With a growing number of foreigners moving to Shanghai to live and work, international schools around the city are expanding their campuses and updating their curriculums to adapt to growing and changing demands.
When yew Chung International School Shanghai, one of the oldest international schools in the city, began its new semester on August 24 it launched a new program for students from non-English-speaking countries.
The program will focus on improving the English-language skills of students who aren't native speakers. The students will take various classes, including math, computer science, art and physical education.
"As the number of students who learn English as a second language has grown in recent years, international schools are facing great pressure to deliver an international curriculum in English," said Adam Neufield, an admissions official with the school.
About 2,000 students have enrolled with YCIS for the fall semester, about half of whom are from non-English-speaking countries, such as Japan and South Korea.
To meet the demand of a growing student body, YCIS is expanding both its Puxi and Pudong campuses.
The school's Hongqiao campus, its oldest branch in the city, has just finished the first-phase reconstruction. After a new building is finished in about a year, the Hongqiao campus will handle all early childhood classes, while its Gubei campus will handle grades 7 to 13.
The german and French International School opened classes at its new campus on Zhuguang Road in Qingpu District last week.
About 1,500 students are expected to study on the 50,000-square-meter campus this year. The campus actually houses two schools, one for French students and one for German children, with separate principals and teachers, but it is run as one school.
"There were only four children in our school 10 years ago. But as Shanghai underwent a dynamic change recently, more foreigners are moving to the city with their families," said Jurgen Schumann, principal of the German school.
The schools offer classes from kindergarten to high school.
Shanghai british International School also opened its new Puxi branch in suburban Minhang District for the fall semester.