FDHs help the child to build an English-speaking growth environment

In Hong Kong, children's English ability has always been a headache for parents. There are many reasons for this, including:

●Family factors: parents with relatively low education or do not understand English

●Growing up environment: Children grow up in Cantonese-based environment

●School selection: The school uses Chinese as the main language of instruction

●Daily life: not many opportunities to come into contact with English and communicate with foreigners

In 2017, the Department of Psychology of the Chinese University of Hong Kong conducted a study. The department explored the impact of English as a mother tongue and family growth environment on children's English expression ability and writing ability.

In this study, the children were ranged in age from 5 to 9 years old segment , and as 60% of the interviewed families hired maids.

Research details

Group A: No maid, and Cantonese-speaking families

Group B: English-speaking families (60% of the interviewed families have a maid.)

Test items: Chinese language ability and English ability (including reading, writing, character recognition, conversation ability, etc...)

Test Results:

●In terms of English ability, group B is better than group A in English reading, conversation and literacy.

●Group B did not lag behind Group A in Chinese language ability due to English as the main language.

Social impression

In fact, there are still many people in the society who didn't know much about foreign domestic helper and believe that both Filipino and Indian domestic helpers must have low education or are only qualified for labor. In fact, many Filipino maids have university degrees, and some of them have worked as English teachers. In the local area, the English teacher and the nursing teacher did not get much salaries, so he would choose to work in Hong Kong and ask for more money to help the family.

In addition to Zuo's research, there are also many reports in Fangjian about how the maid could accompany the young master Wen Shutong to tutor English. Employers have very good comments on Filipino maids, such as Zanqudi's dedication to work and the careful teaching of the young master.

Image credit: The Sky News

Filipino/Indian Maid Comparison Chart

	Filipino Maid	Indonesian Maid
Educational Background	University/college level Secondary school	Secondary School
Language	English	Bahasa Indonesia, Cantonese, Simple English
Religion	Catholic	Islam
Training Period	2 weeks	3 months
Obedience	Low	High
Oversea working experience	Around the world	Mainly in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong
Number of people in Hong Kong *Latest data in 2022	About 200,000	About 150,000
優點	The general education level of Filipino maids is secondary school or above. The Philippines uses English and Dagalo as the official languages, so the English level of Filipino maids is relatively high. The Philippines has been ruled by Western countries for a long time, so the living patterns and standards of Filipino maids are more modern than those of Indian maids. It is easier for Filipino maids to adapt to and learn the lifestyle in Hong Kong, and can help children learn English.	Indian maids are more obedient, simple, diligent, and have more flexible holiday arrangements. The Indonesian government attaches great importance to the training of local foreign domestic helpers, which greatly improves the quality of Indonesian workers. Indonesian workers who have worked in Singapore are more popular with Hong Kong people. Because the living environment and habits in Singapore and Hong Kong are similar, most employers believe that Indonesian workers who have worked in Singapore will be more organized and hygienic in handling housework.

Summarize

Everyone, don't think it's easy for my sister to only know how to do housework and cook!

Sunlight latestMore>>

Maid GuideMore>>