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MRS Poan Tuong Loan, 27, sends her three-year-old son to a Singapore kindergarten in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The English teacher hopes to send him to a school in Singapore one day.
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Made in Singapore:
MATH TEXTBOOKS IN THE US
Currently, 250,000 pupils there use local Maths textbooks. This number is set to skyrocket as the state of California, with three million students, approved the use of Singapore textbooks last month.
iPSLE ACROSS ASIA
Starting with just 22 candidates in 2005, last year 742 students sat for the iPSLE (International Primary School Examination) in schools in Vietnam, Kuwait, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines. iPSLE is set, marked and graded by The Singapore Examinations
and Assessment Board.
SINGAPORE SCHOOLS IN ASIA
ACS International Jakarta, set up by Anglo Chinese School, follows the ACS curriculum and teaches most subjects in English and uses textbooks from Singapore. Other schools which adapt the local curriculum include the Shanghai-Singapore International School and the Singapore International School in Hong Kong.
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She said: "The transition for him will be easier as he is already exposed to the Singapore education style at such a young age."
And her son Nguyen Ngoc Bao Long is getting the total Singapore experience - from eating local food cooked by a Singapore chef to learning Mandarin.
The school will go the extra mile to make the transition to local schools easier for kids by providing detailed information to parents.
Cherie Hearts, which opened its first branch in Hanoi last month, is among the growing number of Singapore kindergartens exporting their own pre-school curriculum. They have 20 kids registered at the branch.
Cherie Hearts, which has 34 branches here, even sent their own childcare expert to Hanoi.
It joins other established local childcare centres like Kinderland, Modern Montessori International and Learning Vision who have set up centres in countries such as Malaysia, China, India and even Bangladesh over the past two years.
Why are Singapore kindergartens in demand?
The reason: Foreigners want an established English-based curriculum for their children - which is what Singapore childcare centres can offer.
It also helps ease in foreign kids into the Singapore education system more easily.
It's another feather in the cap of the Singapore education system. Already, foreign students use our textbooks and take Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).
The principal of Cherie Hearts, Singaporean Claire Chua, 33, will be training the local teachers to adapt the Singapore curriculum.
Ms Chua, who has a specialist diploma in early childhood education and a degree in business administration, has been in this field for five years.
Kids will also get a real taste of Singapore life - local dishes like nasi lemak during break time.
Cherie Hearts' executive vice-president of overseas operations, Wenda Ng, said: "Vietnam's curriculum is developed by pre-school teachers who are not childcare experts whereas our pre-school curriculum is developed by experienced childcare experts."
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