Think vs. York

momo627

My son is 21 months now, yet can speak very few words like papa, mama, hello, bye bye, thank you, yes, no,.... so his performance in interviews are not good enough for getting good offer, but luckily we got p.m. offers from Think, Creative, Cannan and York, pending KM's results but I don't think we can make it.

As I prefer he can learn a bit English/Mandarin in PN, I drop out Creative and Cannan and now struggling between Think and York, both at Kowloon Tong that we need to take school bus from TKO.

I personally like York as it emphaize on academic achievement and its English sounds to be strong; but I know many saying it is too harsh for babies/kids to push them so hard when they are so small, and not sure if it suits my son as he is those "moving all around and seldom sit still" type. Also, not sure about how much it costs a year as it is heard to be a lots of fees for some activities.....anyone can give me an idea on this?

Think is not as famous as KM, LH, Victoria, and I am not sure it conducts English in PN class. My husband says it may allow babies to develop their creativitiy and innovative thinking, instead of spoon feeding, but we are not sure on this as no much information about Think we can find here. Another problem is, there is no school bus so we need to contact those private one and no sure we got a place as it sounds to be quite full.

We of course want our son to have happy school life, but if it only provides a place for them to play (as what my brother-in-law said, his elder daughter spent her time playing only in PN in Victoria Homantin so he picks 3 days class instead of 5 days offer for his younger daughter now), he may not be able to catch up the tough primary school life; but York is heard to be too tough on this......sigh...so bad that we didn't get an offer from those in between, so don't know which one I should choose.

I have been thinking, if we pick Think but we, touchwood, do not get an offer in better K1 next year, is it ok to stay in Think for K1 to K3? I am not sure whether Think is good or not. On the other hand, if I pick York and if it is too harsh for my son, can I easily get a place in other K1 next year?

Headache......

momo627

原帖由 twinsstar1 於 11-4-9 22:29 發表
I would say, if you are a very academic kind of parents, you might find the syllabus not difficult enough esp in N1 and K1 level. But to me, it is alright. In fact, I don't buy very pushy kinds of KG. ...

Thanks a lot for giving me more advice. I do want more academic than creativity, as my son is too active, I think it is better for him to learn early that study is important to him, and it will be more harsh for him to catch up P1 if the syllabus is too easy in KG. Also, I am worry if it is too focus on creativity, he will lose control, haha.

But I am not those very academic type, so I do think York is too pushy, but unfortunely we cannot get an offer somewhere in between, like LH, KM. But really good to know that Think (Kln Tong) will spend more time using English as teaching medium.

Thanks again.

twinsstar1

I would say, if you are a very academic kind of parents, you might find the syllabus not difficult enough esp in N1 and K1 level. But to me, it is alright. In fact, I don't buy very pushy kinds of KG. Therefore , you really need to ask yourself what kind of education you prefer your kids to have in KG.

As far as I know, Kln tong campus has more English time than other branches in N1 level, but in K1-K3, it should be the same for all campuses.

原帖由 momo627 於 11-4-9 02:19 發表
Thanks Pertar, twinsstar 1, gegemok and chris1888 for your valuable advice. It is great that Think is good, which gives me some relief, as I saw there were bad comments in BK b4 enrollment, saying tea ...

[ 本帖最後由 twinsstar1 於 11-4-9 22:39 編輯 ]

momo627

Thanks Pertar, twinsstar 1, gegemok and chris1888 for your valuable advice. It is great that Think is good, which gives me some relief, as I saw there were bad comments in BK b4 enrollment, saying teachers are "no heart" to children, so a bit worry if this is the case, and worry about their curriculum.

Wish some mammys can give me some advices on York, too. Is it really very pushy that both babies and parents will feel it too harsh?

Thanks again for giving me advice.

chris1888

Hi momo627,

I remember you as I saw your complaint about 東X before. My son is also a 0906 boy and is now learning Spanish at TST branch. I am also not so happy with the new policy especially if some childen are sick and they can spread the bacteria to the others.

Another similar point is that all the offers that my son can get are pm class only. I have only paid the reservation fee for THINK Kowloon Tong. Before I pay the fee, I phoned to THINK and asked them for the languages used in PN. The lady replied that kids can study all the 3 languages everyday, 1 hr English, 15 mins PTH and the other time is Cantonese. I don't know if it is real or not. If it is the real case, it seems OK. Maybe our sons can become classmates later...

twinsstar1

I do agree that it is "more academic" when it goes to higher level. When my kid was in K1, I worried that the syllabus was too easy for kids. Now he's in K2, I would say it is not as easy as I thought.

In N1, they have a lot of activities and kids enjoyed school life a lot!!! They focus a lot on self-management skills in N1 too. Class teachers have frequent contact w/ parents in N1 level so that parents know how kids adapt to the new environment too.

原帖由 gegemok 於 11-4-8 11:19 發表
My son also studied in Think Laguna City. I am very satisfied with this kinder. He is now in k3. Don't also think that Think is an international kinder ...it's a bit pushy in k3 ..kids have dictation  ...

[ 本帖最後由 twinsstar1 於 11-4-9 22:21 編輯 ]

gegemok

My son also studied in Think Laguna City. I am very satisfied with this kinder. He is now in k3. Don't also think that Think is an international kinder ...it's a bit pushy in k3 ..kids have dictation in both Chinese and English every week and they have a very good reading program (both eng and chinese readers) ....

Another good point is Think has full day program so that kids can learn acedemic knowledge in the morning and learn project related matters in the afternoon ....

But as far as i know, Think Kln Tong is more close to international school ...

twinsstar1

I don't know if all branches are the same. My son is in THINK LC. They did teach phonics in K1 while teaching the letters. However, they would only use "letterland phonics" systematically in K2.

You can choose PTH/Eng or Can/Eng in K1-2 but all K3 classes would be in PTH/Eng

For English, they use the thematic approach. The themes are parallel to the ones used in Chinese Lesson. THink is using English to teach but not "teaching English". They use English to teach maths concepts, concepts related to the themes etc. I'm not sure if other schools are teaching English in this way, but kids learn vocabs related to the themes through various activities. My son is in K2, the school brought them to the EPD when having the theme about environmental protection. And from this theme, he learnt concepts and vocabs about recycling, metals, plastic and paper etc. Last time when they were learning sth about animals and they went to the Ocean park. I would say, they learn English naturally from all these activities. They also encourage "show and tell" in K2 too.

原帖由 momo627 於 11-4-8 06:34 發表


Thanks a lot for your advice. So they will have both Eng/PTH or there is another stream for Eng/Cantonese only? Will they teach phonics in K1 to K3? I saw they showed some books and if my memory ser ...

[ 本帖最後由 twinsstar1 於 11-4-9 22:35 編輯 ]

momo627

原帖由 Pertra 於 11-4-6 19:10 發表
I can tell you "THINK" (PN) is only focused on Cantonese.  They will not teach phonics or ABC at PN class.  

But starting from K1 to K3....they have PTH/ENG class for the selection.

Thanks a lot for your advice. So they will have both Eng/PTH or there is another stream for Eng/Cantonese only? Will they teach phonics in K1 to K3? I saw they showed some books and if my memory serves me right, the teachers said it is specially designed by them (Think).

Anyone can give me some information on what they will focus on in K1 to K3? Will they emphaize on academic, English, spoken English, and develop babies creativity and thinking?

Thanks a lot!!