What playgroups can teach native English to kids?

registerzh

Hi all, my baby is now 6 months old and we plan to send her to playgroup when she's 1 yo. I target at IS so English is very important in her early years. I would like to know if any one knows any playgroup that can teach babies to understand or even answer in English in native level?  
When I searched the other posts, I learned that Tutor Time, woodland and anfield are popular international playgroups. If anyone has attended the playgroup with your kids, would you mind sharing your experience in the playgroup? Did your kid pick up English fast and effectively?

Another questions is that there are many other English only playgroups everywhere. Though they are not famous and they are run by local institutions, they hire NET and teaches only in English. Are these local playgroups good enough for teaching English? Thanks a lot!

liumeowjen

registerzh 發表於 23-6-17 11:48
回覆 liumeowjen 的帖子

I see! Thank you Liumeowjen for sharing your experience. Maybe then I and my ...

So many nice playgroups there
Like Reading trees

registerzh

回覆 liumeowjen 的帖子

I see! Thank you Liumeowjen for sharing your experience. Maybe then I and my husband should speak English to her and after she's admitted to IS (hopefully) then we switch to Cantonese and Mandarin. Thank you for letting us know the risk.
I will also check out YWCA too. I thought it was only for teenagers. Seems I'm wrong.

liumeowjen

registerzh 發表於 23-6-14 13:31
Hi all, my baby is now 6 months old and we plan to send her to playgroup when she's 1 yo. I target a ...

I think the ywca provide a lot playgroup too
U can check it online

liumeowjen

kooliestgirl 發表於 23-6-16 16:48
I won't worry about it too much, it happens in many bilingual families.

Yes
Now she can talk in English with full sentence but still mix the vocab in Chinese
But it’s ok I think it takes time for her to digest

kooliestgirl

liumeowjen 發表於 23-6-16 16:32
Same here , my husband can hardly speak in Cantonese , that’s why  my baby are always prefer speak ...

I won't worry about it too much, it happens in many bilingual families.

liumeowjen

kooliestgirl 發表於 23-6-14 17:40
My husband can only speak English, I can speak both Cantonese and English but I consider my Cantone ...

Same here , my husband can hardly speak in Cantonese , that’s why  my baby are always prefer speak in English , but I always talk to her in Cantonese , maybe she got a Little bit confused about the sentence structure so she was diagnosis speeches delay

registerzh

回覆 Goodluck2022 的帖子

Thank you Goodluck2022 for your recognition! It's just because I know too little about the IS path.

Goodluck2022

回覆 registerzh 的帖子

Your mentality is great, top notch among many fellow parents !

registerzh

回覆 Adiezz 的帖子

Thank you for such detailed information! In that case maybe fluent in biligual is a minimum criteria for CIS. I will work on that. Thank you again for sharing!

Adiezz

registerzh 發表於 23-6-14 23:16
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Thank you Adiezz! I wonder if you know if CIS prefers Mandarin or Cantonese? If  ...

CIS reception only requires native in one language (Eng, mandarin or Cantonese), but in fact most of the applicants can speak quite well in at least two languages.

I know a kid who got offer is native in Cantonese, and quite fluent in English. Another one is native in Mandarin and fluent in English. Therefore, i believe it doesn’t matter if your kid’s mandarin is not in an advanced level.

bigheadshrimp

registerzh 發表於 23-6-14 23:12
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Thank you bigheadshrimp for sharing your experience! I'm glad to know tha ...

You don’t have to worry too much about speech delay from simply exposing her to more than one language… Many studies have debunked the myth that bilingualism causes speech delay. Some kids may take a little longer to start talking, but this is only temporary.

When my older one was about 18 months old, I was really freaked out because she only had about 5 words while her classmates were already singing nursery rhymes. The school’s OT said not to worry coz her receptive language skills are fine. When she finally started talking around 22 months old, she went straight to speaking in simple sentences. Children develop at their own pace, and you are gonna wish they talk less once they start going…

As an earlier post mentioned, if CIS is your top priority, it’ll be a good idea to start building mandarin skills also. Reception starts at 4 for CIS, so expectations would be higher than schools that start at 3. If your budget allows it, you could consider hiring both English and mandarin nannies (e.g. MWF English, TT mandarin).

Specifically for interview, yes, you will need to make sure your kid is willing to talk. It’s difficult for the teachers to assess your child if she doesn’t respond. The other thing is readiness for separation. Most schools will ask kids to go into a separate room for assessment. Again, can’t assess if the child is crying and not willing to go into the room.

registerzh

回覆 Adiezz 的帖子

Thank you Adiezz! I wonder if you know if CIS prefers Mandarin or Cantonese? If only Cantonese proficiency is also preferred then it will be much easier for us to prepare her for the application... But maybe I've been too optimistic haha. Thanks anyway!

registerzh

回覆 bigheadshrimp 的帖子

Thank you bigheadshrimp for sharing your experience! I'm glad to know that your younger daughter gets better to speak only one language at a time. (Yes I'm actually worrying if mutilingual will lead to speech delay...) Thank you for your affirmation and encouragement. I think I will stick to English as otherwise no one else can speak English to my baby.
Thank you for your advice on hiring a native speaker nanny! I will try to find one. That's a really good idea.

So I guess training her communication skills is at least equally important as teaching her English? At the end of the day, if she doesn't talk on the interview at all then there's no difference between being a native speaker or a non speaker...

Adiezz

registerzh 發表於 23-6-14 22:53
回覆 simonchan1986 的帖子

Thank you simonchan1986 for sharing!  It looks like my baby won't have a  ...

If CIS is your top priority, you need to put resources on Chinese too. Chinese is much difficult to learn than English, so better start early.

registerzh

回覆 simonchan1986 的帖子

Thank you simonchan1986 for sharing!  It looks like my baby won't have a chance to speak native English by just going to playgroup or Kindergarten. Guess I need to provide more English exposure to my baby then.

bigheadshrimp

registerzh 發表於 23-6-14 15:23
回覆 hilary_tang 的帖子

Thank you Hilary_tang so much for your recommendation on ESF. We will look  ...

We decided to have everyone in the family stick to the language they are most comfortable with because kids can learn the most natural expression of the languages, and, frankly, it’s just easier on everyone. My kids were never confused, but my younger one sometimes used English, canto, and mandarin all in the same sentence when she was younger, but she does that much less frequently now that she’s older. Kids will figure out which language to use depending on the person they are speaking with. As expected, their vocab in each language is less than kids from monolingual families in the beginning, but they catch up quickly.  

Your English, at least in the written form, seems fine to me, but if you are really concerned about it, I’ve seen people hiring English speaking nannies.

It’s true that the English requirement is much lower for kindy interviews. For K1, most kids would be barely 2 at the time of the interview, so just being able to speak in simple complete sentences is enough.

simonchan1986

I don't think native spoken English is acquired through PG/Kindergarten alone...The parents/friends need to speak native English too.

registerzh

回覆 Goodluck2022 的帖子

Thank you Goodluck2022! That's a piece of good news to me. It means as for kindergarten interviews, the required English is not as strict as in primary/secondary level. Thank you for sharing!

registerzh

kooliestgirl 發表於 23-6-14 17:40
My husband can only speak English, I can speak both Cantonese and English but I consider my Cantone ...

Thank you Kooliestgirl for sharing your experience! If I had a choice I also would like to speak in Cantonese only. As I express myself most accurately in Cantonese. But I can't. I'm afraid I'm the only one who can consistently speak English to her for a considerable period of time. My husband can't help but he is fond of immitating the baby's crying or sounds LOL. He's very funny but not helpful at all in teaching English to the baby.  I can teach my baby a lot of native Cantonese sling which I think can later identify her as native Cantonese speaker in the future. But maybe after I send her to an IS can I teach her Cantonese.
I guess English is much easier than Cantonese... May I know what would you do to keep your daughter's Chinese level? Will you teach her Cantonese yourself everyday now? Thank you for sharing again!