cafeteria. So, we rented an apartment near the school with an annual rent of 200,000.
I have a stable job in my hometown, and my father is also doing business in his hometown, so I can't accompany him. We specially asked someone to take care of my son's daily life in Shanghai.
Ten-mile foreign exchange costs a lot of money. Counting, the tuition, living expenses and rent of my son in Shanghai for one year add up to at least 500,000.
But my son still feels guilty. As a mother, I didn't take good care of him. My father and I were busy with work and business at home, and we didn't write an assignment with him for three years in junior high school.
He is very clever, but sometimes he needs someone to supervise him in his studies. Unfortunately, at an important stage of his growth, I neglected his company.
He didn't get into a key high school, mainly because of poor physical education. Because of physical reasons, I only got 20 points in physical education. If I had spent more time with him before, even if I had done more physical training with him, I would have achieved better results than now.
Sending my son to an "international school" is my compensation for his lack of junior high school education.
I don't expect him to understand his parents' pains. I just hope he can grow up happily.
Andy, 35, is a female foreign teacher in an international teacher training institution in Beijing.
I'm British. I have been in China for 8 years. I worked as a foreign teacher in Shanxi and Zhejiang, and just came to Beijing two years ago.
Our company specializes in international teacher training, mainly for foreigners who come to China to teach.
International schools have strict requirements for teachers' qualifications. In addition to having a master's degree in related majors, you must have at least 1.20 hours of TEFL study, get a CELTA certificate, and receive relevant training before you can take up your post.
The training content includes some basic theoretical knowledge, such as educational theory and teaching skills. In addition, all new teachers have to study CPT courses for two months, that is, continuous professional development, individualized teaching, classroom control, questioning skills and so on.
Nowadays, many kindergartens also offer international editions, and some foreign teachers have to face younger children. We will also train children in psychology, behavior and other knowledge and tell them how to get along with children.
Although most of these teachers will get "employment certificates", most of them have no teaching experience and are of different ages. Training is difficult for us.
Therefore, before he officially becomes an international teacher, we still have a three-week observation period to examine his teaching ability and judge whether they can adapt to the future work.
I have been doing international teacher training for almost ten years and have trained at least hundreds of teachers. They come from all over the world and from any country.
Some teachers from China also participated in the training. The main content of their training is how to communicate with foreign parents and deal with cultural conflicts.
What are the differences between China education and foreign teachers? I think there are mainly these aspects:
First, foreign teachers have inherent advantages in pronunciation, grammar and understanding of language, and teaching English courses is more authentic;
Second, foreign teachers pay more attention to cultivating students' independent thinking and ability, while China knows how to take care of students and parents.
Many China students, especially primary school students, are a little scared when they first come into contact with foreign teachers. It will be fine after a long time. This is my personal experience.
Some people say that the salary of foreign teachers will be higher than that of local teachers. I'm not sure about that.
But what is certain is that they won't come without a high salary.
Michael, 36, is a foreign teacher in an international school in Beijing.
After five years in Beijing, I still haven't fully integrated into my teachers and colleagues. Everyone likes to get together and chat, but I prefer to be alone.
I finished my master's degree in the United States and got the international teacher qualification certificate. Five years ago, I came to China through an intermediary to teach mathematics and American history in an international school and give lectures in English.
I am ashamed that I have been in China for several years, but I still haven't learned Chinese. There are many colleagues from China in the school, but the communication between us is all in English, which is basically about work.
Our school is a private school and the treatment is not bad. Foreign teachers earn 25,000 to 30,000 yuan a month. The school will provide teachers' apartments and reimburse the annual round-trip air ticket from China to the United States.
There is a big terrace on the top floor of the teachers' dormitory, which is my favorite place.
Sometimes after dinner, I climb onto the roof with a few cans of beer and sit there drinking and watching aimlessly, as if I could see my hometown in America.
Homesickness is certain, but you can only go back once a year. During the holiday, I will invite two fellow villagers who came to China with me to travel. China is very big, and there are many interesting places worth visiting.
I also teach adult English part-time at Wudaokou on weekends, Saturday and Sunday.
"Foreigners" like to get together with "foreigners", such as Sanlitun and Wudaokou, which are all "distribution centers" for foreigners. But I am a typical "otaku", but a friend deliberately refuses to associate with people.
He is also an American and works as a teacher in an international school in Shanghai. Usually friends ask him out to eat, drink and bar, but he mostly refuses because he often fights after drinking.
He doesn't go to parties or drink because he doesn't want to make trouble after drinking and lose his job. It is not easy to find a job in America. He cherishes the job opportunities in China.
In the circle of "foreigners", coming to China as a foreign teacher is a pretty good job. Some people want to teach in an international school, but because they don't have enough academic qualifications, or they don't get a qualification certificate, they can only find another way.
Song Xin's teaching experience 13, Master of Capital Normal University.
After graduating from graduate school in 2007, she became a teacher of China in an international school.
Compared with the enrollment of public schools, the concept of international schools is "special" from the beginning: the raters of the trial lectures are not only respected seniors and directors, but also students' evaluations, accounting for a very high proportion.
In other words, the teacher's "leader" aura is much weaker, but participates in children's learning and growth as an "auxiliary role".
However, public education acquiesces to a major premise: students do not have the ability of self-control and autonomy. The teacher is a natural authoritative "commander", who refers to where to learn.
Most of the "default" school rules prohibit doing this and that, and enclose teenagers in a framework, presupposing that they are the opposite identities that must be disciplined.
Our school is more open and equal. The relationship between teachers and students is also relatively loose, because the assessment system for students and teachers is different, and it is not entirely based on the level of grades.
The ultimate core of domestic education is clear: the college entrance examination.
As a selective and competitive examination, the college entrance examination will deliberately set some small "traps" on the examination questions in order to separate students. For example, there is no special requirement for hiding test sites in the syllabus, and students have to think for themselves.
There are not so many twists and turns in the assessment of international schools, and they will not "dig holes".
Take physics as an example. Usually, the first question of the first big question will lead you to think in a fixed direction, and gradually expand from shallow to deep to see if you have mastered this knowledge point.
In this way, when students study, their hearts will be more stable, and they will not always think about what the teacher will do and how to "embarrass" me.
Four years in college in Britain and America is not cheap. It is normal for tuition and living expenses to add up to one or two million. But in fact, just "preparing to go abroad" will cost a lot of money.
Our school is cheap, 65438+ ten thousand a year. A better school should start at 200,000 yuan. Therefore, families that have the capital to choose this path are at least well-off families.
Most of our current students are families from other places who come to Beijing to start businesses. Parents can make money, but they don't have registered permanent residence, and they don't want their children to go back to their hometown for the college entrance examination, so they can only come to international schools to study in golden road in the future.
Many Beijing-based families have also begun to choose international schools, and such children account for about 20%.
We often hear the saying that international schools are so expensive, do teachers earn a lot? In fact, the gap between us and public school teachers is not that big.
In addition, the foreign teachers here are particularly mobile. Usually, young foreign teachers have a one-year contract and are likely to return to China after the contract expires.
Foreign teachers' teaching ability is not as good as China's, and their grades are even worse. In addition, there is a general shortage of science teachers in domestic schools, especially in Britain and the United States.
We will have a foreign teacher in each subject, but he may need to teach 2-3 grades at the same time. 80% of the courses still depend on China education with a background of studying abroad and strong English, with at least a master's degree.
However, private education is very unstable. I can stay here for 10 years because of the establishment of public schools and my home here. Moreover, many young teachers I know in China have changed jobs according to their salary and personal development, which is quite frequent.