讀國際学校中文又吾好, 本地学校又大壓力, 仲可以点揀呢?

sam/josh

原文章由 readers 於 08-4-16 00:38 發表
sam/josh, rororolee, brydenbobo,mienmien, pls see pm.

readers

thx~~~

super8

Readers,

pls pm me as well, if possible.  I'm also starting to make my decision for my baby who just turns 1.  

Thanks.

原文章由 sam/josh 於 08-4-16 08:43 發表


readers

thx~~~

super8

Hi dear,

I'd love the teaching style of IS and would like to develop the different valuable skills or personalities that IS can provide to my baby.  However, as a Chinese, I do hope she can have an ability to speak, read, write or even appreciate the Chinese language and also the culture behind.

I know there will be trade-off from both local or IS.  But may I know how those IS kids will usually do to enhance this area??  

As far as everyone knows...China is a big and growing market and possibly our kids will work in or with this big giant when they grown up.  And I dont want my kid losing her inborn advantage of being a Chinese.  Maybe my thought is not correct or maybe even naive, I'd like to raise and share.

原文章由 daisy17772 於 08-4-13 00:03 發表


Hi readers and other moms:

Can you name some of the local schools that put not so much stress on the quantity of homeworks but are still good at academic levels, as well as teaching students good m ...

WYmom

原文章由 super8 於 08-4-16 11:29 發表
Hi dear,

I'd love the teaching style of IS and would like to develop the different valuable skills or personalities that IS can provide to my baby.  However, as a Chinese, I do hope she can have an a ...

Seems that parent "readers" has very good recommendation of local school(s) as solution for most parents who want win-win in English+Chinese+IS style teaching approach+low fee...  Why don't "readers' just share your recommendations here instead of just pm and pm and pm?  I believe a lot of parents are awaiting for your advice.

My wild guess: GT, 眞道, 浸小, 培僑, 港大同學會. Right?


[ 本文章最後由 WYmom 於 08-4-16 12:49 編輯 ]

readers

Thanks for all parents' interest. May be I can quote some based on my personal experience or my friends' sharing. I am sure there are more:

Kau Yan School (private, Sai Ying Pun, my daughter is studying very happily in this school)

The Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union Logos Academy (DSS, Tseung Kwan O, my nephew is studying here)

GT (Ellen Yeung) College (Tseung Kwan O, DSS)

The True Light Middle School Of Hong Kong (Tai Hang, private)

St Stephen's College Preparatory School (private, Stanley)

North Point Methodist Primary School (subsidized)

I know how important Eng is but as a Chinese, I think I will regret if my kids cannot master Chinese well. They will miss a lot of valuable Chinese literature, poems, and even culture. I understand from my friends that their kids (graduated from IS) only have primary level Chi even after taking private tution on Chi. Another friend told me that her daughter (P4, IS) cannot read 'dim sum' sheet in restaurants which makes her very frustrated. I am working in the financial industry and most people now agreed that 21st century is the century of China. Chinese will become more and more important (of course, Eng is still important as an international language), unless your kids will not work in a Chinese society when he or she grows up.

But no school is perfect. We have to make the tough choice.

[ 本文章最後由 readers 於 08-4-17 10:19 編輯 ]

citygirl

Your topic same with my case.
I have two child, 13 & 11 years old. They came from Canada and study in ESF-RC on 2006/9, but I feel their Chinese learning toooooo bad and slow, then I change to DSS on last year. Their Chi is very well, my son(P.5) in RC is K2 standard, but he can read 成語, 諺語, 每日一篇.....and my daughter (F.2) Chinese exam report is 4 (IB:1-7 level).
DSS in TKO name of CSS=Creative Secondary School. I chose that school because IB system and the principle is came from ESF-Phoenix. The school admin rules and system like RC.

WYmom

原文章由 citygirl 於 08-4-17 00:54 發表
Your topic same with my case.
I have two child, 13 & 11 years old. They came from Canada and study in ESF-RC on 2006/9, but I feel their Chinese learning toooooo bad and slow, then I change to DSS on  ...

citigirl,

Your case is quite different from most of the local parents.  Your kids are grown up in Canada, so their first language is English, right?  Therefore, it is very logical for you to put them in Creative to learn better Chinese rather than English.  My nieces in Canada who are Chinese also do not speak Chinese and cannot read or write well even they have learnt Chinese in extra tutor classes after school.

In HK, our local kids' first language is Cantonese and the English environment here is minimal.  So IS provides a more effective English environment for learning English.

In RC or other ESF secondary schools, the students are allocated to different Chinese groups according to their standard.  I believe your kids were assigned to a lower level than those local Chinese kids, so the learning is slower and standard is lower.  Creative is a local DSS which takes students from their local Chinese primary and other local Chinese students, so they of course have higher Chinese standard.

No one choose IS in order to learn Chinese!  Just something "nice to have"!  Ha!

[ 本文章最後由 WYmom 於 08-4-17 08:00 編輯 ]

almom

原文章由 readers 於 08-4-16 23:42 發表
Thanks for all parents' interest. May be I can quote some based on my personal experience or my friends' sharing. I am sure there are more:

Kau Yan School (private, Sai Ying Pun, my daughter is stud ...

I am sure the schools you suggested must be good schools. And I am sure you (and other parents who chose these schools) have their reasons.

The schools you have suggested are all local schools. Students in those schools should of course have good Chinese. The students and even teachers are from local Chinse families and the main language used would be Chinese.

On the other hand, students and teachers at IS are from different countries and ethnic groups. Most students and teachers have English as mother tongue but even if they don't (eg they are from Japan or Korea, from Sweden or Germany) the common language, English, have to be used by all to communicate. The main language used at school would have be English, because not everyone can understand Japanese or German. Chinese is learnt as an additional language and very limited time is allocated for teaching the language. I think from Day 1, parents have to (and should) understand this and should not expect children at IS to have same of even compatible Chinese standard.

I did not choose IS because I do not care about Chinese language. On the contrary, I do think Chinese is important as we are Chinese. But I chose IS because of the cirriculum, the teaching methodology, the classroom setup, etc.

International schools have different cirriculum depending on the background of the school: CANIS uses canadian cirriculum, AIS uses american cirriculum, ESF used british or IB cirriculum, etc. These cirricumlum have very different criteriors and expectations from students when compared to local Hong Kong cirriculum. The teaching methodology and class setting of these western cirriculum are also very different from local schools.

Local cirriculum, the way they "test" children, the teaching methodology, etc are simply not what I like. Of course, there are also other things that determine whether I can or should choose IS for my children. For instance, our future plans for the family, our financial situation, our expectations of the children, the children's own will and expectations of their own future, etc.

Parents should ask themselves again, why they have wanted to put their children in an international school in the first place (since we are here in this 國際學校 section of BK, I presume that all parents must have considered IS as a choice, right?). Choosing a school is not choosing only the language. You are also choosing a cirriculum, a school culture, a school environment, and a community.

Yes, choosing IS would probably mean sacrificing Chinese to a certain point, but my children are also getting some other things, or have some other experiences that they would never had in local schools. It would be a tough decision. But after considering so many "conditions" or "criterior", I think we are gaining more than losing in general.

mattsmum

if my son can understand the following Chinese, write in the similiar way, I would be satisfied, (not that difficult to achieve):

姜瑜说：“卡弗蒂的言论不仅是对中国人民的侮辱，也是对全人类良知和公理的挑战。中国人民不可欺，不可辱。我们再次严正地要求CNN严肃对待此问题，立即收回恶劣言论，向全体中国人民做出真诚的道歉。”

原文章由 citygirl 於 08-4-17 00:54 發表
Your topic same with my case.
I have two child, 13 & 11 years old. They came from Canada and study in ESF-RC on 2006/9, but I feel their Chinese learning toooooo bad and slow, then I change to DSS on  ...

almom

原文章由 citygirl 於 08-4-17 00:54 發表
I chose that school because IB system and the principle is came from ESF-Phoenix. The school admin rules and system like RC.

I read your story last year, and am glad that your children are doing well in the other school.

However, CSS is a local school. Comparing Chinese standards of RC with a local school is not totally fair. RC would never be a bilingual school and English would still be the main language of use at school. This was made very clear by the heads and the principal. RC would never be comparable in terms of Chinese language with local schools or other bilingual schools. Chinese would only be an additional language.

I do not know much about CSS. But as far as I can see on the IBO website, it is still not an IB school. Students would not get the IB cerificate if the school is not an approved school. It is going to affect the senior students at lot at university applications or changing to another IB school.

I also doube whether CSS would be really like RC. From what I observe, RC this year is not like last year. The school has also been improving in many ways and things are not even the same when compared to the beginning of the term.

Phoenix used to be a very "local" school, with the head being a Chinese and students mostly Chinese. RC, however, is very international now. The community this year is very different from last year. RC had mainly Asian students last year. This year, they have got much more non Asian students (especially the secondary section). There are different students from many different ethnic groups and the heads and principal are all western experts; not to mention the really good experience and connections of Peter Kenny in the IB circle. We also have lots of western parents that are extremely active in school volunteer work and in keeping the network of parents close. This also make the culture and community more western. Administration and school rules have also changed even within this year.

So RC might started out a twin sister of Pheonix, but now RC is herself. RC has grown to be quite unique and parents might be disappointed if they are expecting RC to be like Pheonix.

readers

Sure almon but I think you misunderstand me. I am not comparing the Chi standard of local schools to IS schools. I am just saying that there are good local schools. It is of course up to the parents to choose which language or culture or education they want to give higher priority to. Parents who chose IS of course think IS are better than local schools, and parents who chose local schools of course have their own considerations too. So when I said there are good local schools and Chi is important, it does not mean I deny the good things of IS. Anyway, I have no intention to offense any people.

原文章由 almom 於 08-4-17 17:57 發表


I am sure the schools you suggested must be good schools. And I am sure you (and other parents who chose these schools) have their reasons.

The schools you have suggested are all local schools. Stu ...

almom

Sorry. Message duplicated.

[ 本文章最後由 almom 於 08-4-18 12:41 編輯 ]

almom

Sorry. Message duplicated.

[ 本文章最後由 almom 於 08-4-18 12:41 編輯 ]

almom

Sorry. Message duplicated.

[ 本文章最後由 almom 於 08-4-18 12:42 編輯 ]

almom

Sorry. Message duplicated.

[ 本文章最後由 almom 於 08-4-18 12:42 編輯 ]

almom

Sorry. Message duplicated.

[ 本文章最後由 almom 於 08-4-18 12:41 編輯 ]

almom

Sure almon but I think you misunderstand me. I am not comparing the Chi standard of local schools to IS schools. I am just saying that there are good local schools. It is of course up to the parents t ...

I did not misunderstand you. I just think you have been too defensive. No one has ever said local schools are not good. And parents must have their reasons looking for international schools.

Like I have said before, I am sure there are good local schools. Just that I think parents in this subgroup are probably looking for international schools. So, if you are merely suggesting local schools to them, I think that might not be what they wanted. I would have thought that if they have wanted suggestions of good local schools, they would have seek advices at the "local school section" of BK.

ssspwong

Hi NLai ,
This Saturday (26/4) is the open day of St. Stephen College Preparatory School. Why not come and see whether it will match your requirements? For details, you can browse its website.

原文章由 NLai 於 08-4-9 12:28 發表
Any school can provide good Chinese standard but International school learning enviroment?

I saw many DGS, St paul kids have good standard of Both chinease and english standard, but honestly their fa ...

homers

I am European, while my wife is Chinese. We wish our daughter to be rooted in Chinese as well as Western culture.
Before reading this forum we thought it best to choose an English medium school with up to 20% western kids, having a mix environment/exposure. Having read the comments in this forum we realize we can not accept the downside, being less Chinese proficiency and (much?) less exposure to Chinese culture.
Choosing an English medium IS curriculum school (whether Int’l school or ESF or DSSS)  and later a Chinese medium school (still under IS curriculum) as the child progresses, might be a solution.  Three years exposure to English or Chinese language as the primary medium surely should be sufficient attaining 100% language proficiency while cultural rooting should be addressed as well.   
Are there disadvantages? Surely! Our daughter would feel unsettled for some time, needing to develop new friends. We think however this might be considered an advantage at the same time (adaptability, wider social circle, more exposure…).  Furthermore we expect another disadvantage to be that it might be hard to connect smoothly between different schools (while maybe having to move district as well).
Still, this sequential approach might be the best compromise, unless somebody can point out a single school addressing all concerns of the readers here (PM message?).

Questions: Does anyone have any opinion what sequence to choose? For example K1 to K3 an English medium kindergarten, and P1 until P3 Chinese? The other way around? Furthermore most readers seem to favor the IS curriculum but we read that a Canadian curriculum connects better to universities outside Hong Kong (Ontario diploma). It is well known that the Canadian schooling system has an excellent name. Any thoughts on this, anyone?

WYmom

原文章由 homers 於 08-4-20 22:59 發表
I am European, while my wife is Chinese. We wish our daughter to be rooted in Chinese as well as Western culture.
Before reading this forum we thought it best to choose an English medium school with u ...

Hi homers,

Does your child speak mostly English at home?  I know some "mixed" kids mainly speak English as their first language, but can also understand Chinese and speak a bit.  If so, you can let your kid study in local DSS or private school in primary first for learning better Chinese, then continue in IS later.  I believe this is more feasible than the reverse, as Chinese language is more difficult, if an English speaking kid does not learn Chinese when s/he is small, it is more difficult to learn when s/he grows up.  Besides, most subjects in secondary schools are better to be learnt in English.

For Diploma, heard from some parents with kids studying in US, they said that IB Diploma is more welcome by US universities now as IB is more global.  Canadian Diploma is more popular for Canadian Universities.   For UK or European Us, I believe you will have a better idea.

[ 本文章最後由 WYmom 於 08-4-21 08:23 編輯 ]