International School Community Blog

Blogs of international school teachers: “Life in Kunshan, China” (An international school PARENT at Kunshan International School)

Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad?

Our 30th blog that we would like to highlight is called “Life in Kunshan, China”  It is not actually written by a teacher, but by a parent!  Check out the blog entries of this international school PARENT who currently sends their children to Kunshan American School in China.

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A few entries that we would like to highlight:

The Kunshan International School & Ikea Shanghai

“The school is quite large.  We were only able to see the kindergarten area today – a meeting with teaching staff and tour of the school will occur later in the month – but what we saw was impressive:  the kindergarten has a room with beds for naps, a separate and large room with great play equipment, a traditional teaching room and a separate reading room with about a dozen PCs for the kids to work on.

I was struck by the cost of the school:  only 12,500 RMB/semester for Logan and 10,000 for Jordan.  That works out to a little over $3,000/year for our two boys, a small fraction of what we’d have to pay to send the kids to school in Shanghai, and even less than we were paying in California for Jordan’s pre-school…”

It is interesting to get the international school parents’ perspective once and awhile.  I actually just witnessed a “tour” going on today at work with our school secretary showing around a new/prospective family.  I was out on break duty and was wondering what the parents were thinking as they watched all the students running around.  Were they impressed by the school’s playground and how the students were using it?  We should have the school secretary share more about what kind of feedback/statements she/he hears when giving a tour of our school.  It could prove to be quite intriguing to hear what prospective/new parents (and their children) are saying!

And then there is the cost of sending children to the international school in question.  Typically it can be very expensive for expat parents paying for themselves.  But we all know that many expat parents don’t typically pay for the tuition themselves, their company pays for them.  What a nice surpise then to find out the tuition at Kunshan International School is actually low when compared to other international schools in China.

On a side note, we also have an article on our blog about international school teachers’ dependence on IKEA when living abroad.  Check out the article here.

The Kunshan International School

“The teachers seem to take a deep interest in the kids.  About a week before the start of school, Jordan’s (who was going to start kindergarten) teacher came to our house to visit on a Saturday, speaking with Jordan and answering questions we had.  She was going to all the students’ homes, getting to know them and allow them to get comfortable with her (of course, this just doesn’t happen in the U.S.)…”

I have never heard of this happening!  How great that a teacher at this international school goes to each student’s house to answer questions that the student and family have!  Does any one know of any other international school that does this kind of orientation?

Want to work for an international school in China like this blogger sends their children to?  Currently, we have 142 international schools listed in China on International School Community. Here are a few that have had comments and information submitted on their profiles:

Beijing City International School (31 Comments)
Tsinghua International School (Beijing) (30 Comments)
Changsha WES Academy (12 Comments)
Guangdong Country Garden School (17 Comments)
American International School of Guangzhou (12 Comments)
Hangzhou International School (19 Comments)
Hong Kong International School (33 Comments)
• Access International Academy (Ningbo) (20 Comments)

If you are an international school teacher and would like your blog highlighted on International School Community contact us here.