國際學校的家長

vicjo

囝囝剛剛2歲，因尚未想好囝囝應入本地學校或國際學校，為學好合群和自理，將就讀本地課程n1，也同時上woodland星期一、三、五英文班(playgroup)。

其實我尚未想好讓囝囝入國際學校的原因是現時香港學制不善，一時又334，唔識"通識"又為飯碗去教"通識".........

我公司有一批同事的兒女就讀國際學校，他們說平常家長之間溝通都要"扮"鬼(包括日常生小節，就算只有幾位家長，而你知道大家都在家中/工作上用廣東話溝通，也要以英語對話。)自己之前在外國留學，現在打鬼佬工，日常英語溝通無難度，但我唔想好似d同事"扮"鬼。我覺得中英文良好是非常重要，就算我比囝囝去國際學校，我亦只考慮中英良好的國際學校(如星加坡國際)。

我既問題係﹕
1.
家長要"扮"鬼嗎?
2.
如想報考國際學校preparation class，我現時應該怎麼培訓囝囝?

謝謝!

RayEE

just come across some interesting readings on the web that, if u target for reception class, u may be interested in reading the "early years foundation stage profile handbook". hope this will get u more insights on what are you looking for.

RayEE

generally speaking, international school takes students based on the age requirement, available vacancies and their language ability.

other than those external factors in which you have no ways to alter, to proceed a good understanding of the english language must be of a good advantage. it may not refer to a “sound” proficiency in the english language but of which, ur children understand and can follow instructions in english, can express him/herself in english (doesnt matter whether it's grammatically correct or not and/or with an asian accent or not) and can communicate with others. this proceeds to a very helpful and unique learning ground for her/his future studies in different areas/subjects.

just to share, this is what my little one did on the interview. recognizing alphabets, sounding the correlated consonants and vowels, spelling simple english words, drawing a picture and writing a simple sentence describing the picture. in this short interview, it accesses every aspect on the english level (according to the right expectation of the age).

of course, if u target for reception class, it may be totally different, especially on the reading and writing parts. what i prepared myself is, by knowing what will be taught in that particular level and help my little one prepared for this.

vicjo

Thanks Ann0805 : I checked with woodland.  They do have pre-school arrangement after stepping class.  (as mentioned in 1st place) my boy now attending a local N1 in am and may have time crash if he also enroll woodland pre-school.  I need to make decision by that time.

To: RayEE
from your experience, what & how do int'l schools make judgments to accept applications (except the English proficiency)?

orancarmen

Hi RayEE,
Thanks for your sharing.
To me, it's really good because some of your opinion is valuable to me since I haven't thought in this way. What I want to add is that the term I used- polluted. Actually, I do not merely mean the accent. The truth is what I articulate, what I write - I am not quite sure it is grammatical or in the correct expression or of the right prounciation. As a housewife at home, I forget what I have learnt in school for a long time. i am not ashamed of this since it is true that I am not living in the english context environment. But as you say, language is the tool of communication, therefore, I  still write, type and speak. However, I dare not use it to teach my beloved little one. I am not afraid that people laugh at me but i am afraid that i set a wrong example for my kid to imitate.

In a word, the word "polluted" is only applied to me but not in the intention to offend any people or race.

Let me conclude in the same sentence. I do not know it is right or not. Just for sharing.

RayEE

first, mixing english terms into a chinese sentence does not create a significant prove of "confusion", as long as the sentence itself makes sense and is logical. linguists uses the term "code mixing" to refer to this situation.

second, i don't think having an asian accent in speaking english is a bad and unforgivable behaviour, and i dont think it can be termed as "polluted", what a harsh term!

in fact, different races speak their own languages, and language is just a tool of communication between people. and having different accent is a good way to get know of where the people come from. even "native" accents, it may refer to british, united states', canadian, australian, european..... those professional tv reporters, they have special training to erase their "native" accents. so if u want to get rid of an asian accent, better decide which "favour" u want before u start talking to your little ones...

for successful placement in international schools, “fluency in english” may not be the sole key, it may also depend external factors, say the total application numbers for a certain year, priority in-take numbers, ….

my case is, i talked to my little one in cantonese, which is my 1st language, during pregnancy and the childhood. except for a few months attending the playgroup, a few months in the nursery and a few months in the kindergarten (both were in an english environment), my little one was generally exposed to a cantonese-only environment. the language-learning media were mainly dvds, tv cartoons and internet in early stages. and then, i started to teach on my own with aids of some curriculum books for almost a year.

the interview my little one had attended was quite generic. it tests the english standard in all aspects, like listening, reading, writing and spoken english. what you expect a 5 year old kid knows? even a “native” kid at age 5, he/she may only be more proficient in spoken english and listening than a chinese one. but this is not always true… say, as if that kid is a german/french, his/her level of english may be the same as a chinese one. i saw a lot of “native” speakers talk to their kids in their “native” languages, “native” may refer to german, french, austrian, spanish, indian….

kids have their own pace of learning, once they are ready, they can will learn very fast.

orancarmen

In my case, I think most of the time our family communicates in Cantonese. It is because my mother tongue is Cantonese. Though I can speak english, but I do not want to pollute the kids' accent which is cultivated from the IS environment of western teachers and classmates. Meanwhile, I think chinese is also important. One more silly thinking is that  I think I should teach them my comparatively strength rather than my comparatively weak one. I do not know it's right or not. Just for sharing.

Ann0805

You'd better check.  Different Woodland branches may have different age range for Stepping Stones.  For Peak Pre-school, the age range is until 2.5 years for Stepping Stones.  But my son is allowed to progress to the next level two months earlier, i.e. 2 yr and 4 mths.  The level after Stepping Stone, i.e. the 1st level of pre-school at Woodland, is equivalent to Pre-K1 (or Prenursery/Nursery as other schools may call it).  

There should not be any "teething problem" iro pursuing K1 studies in other schools.  Take my son as an example, he should be K1 next Sept (when he is 3 yr and 4 months).  So, he can simply follow the normal process to file applications (including ESF) starting this Sept/Oct for K1 next year.  

原帖由 vicjo 於 10-8-16 13:55 發表
I heard “Woodland Peak Pre-school” is good too (also head from a parent compare it with TT).  However, there’s only 4 months for stepping stone (2yr 4 mo to 2 yr 8 mo).  I wonder what the children  ...

[ 本帖最後由 Ann0805 於 10-8-16 16:43 編輯 ]

vicjo

I heard “Woodland Peak Pre-school” is good too (also head from a parent compare it with TT).  However, there’s only 4 months for stepping stone (2yr 4 mo to 2 yr 8 mo).  I wonder what the children (their parents) will choose their kindergartens because I guess the earilest international kinder (ESF K1) starts at age 3.  

原帖由 Ann0805 於 10-8-13 18:33 發表
My experience is Woodland's stepping stone class is great.  Coz' my son started in July, he is joining the summer programme for now.  Depending on the theme(s) picked by the specific Woodland school,  ...

Ann0805

My experience is Woodland's stepping stone class is great.  Coz' my son started in July, he is joining the summer programme for now.  Depending on the theme(s) picked by the specific Woodland school, the activities would be planned around such themes.  Like my son's school, July is the science exploration month, art & craft works, english activitity time would also be planned around such theme.  For Aug, it's on food and culture of different countries.  My son has made and brough home pizza, sushi, irish bread, etc.  In brief, my son enjoys the class a lot!  

At Woodland Peak Pre-school, at least, the student mix is very international.  My son got Chinese, Japanese, Western, Indian friends in his class and school.  Class size is small with teacher to student ratio in each class is 1:12.  The school campus is quite small though, with limited open space.  But that is fine with us as parents as we treasure the quality of teaching staff and student mix more.  I know some parents in BK consider the campus far too small.  

For Yew Chung playgroup, I would say their strength is with training the kids to be independent as far as possible, e.g. for eating their snack, washing hands, tidying up, etc. Language training there is weak.  Though they claim to be bilingual (by having one Chinese teacher and one native in each class), 70% of the time would be Cantonese-speaking as most parents would speak to the kids in Cantonese.  The native would lead the 20-min English session only and talk to kids in English during free playtime.  Class structure-wise, I do like the relaxing 2.5 hr playgroup there, as compared to the 1.5hr playgroup conducted by Tutor Time (WOW).  Personally, I think 1.5 hr is too packed for a kid as TT will try to jam a series of activities into the 1.5 hrs.  No time is allowed for the kids to explore and do the things they want.  But at Yew Chung, they have 2.5 hrs each day and have enough time to pick the activities they wish to do.  I must stress though, this is just personal preference.  As I do hear a lot of parents preferring TT more as they feel that TT has a more structured class while Yew Chung is just allowing kids to play whatever they want just like they're at home.  

原帖由 vicjo 於 10-8-13 11:32 發表
It's good to know many of your Children can switch languages well when they grow up.

However, I worry if my boy can't pass the interview because of less fluent English.

To: Ann0805
Would you share ...

[ 本帖最後由 Ann0805 於 10-8-13 18:35 編輯 ]

vicjo

It's good to know many of your Children can switch languages well when they grow up.

However, I worry if my boy can't pass the interview because of less fluent English.

To: Ann0805
Would you share more info about woodland's stepping stone class?
My boy will reach 2yr3mo in Dec and he may take stepping stone at that time.

How's your experience of "Yew Chung bilingual playgroup"?

nama

只係個人意見


[ 本帖最後由 nama 於 10-8-12 12:43 編輯 ]

nama

原帖由 Mighty 於 10-8-11 19:14 發表


I wonder which ESF you are talking about?  I always went to my child's school (3 times per week) after school for her extra activities but I only heard English used amongst peers.  Very rarely did t ...

我只係反映囡囡Year 1時的情況,在 class/afterschool activities小朋友自動不會講廣東話的,they only talk in playtime after lunch among HK peer。我估因為真係好多小朋友在kinder時都貫講廣東話,even由ESF kinder升上去的，其實都好正常,因為廣東話你HK主流語言。我唔會担心,因為當佢哋大D,佢哋自動波全英語,流利到你聽唔切添...反而佢依家講下廣東話幾搞笑就真...

P.S. 我曾住RC附返,反而好多大D嘅中學生學校外係用廣東話溝通,唔知係味咁啱遇到啫？

nama

原帖由 Mighty 於 10-8-11 19:14 發表


I wonder which ESF you are talking about?  I always went to my child's school (3 times per week) after school for her extra activities but I only heard English used amongst peers.  Very rarely did t ...

我只係反映囡囡Year 1時的情況,在 class/afterschool activities小朋友自動不會講廣東話的,they only talk in playtime after lunch among HK peer。我估因為真係好多小朋友在kinder時都貫講廣東話,even由ESF kinder升上去的，其實都好正常,因為廣東話你HK主流語言。我唔會担心,因為當佢哋大D,佢哋自動波全英語,流利到你聽唔切添...反而佢依家講下廣東話幾搞笑就真...

P.S. 我曾住RC附返,反而好多大D嘅中學生學校外係用廣東話溝通,唔知係味咁啱遇到啫？

Ann0805

BTW, about the point of being "pretentious".  I think it really depends on the parents themselves.  If I ever find that the parents to whom I'm talking to know Cantonese, I personally will switch to Cantonese.  Certainly though, if I fould others feeling more comfortable in communicating in English, I would follow suit, not because of pretending, but just for courtesy and to show respect to other people's preference.

Ann0805

I tend to agree with one of the parents who says that it's entirely up to you.  I also plan to put my son (now 2 yr and 3 mths) in an international school in the long run.  

At home, my domestic helper and I talked to my son in English.  My husband and the rest of the family (including the elderly) talked to my son in Cantonese.  We started that since my son was a baby.  Since my mother tongue is Cantonese, I also talked to my hubby in Cantonese.  My experience is... there was a period when my son exhibits signs of confusion, like he may use both English and Cantonese in one sentence. But that period was very brief, around one month when he reached two (he attended Yew Chung bilingual playgroup on weekdays then).  He started joining Woodland (Peak Pre-school) since early July - Mon, Wed, Fri afternoon stepping stone where there is a complete English environment.  He obviously benefited from it and very quickly gets used to switching between languages.  He now talks to me in English (w/o any Cantonese words) and his dad in Cantonese.  The mid-age helper at Woodland (who doesn't know English) told me the other day that my son talked to her in Cantonese, probably noting that the lady did not understand English.

Mighty

原帖由 nama 於 10-8-11 10:46 發表
囡囡小一前全英語溝通,廣東話識聽(下午半日有奶奶/啊媽)唔識講...入咗英基後竟然廣東話大有進步,原來classroom以外playtime D同學係講廣東話嘅(外國同學仔除外),其實小朋友學野好快,尤其是透過遊戲學習喔！
...

I wonder which ESF you are talking about?  I always went to my child's school (3 times per week) after school for her extra activities but I only heard English used amongst peers.  Very rarely did they use Chinese even they are just local chinese kids.  

I dont think the school needs to do anything about it.  The school doesnt say anywhere that children need to use English all the time.  It will be strange for the school to force the students which language they should use, as that shld come naturally.  

Anyway, students in the college always always use English so I guess that wl be the 'end result'.

iamfine

原帖由 vicjo 於 10-8-4 10:26 發表
囝囝剛剛2歲，因尚未想好囝囝應入本地學校或國際學and星期一、三、五英文班(playgroup)。...

Don't worry. Int school parents are very "local" these days. See the CYT and EPGY discussions.