which would u prefer? Victoria or esf

DonaldTsang

Any considerations ?

DonaldTsang

原帖由 melonfans 於 12-09-01 發表
本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-9-1 01:53 編輯

Debentures? But it isn't mentioned in anfield's website. So how much is it? I'm pretty afraid of that

DonaldTsang

原帖由 slamai 於 12-08-31 發表
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With your remarks on Vxx regarding gifted child, I wonder which school(s) you ...

No. My kid is just normal kid.

Radiomama

It seems that you hv not yet made up your mind whether int'l or local stream.
Think twice!
ESF kindies, Anfield, Tutor, KCIS will lead to int'l path.
Vic kindies, Think, St Cat provide 英普班 which is also popular. It could lead to local or int'l primary somehow. But don't aim at ESF primary because they won't even have a chance to interview.
If your target is CIS/HKIS/Harrow/GSIS etc, pls put your kid into its prep class.

FattyDaddy

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-9-1 01:21
Say daddy speaks English while grandpa n grandma speak Cantonese, will a kid have language confusion?  ...

The language environment at home doesn't need to be 100% English, it can be English plus some other language, but that "some other language" must not be Cantonese. For example, the parents can speak English while the grandparents speak Mandarin (or whatever is their native dialect as long as it is not Cantonese).

You might think young children growing up in a multilingual environment would get confused and mix up the languages, but in fact they don't, they know which language to switch to when talking to different people. The confusion arises when the same person talks to them in a "language mixture", i.e. one sentence in language A and then the next sentence in language B, then they will also talk in this mixture.

ESF do care about the child's English ability, as I said, if the child is already speaking fluent English at the "play visit", that will be excellent, but usually young children don't talk much and are moody at times so ESF seems to asses the parent's English as well as the child's. This is only for kindergarten though, when it comes to applying for primary school the child must be speaking fluent English by then.

melonfans

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-9-1 01:24
Thanks melon. An field does provide a flexibility as I just visited its website. But heard from othe ...

I think it's not difficult in kinder.  Their debenture is quite high than others.  

The curriculum is not connected to local school which is a normal practice in IS.  

Think int'l is a just a special one.

DonaldTsang

原帖由 melonfans 於 12-08-31 發表
本帖最後由 melonfans 於 12-8-31 14:23 編輯

Thanks melon. An field does provide a flexibility as I just visited its website. But heard from other mamas that it's curriculum only fits IS but not local school. Do u know if it is real difficult to get in? In fact the website doesn't mention the selection criteria or application procedure in details.

DonaldTsang

原帖由 FattyDaddy 於 12-08-30 發表
本帖最後由 FattyDaddy 於 12-8-30 23:43 編輯

Thanks fatty. I am sure I would not use this trick to increase the chance of getting in but I just want to share with you all my funny thought. By the way, I would wonder most of the families here should be a Cantonese speaking families as well as bilingual type. So I wonder how we should create an English speaking environment where in reality different family members speaking different dialects. How you guys do it? Say daddy speaks English while grandpa n grandma speak Cantonese, will a kid have language confusion?
Also during the interview if the interviewers really don't care the kids' English ability but patents' , then it seems like parents must practise their English. Of course I agree that if the kids' English was not trained they would not be able to continue to study in Esf

melonfans

slamai 發表於 12-8-31 23:56
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With your remarks on Vxx regarding gifted child, I wonder which school(s) you ...

Is your kid study there or you have a gifted child?

If you would like to have more information, you refer to the forum of 資優教育 would be helping with that.

slamai

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With your remarks on Vxx regarding gifted child, I wonder which school(s) you have in mind being suitable for such a child and why.

melonfans

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-29 00:30
Yes melo thanks so much. Actually at this early stage I want to know mores out IS though I am not su ...

Would you consider Think & Anfield?   My kid's classmates transferred to Anfield for K1 due to they guarantee a place to primary school for their kinder's students.

Think kinder is good in training children to speak English whom are being their 2nd language.  The English requirement is not strictly high in kinder but in primary.   They also provide 2 curriculums for local & int'l school which are suitable for you if any changes in the early stage.

I'm not sure your kid having potential or genetic inheritance as a gifted child.  Vxx is not a best choice as they have not well knowledge & support for this kind of children.  

FattyDaddy

Julie_HongKong 發表於 12-8-30 21:25
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I heard that plenty of parents have tried these tricks and ESF is getting better and better at detecting ...

Since you mentioned "tricks" I can share a bit more on this.

During the play visit which my daughter and I attended, they took a picture of every child together with the parent. At the time I thought this act was a little strange, but subsequently I figured it must have something to do with verification, and sure enough, when my daughter and I started school there last week, they took a picture of every child with the parent again, obviously they would compare the pictures to ensure those children who are starting school are indeed the same ones they met during the play visit which took place over 6 months ago.

I guess some time in the past, some people must have pulled the trick of asking someone else to stand-in for the child or the parent or both to attend the play visit and got admitted, and then when school started ESF was unpleasantly surprised to discover some of the children's English ability was so poor that they should not have been selected in the first place, this aroused their suspicion and so they added the verification measure.

FattyDaddy

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-30 21:05
I would claim my kid should be in cat 1 in order to gain the chance for visit. Is that true?...

Given that they do the initial screening based only on the information provided in the application form, it is true that you can enter favourable but inaccurate information in order to increase the chances of being invited to a play visit, but if it is too far off from the truth then they will be able to discover during the play visit.

Julie_HongKong

回復 DonaldTsang 的帖子

In theory, yes. However, if you make a false claim (say, claiming that English is your kid's first language) and the school finds out during the interview (say, the interview is conducted in English only and your kid's level is only basic/medium), it won't do you any good at all.

I heard that plenty of parents have tried these tricks and ESF is getting better and better at detecting such...

DonaldTsang

原帖由 FattyDaddy 於 12-08-30 發表
For ESF kindergartens, their interview (they call it "play visit") is not the same as many of the lo ...

Yes thanks for your sharing. Am I right that the priority for screening is also based on cat 1 n cat 2 method? If that is the case, then in any event I would claim my kid should be in cat 1 in order to gain the chance for visit. Is that true?

melonfans

FattyDaddy 發表於 12-8-30 01:04
For ESF kindergartens, their interview (they call it "play visit") is not the same as many of the lo ...

I guess their underlying rationale is this, if the parent's English is good, it is very likely that the child's English will be good too.


Yes, that's the point!  

FattyDaddy

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-30 00:15
Thank you fatty daddy. You really gave lots of insights. Initially I also thought the kid must present the good of use of English during interview ...

For ESF kindergartens, their interview (they call it "play visit") is not the same as many of the local kindergartens, they don't ask the child to perform anything, instead they just watch how the parent plays with the child, and as I had noticed during the play visit I attended, most of the children didn't say much, so the school must be assessing the parent's spoken English more than the child's.

I guess their underlying rationale is this, if the parent's English is good, it is very likely that the child's English will be good too. In a way this is more fair because young children are very temperamental and unpredictable, their performance can vary a lot depending on their mood, so an assessment based just on the child is likely to be inaccurate.

You are correct that not every applicant will be invited to a play visit, so the school must be doing some initial screening to determine who to invite and who to put on the waiting list, but I have no idea what criteria they use for this initial screening.

DonaldTsang

原帖由 FattyDaddy 於 12-08-29 發表
Bear in mind that it is not just down to the child, the parents are in this together, and in fact it ...

Thank you fatty daddy. You really gave lots of insights. Initially I also thought the kid must present the good of use of English during interview but I was surprised it isn't and rather it is based on parents' ability to communicate in English. Am I right that not every applicant will be invited for play visit? You may be true that it would be dependent more on parents than the kid to consider whether to go for IS.

melonfans

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-29 00:30
Yes melo thanks so much. Actually at this early stage I want to know mores out IS though I am not su ...

You're welcome!  Many parents here are also glad to share their experience to help each other.

If you didn't make up your mind to let him study in IS primary school, i think it's not a good strategy to choose IS kinder.

Local int'l class may be most suitable for you to select which is the right way for your kid.  Open you mind to consider not only the famous schools as they are not easy to get an offer.  Searching some good reputation kinders nearby your home is really good for small boy when he still need to have a nap time.

FattyDaddy

DonaldTsang 發表於 12-8-29 00:30
I am not sure if I would go for or if my kid is suitable to apply ...

Bear in mind that it is not just down to the child, the parents are in this together, and in fact it depends more on the parents than the child.

For ESF schools, if the parents do not create an English speaking environment at home for the child's first 4 to 5 years, the child will encounter many difficulties along the way.