有邊d小朋友唔適合讀國際小學？

mtot

I heard some mentioned that if a child isn't that outspoken and initiative and lacks of confidence to participate, it is not suitable to study in IS.   What do you think?  
or other than that, what kind of child isn't suitable for IS studies?

I am thinking, IS generally offers more opportunites for students to participate given the smaller class size.  Does it offer better training / opportunities for those not that smart and outspoken type students?

Thank you for your sharing.

WYmom

原文章由 mtot 於 08-4-11 11:41 發表
I heard some mentioned that if a child isn't that outspoken and initiative and lacks of confidence to participate, it is not suitable to study in IS.   What do you think?  
or other than that, what ki ...

I feel the opposite.  If a kid is outspoken, very confident etc.  s/he will do well in IS or local schools (DSS or so).  If not, if the kid is very shy and lack of confidence, s/he will become more timid and silent if studying in local schools as teachers in local schools usually like to give more opportunities to those top or more outspoken and confident students

My younger girl is a shy and quiet girl.  After she joins IS, she is motivated and encouraged to participate more, read out more loudly, present herself more etc. in class.  She said originally she felt very shy and not willing to raise up her hands, but after being praised by teachers, she is more confident to participate more.

As far as I have experienced, teachers in IS will pay more attention to those lacking behind.  Some schools also have specialists to help those students who need special care.  Usually they invite all students to join the activities rather than just select the best ones as in local schools.

daisy17772

原文章由 WYmom 於 08-4-11 12:36 發表


I feel the opposite.  If a kid is outspoken, very confident etc.  s/he will do well in IS or local schools (DSS or so).  If not, if the kid is very shy and lack of confidence, s/he will become more  ...

WYmom:


Which grade did you girl change to IS?  Would you mind to let me know which kinder she went to before and now which IS she's going? Is that IS loose in discipline?


My girl, 3.5yrs old, is now studying at SKH K1, she speaks both english and cantonese, she's a little shy and observing when she meets new ppl, she gets more outspoken after warming up.  I appreciate a lot about the kinder, however I'm kinda thinking of if staying at local will give her little chances for exploration and building confidence.  Although I know as parents we have to groom her to become more confidence (she talks a lot more at home), yet I incline to think the school environment will help her as well.  But I don't know if I have to worry about letting her change to IS at only K3 or Primary, in terms of admission chances.

thanks
daisy17772

[ 本文章最後由 daisy17772 於 08-4-11 18:56 編輯 ]

WYmom

原文章由 daisy17772 於 08-4-11 18:54 發表


WYmom:


Which grade did you girl change to IS?  Would you mind to let me know which kinder she went to before and now which IS she's going? Is that IS loose in discipline?


My girl, 3.5yrs old, is ...

My younger girl joined ESF primary at Year 1.  Her kinder is a bilingual kinder using activity approach.  As far as I have experienced,  my kid's IS only tests if the kids are proficient in English, but not necessarily very outspoken.  Yet of course we need to train her in K1 to K2 at least be able to talk to western teachers in English and in complete sentences. (She also talks a lot at home, but just shy in front of strangers).

ESF is not loose in discipline as it is an UK school.  Their primary schools are much stricter in discipline than their kinders.

If your kid's kinder is good, seems not worth to change kinder in K2 if her English is good enough (sorry, I don't know what is SKH, so cannot comment).

[ 本文章最後由 WYmom 於 08-4-11 20:38 編輯 ]

daisy17772

原文章由 WYmom 於 08-4-11 20:35 發表


My younger girl joined ESF primary at Year 1.  Her kinder is a bilingual kinder using activity approach.  As far as I have experienced,  my kid's IS only tests if the kids are proficient in English, ...

Hi WYmom:

Thanks for your reply.  I am not clear about the ESF primary year system.  Is primary Year 1 equivalent to K3 of local schools, which is for 5 years old kid?  I don't know if these options are available:

1)  Apply in the sch yr 2008/2009 for ESF Y1 admission

2)  Apply in the sch yr 2009-2010 for ESF Y2 admission
(so that I could apply for her for other local schools' primary 1)

I'm still yet to determine if IS is good for her, so thought that option 2 could buy me a year time.  However, I heard that it will be more difficult to get admitted to higher grade, is this true?


Thanks again
daisy17772

[ 本文章最後由 daisy17772 於 08-4-11 23:32 編輯 ]

WYmom

原文章由 daisy17772 於 08-4-11 23:28 發表


Hi WYmom:

Thanks for your reply.  I am not clear about the ESF primary year system.  Is primary Year 1 equivalent to K3 of local schools, which is for 5 years old kid?  I don't know if these option ...

Hi, daisy,

Yes, for ESF and some UK system IS, they accept students of 5 years old for Y1.

It is easier to get into Y1 than Y2.  Usually there are some drop out for Y2 as some local kids may change back to local elite schools.  You can still apply local schools while your kid is studying in IS Y1, and you can take this year to see if IS is suitable for your kid.  So I think option 1 is better than option 2.  

But, application for 08/09 Y1 is all done.   Your kid is only K1, I guess you are talking about application for 09/10 Y1, right?

[ 本文章最後由 WYmom 於 08-4-12 07:48 編輯 ]

daisy17772

原文章由 WYmom 於 08-4-12 07:47 發表


Hi, daisy,

Yes, for ESF and some UK system IS, they accept students of 5 years old for Y1.

It is easier to get into Y1 than Y2.  Usually there are some drop out for Y2 as some local kids may chang ...

Hi WYmom :

Yes, I'm planning for my daughter to apply for Y1 in this coming 2008/2009 sch year when she will be K2 by then.

Sorry for some other questions, if she's in Y1, can she also join the gov't primary placement system?  For direct subsidy schools, I believe she can apply for as the schools are free to select students?  Also, how's the chinese classes are taught in ESF?  I heard that there're mandarin classes, but are these classes only focus on dialect?  What do you think of the chinese level of ESF schools?

thanks
daisy17772

[ 本文章最後由 daisy17772 於 08-4-12 23:11 編輯 ]

WYmom

原文章由 daisy17772 於 08-4-12 22:49 發表


Hi WYmom :

if she's in Y1, can she also join the gov't primary placement system?  

Yes to your above question.

For Chinese, we have tons of discussion on this topic previously, ESF's Chinese (in Mandarin) is an additional language only while English is the first language.  Chinese parents will let the kids learn more Chinese after school.  IS parents will not expect kids to achieve same Chinese standard in the IS as in local schools.  If you want both, you can choose those local bilingual schools like ISF, CKY, Victoria...or some IS like Yew Chung, KCIS...  yet I have to say that I don't know if these schools are good or not.

[ 本文章最後由 WYmom 於 08-4-13 07:19 編輯 ]

rororolee

what is the full name of ISF, CKY, KCIS? thx!

super8

Hi WYmom,

May I know which kindy did your baby study in before getting into ESF??  Do I need to get into ESF kindy first in order to have a place for Primary??  And there are different ESF Primary in HK, any difference in your discipline, academic, teaching method etc??

原文章由 rororolee 於 08-4-14 00:04 發表
what is the full name of ISF, CKY, KCIS? thx!

WYmom

原文章由 super8 於 08-4-14 01:20 發表
Hi WYmom,

May I know which kindy did your baby study in before getting into ESF??  Do I need to get into ESF kindy first in order to have a place for Primary??  And there are different ESF Primary in ...

super8,

My kid's kinder is a bilingual one with native English teachers.   ESF does not consider which kinder the kids study.  But of course they give priorities to ESF kinder's students.  For those priority requirements, you can check under their website.

I think if you don't have other priorities according to their requirements (siblings, category 1 etc), it will be better for your kid to get into ESF kinders first.  For ESF schools, they are generally similar in discipline and teaching method.  Academic standard may vary depending on the different profile of students in different area.

The discussion here has gone too far from the original topic.  Actually there have been a lot of discussions about kinders, admission requirements etc.  in many previous threads.  Pls check them out.  You can also get those admission requirements, procedures etc.  from websites of their kinders or primaries.

[ 本文章最後由 WYmom 於 08-4-14 08:17 編輯 ]

mosesdaddy

原文章由 WYmom 於 08-4-12 07:47 發表

...You can still apply local schools while your kid is studying in IS Y1, ...

Dear WYmom,

As you pointed out it's possible for ESF Y.1 kids (5 yrs of age) to apply for a P.1 place (for 6-yr-old), I would like to learn from you how this could be done, mainly b'cos I heard that for those IS kinder students wishing to enrol back to the local primary system, the kids need to go back to a local K.3 so that the kinder can provide evidence of the kids' Chinese proficiency that the local primary school will require when assessing the application.

Fyi, my kid will attend K.1 in an IS kinder this coming Sept and I wish to prepare for all the possibilities, including the first two years in this IS kinder, plus a year in an IS primary school and then SWITCHING back to P.1 local primary.

Look forward to hearing from you. :)

mosesdaddy

mosesdaddy

Dear WYmom,

Pls ignore the above since I have gone far off the thread topic.  I have separately PM you instead.  Thanks.

mosesdaddy

jjd

mosesdaddy,
If I were you, targeting for local school at primary level, I would sent my child to a local kindergarten instead.

原文章由 mosesdaddy 於 08-4-14 13:31 發表


Dear WYmom,

As you pointed out it's possible for ESF Y.1 kids (5 yrs of age) to apply for a P.1 place (for 6-yr-old), I would like to learn from you how this could be done, mainly b'cos I heard tha ...

mosesdaddy

Dear jjd,

Yes, if we have decided right now that we would target local primary school for our kid, we would have chosen local kinder for simplicity sake at the outset.  But frankly, we have not yet reached such a decision.  Therefore, we would like to seek possible routes of how our kid could progress.  

In fact, I have read some other threads under "International Schools" that some parents put their kids in IS kinder but switch them back to the local primary system.  The Chinese proficiency during the years at the IS kinders is to be developed/maintained by other resources.

mosesdaddy

原文章由 jjd 於 08-4-15 00:09 發表
mosesdaddy,
If I were you, targeting for local school at primary level, I would sent my child to a local kindergarten instead.

[ 本文章最後由 mosesdaddy 於 08-4-15 13:39 編輯 ]

tinadaddy

原文章由 mtot 於 08-4-11 11:41 發表
I heard some mentioned that if a child isn't that outspoken and initiative and lacks of confidence to participate, it is not suitable to study in IS.   What do you think?  
or other than that, what ki ...

If you feel comfortable with the rote-learning & memorisation endemic in the HK education system (which is not necessarily bad), then local school is good.  Otherwise, ESF or other international schools are better.

mtot

tinadaddy,

I prefer the IS style of learning with interactive approach rather than the local system.  However, given that IS school fee is much more expensive than private or DSS, I have to think twice whether my child is really suitable for IS.

I saw in another thread that you are thinking to choose from CAIS and RC.  For me, I really like the religious background of CAIS and the loving and caring environment there.  But RC offers more mandaring learning lessons.  It is a tradeoff.  If CAIS could offer daily mandarin lesson, it would be great.

原文章由 tinadaddy 於 08-4-15 15:55 發表


If you feel comfortable with the rote-learning & memorisation endemic in the HK education system (which is not necessarily bad), then local school is good.  Otherwise, ESF or other international sch ...

mtot

WYmom,

Thanks so much for your sharing.  You are always helpful.  It is very useful to hear your personal experience on IS.  Since it is really expensive to study in IS, I have to think twice before making decision.  

When I seeked advices from the teachers about studying in IS, they didn't give me positive answers as they think self initiative to learn is important in IS and students need to be actively participate in the classroom, like show and tell, presentation, etc. etc.  

Yes, I agree that smart kid can survive in either environment, be it IS or local schools.  

Glad to see that your daughter changed a lot after being praised by teachers.  I also think that IS teachers are generally more encouraging than local teachers.

Do you know which IS will give fair chance to students to participate rather than selecting the best ones and will also pay attention to those lacking behind?

原文章由 WYmom 於 08-4-11 12:36 發表


I feel the opposite.  If a kid is outspoken, very confident etc.  s/he will do well in IS or local schools (DSS or so).  If not, if the kid is very shy and lack of confidence, s/he will become more  ...

WYmom

原文章由 mtot 於 08-4-15 16:14 發表
WYmom,

Thanks so much for your sharing.  You are always helpful.  It is very useful to hear your personal experience on IS.  Since it is really expensive to study in IS, I have to think twice before  ...

mtot,

I don't know all IS, I can only tell that ESF schools do give chance to all students, e.g. all students in each grade will perform together a drama show in front of parents once a year, every student has to take a role.  On Sport day, all students will play games together (easier games for Y1 & 2), so everyone has to play, rather than "compete".  Besides, they have a lot of team projects in class, a lot of chance to show and tell (everyone will take turn).  In Y1, my kid has to write her own stories and tell the class, dress in costumes of her favourite story character to share her stories etc., so the kids enjoy their own show and also develop their interest in reading and writing.  Some kids of course will be more quiet, but at least they have to participate in different activities and do most of the work in class together with all the kids, rather than rely on the parents to complete at home.

As parent, I also keep encouraging my kid to participate more.  Teachers sometimes give her stickers as encouragement if she has done well.  These are some small but "valuable" token for the little girl.  In local schools, some teachers also do so, but usually they do not have so much time to do a lot presentation and discussion as they need to spend more time on homework, dictations, tests and exams.

For other IS, maybe you can ask other parents in threads of their schools.

Hope you find the right school for your kid.  Good luck.

[ 本文章最後由 WYmom 於 08-4-15 17:50 編輯 ]

bbjan

WYmom,

may i know which ESF school your child is going?