KCIS同SWCK大家會簡邊間呀?

crystalpui

我幫我女報左呢2間
邊間好D呀?

Nath

many thanks for your advice.

elmostoney

我地早幾日已離開ICMS, give up兩個月deposit, 返返去best concept啦.

ims中文程度係is中好好, 唔洗擔心.  我建議你去一次school tour就會明白.

Nath

原帖由 elmostoney 於 11-10-13 11:31 發表
ha, my son is in ICMS now because he didn't get into IMS.  Same case - last year when I took my daughter to IMS for an interview, I brought my son along.  He was just an onlooker.  However, when the p ...

剛剛見到妳地呢個topic, 先至知道原來大家既小朋友都係返緊ICMS.....我個仔之前返佢地既Toddler Playgroup, 啱啱就開始返Pre-casa.....仔仔返左一個星期多已經適應左....我地都好鍾意Montessori既理念, 亦見到佢返左6個月playgroup 既成果, 依家佢講d英文生字既發音準確, 記得好多字既phonics 發音, 專注力都好左, 不過佢本身係一個坐唔定既人, 我有d擔心佢依家返Pre Casa  時太自由, 樣樣野玩一陣就唔玩.......

雖然我都有考慮過比佢讀IMS既小學, 但都擔心中文程度差, 同埋又擔心太自由會令我地好難管敎佢讀書

[ 本帖最後由 Nath 於 11-11-17 18:28 編輯 ]

WingBB-222

As per SWCK, CYMCA will not interfere in the curriculum of ICA.  They are just partnership, but GCE(SWCK) will hold 100% autonomy of running the school.

elmostoney

Ms Gail is sitting in as NIS primary's principal.  As I recall, she said her background before joining SWCK is actually with primary school - not kindergarten.  Any new schools would probably be chaotic at the start, but hopefully, by starting small (with 5 classes) and Ms. Gail's experience, ICA will manage better than most upstart.

As for CYMCA's involvement, from what I understand, they only provide the site and won't be involved in managing the school.  Again, I will have to clarify this point.

eneresnat

Thanks elmostoney for your sharing. The program sounds quite good, especially the gardening part.

elmostoney

now that 2 months have passed since school started, I have more info to share.

1.  Chinese - 1/2 hr a day, mostly in Chinese.  They started doing strokes in Sept and are now writing characters.  They also teach putonghua pinyin (phonics) and daughter comes home singing phonics song.  Compared to some IS, I agree that their Chinese program is more intensive.  In fact, I am quite surprised that they learn so much.  However, as a Chinese parent, you may still want to supplement at home.  

2.  English - wow! I am getting little books to review phonics with daughter at home!  Teacher already teaches the basics, but books are sent home regularly and parents are asked to review with their kids.  

3.  Math - we just started on Mathaletics.  I haven't had time to look into it yet.

4.  Daughter said that they started a garden planting grapes(?), tomatoes and corn.  Kids are asked to take care of the plants. Quite wonderful in a concrete filled HK.

5. They have music class every Thursday and get to play some instruments (triangles, bells,some type of woodwind/flute, xylophone, drums, etc.).  Daughter enjoys it very much.

6.  Seems not to have any fixed art class.  I do see some simple crafts coming back sometimes, but not on a regular basis.

7.  hv outdoor playground time everyday.

an update on our school search progress.  At this point, we have decided to forget about LS completely.  We didn't even go to the interview.  It's really not our cup of tea.  I also dropped her Enopi class.  I think she needs more time to play instead of sitting down to do pages and pages of math homework.  Since most kids seem to require some tutorial after school no matter where they go, I have decided to do it for Chinese and stick to IS.

At this point, SWCK seems to fit her quite well.  The teacher is very caring.  She noticed a certain problem of my daughter's and brought it up, urging us to do a follow up.

eneresnat

Thanks, elmostoney. I also bought 基礎漢字五百 and I like the way it teaches Chinese characters. Hope it works for my boy also (he's still very small now).

elmostoney

As I mentioned before, I use the program 基礎漢字五百. It works for my kids.  I read once daily with them.  As my daughter is 5+already, I started her on writing.  We are opting for one character/day for 10 to 12 times.  I also have a private Mandarin tutor who comes in and teaches her Chinese twice a week.  My daughter can understand most Mandarin and can converse to a reasonable degree.  She learns all her reading in Mandarin as well.  She has read 350 characters, but has probably forgotten about 15 to 20%.  She can write about 30 characters now.  She can read simple "I can read" beginning Chinese story books by herself.  Her Chinese level cannot be compared to some very tough local kindy (like 根德園), but is probably on par with some easier local kindy.  No bad, imho.  The most important thing is dedication by the parent, unless you hire a tutor who comes in 4 to 5 times a week to do the job.

As with most IS, SWCK does encourage reading very much.  I think you don't have to worry about that.  We also encourage our kids to read at home.  My kids can easily read on their own (mostly pictures only) for 1/2 hr to 1 hr at a time.  If somebody reads to them, they can easily sit and listen for 1+ hour.

eneresnat

elmostoney:

SWCK does encourage kids to read story books, right? I do wish that my son can start off with a good reading habit (I read to him at home but I hope there's an environment at school also).
If your daughter moves on to SWCK primary, how will you help her keep up her Chinese? I really like SWCK but I also wish that my son can read and write in Chinese in the future, so I wanna see if there's anything I can do to supplement their syllabus.

mycjc

i also read from a few comments that Ms Elleen is very caring. It's sad that she left BC already.
My son is in Kln Tong campus and the teacher is Ms. Lisa (mandarin speaker). She is also very nice. There's another ms Annie (or Amy?) but I don't know her very well.
Is your son's teacher in ICMS Ms Elise & Ms. Rei? They both were my son's toddler's program teachers. My son loves Ms. Elise very much but unfortunately she was transferred to main campus this Sep.

elmostoney

I really think BC's toddler program is probably one of the best in HK - solely from the fact that they don't allow adults to go in.  The kids don't really learn as much when an adult fuss over them, and the teacher will rely on the parent/helper to help with the class.  BC is very hands-on because their teacher really does EVERYTHING with the child.

elmostoney

mycjc, because IMS has primary school, and IMS doesn't.  My son was in toddler program at BC 18m ~ 2y8m, then he moved up to casa and stayed until 3.5 yo.  We took a month off in August before he started at ICMS casa.  Casa is offered in their main campus only.

My son's toddler teacher at BC was Ms. Ellen (also my daughter's teacher).  She left in the fall of 2010, right after my son moved up to BC casa.  The casa teacher we had was 宥語 who was a toddler teacher at BC before.  She holds qualifications in both 0~3 and 3~6.  Unfortunately she also left in april/may this year.  I know Ms. Lina a bit and the Indian teacher took over my kids' class.  They were with her for 3 months until we decided to go.  I don't know the Indian teacher long enough to give any comment.  She doesn't seem to be very experienced, but she really makes an effort.

mycjc

原帖由 Ocean419 於 11-10-13 13:46 發表
Hi elmostoney, I have tried getting hold of best concept for 6 months now.  Their website is under construction, phone is never answered, faxed them the application form 3 times but nobody ever called ...

I called their TST centre at 2111 8903 and always have someone answer the call

mycjc

我都同意ICMS的Toddler Prgram有不足之處. 其實我覺得佢地唔係太Montessori. 初初頭兩個月佢老師都OK, 但到Sep個兩個老師都transfer到main campus教pre-casa. 換來的幾位新老師經驗不足, circle time時又control唔到d小朋友, 搞到好混亂. 好彩咁啱之前waitlist的Best Concept有位所以transfer咗過去. 你小朋友讀邊個campus呀? 你意思係咪之前BC好好果個老師已經走咗喇? So far, 我覺得BC都OK.
聽d老師俾你囝囝的comment, 如果佢地都咁一致覺得佢係一個Montessori child, 咁真係可以放膽go for this path. In case有問題都有SWCK做back up.
但點解你咁aim for IMS呢? ICMS的Pre-casa 和 casa唔好咩? 我有friend的小朋友讀過Casa De Bambini都話ok喎

Ocean419

Hi elmostoney, I have tried getting hold of best concept for 6 months now.  Their website is under construction, phone is never answered, faxed them the application form 3 times but nobody ever called back...  Are they still in business?  Can u pm me a number which I can actually get in touch with someone there?  Thanks.

elmostoney

ha, my son is in ICMS now because he didn't get into IMS.  Same case - last year when I took my daughter to IMS for an interview, I brought my son along.  He was just an onlooker.  However, when the principal saw him, immediately she said that she would take him right away (我個仔係好定同專注力好好).  We said we wanted to apply later.  When we applied earlier this year, they didn't take him.  He is at an age that I also feel the pressure to enroll him in a regular kindy + there were a lot of changes at BC during the last year.  

其實之前因為BC有某d問題同好多複雜原因, 我個仔係細仔班時去過ICMS一個星期, 個陣時佢係剛剛兩歲, 當時我覺得佢地個toddler program有好多不足之處, 返左一星期, 我forfeit所有deposit退學返BC, 因為當時bc細仔班個老師教得我個仔好好.  大仔班我未知ICMS點, 但係我個仔係受教, 而且BC比佢training非常之好, 所以我覺得老師會鍾意比時間教佢. 七月時我帶阿仔去ICMS面試, 本來要in 兩個鐘, ms kelly唔洗一個鐘就比我地走, quote ms kelly嘅說話, 我個仔係一個montessori child.  

對montessori嘅信念係因為我都相信我個仔, 我覺得佢性格適合, 學野快上手, 程度好自然考物野學校個chance都大d. 我個女就不嬲唔專注, 所以就算上montessori咁耐, 都有少少拉牛上樹嘅感覺.  Montessori唔係仙丹, 唔可以改造一個人性格, 只能幫下佢.

至於一星期上幾多日先好, 我真係唔知點答. 以前嘅maria montessori, 又或台灣嘅montessori school, 都係全日, 係到四點幾至六點, 一星期五日. 我當時同我個女嘅大仔班老師傾, 佢話香港得半日, 其實唔係咁好, 所以最好返五日, 我個女係返左兩年五日先轉三日架.  但係如果你返兩間學校, 根本冇可能返五日, 呢個就係現實. 我覺得返兩日同三日, 分別未必大, 或者你可以同老師傾下.

其實我都係一個關口, small world收左阿仔今年九月入學(我係四月先apply), 我推左, 因為我知道有sibling priority, 就算我將來先申請, 收嘅機會都幾大.  我打算再apply ims, 因為我嘅最終目標都係入佢地嘅primary school, 當然同時間我都申請左其他IS, 不過我個仔而家係ICMS又讀得好開心.  佢好慢熱, 最初係學校唔講野, 老師問我, 佢係屋企係咪都係咁, 當然唔係啦! 而家? 老師問我工人, 我地係屋企係咪有教佢phonics, 點解佢英文 (佢係指拼讀字)咁好, 所以老師都花多d心機落佢到.

[ 本帖最後由 elmostoney 於 11-11-3 17:43 編輯 ]

zj

Hi, elmostoney,

想問一下的有些關於 montessori class. 我小朋友在 Best Concept 細仔班讀了九個月. 因 K1 (Int'l Kindy) 開學我沒有再給她升大仔班. 想在十二月, 她足三歲再開始上大仔班. 其實一星期上兩天或三天的分別大嗎?   thanks.

我都想過讓她讀 IMS, 完成 Casa 之後再轉返去 IS Year 2/3. 但因居住地區 & 擔心函接問題放棄了. 所以現在只好選擇 am Best Concept (2 or 3 days) + pm Int'l Kindy (5 days). 但這樣 Best Concept 只可以上到 4 yrs 9 mths.

我看這 post 才知道 SWCK 有 primary school. 亦很高興你找到孩子喜歡的學校.