PLS SHARE: SUNSHINE HOUSE TUNG CHUNG

chingyu

Dear all

Is your child studying in sunshine house tung chung? any comment?  

If i got a seat to st catherine I am also interested in sunshine house  how to choose?

i am living in tsing yi
i want my daughter who will promote to local primary school band two or above is okay but i also want her to speak very good english so

should i choose sunshine house or st catherine?

can those kids in sunshine house speak foreigners english?

esf is below my house cos i am living in tierra verde

i observe all kids speaking chinese instead of english

heratang

chingyu,

We have some discussion before, under the title ESF Tsing Yi. Following is the opinion form TungChungMA:

Good.
1. The school environment is good. This is very clean and new. It has outdoor playground.
2. The class room is also very nice & colorful. They posted all the artworks & photos of the kids.
3. The class size is small. My son class is less than 10 kids I think.
4. It is bilingual. They teach Mandarin class everyday (20 min each time).
5. It close to my home.
6. Last but not the least, my son is very happy to go to school....he even insists to go to school last time he was sick.

Bad
1. The communication between school & parent is limited. They only have a weekly letter for parent in their dariy book.
2. They don't teach Chinese hand writing. This is the reason I am looking for other kindergarten for my son.
3. I think they are not strong in acedamic. They claims the kids learn from playing. I am not sure about higher level.

My daughter will study K1 in Sunshine house nest September. But bear in mind that most international schools, like Sunshine and ESF, are up to k2 (5yrs) only. If you want you kid to study local primary school, you have to find either local k3 or international p1 for connection. Sunshine has a primary section in Seaview Crescent, Tung Chung.

Hera

wcllks

Hi Hera:

Thanks for the info.  Do you know what primary schools the kids go to after K2?  Is the Sunshine primary good?

chingyu

Hera

Thanks for your prompt reply.  So will your kid go to international primary school?  I am afraid I can't afford such high school fee in secondary.  Moreover, I think it is a must to learn Chinese because it will be a major market in the coming 10-20 years.

Personally I like the environment of Sunshine House much more than St. Catherine.  Moreover, my daughter needs to take around 1 hour school bus from  Tsing Yi to Kowloon Tong.  However, SC is a famous school.  I can see most of SC graduates who will go to those famous schools.  Therefore it seems that I have no choice but to follow this guideline.

How do you think?  What's a horrible educational system?  If someone tells me I still have a great chance to enter Christ Church Kindergarten or DGS even though I am studying in Sunshine House, definitely I will choose Sunshine House then.

My mind is full of these questions in these few days.  You know...I typed the previous message at half past two last night.... It is really a hard question to me. :(

Chingyu

wcllks

Hi Chingyu:

Share the worry as you...

Our education system is just a mess and pushes us to worry about the education of our kids when they still do not know how to speak!

beseem2003

chingyu 寫道:
If someone tells me I still have a great chance to enter Christ Church Kindergarten or DGS even though I am studying in Sunshine House, definitely I will choose Sunshine House then.
Chingyu

I have relatives living in Tung Chung. They said Sunshine House is "rubbish". Sorry for those have children going there. I just repeat what they said. But I think you can't compare these 2 kinder. They are just not in the same level. If I were u, I definitely would choose SC. U won't be regretted.

heratang

chingyu,

I was also feeling headache before making up my mind. First of all, you need to consider the learning style, in which there is a great difference. International school is "learning through playing". They don't have homework, textbooks, less writing. For local ones, they have systematic materials for parents to follow.

I choose Sunshine because I don't want to push my daughter too hard. She's still very young, it's her right to have a cheerful childhood. My relatives studies in Choice (Tsing Yi). She has lots of homework. So her childhood is only school, homework & revision.

To me, Sunshine is a place for my daughter  to learn English social life. My daughter is a bit shy & sensitive. Schools with small class, such as Sunshine is more suitable for her. I think I will teach her Chinese and other "knowledge" by myself. On the other hand, Sunshine is very nearby, I can save much travel time. So that I can let my daughter to join more extracurricula activities. I do think that long travel time is not suitable for small kids.

I plan to let my daughter to study private or 直資primary school. As I know, some Sunshine students continue their primary school here, but not many. Because the primary school is quite new, and environment isn't so good. So many students will leave after P1.

I have a friend whose son studies in Sunshine from n1 to P1. Would you have any question that I can ask for you?

Wish that my sharing could help.

Hera

beseem2003

heratang 寫道:
chingyu,

To me, Sunshine is a place for my daughter  to learn English social life. My daughter is a bit shy & sensitive. Schools with small class, such as Sunshine is more suitable for her. I think I will teach her Chinese and other "knowledge" by myself. On the other hand, Sunshine is very nearby, I can save much travel time. So that I can let my daughter to join more extracurricula activities. I do think that long travel time is not suitable for small kids.

Hera

Last year I went to visit my sister at Tung Chung Crescent. I saw 2 fat western women smoking behind the building. My sister said they were the teachers of Sunshine House. She said she knew a boy studied there who was very smart but very naughty. One time he didn't follow the teacher's instruction but finished the classwork quickly and were all correct. U know what? The teacher teared his workbook apart in front of the whole class!
I suggset u check carefully about the teacher before sending your timid girl there. All the children say they love to go to school because it's more fun than at home. Parents should be very careful when choosing school for them.

heratang

Wow, thank you beseem2003. Let me check check.

Hera

heratang

I've just talked with my friend, whose son is studying in Sunshine. She said she quite like the fat teacher. She's professional and teaches her son many things. She's only tough to naughty student.

She said the other teachers are all very nice to students. It isn't a bad choice for kindergarten level. But she will change her son to other primary school after the connection period (her son is 5yr, P1) because the primary school is very small.

Hera

chingyu

Hera,

You are very nice...thank you so much indeed..

As I can't afford to pay International Secondary school, I will go to S.C.

I think your choice may be good to your kid.  I also saw two boys living in the same building as mine can speak very good English and become more active after taking Sunshine House.   If I live in Tung Chung, I may consider Sunshine House too although it has quite a lot of negative comment.  Nothing is absolutely correct.  

Even though everyone says ESF is much much better than Sunshine, the only thing I observe Sunshine students can speak American accent.  The main reasons is there are more foreign students I think.  Kids learn English via playing with kids instead of looking at the teacher only.

Wish all your kids happy at school...

P.S. For Tsing Yi or Tung Chung parents, my daughter is studying in Tivoli Nursery now.  I can say it is a very good kindergarten too.  All teachers are professional, well trained and kind.  There are many activities every month.  However, I will go to SC anyway due to all comments around me.  The only drawback of Tivoli is the campus too small.  I really love the teachers in Tivoli.

Chingyu

heratang

Chingyu,

Thank you, your comment comfort me too. Wish you all the best in choosing school for your kid.

Hera

cpmummy

Hi chingyu,

"esf is below my house cos i am living in tierra verde

i observe all kids speaking chinese instead of english"

Are you talking about the ESF kinder in Tsing Yi? Do you know anyone who study there? Why did you think sunshine house is much better than ESF? As my daughter will be admit to this school next April. It is a tough choice for me between her present kinder and ESF.

By the way, congratulation that you received the offer from SC. If I were you, I will choose SC as you said you will choose local primary for your kid, so I think it is better to study 3 year in SC rather than 2 yrs in Sunshine house and then 1 yr in other kinder.

chingyu

cpmummy,

If you will send your daugther to ESF primary school, I think it is good to send her into its kinder first.  

I just heard that the standard of ESF is very simple but the school fee is quite high...moreover, I can't see the students who can speak very good English..most of them speak Chinese..

If you plan to send your daughter to local primary school, don't choose ESF.

How come I was attracted by Sunshine House, just because of two little kids performance in the same building as mine.

In fact, my daughter was accepted by TAYSF too.  If you read this website, you can see that it is very difficult to get a seat into TAYSF.  I am very lucky indeed...but...still I think SC is better, more famous, right? very headache.

Chingyu

Igo

Chingyu,

My daughter is going to study at Tivoli Nursery in the coming January. What do you think about the English standard of this school?  Since your kid is accepted by so many famous kinder, I think she must be very smart.  Is she studying in Tivoli nursery- international stream?

Igo

cpmummy

Hi Chingyu,

Thanks for your reply.
I am not consider to send my kid to local primary school, so she will definately go to international primary school after kindergarten.
You just observe the kids from ESF on the street or in the shopping mall, isn't it? Or you actually observe the kids who speak Cantonese in the campus?
Because I think it is not a big deal if those students speak Cantonese outside of campus. I just wonder if you said they can't speak english.
I think both schools (TAYSF & SC) are good to train up the kids to go to local school. why don't you just choose the one close to your home?

chingyu

cpmummy,
you know... in order to find the best for my daugther, I had been the entrance of ESF school for a visit for two days...I looked through inside the window and saw most of student speaking Chinese rather than English.  Do you have any friends who are studying in ESF, how's their comment?  I am thinking whether it is easy to study ESF for 1st year and then study Christ Church for 2nd year.  ESF is toooooooo convenient to me.  However, I heard and got some evidence (my friend's kids) that Christ Church is likely to pick those students from St. Catherine.  So...I think I have no choice but to pick SC.


Igo,
Yes!!!  I think Tivoli international section can teach quite good English but it depends on which class teacher you got.  My daughter's class teacher is not good.  I mean her English accent because I talked to her sometimes.  I tried to ask for a change but in vain.  I can see there is some better teachers but we are not lucky though.  (Ms. Fong is the head teacher and Ms. Diane and Ms. Jessica both are quite good in my opinion but I don't know whether they will teach new N1.  I recongised them during playgroup.)Anyway, my daughter can speak quite a lot of things in English now.  In fact, she got used to speak cantonese at home, my maid and my parents speak cantonese only and she speaks a bit English with us sometimes.  The teacher said she tends to answer all the things in cantonese.  But I really don't like those parents speak merely English with their kids if their English accent and grammer are not so good.  It will affect them rather than helping them.  I can notice that those kids speak very late if their parents insisted to speak English only.  you know..your kid is not stupid...they can learn things naturally very fast if the lanuage around them is consistent..my daughter can sing many many songs at her 1-year-old just because (1) her memory is quite good indeed and she learns quite fast (2) I won't stop telling her things around her.  You are the best teacher of your child.  Believe me.  

I think you will ask me how to select Tivoli and Learning Habitat.  To be honest, I think the environment of Learing Habitat is better and the teacher looks better because their hairs are blonde.  However, I reckon the management of Tivoli is very good.  The headmistress Chan is very enthusiatic but the campus is really small, old and dark.  But..they taught quite a lot of things to my kid.  That's good enough.  Moreover, I like the communication book between the parent and school.  I can remind them what they should pay attention to and ask what I want to know about my daughter....the class teacher will answer you on the same day after school.   Very good indeed.  cpmummy said Sunshine house won't provide these media for parents.  Hope it helps...:D

Igo

Chingyu,

Thank you for your prompt reply!
According to your description, your daughter learn English solely through the school.  That mean Tivoli nursery provides good English environment for student.  How long has your daughter been studied in this school?  How about the standard of Tivoli kindergarten section?  Please share your view.

Igo

cpmummy

hi chingyu,

I was disappointed to hear that the kids there communicate in cantonese rather than english, as my daughter is also studying in the international kinder, she has already got used to speak english to"golden hair" and speak cantonese to chinese and some simple mandarin when meet to the mandarin teacher. She has never mix up. Moreover, I never heard the kids from my daughter's school communicate each other in cantonese, they are all k2 students, as K1 students are too small, they seldom talk each other, so I always heard the conversation from k2 students only. So I was abit worried about the english standard in ESF, I think I will seach some comments before school start.
I don't have friend's kid studying in esf kinder at the moment, one of my colleague's son was studied in ESF kinder Sheung wan about 3 years old, she told me that ESF is really a good kinder. So I remember what she say and then I enrol it for my daughter and I also received some positive comments from a BK mum. Have you enrolled ESF Tsing Yi? Have you received the offer from them? as normally they start to accept the application when the kid reach 2 years old.
Regarding to the tutition fee in ESF, I think it is more or less the same you pay for SC, as ESF charge HKD3950 per month including snack but SC charge HKD3300 per month without snack and you have to pay for school bus fee too.