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Under the impact of the economic downturn, "consumption downgrade" has quietly become the common choice of many families.

However, when the new normal of "increasing income and reducing expenditure" collides with the long summer vacation of the "money-eating beast", how to let children "effectively see the world" while trying to control the budget to alleviate "wallet anxiety" has become a new challenge facing parents this summer vacation.

Interestingly,Despite the long-standing trend of "thriftiness", the "overseas transfer fever" remains unabated and continues to be popular。

Image source: Pexels

Today, at the beginning of May, a former colleague asked me to inquire about the situation of transfer classes in local primary schools in Australia, and planned to bring his daughter to study there in July.

I consulted several schools and got the following answers:The places for July and August are all sold out. If you are considering coming in January (winter vacation), you can start queuing in advance.

After some inquiries, the admissions teacher told me that he wanted to let his child take advantage of the holiday.If you want to study in a local school in Australia for 4-8 weeks, parents should apply at least three months in advance.. Sydney and MelbourneFor some popular schools, transfer applications must be submitted at least half a year in advance.

According to the current trend, the transfer program in Australia has not only fully recovered to the level before the epidemic, but is even more popular than before the epidemic. Where is the promised "consumption downgrade"? Why are there still a steady stream of parents who are willing to pay for their children to come to Australia to be "little international students" for 1-2 months without hesitation?

Is the experience of short-term transfer a cost-effective and wise choice, or is it a waste of money that only allows children to see a "useless world"?

Short-term study in Australia

I have been accompanying my daughter to study in Australia for nearly a year, but the scene of checking in eight large boxes and landing in Australia last September seems like yesterday. And the first memory of my daughter's arrival in Australia and starting a new learning experience in a local private girls' school is still vivid in my mind.

Back view of daughter going to school

Based on my daughter's experience in the first two months of schooling in Australia, my opinion on the topic of "whether short-term study in Australia can be fruitful" is:Whether a child can gain something depends on the individual and mainly depends on how one defines "gain".

Let’s first calculate the approximate cost of short-term study in Australia:The total price is slightly higher than traveling abroad, but the tuition is lower than some domestic "summer camps".

I did a simple calculation:If one parent accompanies the student for one month, the total cost is about RMB 60,000 to 70,000.Of course, the cost of accommodation, food and travel is up to you. If the specifications are high, there is naturally no cap on the cost.

There is anotherOne-time registration fee of 295 Australian dollars, about 1386 yuanThe tuition fee for the four-week course is less than RMB 9,000. Compared with some international school summer camps in Beijing and Shanghai that cost tens of thousands of yuan, I think the cost performance is good.

Tuition fees for different stages

Of course, if parents have higher requirements for the school's hardware and software facilities, rich activities, and school services, they can also consider enrolling their children in Australian private schools.

The tuition fee for private school is about 500-800 Australian dollars per week. If the registration fee is included, the cost of a month in a private school in Australia is about RMB 10,000 to 16,000.Although the cost-effectiveness is not as high as that of public schools, the overall teaching quality can be improved.

For example, my friend's child, who attends an international school in Shanghai, once came to a high-quality public school in Australia during the summer vacation. The total tuition fee for the entire 10-week summer vacation was less than 20,000 RMB. She said it was very cost-effective.

In fact, for older mothers who are accustomed to various high-priced summer camps in China, spending ten thousand yuan on a seven-day summer camp seems to be commonplace. They also understand that even if these summer camps focus on creating a pure English environment and pay attention to outdoor experience, a week's time can only allow children to have fun and watch the excitement.

But in Australia,For the same price, your child can study in a regular class for nearly a month and experience the rich curriculum and outdoor activities of Australian schools., which almost meets all the old mother's expectations for a "rich holiday".

Food expenses also vary from person to person. If you are used to cooking, I think the expenses in all aspects will not be much higher than those in first-tier cities in China, butIf you like eating out, the cost of dining in Australia will be relatively high, at least twice that of first-tier cities in China.

Is it possible to study in a different class?

English proficiency “overtaking on a curve”?

Compared with traveling overseas, studying in Australia obviously has its own unique advantages.

After all, if you are a tourist, you are in a hurry and have a busy schedule. You are busy checking in classic attractions and taking photos to post on social media every day. It can only be regarded as a change of place to eat, drink and have fun. Not to mention that children are reluctant to write "travel notes", for adults, how much can really settle in their hearts after a hurried journey?

But to be honest, if parents hope to help their children learn English better by enrolling them in short-term classes, it may not be easy.

I have a friend who took her child to Australia for a month of experience with great expectations. However, she complained to me almost the entire time, saying "I spent so much money but learned nothing". It turned out that her child was in the third grade of a public primary school in China. The parents originally wanted to use this month's immersion teaching to help the child make a qualitative leap in English, but the result was contrary to their expectations.

Australia Transfer

However, the children are very happy to go to school every day. Although they cannot understand what is being taught in class, the free and relaxed environment of Australian primary schools and the enthusiastic classmates allow children with poor English to have fun every day. The children, who speak different languages, can miraculously play together.

Of course, the parents were very dissatisfied - when they asked their children what they had learned every day, the children knew almost nothing; a month later, the children still could not understand or speak English, and their reading and writing skills had not improved at all.

Perhaps the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. This friend finally came to the conclusion:"This money is wasted."

It seems that for children with weak English foundation, it is unrealistic to expect that 1-2 months of classes will enable them to make visible progress in English learning.

However, for children with a decent foundation in English, 1-2 months of classes can still effectively help improve their English listening and speaking skills to a higher level. However, it is also difficult to significantly improve reading and writing skills through 1-2 months of "English immersion".

Take my daughter’s personal experience as an example. When she first came to Australia in the fourth grade, her English was not as good as that of the English-speaking kids in Shanghai, but at least she could fluently read books of the corresponding difficulty level for her age group; she could also roughly understand the content of the class lectures, so she was not at a loss in class.

However, her oral expression ability is not strong and her writing is also weak. She has a lot of grammatical problems, her vocabulary is not rich enough, there are many spelling errors, and her sentence structure is monotonous.

From this we can see that if you want to rely on joining a class to quickly improve your child’s English level, in addition to the child’s English foundation, it also depends on the child’s personality.

Children who have a good foundation in English and are outgoing and expressive can make rapid progress in listening and speaking through short-term English immersion. However, if the child has a poor foundation in English and hopes to achieve a big leap in English by joining the class, he or she will most likely be disappointed.

In addition to learning English, what can children gain from attending classes in Australia?

Looking back on the first two months in Australia, I felt the difference between Australian primary education and domestic schools through my daughter’s retelling and sharing.

The first thing is to experience the student-centered teaching method.

In Australia, students rather than teachers are the protagonists of the classroom. Children are fully encouraged to explore themselves, think actively and draw conclusions independently.

My daughter's social science homework.

Free exploration, no standard answers

For example, in Australian science classes, process design is often taught in the form of proposing hypotheses, designing experiments, recording experimental results, and drawing conclusions, which subtly improves children's scientific literacy.

My daughter once studied the topic of weathering and erosion. The teacher did not explain the concept first. Instead, the children walked out of the classroom, found various materials in the playground, and made a "beach" model together. Then the teacher asked each child to simulate various natural phenomena by blowing air with different intensities and stirring the water in the model, in order to observe how the "beach" would change in shape under various external forces. In this way, the children could naturally get a conclusion that impressed them deeply from the whole process.

This method not only fully mobilizes children's interest in learning science, but more importantly, cultivates children's scientific literacy of active exploration.

In addition, Australia’s knowledge assessment does not only look at the results of the final exam, but also comprehensively examines the children’s completion of various small projects and tasks in normal classes. Most of these tasks require children to explore/search/think independently. Although there are no standard answers, children are required to be able to speak meaningfully and express themselves appropriately.

The teaching method that encourages children to think and explore from the process to the assessment is not only found in science classes, but also in humanities and social sciences courses.

For example, when studying the topic of "democracy", the teacher will not give a direct conclusion in class, but will guide the children to think about the "definition, implementation method and significance of democracy" by asking questions, searching large amounts of information and holding group discussions.

The children's research and search results will eventually need to be presented in written reports, PPTs, etc. This process will improve the children's information retrieval, summarizing, thinking and expression abilities, which will be helpful for their future study and work, and is an essential ability for lifelong learning.

Of course, some parents feel that their children play all day in Australian schools, but whether they have learned anything also depends on what counts as learning something.

If only "remembering knowledge points and improving accuracy by repeatedly doing exercises" can be considered as learning the real stuff, then I think learning at home will be more efficient. Children can do exercises repeatedly at home according to their weak points, which is more efficient and targeted.

Outdoor activities on campus

Schools can provide children with a stage that is not available in family learning. For example, under the guidance of teachers, children can gain confidence, arouse interest and improve their learning ability through self-exploration and exchanges of ideas with classmates.From this perspective, Australian classrooms can play the role of "learning through play" very well. Of course, this also requires the care and inspiration of wise parents.

Participate in Australian class activities

Therefore, in the past, when my children had a cold and stayed at home, I was not in a hurry to let them return to school as soon as possible. But in Australia, when my children had a cold and fever and could not go to school, I would feel really sorry. Now, if I can let the children experience another concept of learning by joining the class, it is also very worthwhile.

The second is the free and relaxed atmosphere of Australian schools, as well as the perfect sense of relaxation.

In Australia, the teachers I met were all humble and more like the children's close friends, getting along well with them.

The children and teachers are very close, and the communication between them is completely equal. Every teacher knows how to praise and encourage, and will try their best to discover the advantages of each child and give full encouragement.

This relaxed and pleasant teaching atmosphere is very friendly to children who are slow to warm up or lack confidence, and it is easier to improve their self-confidence.

During morning tea and lunch time in Australian schools, the classroom doors will be locked and children will not be allowed to enter, allowing them to play outdoors.

For lunch and morning tea, children can also choose any dining location. Although there are some outdoor tables and chairs, more children like to sit on the ground to eat lunch, giving the illusion of a picnic. This sense of freedom and relaxation is worth experiencing for domestic children.

Rich activities,

The campus is transformed into a "playground"

First experience of cross-cultural communication

Fluent English is only the first step to achieve smooth cross-cultural communication.The barrier to cross-cultural communication lies not only in language, but also in culture.

Therefore, if you want your children to grow up to be world citizens who are good at cross-cultural communication, adapt to a multicultural environment, and understand tolerance and acceptance, then it is meaningful to let your children come into contact with people from different cultural backgrounds from an early age.

As an immigrant country, Australia is home to people of many ethnic groups, and multiculturalism forms the basis of its social environment.Almost every Australian primary school is like a small "United Nations", with students and teachers from different countries and cultural backgrounds.

Coming to an Australian primary school is a great opportunity to meet people from different cultural backgrounds and enhance confidence in cross-cultural communication.

Despite various forms of "racial discrimination",Although it is a social problem in Australia, Australian primary schools are very concerned aboutDiversity and InclusionShaping and educating values.

Basically, various activities are held every semester to encourage children to respect different cultures and accept different cultural concepts.

This kind of education is also a rare opportunity for children to enhance their awareness of global citizenship.Therefore, I think that "English improvement" can only be regarded as a "by-product" of summer classes. Children who come to Australia to study can experience different learning methods and teaching concepts in a foreign country during the one or two months of short-term study.

Especially for families who plan to study abroad in the future or are hesitant about whether to go the overseas study route, joining a class is a good opportunity to try. Through experience and comparison, you can more accurately know whether your child likes and is suitable for studying abroad.

For families who do not have plans to study abroad, it is also quite positive to experience different educational methods and broaden children's horizons.Life is long, so why bother about "overtaking on a curve" in a summer vacation; life is also short, so experiencing and feeling are meaningful in themselves. After all, experience is priceless.

Of course, transferring to a class is not a small expense. After the consumption downgrade of education, money should be spent wisely. It is a bit too extravagant to transfer to a class abroad just for an experience or to accumulate some topics to talk about. Rational parents should still think about whether to start studying abroad based on their children's education plan and current English foundation.

After all, there are other more cost-effective options for children's summer vacation. It is wise to act within your means and choose according to your needs.

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