Chao News client reporter Ji Yuya.
As the Spring Festival approaches, while most people are preparing to celebrate the Spring Festival with their families, some parents are taking their children to study in a foreign country.
Different from the familiar study abroad, they choose the way of transferring classes during the winter vacation, allowing children to transfer to foreign primary and secondary schools for about 3-6 weeks to immerse themselves in the local learning and living atmosphere.
In previous years, the phenomenon of being a transfer student during the holidays often occurred during the summer vacation. And this year, overseas transfers during the winter vacation have quietly gone wild. Some study abroad agencies have also taken advantage of the winter vacation to launch this program and become one of the selling points.
On social networking such as Xiaohongshu, many parents from different countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and the United States have posted their baby's overseas transfer experience. Netizens are also quite concerned about this new phenomenon.
Why is it fragrant to go overseas during the winter vacation? Compared to taking children to overseas travel, can such a short-term transfer bring a different experience?
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On January 28th, netizen "Duobao Yuyu" posted his ** in the departure hall of Shanghai Pudong International Airport, and the super cost-effective arrangement for the winter vacation: he is about to start a study tour in New Zealand.
She only has more than 1,000 fans, but this news has attracted more than 1,000 likes and favorites. Because there were too many netizens who were curious about her experience, when "Duobao Yuyuyu" landed in Auckland, she found that her comments and private messages had exploded.
"Duobao Yu Yu Yu" described his experience as "opening the blind box". Because unlike the usual familiar contact with foreign students through intermediaries, she contacted herself throughout the whole process, including schools, landlords, etc. Therefore, the tuition fee for my daughter's 3-week transfer in New Zealand only cost 7,500 yuan.
New Zealand has 4 semesters a year, and the first semester and the third semester are suitable for transfer. The start of the first semester is similar to the winter vacation in China this year, and compared with the harsh winter in China, New Zealand is more suitable for outdoor activities in summer.
The picture shows the welcome ceremony of the son of netizen "Tianxin Little Hand" when he transferred to study in Malaysia.
"Tianxin Little Hand", a netizen from Chengdu, also completed his son's application for overseas transfer for the first time on his own.
When she was in China, she sent emails to many international schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and did not finalize them until a week before her departure. "My son is a kindergarten child, and my friend's child is currently in the second grade of primary school. The total cost of our 2 large and 2 small transfer classes is more than 10,000 yuan. "Tianxin Xiaoshou" introduced that his ideal state is to take his son out to transfer during the holidays, which is a bit similar to the feeling of intensive training, so that his language ability will definitely be greatly improved. I chose Kuala Lumpur because there are many international schools with British and American systems.
Chao News reporters searched on various social platforms and found that during this year's winter vacation, choosing to go overseas to transfer classes and discuss was more popular.
A senior account manager of a study abroad agency told reporters, "Although the overseas transfer during the winter vacation is hot because the demand squeezed in the past few years has been released, objectively, the vacation transfer that allows students to experience and feel the study abroad life in advance has also become the most cost-effective research product at present."
Of course, with the increasing development and diversification of online information in recent years, there are not a few parents who choose to apply for overseas winter vacation transfer independently, and many families still go together. Compared with the relatively high cost of applying through an intermediary, the cost of applying by yourself is frugal, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan, which is enough for the tuition fee of an overseas winter vacation transfer class. And the parents who accompanied the students also took advantage of the situation to achieve an in-depth tour.
Ms. Wu, whose daughter is in the first grade of a public primary school in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, is taking her daughter to a transfer class in Australia, "The school we chose to transfer to has four classes in one grade, and each class is individual, and there are about 20 transfer students this time, basically from China. The school is also very familiar with the transfer business, and even asked me if I am an agent or a parent."
In the past, I thought that the procedures for transferring overseas should be cumbersome and expensive. Recently, several friends around me took advantage of the winter vacation to take their babies overseas to transfer classes, and after listening to their sharing, I found that the threshold was not high, and I was also very excited. A parent of a son in Hangzhou who is in the third grade of primary school told the Chao News reporter that for parents who want to improve their children's international vision and do not plan to send their children abroad in primary and junior high school, overseas transfer is a better way to compromise.
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On the Internet, there are a lot of support and doubts about the new way of studying abroad during this kind of holiday. Some netizens feel that it is difficult to obtain obvious benefits from short-term transfers. Even if the language improves, it will fall back again after leaving the immersion environment. Is it worth it for parents to put in so much effort?
It is not realistic to expect a child to make a qualitative leap in English after a few weeks of study, unless the child's English level is already very good, then the short-term effect will be better. Ms. Zhou, who took her daughter to study in Australia for six weeks last summer, told reporters that before the third grade of Australian public primary schools, play was the mainstay, and the teachers were all subject teachers. Even in English subjects where there is a lot of copying and spelling, the teacher will not force the child to achieve the same level. Because they feel that behavior norms and social interaction are more important than learning knowledge, not to mention short-term transfers.
The picture shows Ms. Zhou's daughter transferring to class in Australia. Provided by the interviewee.
But in her daughter, Ms. Zhou saw a change that made her even more happy. Under the influence of the local teacher's boasting, she became a social cow with a slow personality. When I met a teacher in the supermarket, I would run over to chat, and when I went out, I would find a way to find a foreign uncle and aunt for help. What surprised me the most was that my daughter once promised a friend's child to go to the skatepark to play, and she really asked the coach of the skatepark to communicate the time to bring her friend to play. Ms. Zhou said that her biggest expectation for short-term transfer is for her children to make more friends, open their horizons, and know that there are many possibilities in the world.
And similar changes have also happened to the son of "Tianxin Little Hands". Although he had only been in the class for a week, "Tianxin Little Hands" found that his son had become more willing to share and express, "This is also the purpose of my trip."
I don't expect my child's English to improve much in the short intermittent period. But I believe that through the exchanges with the local children and teachers, he will learn a part of New Zealand culture and history. Netizen "Xiaole" wrote when sharing his son's experience of going to New Zealand for two transfers in the summer of 2019 and the winter vacation of 2024 on Xiaohongshu: This is a valuable experience for growing up.
Of course, in the interview with the Chao News reporter, some parents and teachers proposed: At present, it is becoming more and more popular to go overseas during the holidays. Next, can overseas students come to China for classes? "Combined with the recent introduction of a number of visa-free policies in our country, this is likely to become a reality in the near future. According to an expert in the education industry, this is a win-win option. On the one hand, the development of summer schools will help to enhance and build China's study abroad brand; On the other hand, it can also allow domestic children to get more experience of meta-cultural collision.
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