Vic Kindy to IS?

siubotze

Atecila 發表於 17-7-22 15:56
Many thanks for the sharing again! My boy is a December baby - so I think the chance for him gettin ...

She has got GSIS, SIS and NAIS.

Atecila

siubotze 發表於 17-7-22 17:39
She has got GSIS, SIS and NAIS.

Wow very impressive! Both At least GSIS and SIS are super competitive. Congrats!! Would you say it is the ESf English environment that was useful for your daughter? Anyways she must be very bright to be able to get to GSIS. Which school would she go to?

964000

siubotze 發表於 17-7-22 17:39
She has got GSIS, SIS and NAIS.

Congrats, do you get GSIS k1 or k2 offer?

siubotze

Atecila 發表於 17-7-22 18:06
Wow very impressive! Both At least GSIS and SIS are super competitive. Congrats!! Would you say it  ...

Thank you.I think ESF does provide the English immersion but I would like 3 hours a day is barely sufficient for someone to be proficient in a language.You should either have the language at home or create other opportunities for her to expose to English out of school time.For me, I organised lots of play dates with her classmates and also have some NETs to come and play with her.Besides, I am quite lucky that we are at Abacus and there are lots of expat kids fromthe Sai Kung/CWB area.The informal interaction with other kids do help her progress on her English.We only speak Cantonese at home as we believe that kids should learn a second language by mastering their mother tongue first.

siubotze

Atecila 發表於 17-7-22 18:06
Wow very impressive! Both At least GSIS and SIS are super competitive. Congrats!! Would you say it  ...

To many friends' surprise, we finally picked NAIS instead because we plan to send her to boarding school after year 6.  British curriculum may suit her better.  

She is a September baby.  The GSIS offer is for k1 because of their cutoff date is end of Aug.   SIS is too hardcore for us and I would rather her to be burdened by less homework and test in the early years.  

964000

siubotze 發表於 17-7-22 20:35
To many friends' surprise, we finally picked NAIS instead because we plan to send her to boarding s ...

I think GSIS is also running British curriculum for the primary. But NAIS is great too with robust academic and good ECA support, and probably better for your girl to go to reception year directly.

964000

siubotze 發表於 17-7-22 20:31
Thank you.  I think ESF does provide the English immersion but I would like 3 hours a day is barely ...

You also mentioned you only speak English at home, may I ask would you be bothered if your daughter will not speak Cantonese at the end? Are you  from local Hong Kong? Sometimes I think to strike a balance between English and Cantonese, not to mention mandarin, is not easy.

Atecila

siubotze 發表於 17-7-22 20:31
Thank you.  I think ESF does provide the English immersion but I would like 3 hours a day is barely ...

Thanks for the tips indeed! guess I will try hiring A NEt to play with  my son when he's a bit older (as he's only 18 months old now). You said mastering mother tongue would equip a child better to speak a second language. Am struggling these days whether we should stick with mother tongue at home - my son is a late bloomer and I think he's not very talented in language. Wondering if we should let him master Cantonese first before English but we r afraid he can't pass those interviews for IS....that's why I don't dare to expose him to mandarin yet (as that would be a third language which would be quite hard for him to bear as he still can't talk that much at 18 months , although he understands both Cantonese and English well) ...

Atecila

siubotze 發表於 17-7-22 20:35
To many friends' surprise, we finally picked NAIS instead because we plan to send her to boarding s ...

I see- it makes sense so that she doesn't need to repeat K1. will NAIS reception be in sai Kung or Lam tin now ? Am also considering this school too as it's near us. I also have plans to send my son to boarding after year 9 or so. Hence am also looking for British curriculum schools if possible (and Also because I have some reserves on IB PYP, which is a bit new; need to do more research on the PYP curriculum).

siubotze

964000 發表於 17-7-22 21:28
You also mentioned you only speak English at home, may I ask would you be bothered if your daughter ...

Sorry my bad, it's a typo and let me correct that.  We only speak Cantonese at home only.  Cantonese is my mother tongue.  I was educated in HK all the way long till university.  I believe it's better for us to communicate to my girl in our first language instead.

GSIS's primary curriculum is a mixture of everything, not entirely British curriculum. I think it's great too but what's lacking is the Chinese language.  Although I m not expecting my girl to be very advanced in Chinese, I would expect her to be able to read Chinese newspaper at the end.  Learning Chinese as a third language is not desirable for us.

siubotze

Atecila 發表於 17-7-22 22:23
Thanks for the tips indeed! guess I will try hiring A NEt to play with  my son when he's a bit olde ...

It's still early stage for you but it's good to be fully prepared!  Many of the boys in my girl's class can barely talk when they were in PN.  Boys' speech development is generally a bit delayed than girls.   

My personal preference is to communicate to kid in my first language.  I have seen many of my friends' kid not fully able to communicate until very late stage because they got mixed up with languages.  There were many successful cases too.  It's just my preference and somehow worked for me.

Dear-Valerie

del.

964000

siubotze 發表於 17-7-22 22:33
Sorry my bad, it's a typo and let me correct that.  We only speak Cantonese at home only.  Cantones ...

Thanks for clarifying, that's what I am doing right now. But sometimes I would doubt if her English will be temporarily " dragged down" this way. But anyway I will stick to this because I don't want her not able to speak the mother tongue.
Btw lot of my friends from ESF take outside Chinese tuition in traditional Chinese and Cantonese, the experience is it's more effective and interesting as the child can relate to the environment, so we will not rely on the school which is usually taught in simplified Chinese and mandarin.

siubotze

964000 發表於 17-7-23 07:36
Thanks for clarifying, that's what I am doing right now. But sometimes I would doubt if her English ...

It's a tough call.  I questioned myself whether I should just speak to her in English along the way, especially when I heard 90% of people surrounding me only talks to kid in English regardless of how fluent their English is.  At the end, I would rather stay true to my belief and let her English to be 'dragged down temporarily'.  Her Chinese is great now compared to most of her classmates.  

I also sent her to mandarin playgroup once a week.  Nothing hardcore but I think supplementary Chinese classics inevitable if you decide to put your kid in the international stream.  Simply cannot rely on school on Chinese.

Atecila

Dear-Valerie 發表於 17-7-22 22:48
回覆 Atecila 的帖子

when my son was at ur son's age... he understood cantonese and english but he c ...

Thanks for the sharing Valerie! That gives me some comfort - perhaps boys can't be compared with girls indeed in terms of language. Did u speak you son at home only in Cantonese when he's under 2 ?

Atecila

siubotze 發表於 17-7-23 07:55
It's a tough call.  I questioned myself whether I should just speak to her in English along the way ...

Thanks for your sharing again, siubotze! I also heard about the theory that having a strong foundation of mother tongue would help a child acquire a second language better. In ur case, u use Cantonese at home - so when did ur child get exposed to English ? When she attend Vic PN or other playgroups ? Thanks again for any insights.

siubotze

Atecila 發表於 17-7-23 11:30
Thanks for your sharing again, siubotze! I also heard about the theory that having a strong foundat ...

You are welcome!  It's good to have some constructive discussions here in this group.  We used to have a Filipino helper when my girl was 6 months to 2.5 years.  I guess that's her first exposure English. She only joined Tutortime playgroup once a week when she was 9 months till 1.5 years old.  In hindsight,  it's probably a waste of money for putting her there because she was just too young to understand anything.  

貝珠

I knew one who studies in Vic k1, I never understand what she says in English. Actually, she was born in a local family with parents keep saying broken English with her only. She doesn't have any Chinese exposure apart from school.

Atecila

siubotze 發表於 17-7-23 11:41
You are welcome!  It's good to have some constructive discussions here in this group.  We used to h ...

Thanks for your sharing again ! Good to learn from fellow parents who also have IS plans! I also have a Filipino helper -my son then attended artplus and later Vic playgroups (with half of the time by NET); and now he's in anfield Summer school. I guess his exposure now is 50/50 Cantonese and English. Our whole family speaks to him in Cantonese with just me in English (and I work full time so I am not the one being with him all day). Now wondering if we all should focus on Cantonese first. Thanks for sharing - very helpful!!

mandy_ng207

回覆 siubotze 的帖子

Congratulations on your girl's achievement. I'm just curious, why didn't you hire a Filipino maid after your girl is 2.5 years old? Did you switch to be a full time mom?In fact I tried to speak more English to my son after I decide to switch him from local to IS when he was 2.5 years old...but I failed, because when I need to be serious I tend to use Cantonese, and he was quite used to reply to me in Cantonese indeed.
Though a bit delayed in speech when compared to his peers, my son is finally talking in Cantonese sentences now. And he's going to IS K1.
We did hear him speaking some "inaccurately pronounced" English, and also Japanese(!!), probably learnt from Youtube...I hope by sending him to a true IS, he can learn how to pronounce those English properly.
Guess every child is different and a method that works for one may not work for all. Anyway it's good to share our experiences on this platform and to wisely take the advice that suits our own children.