Wang Yuanyuan

THERE are more than 150 expatriate students studying at Shenzhen Nanshan Bilingual School, including students from South Korea, Japan, Britain and the United States.

More than 100 of the expat students are from South Korea.

Jiang Qingxin, chief of the primary school department, said the school had a very high reputation in the Korean community for Chinese teaching. Parents had recommended it to other Korean families in Shenzhen.

Teachers at the school said that expatriate students were hard-working and had a surprising ability to adapt. Most of them can catch up with Chinese students and speak fluent Chinese in two or three months. “But it takes some time to teach them about Chinese criteria of conduct in school,” said the head teacher of a class in Grade Two surnamed Cai.

The students share each other’s culture in the class. For example, the school organizes traditional Chinese festivals for Korean students and in return, the Korean students organize their Korea Day.

“My mum has to take me when she goes to a supermarket and ask me to talk to staff there because I am her interpreter now,” said a girl called Gloria Kim from South Korea.

“I like living in Shenzhen very much, because it’s a very beautiful green city and I like climbing Bijia Hill the most and go there almost every week with my parents,” Rose from New Zealand said.

Expatriate students have been studying at the school since it was established in 2000. The oldest student is now studying in Junior Two and expecting to take the high school entrance examination next year.

Jiang said many expatriate students attended the school for a few semesters and then returned to their home countries with their parents. Those who planned to stay in Shenzhen for an extended period were willing to take the entrance exams for high school and university.