To Singapore to finish or stay Thailand?

[pianoman]

My GF's niece has lived with us for the past 3 years while attending school in our larger city rather than her village schools... She is in the middle of her 2nd to last year and has always maintained 3.5+ grades, but now has an offer from my GF's other sister and her farang husband to take her to Singapore and pay for all her schooling (thru college / University) there...

My GF is wanting her to wait the year and half until she has finished her "Thai Schooling".... I am so unimpressed with the Thai Education system that I am strongly suggesting that she go as soon as possible to allow her enroll in schools there who can help her to refine her English abilities prior to trying to making the jump to an all English upper level school... I guess I just don't see any advantage to her having a diploma from a Thai High School...

Any and all suggestion and /or input would be appreciated...

Pianoman

[Scott]

Unless she is in a bilingual program or some specialized program to help her with learning in English, she will most likely not be able to successfully study at the University level in English.

If you want her to be in any type of international program, she needs to be functioning well in English.

The last student that I had who went to school in Singapore, was put back one year due to his deficiencies in a number of subjects. He was one of the brightest students in our bilingual program, but still lagged behind on the Singapore level. I don't know what school it was, but it will give you idea of the difference in the learning level between Singapore and Thailand.

[culicine]

Unless she is in a bilingual program or some specialized program to help her with learning in English, she will most likely not be able to successfully study at the University level in English.

If you want her to be in any type of international program, she needs to be functioning well in English.

The last student that I had who went to school in Singapore, was put back one year due to his deficiencies in a number of subjects. He was one of the brightest students in our bilingual program, but still lagged behind on the Singapore level. I don't know what school it was, but it will give you idea of the difference in the learning level between Singapore and Thailand.

I had one student go to finish high school in Singapore. She was in my EP from 1st to 9th grade, and where there after that. Sh was quite good, but certainly not the best student I have taught. She successfully finished school there and in now studying medicine in Australia.

As Scott mentioned, unless the OP's niece has a very strong grip of (academic) english, I don' think she would be successful in a Singaporean school. Student's are not just successful there because of the curriculum, they are also expected to work very hard and aim for excellence. This is reflected by their high scores in international exams.

There are plenty of books from Singapore in the market, especially maths and science. Also, you can follow the British Curriculum (which is similar) if you can not find the Singaporean material. She should spend at least a year going through that material before going on to formal studies there.

[pianoman]

Unless she is in a bilingual program or some specialized program to help her with learning in English, she will most likely not be able to successfully study at the University level in English.

If you want her to be in any type of international program, she needs to be functioning well in English.

The last student that I had who went to school in Singapore, was put back one year due to his deficiencies in a number of subjects. He was one of the brightest students in our bilingual program, but still lagged behind on the Singapore level. I don't know what school it was, but it will give you idea of the difference in the learning level between Singapore and Thailand.

I had one student go to finish high school in Singapore. She was in my EP from 1st to 9th grade, and where there after that. Sh was quite good, but certainly not the best student I have taught. She successfully finished school there and in now studying medicine in Australia.

As Scott mentioned, unless the OP's niece has a very strong grip of (academic) english, I don' think she would be successful in a Singaporean school. Student's are not just successful there because of the curriculum, they are also expected to work very hard and aim for excellence. This is reflected by their high scores in international exams.

There are plenty of books from Singapore in the market, especially maths and science. Also, you can follow the British Curriculum (which is similar) if you can not find the Singaporean material. She should spend at least a year going through that material before going on to formal studies there.

I would expect that she will need at least a year or more of studing at a Private School in Singapore prior to even trying to proceed, but my feelings are that she would be better off starting that Private School studies as soon as possible rather than waiting the extra year just to "Finish" her Thai School studies...

Money is not a problem as they / we are willing to pay for whatever private schools and or extra lessons / instructions that would be needed...

Pianoman

[zeichen]

Send her now. First of all, since she will be living in an English speaking household and immersed with English speakers, she will improve much quicker. Universities in general only look at the last two years of highschool. It will be much easier for her to enter University with a Singaporean High school education than a Thai education.

I am certain that her academic ability will also improve once she is challenged to be even better. The only problem is having the right support for a culture shift, new school, friends, etc. If she is a strong willed person, then she should be fine.

Good luck.

Not all Singaporean schools are the same either. At my current position we have a sister school there and our lowest level students go for 1 term to improve their English. It doesn't help much, but that is because they all live with non English speakers.