School's Out for Summer!

We had a big party for the last day of school.  The parents at K2B really put on a good spread.  It was a bittersweet day though as many of Katy's closest friends (aka English speaking classmates) are moving on to international schools. 

Kiara, Zee Zee and Ava are going to ISF (as are most of the defectors) and Eden is going to Canadian International School.

I'll always remember Ava as one of the first kids in school to befriend Katy and get her up and dancing.

Kiara has been a relatively recent friend, but now they're quite close.

 

Katy adores Liao Laoshi, the head teacher.  Liao Laoshi is very encouraging and friendly, but with 39 kids to take care of, I do feel that sometimes Katy's own individual strengths and weaknesses are not optimally managed.  We've always known that Katy is not a fan of large groups, and she has trouble paying attention in that setting.

 

The younger of the three teachers is Lu Laoshi.

 

The third teacher is Liu Laoshi, who acts and looks a little stricter.  It took a while for Katy to warm up to her, but now it seems that they're good friends.

 

And then of course their English teacher Miss Tabbie.

  

The international school system in Hong Kong is so crazily competitive that parents feel they have to get in at 5 years old or they will never get in.  It's such a shame as most families would love their kids to stay for a few more years of Mandarin.  Even though we think Katy might be better suited temperament wise to an international school setting with smaller classroom classes and more individual attention, we've made a decision to keep her in Mandarin school as this is our priority, especially while she's still young enough to roll with it.  So now the kids are saying their goodbyes.  

For now, Katy doesn't think it's that big a problem because she's been to a new "school" every year since she was two.  First DMK Mandarin Mommy and Me playgroup (15 months to two years old), then DMK Mandarin Playgroup with Sugar n Spice and DB Bugs Montessori playgroups at the same time (two years old), then Green Pastures for K1 (three years old) and now Suzhe for K2 (four years old).  The weird thing for Katy will be returning to the same school in September and reuniting with her old classmates!