CIS : languages

hong0706

I attended the information session last week and there was a short presentation given by the head boy and head girl. The head boy said he started in CIS since reception, but i was a bit surprised that his english, while very fluent, is not native at all and retain quite a bit of HK accent, whilst his mandarin is simply appauling. The head girl instead said she was with CIS for only 3 girls and both her english and mandarin are quite native. Anyone knows where she is from? Also, is langugage environmnet in CIS not enough, or simply because boys aren't as good as girls in second languages?

Hope to know more from CIS parents, and from parents whose kids had spent quite some years in IS.

hong0706

sorry, typo, i mean the head girl has been with CIS for only 3 years

Riesling

No surprise, many brilliant students changed to Cis in yr 5 or 6 from top int schools every year, as CIS is renowned of its university placement.

caa

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Actually would you mind sharing the quality of their presentation other than accent?

hong0706

Riesling 發表於 15-9-22 15:57
No surprise, many brilliant students changed to Cis in yr 5 or 6 from top int schools every year, as ...

The head boy is home grown since reception. In fact, he also misused tenses and mix up do/does at least 1-2 times.

hong0706

caa 發表於 15-9-22 17:46
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Actually would you mind sharing the quality of their presentation other than a ...

Their presentations were both very short, 2-3 minutes each i guess, nothing new, other than say how great CIS is....

The principal's presentation was also nothing much more than you can see on web site. It lasted only 45 minutes. She said in last few years about 600-800 applications were received each year, and they will select candidates for interview (did not say how many). Interview to be held from Dec to Feb and results out by March.

But since you need to fill out that very detailed 8 pages questionnaire and in that questionnaire you need to tick which date you attend the presentation （and they have record of it)， so you do need to go.

caa

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Actually I mean quality, but not content, of their presentation or public speaking, whether they as students were confident, were nervous, had good eye contact etc when speaking in front of public

hong0706

caa 發表於 15-9-22 19:39
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Actually I mean quality, but not content, of their presentation or public spea ...

The girl was much better. But both were a bit nervous with exaggerated hands and arms movements and the boy's speech had been in quite a rush towards the end. But then, they were presenting in front of close to 200 parents, not students. Having said that, bit disappointed about the head boy, who had been home grown in CIS. Of course, he might have other qualities other than public speaking.

hong0706

Also, girls are usually better in public speaking than boys.

4eyesDad

I would venture to guess that the head boy will eventually work in his father's company where naive language skill, or any skill for that matter, is not mandatory whereas the head girl has to work hard to prove herself.

NoahArk

原帖由 hong0706 於 15-09-22 發表
The head boy is home grown since reception. In fact, he also misused tenses and mix up do/does at le ...

So what? If you don't have anything better to do, count the grammatical errors and wrong spellings in your own writing.

hong0706

NoahArk 發表於 15-9-22 20:30
So what? If you don't have anything better to do, count the grammatical errors and wrong spellings i ...

That means his english is a bit below my expectation of someone in an IS for at least 13 years. Also, i don't need to count, because when such errors came up, you will know it. I didn't hear similar mistakes from the girls.

Also, as i said at the beginning, i just want to know how are kids' language skills in CIS are, and, are there really such notable differences between girls and boys having english or mandarin as second language from more expeirenced parents.

shadeslayer

A highly regarded IS in HK picked a boy to speak in front of parents in an information session, it is about making an impression, a moment of truth, you would have thought they picked a boy with the "best" public speaking skill, right?  May be yes, may be no.  It does not matter much as the school has so much more to offer, right?

lovecasey

Truth is not many cis parents here. They don't have time for this kind of discussion.

Woojba

I went there today, the boy was fine.

caa

Caliburn2015 發表於 15-9-23 10:21
究竟是有人未識分辨優劣，還是有人過於挑剔？

likely the former as he didn't count his own grammar mistakes...

cowmoon

I attended a local elite school where we did incredibly huge amount of grammar exercises.
Once, my boss was a British. His writings, memos, notes, ... were not exactly perfect in grammar. Then I noticed that ... NO ONE CARES.
After that, I further studied in graduate school. My American professor used dictation function to "write" his emails etc. Again, quite a lot of grammar mistakes. Then I noticed that ... NO ONE CARES.
It reminds me - Language is for communication.