This article appeared in The Belgravia Magazine (August-September 2006):

China’s growing authority as the economic and political powerhouse of the future, challenging the West at almost every turn, is pretty much received wisdom these days.  For most people in Britain, it is a fact of life, but not a factor in the way they run their lives.

But Kailan Shu Lucas is not most people, and China’s growing strength has shaped the way she brings up her children in London.

Kailan (pictured left) is a Shanghai-born lawyer who worked in America and Hong Kong before moving to Britain eight years ago with her English husband, Andrew.  While she and he were working in the City of London, Kailan became increasingly aware that her three children were not learning as much about her mother-tongue and culture as she would like.  Nor was she seeing them as much as she wanted.

She searched for an appropriate school, but found nothing suitable.  “I couldn’t find one in central London, so I thought I’m going to do one myself.” She says.

The result is a thriving school, Chinese Learning Centre, based in St Peter’s Church in Belgravia, which is celebrating its second anniversary.  About 100 children learn Mandarin at the school, which runs on Friday afternoons and at weekends.  The pupils, aged from 3 to 18, study for 90 minutes a week in classes that focus mainly on oral work, but also include written work and Chinese culture.

But Kailan – a keen athlete who thinks nothing of running 10 miles – has not contented herself with the school at St Peter’s church.  Largely as a result of personal recommendations, Kailan is running around organising lessons for more than 300 students in schools across the capital.  They include Godolphin and Latymer School for Girls, Hawkesdown House School for Boys, and Thomas’s Day Schools.  Her term also teaches at the state-run Christ Church School in Chelsea.

Most of the Chinese Learning Centre’s students are non-Chinese living in different parts of London.  And many parents have begun attending adult classes, which Kailan teaches, having seen the enthusiasm with which their children participate.

From the Start, in 2004, it was clear Kailan had a winning idea.  When she first arrived in London, she knew no one with a similar background.  But she began to meet people through the Chelsea & Kensington Women’s Association and set up a women’s group that met once a month.  “When I first thought about running Chinese classes, I sent an email to ask who was interested,” says Kailan, “and I received 40 to 50 replies,”

Although not formally trained as a teacher, Kailan thinks a good temperament and the ability to communicate are key attributes.  Those are the characteristics she looks for in the teachers she recruits.  

“You have to have a certain personality to teach children,” she says.  “I think my personality is very suited to this kind of work.  I don’t think one can teach you how to teach; it comes from within.”

Initially, much of what Kailan and her five assistants taught was based on the GCSE syllabus, but gradually they have developed their own materials to suit a broader range of students.  The classes number no more than 10 children to ensure that each receives sufficient feedback from the teacher.

One problem Kailan often encounters is that parents have no idea what their children are learning.  “It is a great challenge for parents.  When we give out a handout, it is very detailed so that, when they go home, the parents can go over it with all the translations,” she says.

For Kailan, the benefits of her decision are clear.  Her own children speak Chinese well, have made good friends and love going to their lessons.  Since she runs the learn centre mostly from home, Kailan also sees far more of them than when she worked in the City.

But there is more to it than that, and it concerns China’s growing power.  “I like doing this because I feel I contribute something to society,” says Kailan.  “I felt that children were not properly prepared for the future, and it is an important thing I am doing.”