學之園(海逸校)06K1

LydiaWong

ljsze,
I'll let him try different food, but he's the type won't even lick it and try. Very stubborn.
I enjoyed being the storymother and Preston wanted me to go for a long time. He kept asking Miss Cheng why not my mom's turn yet. So I 'must' go.

Finally I met the teachers today (too bad Miss Jill was sick today so I could not meet her and see how she is) Miss Cheng and Miss Bai. We had a long talk (~45min), they're really nice and I was surprised how good observer they were, esp. Miss Cheng. She could tell exactly Preston's characters and tried to train his weakness. He is doing very good acedemically but need to improve his EQ (he has problem with his emotions sometimes). They suggest us to do a test for him (gifted ) but I may wait until he's older coz I don't see any point of doing it now.

rclamlam

Many thanks!

可能今年有學卷問題, 所以學校想早o的confirm人數掛.

ljsze 寫道:
rclamlam

pn升k1係唔係咁早已經交留位費 ? i cannot remember exactly when but may not be this early.  still, if not now, then should be between dec to jan. k1升k2有否問交留位費 ? we have not received such notice yet.

ljsze

see.  LH is quite famous in Tsing Yi.  though many parents have not made up their mind yet, they still pay the fee first.

ljsze

Lydia

Good academic performance is a good news.  Anything to do with Kumon maths ?  Or other lessons that he's taking ?

EQ test ?  Does he have any problem at home ?

As for Davin, I think his EQ is better at school.  You're right that Miss Cheng & Miss Bai are really observant.

Btw, Davin did not perform very well at Chinese character recognition & participate in singing & dancing along at the time when I had parents' interview with the teachers.  All of a sudden, he improved a lot after that.  And, his verbal skill has also significantly improved.  He can speak a bit more clearly than the others.  That's why Miss Cheng has mentioned this point to me a few times.

DorisTSL

Lydia,

It's good to know that Preston is ahead of the norm on his performance.  I learnt from books that kids who are fond of numbers and music are usually gifted.

By the way, did you talk to Miss Cheng and Miss Bai after school or during the lesson time?  It's good that the teachers were willing to spend time on talking to parents in school days.

Lydia, ljsze,

Brian is quite stubborn as well.  For food.  He loves vegetables but he doesn't like beans and meat.  He is also reluctant to try new food.  He would smell the food before deciding whether or not to try.  

He is good in recognizing Chinese characters but not English words.  So far, he can recognize over 200 Chinese characters.  I stopped teaching him new characters recently as I found that Miss Cheng will teach the class three to four characters a week.

LydiaWong

lDoris,
I did not attend the parent's day last time and postponed until yesterday. Brian is very good at recognising Chinese characters now. Preston can only recognise ~60 now. You can try to make sentence with him with the words and they will find more interesting (Miss Cheng suggested).

ljsze,
Not an EQ test. Miss Cheng is query that he may be gifted coz his acedemic is good but emotion is not good (which is very typical with gifted child).

ljsze, Doris,
I was talking to the Principal yesterday. She was very nice and now they started some program for training them for interview for P1. It's very good that they start at K2. Will tell you more details later.

ljsze

Doris, Lydia

Wow, Brian is really good at Chinese character recognition.

Actually, I try not to teach too much ahead (word recognition in particular) as I worry that kid may lose interest learning at school.  Any ideas or experience to share ?

LydiaWong

ljsze,
If Davin is interested, doesn't matter if you teach him ahead than school. Miss Cheng advised me to try not only recognition of words but how to use them. You can try to make sentences or make up stories with the words he learnt. Then they won't feel bored and lose interest.
It's quite time-consuming and need to put a lot of effort in raising a kid.

DorisTSL

ljsze, Lydia,

This is actually what I am doing now.  I realized that the Chinese characters that Ms Cheng chose to teach are all in my list.  So instead of teaching Brian new characters, I linked the characters together to form a sentence.  Brian will read one sentence every day.  e.g. 公公去吉之島買三文魚.  Brian was excited every time he watch me typing the characters one by one using computer.  He would guess what character I was going to type next.  It's fun.

ljsze

Doris, Lydia

Good to hear about this.  I also agree with Lydia that it may be time-consuming.  Suggestion of Miss Cheng is quite good.  Thanks for sharing your experience.

I suspect that Miss Jill quitted since I have not seen her this week.  Today, Miss Bai is back.  Poor kids.

LydiaWong

ljsze,Doris,
I think Miss Jill is sick. She's been sick since Monday. Maybe she's not used to the weather in HK. I hope she will not quit so soon.

Doris,
You really have a lot of patience to teach Brian. Personally I don't have that much patience to do that. But your way of teaching is very good.

ljsze

Lydia, Doris

Patience is one issue.  Time is another.

When Davin was weak in reading character, I used to spend much time in making flash card (downloading pictures, typing, cutting & pasting).  Not more than 3 weeks did I find his big improvement & I realized that I've wasted a lot of my time.  Now, I still make flash card but only 1 picture for each character.  It saves me a lot of time.

DorisTSL

Lydia,

It takes less than five minutes every day for me to practice the sentence with Brian.  I will save the sentences in a file, so I can make a 'new' sentence by just changing a character or two in the old one.

By the way, did you go the studio with Preston finally?

ljsze, Lydia,

I am sorry to know that Miss Jill is sick.  I also hope that she will not quit.  It's not good for the kids and for Miss Cheng.

Brian's temper was not that good in school in the past few days.  My Mom told me that he would push the other kids when he found that they were blocking his way or when they were playing with the toys he wanted.  He would confess everytime when I asked him and he did promise me that he would not do it anymore.  Unluckily, he couldn't help doing it again the other day.

LydiaWong

Doris,
Brian is still young and from time to time they'll change. Preston can't control his emotion sometimes if someone got his favorite car. Miss Cheng is training his EQ and trying to let him solve it by himself (b4 he used to cry). I think he understands well but it's not easy to control sometimes (even for us we'll lose control of our temper). Don't worry the teacher will help him and it's a process of learning.

Doris,ljsze,
You guys have so much patience in teaching your sons. I feel ashamed of not doing much for Preston. I need to learn from you two. (I'm just too lazy and tired after work, I don't feel like using my brain at all)

DorisTSL

Lydia,

The 'teaching' that I offered to Brian at home is just supplementary.  Brian doesn't take any interest class since the Gym class ended.  If I remembered correctly, Preston is taking a number of interest classes like Gym, Kumon Math, Music, etc?  Right?  He is learning a lot more actually.

ljsze,

It's good to know that you will add pictures to the flash card.  It's really time consuming.  I will just type in the Chinese characters in a PowerPoint file and let Brian read on the computer screen.  I need less than 10 minutes to prepare the characters for a week.

ljsze

Doris, Lydia

I really think that Miss Jill has quitted the job.  I still could not see her today.  Sick for 4 days ?  It's not usual.  Anyway, Miss Bai is also a good teacher.

Right, Preston is taking a lot of classes & so I do think he learns more.  Lydia, no need to be ashamed.  You've put Preston to classes & you've helped him to learn.  You've done your job.

That I spend time in making flash card was that I find Davin lagging behind.  Now he's improved & I can spend a lot less time.  I think Doris has done a good job.

DorisTSL

ljsze,

Did you or any other parents ask Ms Cheng about Miss Jill?  I really hope that she will not quit.  I know that the salary for a Native English teacher in kinders is much lower than that in secondary school.  That's why the turnover rate in kinder for NETs are that high.

LydiaWong

Hi, guys,
I put Preston in classes coz I think they learn better outside(certain courses) and will listen to teachers more than moms. I think starting at certain age, kids need to expose to different things to widen their knowledge. I have no talent in music or art, so I need to put him in these classes to learn rather coz I can't teach him. I guess he's a bit older and I expect a little bit more from him.

Maybe we should ask if Miss Jill will be back soon?

ljsze

Lydia, Doris

I did not have a chance to ask Miss Cheng today.  Maybe I'll ask her tomorrow if I still don't see Miss Jill.

Lydia, I agree to get kids join interest classes to widen knowledge.  A lot more classes accept kids from age 4.  By then, we can help kids to develop their interests & potentials.

As a working woman, we don't really have much time to educate & cultivate our kids at home.

LydiaWong

Doris, ljsze,
It's not easy being a working mom. Sometimes I really want to quit and be a full-time mom and spend all the time with Preston. Will you plan to have a 2nd child?