Good description on IB program

Cyrus123

Dear father ho:
Hi, I just find this topic and I'm also thinking about I should let my son to take the primary that providung IB course or not.
You said it's difficult for a working mum to follow the kid's study progress... I want to ask: Are  there some students capable to learn sucessfully by oneself as the long path of study should not depends  much on parents' guidance.  And do u know Creative School(啓思小學) is good in running IB course?
I'm a teacher and not have much confidence to let my kid to go through the 334 or the unstable/ frequently change edu. system in HK. The students and teachers are "white mouse" for so many years.

原文章由 father_ho 於 07-7-5 21:43 發表


Dear Kenjima,

1. You are right that school fee is very expensive when compare to other private or DSS school. We can do nothing but as hard working as we can
2. IB experienced teacher ...

Radiomama

The foundation of IB learning is extensive reading.
And this program is designed for the one whose capability is high and ready for the further study in famous universities.

father_ho

原文章由 Cyrus123 於 07-7-7 20:51 發表
Dear father ho:
Hi, I just find this topic and I'm also thinking about I should let my son to take the primary that providung IB course or not.
You said it's difficult for a working mum to foll ...

Dear Cyrus123,

Of course there are self motivated students who can handle himself (actually I don't want my son as such since early mature is painful ). What I refer is there always some area kids need to improve, for IB school since there are no marks to refer and if you wait for the term end and rely on the assessment report, the feeling would be late and not strong enough to trigger your attenetion.

For being a teacher, you should know we are all white mouse no matter kid is in local, DSS, private school. Personally, I agree with the education reform and think it is too slow with the present change and I don't believe what ED tells now is what they eventually want.

For Creative, I don't know much but for one dragon school, their secondary is DSS and as I said before I don't buy the idea to split the students in two group even though their secondary school fee is lesser.

father_ho

原文章由 Radiomama 於 07-7-7 21:55 發表
The foundation of IB learning is extensive reading.
And this program is designed for the one whose capability is high and ready for the further study in famous universities.

Dear Radiomama,

Personally I believe IB scope of learning is not just for the top student, even the kid are of middle or low ability will learn and even better since if you put those in local school, they will lost all the interest towards learning no matter it is academic or behaviour. As I said, may be my son is not of top student group and not study aboard in future, at least he did learn extensively and I am sure in future, all employer will just focus on what actually one can contribute to th e company rather than ones own qualification. To my understanding, IB is just a foundation of knowledge that's why they emphasis student need to capable of handling not just one stream as HK present suitation. It also reflect why HK Pri., Sec student can achieve International Prize frequently but not the U's student.

Dr.Cool

原文章由 Cyrus123 於 07-7-7 20:51 發表
And do u know Creative School(啓思小學) is good in running IB course?

Creative Primary is NOT running IB course. However, the Secondary is providing the MYP and will provide the IBD/HKDSE courses. In recruiting teachers, Creative Secondary does require them to have IB teaching experience. Creative is NOT a through-train school.

[ 本文章最後由 Dr.Cool 於 07-7-7 23:01 編輯 ]

Papa2000

Hi,

I think for private secondary schools running IB program, they are not required to split the students into 2 groups.  Is that right?

原文章由 father_ho 於 07-7-7 22:08 發表


For Creative, I don't know much but for one dragon school, their secondary is DSS and as I said before I don't buy the idea to split the students in two group even though their secondary school fee is lesser...

KenjiMa

If IB program do not require any public exams and student reports only show evaluations not marks. How can we know the standard of the students?

father_ho

原文章由 Papa2000 於 07-7-8 00:43 發表
Hi,

I think for private secondary schools running IB program, they are not required to split the students into 2 groups.  Is that right?

Dear Papa2000,

Of course private secondary school does not require to split the student. On the other hand, IB is just a guidline, should it be sucessfully implemented, it all depends on the teachers and the culture of school.

father_ho

原文章由 KenjiMa 於 07-7-8 02:04 發表
If IB program do not require any public exams and student reports only show evaluations not marks. How can we know the standard of the students?

Dear KenjiMa,

Actually IB mode of study does require to take exam. such as the MYP, IBD end of exam.. What I say is before the ending marks, when in between especially at the early stage(eg. PYP). All you get is the individual assessment for your kid and indicating the weakness area. The feeling is differnet from traditional report that you kid is ranking ? out of the class.

Should you adopt the system, you need to tune your expectation as not to focus on the overall performance but rather which area your kid should improve. eg. One student may good at reading, speaking, listening but not in writing. You can imagine how the traditional system reflect this performance for you to handle.

nintendo

原文章由 father_ho 於 07-7-8 11:28 發表
Dear KenjiMa,

Actually IB mode of study does require to take exam. such as the MYP, IBD end of exam.. What I say is before the ending marks, when in between especially at the early stage(e ...

其實 IB 課程的確對學生的要求比本地學校更高。
IB 學校對學生做的，係持續評估，因此學生即使係平日的各種堂課家課都要做到足。
每個學生，都會有自己的一個 file，內裡會有學生多年來的表現評估 ( 學生轉校，檔案會跟他去到新學校繼續課程 )；每份功課，每種表現，都會係評估的一部份，而學生亦會要在校內做各種形式的 tests，作為參考。其實，這個形式的評估方式，在香港的國際學校及西方國家已很普遍。

mattsmum

second hand information about IB:

"記者採訪的前一天，第二屆IB班學員剛剛結束EE（extended essay）考試，譯作“擴展論文”，這是IB獨一無二的課程，要求學生用40小時左右的時間完成一篇4000字左右的論文，初步涉足大學裏將廣泛運用的研究方法和論文寫作技巧。
這對學生的研究能力和學術寫作能力都是很好的鍛鍊。當被問及他們最喜歡的課程時，幾乎眾口一詞地回答——CAS。
這項翻譯成“創造、行動、服務”（Creativity,Action,Service）的課程是IBDP的核心課程之一。
CAS鼓勵學生將自己的能力與他人分享，例如通過參加戲劇、音樂、體育和社區服務活動來與他人共用自己的天賦才幹，通過這些活動，學生更充分了解自身，學會關心，學會合作。

吳老師在總結學風時說了這樣一番話：“我從來沒有見過他們為了某門考試惡拼過，哪怕是即將迎接IB考試的畢業生，他們也沒有挑燈夜戰的習慣，更多的是一種自然態的學習。另外，這群孩子能把同學關係處理得如此融洽讓我吃驚，老師不會給誰單獨開小灶，也沒有人偷著學，因為沒必要，他們不用像公校學生那樣去擠獨木橋，不是你進我退的概念。”

[ 本文章最後由 mattsmum 於 07-7-8 13:48 編輯 ]

mattsmum

"外國第一語言中，張征選的是中文，
　　中文考試分三部份，口試佔30%。如在《紅樓夢》一書中挑四十行文字，評論15分鐘。所有過程由幾位老師監督，錄音帶錄下，最後由海外專門指定的IB老師評分。

張征那天口試時選的是曹禺的名劇《雷雨》結尾，繁漪和周衛、周萍的那段衝突。那15分鐘講述他表現從容不迫，他太熟悉那幕戲的背景和人物心理了。考試結束後，考官們微笑著告訴，最後的分數要等錄音帶寄到耶路撒冷大學，由那兒的一位漢學家評審後才知道。但張征心中已感到十分踏實。
除了口試佔30%之外，中文筆試也佔20%，因為IB比較強調國際性，筆試的內容規定是自選二篇世界文學寫評論。
　　張征的第一篇論文是《評＜戰地春夢＞中的雨》。透過分析海明威的世界觀尤其是對戰爭的看法，他總結出“雨”是迷惘和悲觀的聚合物，既是作者宿命論觀點的代言人，更是控訴和抗議戰爭的武器。“雨”構成和突出了美學意義上的舞台背景，表達了作者深刻的思想內涵。

中文考試的餘下50%分數是當場筆試完成，一共四小時。前二小時的考卷上印一篇評論，或者一篇散文，甚至公一首詩，要學生安下心來一篇評論，字數不限。目的是檢閱學生的分析、表達能力；後二小時則採用西方教育中常見的比較學方法。張征碰到的題目是《論中國現代小說中的批判現實主義精神》。
　　張征沉穩地應答。中文作為張征的外國語，為他拿了第一個滿分（7分）。"

mattsmum

"地理科的那七分也不容易，一共要寫5篇論文。當然這種文章強調的是資料。其中有一篇是分析墨爾本市中心的規劃佈局是否合理，他為這一篇文章搭火車去墨爾本三次，站在幾個路口，用計數器檢查車流量，輔導老師認為他測出的SPENCER STREET和FLINDERS STREET車流超負荷的結論對墨爾本正在規劃建造中的DOCKLAND科技城有參考價值。
　　另一篇是調查BOURKE STREET樓價和樓高的關係。他選這個題目是因為透過這條墨爾本最熱鬧的馬路（集中了市中心三家電影院和十多家咖啡館，四十多家著名商店），他可以瞭解現代城市樓價和地價的一些規律。調查結果和西方城市的房產規律吻合：地皮最貴的地段，樓層最高。
地理科張征也拿了滿分。"

mattsmum

"曹介紹說，她同樣也需要“應試”，因IB課程是國際公認的最難的高中文憑，她一樣也面臨非常大的學習壓力。
曹

nintendo

原文章由 mattsmum 於 07-7-8 13:47 發表
second hand information about IB:

"記者採訪的前一天，第二屆IB班學員剛剛結束EE（extended essay）考試，譯作“擴展論文”，這是IB獨一無二的課程，要求學生用40小時左右的時間完成一篇4000字左右的論文， ...

請問，文章係節錄自那份刊物？又，被訪的是那間學校的學生？

nintendo

要知道邊 d 學校係 "真正" IB 學校，可以去 http://www.ibo.org 查看。

要注意，其實要學校正式得到 approval 需時其實不長，我留意到，快則一年就可以 ok ；我只係參考 victoria 同 renaissance 的情形作估計，有錯請指正；其中 renaissance "開張" 不足一年，已取得 IBD approval。

如果某學校已轉學制為 IB，或向外聲稱正提供 IB 課程，但卻遲遲未見其名在 IB 學校名單，更不見學校向家長提供任何 IBO inspection 的時間表，我覺得就要小心。我估好多學校根本都冇意思去正式成為一間 IBO approved 的學校，因為，要得到 approval 唔容易，要硬件同軟件都配合，亦因此，涉及的金錢不少；如果學校唔係 IBO approved 學校，質數就根本得唔到保證；而跟其他 IB 學校的銜接，甚至入大學的資格，都有好大問題。得罪講句，有少少係商業/法律上說的 "影射" ，用 IBO 名氣作招徠。

nintendo

原文章由 KenjiMa 於 07-7-4 23:08 發表
2. IB scope is so wide. Not sure the teacher can teach well. Seems not many experienced teacher in HK

理論上，真正 IB 學校都要聘請正式的 IB 老師，佢地都熟識 IB 課程，唔需要擔心；其實，全世界已有不少 IB 學校，香港的 IB 學校亦不少，都能夠吸引不少外國來的 IB 老師任教。

原文章由 KenjiMa 於 07-7-4 23:08 發表
3. Not sure if it need more parent involvement that traditional school ( especially students need to do project / reading etc. It will difficult for working moms to follow their homework)

IB 課程，其實近似西方國家教育模式，即近似香港國際學校教育模式。以我的經驗 ( 我孩子係國際學校學生，但學校不是 IB 學校，但其實教學模式類同 )，學生的確需要做大量 project 及需要大量閱讀。但其實，學校都主要要求學生自學自做，部份 porject ，可以甚至需要學生在課堂上完成，家長唔係話唔駛理，而係唔需要落手落腳幫手做 project ( 反而，我知本地名校學生的 project，都主要有家長代努 )。可能你會話，如果我唔幫手，孩子的 project 會唔會失色一 d，這個你又可以放心，我的經驗係，老師一睇就知 project 係唔係學生自己手筆，因為老師對住學生咁耐，唔會唔知佢水平，我孩子的同學 ( 當年 p2 )，就因為 project 做得太 pro，細問下，同學有誠實的話係媽媽幫手做，結果 project 被老師打回頭。

原文章由 KenjiMa 於 07-7-4 23:08 發表
4. Not sure how difficult to get in this type of school. What will these IB schools look for when they interview applicants?

如果問學校對學生有乜要求，不如問課程本身對學生有乜要求。
IB 課程對語文能力要求很高，現時主要提供 IB 課程的，都係國際學校。而我估，即使將來有本地學校提供 IB 課程，我相信都會係部份有名的 DSS，因此，主要教學語言都會係英語，因此，在香港的 IB 學校，主要要求都係要英文好。
IB 課程本身亦好 vigorous，學生要好 out spoken，要會/肯自學，學生亦要開朗主動，如果只係 "一舊飯" 的，唔夠主動，又怕自學，即使本身英語能力點好，點勤力，都未必能夠適應。
至於如果是由小一開始就直入 IB 學校，應該就唔難適應，只要有一定的語文能力就好了，因為如果長期在 IB 學校，應該係可以鍛鍊孩子的主動性，亦能 push 佢去自學。