Last nights homework

[callan]

I'm starting to wonder what is going on with our education system, last week my youngest daughter brought home a certificate saying she was proficient in ten different types of massage technique....handy for a six year old.
My Thirteen year old won a prize in a painting competition despite the fact she spent about two minutes on it, apparently her school has an anti competition rule so everyone wins!
However my nine year olds homework last night left me gobsmacked, she is being taught.....Cantonese, and had to learn some basic phrases, plus practise her counting between eleven and twenty (one to ten already having been mastered already).
I have nothing against Catonese but really can't see the sense in learning it as against say German, French or Spanish which are countries my daughter has and will continue to visit (not to say she won't go to China but the others are far more likely).
So I put it out to the SZ faithful, is learning Cantonese a waste of time?, or should I not let it bother me as my daughters teacher knows best.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Nope. China will rule the world in ten years. If you don't speak Catonese you'll be working in a factory in Eastwood, pumping out cheap plastic toys to be shipped to Shanghai for minimum wage.

 

[Vange Shrimper]

They are starting to introduce Mandarin and Arabic to some schools. I think they teach Cantonese at my school, too but not sure.

It could be good, if the kids are gonna use it at some point. I learnt German at school and I knew that would be good for me because I'd like to go to Germany at some point, and not much point learning French, cos we all know French people talk English :p :D

 

[Cricko]

3 portions of no 7 and a fried rice please

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Sucks fake, that's terrible!
They'll be starting to teach Polish in some paces soon no doubt!

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

3 portions of no 7 and a fried rice please

Ah, rubbery!

 

[callan]

Sucks fake, that's terrible!
They'll be starting to teach Polish in some paces soon no doubt!

Actually believe it or not her teacher is Polish.

 

[Cricko]

Sucks fake, that's terrible!
They'll be starting to teach Polish in some paces soon no doubt!

Prittlewell Village..has a large Polish community..:hilarious:

Of course this will go well with there help in the community Mosque they are building.

 

[Southminster_Shrimper]

3 portions of no 7 and a fried rice please

Thread diverter...

Fast food ordering has no requirement to speak a foreign language....

If China dont take over the world they will contribute the most to destroying the planet.....

 

[Firestorm]

Cantonese (or mandarin Chinese as it is also known) is the most spoken language in the world (837M speak it as opposed to 370M for English)
http://www.englishenglish.com/english_facts_1.htm

Only 75M speak French and 98M German

 

[Cricko]

Thread diverter...

Fast food ordering has no requirement to speak a foreign language....

If China dont take over the world they will contribute the most to destroying the planet.....

你沒有力量的電力 Ha!

 

[callan]

Cantonese (or mandarin Chinese as it is also known) is the most spoken language in the world (837M speak it as opposed to 370M for English)
http://www.englishenglish.com/english_facts_1.htm

Only 75M speak French and 98M German

Not sure why I had it at the back of my mind that Spanish was the most widely used language.

 

[Flaiming Moe]

Could be worse, last nights homework could have been 'name the teddy bear'.

That could have got you into all sorts of trouble !

 

[Irish_Shrimper]

I'm all for it - Good to see that schools are diverting away from the traditional french, german, etc. to languages lesser known. It enables the students to learn all about the different cultures of countries they more than likely have not been to before. French / German / Spanish are all optional over here at second level schools - and most choose against learning because they have been on family holidays to these countries and don't care about going back: therefore they don't see the point. A friend of mine at college did an elective of Japanese and after learning the basics and all about the culture he went off and moved there!

 

[Irish_Shrimper]

cos we all know French people talk English :p :D

Yeah you would think that...any time i go over to mrs i_s's place in paris i see tourists trying to ask french people for directions in english - and these french people insist, despite knowing english, to only talk in french and therefore play dumb and not give any directions at all. I know this because mrs i_s used to do it a lot :D

 

[Bluesmanager]

In today's climate, Cantonese, Japanese and other languages (particularly Asian) are more useful that, say French or German. I still say Spanish is useful to learn in school though.

 

[osymandus]

Cantonese (or mandarin Chinese as it is also known) is the most spoken language in the world (837M speak it as opposed to 370M for English)
http://www.englishenglish.com/english_facts_1.htm

Only 75M speak French and 98M German

Ah actually no Cantonese and Manderian are two separate dialects
(however the written language is the same ) they are teh 2 most popular (theres a third which ive forgetten the name of he he)

Massage is bloody useful , helps you get more aware of your own body and help others , i know they also looking at introducing meditation techniques for kids as well .

Reintroduce latin for teh European languages :D

 

[MK Shrimper]

There are between six and twelve main regional groups of Chinese (depending on classification scheme), of which the most populous (by far) is Mandarin (c. 850 million), followed by Wu (c. 90 million), Min (c. 70 million) and Cantonese (c. 70 million). Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, though some, like Xiang and the Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms and some degree of intelligibility.

Thankyou Wiki :)

 

[Southminster_Shrimper]

There are between six and twelve main regional groups of Chinese (depending on classification scheme), of which the most populous (by far) is Mandarin (c. 850 million), followed by Wu (c. 90 million), Min (c. 70 million) and Cantonese (c. 70 million). Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, though some, like Xiang and the Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms and some degree of intelligibility.

Thankyou Wiki :)

And who would doubt the content on there.

Or is she a small chinese aupair you are breaking in?

 

[GNH]

There are between six and twelve main regional groups of Chinese (depending on classification scheme), of which the most populous (by far) is Mandarin (c. 850 million), followed by Wu (c. 90 million), Min (c. 70 million) and Cantonese (c. 70 million). Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, though some, like Xiang and the Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms and some degree of intelligibility.

Thankyou Wiki :)

Are you Napster in disguise?