we have plans to R2I in couple of years. My son is 6 years old now. Should second language compulsory in CBSE for NRI kids? what are the options for NRI kids as they dont learn any other languages except english in abroad. Suja.
sujatha, Second language is a must in cbse or any other board schools. if you opt international schools maybe you can go in for french as the second language. since he is six and maybe 8 when you return,it is not difficult for him to learn a new language. though teaching him the language you are going to chose after returning will not hurt. My bil's kids returned after 8 years. they did not know tamil when they r2i. but today they are doing very well. the kid started learning tamil when he joined in 4th standard..so your son has a better advantage of being in a still smaller class. WE did discuss second language issues of returning indians in the school forum under chennai too..
Thank you Shanti..for the information. you mentioned that your bil's family returned and their kid joined in 4th standard in Indian. but by the time it is 4th class, the standard of language should have been more and how did he pick up.. did he learn Tamil before at home or is there any exception for NRI kids , I am wondering how can they pick up big lessons when they dont even know vowels and consonant letters. I will also go through chennai section. thanks once again. Sujatha.
Sorry to interfere here.... Even myself and my husband had a discussion/argument on this issue. My husband says that our boys could learn French, Spanish for their second language so that our Indian languages won't be difficult for scoring in their class. My view is, why would my boys should learn other country Lang, when we don't even know anything about that Lang and not even going to use this Lang in our daily life. It takes the same effort or little more effort in learning your own mother tongue, by which they would learn to read/write and speak in the local Lang and they won't be left out among their friends / social circle. It may take year or two for them to get to speed on any Lang... but nothing is impossible in life. It may take year or two for them to get to speed on any lang... but nothing is impossible in life. This is JMO.
Sujatha, it was just that he was taught to read the alphabets just a few months before he returned to chennai. but the school was considerate, and the parents did not put much pressure so he fared well. i know a few more couple of kids who learnt hindi easily too. Puni i absolutely agree with you. the kids may have a little problem initially but kids at younger age can definitely do it. it is only when you return with kids who are above 7th grade it is a little difficult..they need to concentrate on other subjects too. since they would have definitely had french/spanish/german during these grades, it is easier to go ahead and learn the same as most schools here start french as second language only in the 6th. In my case both mine are learning french, not because it is difficult to learn a Indian language, but they already know hindi, and can read a little of tamil, and we wanted them to learn one additional language..so thus the transition to french..
