'Going the distance' for good English
Hong Kong parents willing to pau the price to guarantee child's English success.
As a multicultural city and regional base for companies from all over the world, a high standard of English-language communication is an important competitive factor that helps to maintain Hong Kong’s East meets West international business and finance status.
Despite surveys reporting that English standards in Hong Kong are declining and compare unfavourably with many neighbouring countries in Asia, there is evidence to support the claim that some parents are keen to ensure their children are able to learn English and are willing to pay for it. For instance, reports from the recent Hong Kong Book Fair give examples of parents spending thousands of dollars on educational books for their children.
On the first day of the annual book fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, educational books for children were among the hottest sellers. The most popular English-language books on sale were the Oxford University Press’ Oxford Path storybook series, which costs up to HK$48,000, and Disney’s World of English (DWE), whose starter edition is priced at HK$20,000. One parent interviewed at the event said she wanted her child to be confident in the English exercises she takes at school and that it doesn’t matter how much the books cost. Another parent said that money was not a problem as long as her children were interested in reading.
Parents spare no expense
Jeffrey Tam, course director at DR-Max, one of Hong Kong’s biggest English-language teaching materials and publishing companies, believes it is vital that children are able to start learning English alongside Cantonese as young as possible. “There are a lot of parents that realise English is the language of finance, business, science and technology and they are willing to invest as much as they can to ensure their children can learn to speak and write in English,” Tam says.
A good example, says Tam, is the parent who spent HK$80,000 on DR-Max English learning programmes at the Hong Kong Book Fair. “The parent bought programmes spanning the next eight years so that her daughter, who is currently four-years-old, will be able to learn English until she is ready to enter secondary school,” Tam says. Through interaction with parents, Tam understands that they worry more about their children’s ability to get into a good school – while schools are also raising the bar for acceptance.