The Beijing International School Expo 2015 is sponsored by HealthPro.
From tips on raising a third-culture kid to deciding whether local or international schools are the best fit for your little one, this year’s Beijing International School Expo (running Jan 24-25 at the Kerry Hotel) features top-notch lectures and panel discussions that will give you practical information about education and parenting here in the capital.
The lectures on Sunday, January 25 will focus on the expat parent experience in Beijing.
The talks kick off at 10:30am in the Kerry Hotel Beijing’s Wuhan Room with “Foreign Kids in Local Schools: A First-Person Parent Panel.”
The panel will feature four expat parents who have sent their children to local Chinese schools taught primarily in Mandarin, such as Fangcaodi International School and Tsinghua CBD Primary School.
One of the parents is Choon Eichman, a Singapore native who was the admissions director at Dulwich College Beijing (DCB) for ten years and most recently joined the Marketing and Communications department. She and her American husband, Bruce, sent their now-adult sons to Chinese schools in Beijing before switching to DCB. They now attend universities in the US. With 20 years of experience, Choon has a deep understand of different education systems and loves helping parents figure out which one suits their child best.
She and the other panel members will discuss the advantages and challenges of exposing expat children to Mandarin in such an all-encompassing fashion, along with tips about when it’s the best time for those young ones to switch to an international school or a westernized learning environment.
In the afternoon, BISE attendees can also enjoy a lecture presented by Caroline Nath entitled “The Challenges of Raising Multi-Cultural Kids” (1.30-3pm also in the Wuhan Room). Nath is the CEO of Nutshell Films and the founder of Bon Nani Jams and Chutneys, along with being a certified PET (Parent Effectiveness Training) teacher.
Caroline was born in a mixed family and grew up as a third-culture child in France, the US, India and China. She came to Beijing in the mid-80s as a teenager with her parents and became a long-term Beijing resident. She has raised two multi-cultural kids with the father of her children, who is a Beijing native. She is currently working on a book project on multi-culturalism and multi-ethnic experiences around the world.
Both of Sunday’s lectures will be conducted in English.
Saturday’s lectures are mostly geared toward Chinese parents, from "What Chinese Students Should Consider in a US Education” at 10.30am to “Going to International Schools: Are You Ready?” at 1.30pm.
For more information and updates about BISE, click here.
