陳守仁英文程度如何

motherotk

Take my son's example, P1-P3, listening and reading, as well as comprehensions, creative writing better than oral english. This may due to their forms of learning, as they are using traditional mode of learning, less interactions between students and teachers, less opportunities for kids to express themselves. But this happened when my son was still in P1-P3. I talked to the teachers and they told me.  I also read the report from EDB on the school,which also reflect the same comments. The report indicated that teachers' skills to facilitate activities based learning can be enhanced. The report also indicated that their langugae learning is good. You may refer to EDB's report.

P4-P5, oral and verbal expression improved with more confidence, especially in P5, probably related to the developmental stage of boys (assume sone boys less expressive than girls), and probably he interactes more with French students (they may be American, Indian, Korean or Japanese), and attend more school activities...I know that more and more enquiry based learnings happen in P4-P5, more and more opportunities for my son to do the projects independenly and to present the projects in class. I found these kinds of learning really helpful for my son's case. He benefited from project learnings. I did not help, all projects have been done independently by the child.

School will not talor-make programs for specific kids, from my experiences, sometimes its good as everybody is treated equally. As parents, you have no stress at all.

This school is quite lay back..that I like it. parents have space and kids have space...

But sometimes, you may need to find out the strengths of your kid to develop those strengths or to work on his limitations as school may not do that for you..as far as I know..and teachers' quality ok la, if compare with other schools, at least the school adm. system is good, curriculum is serious, even if occasionally some teachers are not that good, quality assurance is still there.

I know some schools is poor in adm and with poorly and loosely design curriculum, so you have to depend on your luck, sometimes kids waste their time in classes without good teachers, without good curriculum. As far as I know, this has not happened in my son's learning at this school, even some teachers are not up to my "standard", the curriculum is still there to support the learning...

Hope this helps. Please also share with other parents, they may not having the same experiences as me. My sharing only reflect part of the realities of TSL.

motherotk

I understand why some of the non-TSL parents concern this "accent" issue. Probably there are too many "myth" or "incorrect" information go around that TSL is an "international school", that some future parents have this expectations. I think it's fair enough for sushiwwasabi to ask and to clarify.

To clarify and to understand before making any decision is a responsible attitude for parents. I would not "glorify" any school as each school has its strengths as well as limitation. I am happy to provide any information that would help to clarify other parents' concern as a "school user".

My major point: English curriculum is very good, even  if without good english teachers, kids still benefit from the learning. Curriculum design is one of the major parts reflecting school teachers' professional knowledge in learning.

flostangraphy

I agree with the other TSL parents' opinion.
sushiwwasabi, if the native accent is where you and your husband's focus into, you maybe disappointed after you put your girl into TSL.
I don't find every P6 student or local teacher in TSL has a prefect americain native accent. ( we do have quite a lot of friends who put there children in the international schools, and my remark is most of them speak really good native american english as they will put a f* word in the sentence from time to time, just like in the american movie.... he he he, it's exaggerated, but it's somehow reality.)

please note that, most of the french stream students are not necessary english native speaker neither, a lot of them are from south asia or other nations rather than U.S. or England, they all have a different accent. take my son as an example, he is one of the rare student in this forum who studies in french stream.
we speak french at home, so our family has a strange accent in speaking either english, chinese or french......  

my son has his best india friend all the time, who has an india english accent as well. but at the end, all I know is my son feels very comfortable to talk to anyone either who is speaking french, english or cantonese. he is the instant translator of my wife and his grand parents.

I agree with you that, for me and my wife, we are more into International school curriculum too, we wanted our children go to international school if we could afford it..... we like the way they free the children's mind, the learning base on understanding and developing. not like the hong kong traditional way of remembering. they allow the children develop in their own speed, not following the whole mass.....

but still, we find TSL is doing the balance quite well. not only on the academic, but also the discipline, the ECA, the self-confidence, the social caring...

we are not any pushy parents.... so our children are not anyway the top of the class, however, we are so happy that they are polite, sensitive, caring and always happy and laughing a lot!
these beyond any knowledge we would ever want to offer them.

just my 2 cents.

motherotk

This is also the reality in TSL that quite a lots of kids from Chinese english stream speak "chinglish", including my own kid. No denial at this point, and indeed our family and school is not an international school or an international family, so just accept who I am and who we are. I feel comfortable about that at this point as my kid's english learning does benefit from the existing curriculum and some of the good teachers. Good not necessarily = native speaking ,.Good=caring and professionally sound teachers, knowing how to teach and what to teach, and know how to inspire kids on knowledge enquiry.

kaifu

回復 sushiwwasabi 的帖子

Hey sushiwwasabi:

You are a bit over-reacting here...sorry if my earlier comments were offensive to you.   As you are obviously overwhelmed by the issue of native English accent (judging from your posts here and elsewhere), I just wanted to let you know plainly that it is really not a big deal if our kids speak with a chinese accent - as long as their english is accurate and fluent.  We have lived in the very conservative parts of the US where Caucasians constitute the major population.  We spent a lot of time overcoming the cultural shock, which presumably included the language difficulties, but we never felt the accent issue was making our lives hard there.  


It is very clear that your child is likely to pick up a native accent only in international schools but you don't want her to be there as they are too "free".   Then you are pressing parents here and other forum to convince you that our schools may offer a chance for your kid to learn native english.  In the case of TSL, you have been repeatedly questioning that students are speaking chinglish - I guess this is more than just expressing personal feelings.  


At any rate, let me reiterate that students in local schools in general don't speak native english.  I believe many TSL parents agree that the school nurtures a stimulating language environment for students to communicate confidently and learn effectively in English.   The issue of native accent is simply not the single most important concern for many of us.  

motherotk

回復 sushiwwasabi 的帖子

Don't worry, I stayed in States for some years and my husband stayed there as well. We are both "non-native" speakers. No worry on our job seeking, we both work in settings with international exposure, your accent is not the only factor that decide our fitting into the job or the promotion opportunities. This is no longer British Colonial Rule Era, you would not be discriminated against by so called "elites" only because of your accent in Hong Kong, as far as I know. In the past, I do think this was a serious issue in Colonial time in the government offices or even in some "elite" schools.

As long as your "Chinglish" is not terribly sounded, and you have confidence, you have good language foundation and you love who you are, that will be ok.

We should not be shameful or feel bad about ourselves because of our non-native accent, as we should be proud of who we are and this is a reality that English is our second language....

By the way, my experiences in the States taught me that whatever "native in your English speaking", you still have opportunities to be discriminated because of your skin color or your ethnicity..I have a lots of "ABC" friends could not find a good job, who speak perfect and beautiful "Native English".

Bluestar

motherotk 發表於 12-2-3 04:42
French stream students speak native english because of their cultural background
Chinese stream students speak local accent also because of their cultural background
If your child is active enough to interacte more with French Steam students, the English will improve from "Chinglish" to near "native" English. However, u know kid's learning is a result of interactive factors

Exactly !
My kid went from a CMI Nursery to TSL,
didn't speak Engl in P1
but by P6 can converse in Engl with me !

Interaction with Fr students + watching Engl movies and cartoons
= OK by now,
Often changes channel when chatting with me at home.
Even sleep-talks in English !


Let's be frank -
how good is your English after spending so many years in USA ? (I don't mean you, motherotk)
Can't you converse in Engl with your kid more to help her along ?

People in USA don't speak English -
they speak American English with a heavy local accet and slur.
Proper English (accent) = King's English and Queen's English,
not English as spoken in the villages.

The major problem faced by most kids in secondary school
is the Chiniese subjects (Chinese Language, Chinese History)
not English.
If your kid is going to study in HK instead of overseas,
better put more emphasis on Chinese !

kaifu

sushiwwasabi - You need to get real.  Students in local schools don't speak in a native accent.  Speaking of America, we spent over 7 years there studying and working but did not suffer anything as a result of our accent.  You guys probably over-reacted when you were there and are now worrying too much.  If I were you, I would put more focus on the local curriculum especially the new 3-3-4 system.  To us, parents should pick schools based on curriculum, not accents.  

kaifu

sushiwwasabi - Perhaps you and your husband should ask yourselves again why it is so important for your child to speak "native" English.  Probably you can only achieve this goal by sending her to a truly international school (not even some local schools with an international session) where there are no local Chinese students.  By the way, what kind of "native" English do you want her to pick up?  American, British, Australian, etc.?  That may complicate your decision as well.   

bowling68

sofar, it is hardly to find any kids studying in TSL transfer to other school in this forum.   Apart from Chinglish, better to consider the secondary school curruliculm or  IB if you choose internatonal school

kaifu

sushiwwasabi - it appears that the so called "native language" is the single most important thing you desire for your child, so just don't pick TSL.  i am sure you are going to be disappointed there.  for me, i am happy with the school and my kid speaks fluent and understandable english and putonghua.