any kids studying or studied in ESF (sai kung) kinder? thks!

BBIX

as title

nekoneko

will join this kinder in the coming Aug....

BBIX

nekoneko, do u live in SK? my son was born in May05, now, I 'm looking for the playgroup and nursery for him, and I also plan to put him in ESF kinder. May I know if u put him to playgroup and nursery b4 go to ESF kinder?? if u do, so which and where and how much for both playgroup and nursery, as I want him to speak more Eng, any suggestion? thks a lot!!

momalice

My son is studying in Abacus and we live in TKO.  My son loves the school very much.

BBIX

momalice, nekoneko, do u live in SK? my son was born in May05, now, when I need to apply? any interview to your child or u fm school teacher? it's difficult to go in?? and also May I know if u put him to playgroup and nursery b4 go to ESF kinder?? if u do, so which and where and how much for both playgroup and nursery, as I want him to speak more Eng, any suggestion? thks a lot!!

cocobean225

Dear BBIX,

we met on the other Sai Kung mummy forum before. My son is similar age as yours, he's born in March05. For kids who go to the ESF Kinder in Sai Kung, most of them who directly enter Clear Water Bay School for primary, is this what you want?
As compared with other kindergarten, I heard that ESF in Sai Kung is a mixed class with different age of children, instead of N1-N4 sort of differentiations.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

My plan so far is also targeting Clear Water Bay School for primary, however I want my son to enter a bilingual kindergarten so that he can at least have some exposures in Chinese / Mandarin.

BBIX

cocbean, right, actually, I want my son learn some chinese/ mandarin during kindergarten, do u know abacus has chinese lesson? I want he can go clear water bay primary school, but do u know what 's the most nationality children there? and I hv thought about Think school (lam tin/kln tong) or other international school in kln tong for kindergarten, but I 'm afraid it's diffiult to apply for clear water bay primary afterward, any idea?? and which kindergarten u plan to send your children? u live in sai kung or TKO? thks

cocobean225

BBIX,

Clear Water Bay school is also my target for primary school, however I won't consider Abacus as I think it's too westernized and I want my son to have some exposure in Chinese/Mandarin plus if I choose ESF kindergarten now I won't be able to go back to local schools.

Having said that, I'm considering HKPS, Think International, KM, Victoria for kindergarten. Graduates from these kindergartens can either go to ESF or local schools. Since my son is only 15 months now, in fact we're not sure about his study habit or personality yet, I can't rule out the possibility that he might be suitable to local school systems if he happens to be one of those who needs strict discipline. To play safe, I'll only choose kindergartens that are bilingual.

Just my 2 cents. Cheers.

cocobean225

momalice,

Can you tell me more about this school please.
ie. any Mandarin lesson, size of class, teacher-parent relation etc.

momalice 寫道:
My son is studying in Abacus and we live in TKO.  My son loves the school very much.

momalice

BBIX

cocobean, but which kindergarten can teach english and chinese? I want my son can manage both. and do u have any idea think kinder in kln tong is better or lam tin one? by the way, hv u ever heard Starter kinder? do u know it's good or not?? thks again!

momalice

momalice

Abacus do have Mandarin session everyday for 10-15 minutes.  Teaher teaches Mandarin songs and explain the meaning to the kids in English.  My son loves those songs and always sing at home.

There are about 20-30 kids in one class with 2 teaching assistants and 1 teacher.  As my son went to school by school bus, I didn't have a lot of direct contact with the teachers.  Every kids have a diary for communication between school & parents.  School will issue newsletter regularly too.

Hope the above infomation is useful.  

cocobean225

cocobean225

BBIX,

A lot of bilingual kindergarten both stress on English and Chinese/Mandarin. To name a few, Victoria, KM, HKPS, CCKG etc. I think it's very hard to say which brand of Think International kindergarten is better, they follow the same curriculum anyways.
I'm not too familiar with Starter so I might not be of any help to offer advice on this.

May I know why do you want your son to do primary in ESF?

BBIX

cocobean, I want to put him to esf primary cos we live in sai kung and we need to find the international sch. for him, and it's just only one in clear water bay, so that's why I choose ESF.

cocobean225

momalice,

do you know the portion of Chinese kids in the class or mainly are caucasion kids?

I believe 10-15 minutes in Mandarin is not enough for basic Chinese knowledge. Graduates from this kindergarten probably can't go back to local schools afterwards right?

20-30 kids in one class is actually quite alot. Before I always had the mis-perception that this is a very small and not-so-popular school and with only 5-10 kids in a class.

Do you also plan to send your kid to ESF primary that's why you chose this ESF kindergarten?

momalice

I don't know the exact ratio of Chinese kids in the school, but as I see, it's about 1/3 to half of the kids are Chinese.  

For the class size, my son has 22 kids in class, they always play in 2-3 small groups (about 7-10 kids per group) during the day.   

We haven't make up our mind if my son will go to ESF Primary or not.  In the meantime, we will teach my son both Mandarin/ Chinese at home.  Furthermore, all the kids will leave ESF Kinder when they are 5, so if you want your kid to join the local  Primary school, you may need to join the other kinder for K3 before he/she can enter the local primary school.

cocobean225

BBIX,

Location is not really my concern. As for your case, if you've already made up your mind that you want to send your son to Clear Water Bay ESF, you can just simply let him attend Abacus. Hassle-free for you.
However, I'm still in a dilemma because I'm still not sure whether should let him directly try ESF or other local schools. I want him to be proficient in English and also Chinese!

BBIX

well.... yup, u 're right, maybe it's better to send him to abacus straight away, otherwise, I 'm going tohave a big head. but, my other concern is also about his chinese, cos we 're staying in hk, I think chinese is quite important for him, at least can speak fluent chinese, and read chinese, even he can't write chinese. and for future, mandarin is also important after english, even now Ican say, so that's y i want to put him in sort of preschool or nursery to learn chinese or mandarin and english b4 kinder, at least he could pick up some languages. so u confirm to put him in local school?