chinese isnt like learning french or german, its much harder coz of the reading and writing in chinese characters. now sure how many charachters are supposed to know and use by age 7, several hundred if not 1000

@Dazzer
Totally agree. Another thing is that you are assuming they will be talking mandarin/普通话. Not true. You will be hearing more Kunming hua or a bad mandarin.

@Dazzer
Totally agree. Another thing is that you are assuming they will be talking mandarin/普通话. Not true. You will be hearing more Kunming hua or a bad mandarin.

@Liumingke: Yes, but it's easy to get by with only putonghua in pubic, and that's what you'll learn in the schools. Kids learning here will probably pick up Kunminghua as well - better than I have, I'm sure.

Easy to get by in daily life with basic speaking skills maybe, but not school work. My Chinese nephew is 7 and you should see how much homework he gets. His mother sits with him for about 2 hours everyday. I say this to make the point that it is not kindergarten, and it is not like a UK primary school, and is study of all subjects through the medium of Chinese. He struggles with Mandarin as he had only spoken localhua before.
I am not saying a 7 year old British kid can't do it, but it wouldn't be easy. If he is a little swot, the outlook would be brighter.

Boy do they give you lots and lots of homework.