[MayC]

My little girl is going to a local kindergarten - by that, I mean a cantonese speaking kindergarten because I can foresee that we'll be here for a LOOONG time and we cannot afford international.
She started with NIL canton and is now fluent. In fact, she prefers this to English. I was really worried during her first year of school. I was worried that she couldn't understand her friends or her teachers and that she'd feel left out. However, after a year her teacher says that she can't distinguish my daughter's canto from that of her friends! Her dad is a Hongkonger but he is seldom home to teach her so she's learnt everything from school. Sometimes our kids can surprise us with how fast they can learn languages. The thing is, even if they aren't fluent, it's okay, right, because they will still have an advantage over others with their ability in another language.
I am thinking DSS for my daughter when she gets to primary, however, I am quite happy for her to go to a local all-chinese school.
In regards to homework, I get her teacher to help me - she gets more attention at school for chinese and when she comes home from school, she does it on her own. Eg. she knows that she needs to match the pictures to the chinese words and she does them without help. I think her teacher goes through with her in class.
I'm not quite sure what it'll be like at primary but I guess I'll deal with it when it comes. I heard that they have after school homework club too. Otherwise, maybe I could see if another parent would mind having her over for Chinese and I'll do the english with the kids. Who knows? ;-)
In any case, I see no harm in learning an extra language and what better ways to do so than sending them to a chinese school (where they will be in an all-chinese environment)?
I don't really know if I'll change my mind half way through..we'll see, I guess but for now I'm happy with my choice.