有冇弘立小學媽咪

wewangwang

Dear Warrren,

請問你最初有冇考慮過蘇淅國際,想聽聽你的意見.

Regards

warrrren

Hi Ms.M and wewangwang,

CIS is not the "privileged" school that I referred to in my earlier message.  One of my colleagues has kids there.  He likes the school and rates it very highly.  I have played a visit to the school.  I like it too.  Its strong points are - good campus, (almost) unlimited resources, excellent library and good connections with overseas universities/schools.  My wife and I go for 弘立 for a few reasons, namely, (1) we want our girl to be truly proficient in both English and Chinese.  We believe that 弘立 offers a better language environment; (2) most of the 弘立 parents we know and have met are very committed to their children's education. They are not the buy a corporate debenture and leave the kids with the school type.  Nor are they the "kumon" type (please accept my apology if I offend anyone by saying this); (3) 弘立 appears to us to be more middle class oriented; and (4) (this is purely subjective and may not make any sense) I am more impressed with 弘立 kids.  It appears to me that the kids really love the school.  They look more cheerful too.

I do not really know 蘇淅國際.  

I quite like HKUGA Primary School.  It is, to me, not an ordinary traditional local school.  HKUGA Primary School is discussed in many other threads.  You may dig them out and have a look of them.  I guess the actual experience that other people have with the school is more valuable than my impression of it.

弘立 is planning an open day in Oct.  I'll post the date here later.

Regards,
warrrren

wewangwang

Thanks Warrren,

Hope your daughter will have a bright future with 弘立

Ms.M

Che
As far as I know==> Island School 但小朋友便要犧牲學中文的寶貴機會咯。所有我會在弘立 & CIS 之中揀一間 (如果我個小朋友一定要讀國際學校的話)。

Warren
我2月已去過弘立的開放﹐我對弘立的印象跟你的有90%相同呀。 CIS我就未去過。有沒有人知幾時開放日呀﹖

che 寫道:
do you know if one wants to get into top overseas universities, which international schools are the best choice?

warrrren

Hi,

I think German Swiss is the top school in terms of academic results.  The only problem is that Chinese will become the kids' third language, after English and German.  Island School and French International School are also very good.  I do not know how well the Canadian International boys and girls do in public examinations.  I guess they are not bad.

Strictly speaking, 弘立 is not an international students.  You won't see many non-Chinese there.  I would say it is a private school for local students with an international school's curriculum and environment.  I see it as a sensible compromise among various things.

I have just received from the school a handbook for parents.  The latest teachers to students ratio is 1 to 10.  The figure will probably get a little higher when the new campus is ready.

Regards,
warrrren

wewangwang

Dear Warrren,

Any miscellaneous charges? How much is the meal and school bus fee.

Regards

warrrren

Hi wewangwang,

Lunch is 20 odd dollars per day.  I can't recall how much the school bus company is charging, but it is very reasonable.  There is a lump sum payment of $5,000 per student per year.  It covers all books, teaching materials, some basic stuff for drama and dancing, costs of field trips, etc.  These are all the charges.  You do not need to buy any text books or software for computers.  The school will provide them.  ISF is a non-profit making school, each dollar paid by the parents will go to the students.

warrrren

wewangwang

Thanks Warrren

MomMom

Any parents has kid studying ISF in senior form like P.5?  

song

Does anyone know the school fees for American International School? How is the academic standard? My girl is American. I am struggling between the International and traitional one.

warrrren

Hi,

The school is open to public on Oct 9, from 2 to 5 p.m.

warrrren

BokBokMommy

Dear Warrrren,

When you submitted the application, did you also submit a profile of your child?

warrrren

Hi BokBokMommy,

I did not submit any profile.  Don't think it is really necessary.  Just make sure that your kid feels comfortable with the interview.

Regards,
warrrren

BokBokMommy

Tks for your information, Kam.

BokBokMommy

so.san

Hi KC,

It was nice to read your sharing. I am also interested in the school (my son will be attending P. 1 in 2006). How about the Chinese language education there? Do you have anything to share? I am not talking about Putonghua or Cantonese as the language environment. I am concerned about the the standard of Chinese language. I understand that ISF is taking the IB curriculum. What will be the standard of the graduates when compared with other local schools? (May be this is a question common to other "local schools taking IB curriculum.)

Or am I right that most parents of ISF are planning to send their kids to overseas sooner or later for their education, or even for career?

What about the Greater China job market, am I right that ISF parents do not consider this as high priority in the future?

Am I talking about too far away. Sorry! But I do think about these issues when planning for primary education for my children.

aloevera

Hi so.san,

No. You are not thinking too far into the future.  A solid foundatation in both Chinese and English languages is important.  It will enable the child to  work in the Greater China Region or any where in the world.

My daughter is attending P.1 in ISF.  I sent her there  so that she can develop creative thinking, but I'm not prepared to accept a lower standard of Chinese or English in exchange.  So far I'm very happy with the standard of both languages in the school.     

For English homework, they ask her to make up funny sentences using words that start with "a", like "angry ants on an ant hill".  For Chinese, she is learning pinyin and writing book reports and Chinese journal.  

The IB diploma is accepted by Hong Kong universities and all major UK and US universities.  Therefore you can choose to study in HK or overseas.

Hope it helps.

warrrren

Hi so.san,

It's perhaps too early to tell but I'm expecting a standard comparable to if not higher than that of a local school.  The school does not use any standard textbooks or require the kids to copy "高高的山, 大大的海" ten times.  Although I am not entirely against dictation, I believe that the best way to kill young children's learning instinct is to under-estimate their ability and give them what we believe is appropriate to their age.  I'd rather let me girl memorise 長恨歌 (it should be a piece of cake for all children who are not made to hate the language) rather than asking her to do dictation or memorise some silly passages.  Not ago I saw a 6 or 7 year-old-boy in the central library, escorted by his mother and asked to copy 尊敬師長, 孝順父母 a few times onto his exercise book.  What a job for such a little boy!  No wonder it took him an entire hour to finish the work.  "I hate all these Chinese characters" was the feeling of the boy, as clearly written on his face.  How many interesting books can a mother read to her boy with that one hour?  So far I am happy with the language programme offered by ISF.  At least the children are taught to appreciate the language, not made to hate it.

I would like to recommend a book - Nurtured by love, by Shinichi Suzuki.  The book is on violin learning but the theory behind is applicable to children education.  A lovely little book.  I am not aware of any Chinese translation of it, but one can refer to 賞識教育, 作者 - 周弘.  It is a touching story of a financially poor father successfully turning his girl who is totally deaf into a highly educated and civilised person.  Mr. Zhou is a follower of the Suzuki's principles.  He is now better known as "the farmer educationist" and giving lectures around the country.  The book comes with a VCD.  It is a live recording of one of those lectures given by Mr. Zhou.  You can't stop watching it once your TV is on.

Regards,
warrrren

so.san

Thanks aloevera and KC!       

KC, what you saw in the library is horrifying! I will cry certainly if I see my son being pushed to do that!

My son is in K2 now and he is already copying new Chinese words everyday. So far he is enjoying it because the teacher is very good, and he is happy when he can write the words by himself! But I doubt if it will be enjoyable in the local primary schools.....

I will go to see ISF Open Day.   

Tzeyanmui

Warren

I have been reading your comments on the ISF and the general education system of HK, I share most of your views about the upbringings of our children and appreciate the efforts you have put into your child's education.

There is just one big question on my mind about ISF, as you might aware, most people tend to compare ISF with Victoria, both are PIS with IB program (Victoria is yet to adopt IB fully), both use Putonghua and Eng as their teaching medium with native Putonghua and eng teachers. Both are constucturing new campus with advanced facilities like Performing Arts Centre, Digital Library, pools etc.  Based on my limited knowledges on the two schools, I would say both are very similar in terms of school environments and their school curriculum. If my obversations are correct, could you please tell me the justification of ISF charging almost HK$100,000/year vs the HK$50,000 at Victoria, if we carve out the "expensive label" factor.