九龍塘宣道小學 or 觀塘道聖若瑟英文小學 ? Thank you

timtim852

My son  got  the offer from 九龍塘宣道小學 (APS)and 觀塘道聖若瑟英文小學 (SJ).

It is time to make a decision between APS and SJ  before the registration date set by APS. If I take APS, I 'll inform SJ to cancel the reservation for my son.  I prefer SJ but my another half likes APS.

We haven't sorted out the decision based on the issues we discussed at the bottom. Excluding the issues of location and school fee, what would you take between  APS and SJ if you were given the offer from them?

Thanks for your opinion.
:) :) :)

We tried to sort out the decision based on the issues below but we haven't reached the consenus yet.

I just know that SJ is a EMI school and its secondary school is still running on CMI though 3 out of 5 the current S1 classes have been running on EMI already.

I have no information for comparing the English standard of SJ with APS's. I just know APS is a CMI school and its allocation result for secondary schools is not bad as shown on its website . Should SJ's English standard is higher than APS's due to fact that SJ is a EMI school?  My another half thought that APS's English standard should not be lower than SJ's and the school net in Kowloon Tong is better than that of Kwun Tong.  But I worry the English standard of a CMI school.

I like the language environment of SJ but the school is for boys only whereas  APS is a co-ed school for both boys and girls.  I guess both are good schools, providing good moral education and using the "push-style" approach. Both  school are small in size.

[ 本帖最後由 timtim852 於 08-12-28 13:55 編輯 ]

junior_pam

St Joseph is not as good as expected. I mean that the cirriculum is a bit confused. It even makes the parents confused as well. My friend's son is studying in primary one and lodges many complaints on the messy academic requirement. Thus, I will take APS instead.

原帖由 陳師奶 於 09-1-5 10:42 發表
兩間都係好學校, 但地區完全唔同, 我就會揀左近屋企既一間, 唔駛放太多時間係校車上, 太長車程會好攰架 (六年時間呀)

陳師奶

兩間都係好學校, 但地區完全唔同, 我就會揀左近屋企既一間, 唔駛放太多時間係校車上, 太長車程會好攰架 (六年時間呀)

jywbb

原帖由 twosonspa 於 08-12-30 01:49 發表
I would like to chip in a little.

My elder son finished primary school life in APS and is now studying in DBS. My younger son is still in APS. Take my son as an example, although his Eng standard is  ...

比我都會揀宣小, 程度, 教學環境, 學校位置等等都勝出, 唯一係男女校我唔係咁 prefer, 比著我, 我都想個女入女校多過男女校o

twosonspa : 你大仔係考入 dbs 架 ? dbs 小學 d 小朋友有幾勁呀 ?

kls12

原帖由 timtim852 於 09-1-2 22:45 發表
I has got a chat with a mother whose kid is now a APS-p3 kid. The parent is a friend of my friend. She said that the Chinese subject was taught in Cantonese instead of Mandarin but  there were 2 separ ...

一年級是有普通話學的,而在下學期中文是以普通話教的。在開學的初期,小女說不喜歡上普通話堂,也提不起興趣,我們又不會教她,找了一個上門教普通話老師後便完全不同了。

taipoma

我仔仔是宣小小三學生,中文科是用普通話教課文,默書亦是。

FITTI

我揀宣小

timtim852

Thanks for your info.

原帖由 ChiChiPaPa 於 09-1-2 23:53 發表


為甚麼現在的小三會唔用普通話教課文？這的確很奇怪。

宣小全校都是用啟思的《語文新天地》作為中文課本。這套中文課本包括一本《漢語拼音課本》，它是用作普通話教課文，而學校也要求家長買中文普通話拼音光碟，即是以普 ...

ChiChiPaPa

原帖由 timtim852 於 09-1-2 22:45 發表
I has got a chat with a mother whose kid is now a APS-p3 kid. The parent is a friend of my friend. She said that the Chinese subject was taught in Cantonese instead of Mandarin but  there were 2 separ ...

為甚麼現在的小三會唔用普通話教課文？這的確很奇怪。

宣小全校都是用啟思的《語文新天地》作為中文課本。這套中文課本包括一本《漢語拼音課本》，它是用作普通話教課文，而學校也要求家長買中文普通話拼音光碟，即是以普通話讀出課文內容的光碟，以協助孩子應付用普通話的課文讀默，費用在10月時透過智能咭收取。普通話科所用的課本是教育出版社的《來說普通話》，是另外獨立的一科，不會在普通話科，教任何中文科的課文內容。

小三還不用普通話教中文課文是很奇怪，因為由學校的通告知道，中文科普通話拼音光碟的費用是全校都要收取的。

我囡囡讀小五，而今學年初，由一位小二家長知道現在是小二才開始用普通話教中文課文。不過，你可以在BK的宣小討論區提問，看看有沒有其他家長可解答你的問題。

當然最可靠的是直接問學校，因為宣小似乎是會按學生的學習情況，調整課程，以及教學語言的運用。

[ 本帖最後由 ChiChiPaPa 於 09-1-3 10:11 編輯 ]

timtim852

I has got a chat with a mother whose kid is now a APS-p3 kid. The parent is a friend of my friend. She said that the Chinese subject was taught in Cantonese instead of Mandarin but  there were 2 separate sessions for Mandarin per week.  

I got a bit confused. Please help to clarify. => For the current year (2008-2009), when will APS start to teach student using Mandarin during the lession for Chinese language (i.e., not the session for Mandarin) ?

Thanks.

原帖由 ChiChiPaPa 於 08-12-29 11:15 發表


我囡囡在入宣小時，宣小是小一開始用普通話教中文課文。但學校發覺一部分孩子需要適應和先學普通話，才不會令教學語言成為學習的障礙，所以現在是小二才用普通話教中文課文。

宣小會先為學生在初小時打好語音(phonics) ...

[ 本帖最後由 timtim852 於 09-1-2 22:46 編輯 ]

timtim852

ChiChiPaPa,
Thanks a lot for your info ! [
quote]原帖由 ChiChiPaPa 於 08-12-30 14:19 發表


係。小一就有這兩科。

數學在小五才加入英數。

囡囡在小一時差不多星期一至五都留在學校上興趣班。這些興趣班都是她自己選擇的。這是因為我和太太都要返工，而家傭又要照顧細她六年的弟弟。如果她早回家，她會很悶，而 ... [/quote]

研一

ChiChiPaPa:
謝謝你的解答!!

原帖由 ChiChiPaPa 於 08-12-30 16:44 發表


學大提琴是小一時學校安排的。小一和小二在學校小組學習。到小三，就轉一對一私人教授。導師是學校小組上課時的導師。

ChiChiPaPa

原帖由 研一 於 08-12-30 16:20 發表
CHICHIPAPA:
請問你囡囡是否在外學習大提琴課的呀?

學大提琴是小一時學校安排的。小一和小二在學校小組學習。到小三，就轉一對一私人教授。導師是學校小組上課時的導師。

研一

CHICHIPAPA:
請問你囡囡是否在外學習大提琴課的呀?

原帖由 ChiChiPaPa 於 08-12-30 14:19 發表


係。小一就有這兩科。

數學在小五才加入英數。

囡囡在小一時差不多星期一至五都留在學校上興趣班。這些興趣班都是她自己選擇的。這是因為我和太太都要返工，而家傭又要照顧細她六年的弟弟。如果她早回家，她會很悶，而 ...

ChiChiPaPa

原帖由 timtim852 於 08-12-30 13:24 發表
ChiChiPaPa, twosonspa,

Thanks for your info and advice.

As said, APS already started to teach General Studies in two seperate subjects using Chinese and English respectively.  
>>> Do you mean that ...

係。小一就有這兩科。

數學在小五才加入英數。

囡囡在小一時差不多星期一至五都留在學校上興趣班。這些興趣班都是她自己選擇的。這是因為我和太太都要返工，而家傭又要照顧細她六年的弟弟。如果她早回家，她會很悶，而學校在低年班時又很少功課。隨著弟弟長大，她回家後有伴，學校的課外活動也逐漸減少。去到小四，除了英文話劇班，她已沒有參加放學後的學校活動。

在周末，星期六上午就係學校的樂團，而下午就是香港兒童合唱團。星期六黃昏時，有半小時上大提琴課。

timtim852

ChiChiPaPa, twosonspa,

Thanks for your info and advice.

As said, APS already started to teach General Studies in two seperate subjects using Chinese and English respectively.  
>>> Do you mean that the P1 kids start to handle these two subjects ?

I agree that Chinese language is useful to the development of analytic ability. In early stage like P1 and P2, it may be appropriate to teach Mathematics using Chinese, followed by teaching Mathematics in English terms for P3 and onwards.

As found in other topics relating to APS under BK, it seems that APS kids are very busy with the school life (7 days per week?). But it was also glad to hear that some of them enjoyed a lot in APS.  I am not sure if the lengthy period of staying at school is related to the number of optional extra-curricular activities taken by the kids or the supplementary sessions (or extra subjects  for improving English or Mathematics in English terms) to be attended by kids after the last normal session. How many weekdays do the APS kids USUALLY need to stay after the normal sessions? for what purposes?

Sorry, I have asked a few questions already.

>>> If possible, may any APS parents share on the above.

Thanks again.

原帖由 ChiChiPaPa 於 08-12-30 09:16 發表


囡囡在04年入宣小，我當年並沒有懷疑宣小的英文水平。這是有客觀的原因，而並非完全係主觀的判斷。

在03年SARS時，全港學校需要停課。很多學校都會在停課時期，把工作紙上載至互聯網，讓家長和學生下載，使學習不會停頓。雖然 ...

kfltsz

想請教下 "宣道"同"SFA" 又點樣取捨呢? 我真係好頭痛唔識撰.

ChiChiPaPa

原帖由 timtim852 於 08-12-29 13:27 發表
...When your kids entered APS in the past, did you also worry about theissue of  English standard due to the fact that APS is a CMI school ? ...

囡囡在04年入宣小，我當年並沒有懷疑宣小的英文水平。這是有客觀的原因，而並非完全係主觀的判斷。

在03年SARS時，全港學校需要停課。很多學校都會在停課時期，把工作紙上載至互聯網，讓家長和學生下載，使學習不會停頓。雖然這些工作紙是只讓那些學校的家長和學生下載，但是在04年選校時，我發覺用搜尋器找學校資料，也同時可以找到這些工作紙。只要比較這些工作紙，就可以略知各學校的水平。

據我當時的分析，宣小的英文水平並不比英文小學為低。它的工作紙文法部分唔深，但就很著重英文故事書的字彙，很明顯對培養孩子看英文書有很大的幫助。高年級的閱讀理解練習亦有一定的水平。

雖然宣小的英文科有不錯的水平，但是當時宣小的常識科 General Studies 是用中文教，因此我覺得宣小的畢業生在英文常識字彙方面一定不如英文小學的學生，因為人家在這方面累積了六年的學習知識。到升讀英文中學時，大家的起步點不一樣，宣小的學生就要靠他們自己的英文基礎，在學科字彙和學科的英語表述能力方面，向英文小學的學生追。


如果在Baby-Kingdom一段時間的家長，應該會記得我在囡囡讀小一時就問為甚麼宣小的常識科不用英文教。這是我覺得不足的地方。可能學校也見到這方面的需要，所以現在常識是分做兩科的：中文教的常識和英文教的科學。


英文固然重要，不過，母語教學亦確有它的好處。如果我沒有記錯，當年找到的聖若瑟英文小學的數學工作紙是用中文的。很多學校都知母語是較佳的思考語言，而很多數學較佳的英文小學，例如SFA，都有用中文去教數學，而非全部單一用英語。

[ 本帖最後由 ChiChiPaPa 於 08-12-30 10:00 編輯 ]

twosonspa

I would like to chip in a little.

My elder son finished primary school life in APS and is now studying in DBS. My younger son is still in APS. Take my son as an example, although his Eng standard is lower than the kids from DBS primary schools, he has absolutely no problem to all Eng lessons. If you select APS and your concern is Eng standard, I may suggest reading more Eng books and extra oral practices.

To be honest, I knew very little about the schools when my son applied P.1. Online info is not adequate and verbal comments sometimes are contradictory. We made our decision mainly based on our faith to the headmaster during their presentations.