國際學校的家長

Ann0805

My experience is Woodland's stepping stone class is great.  Coz' my son started in July, he is joining the summer programme for now.  Depending on the theme(s) picked by the specific Woodland school, the activities would be planned around such themes.  Like my son's school, July is the science exploration month, art & craft works, english activitity time would also be planned around such theme.  For Aug, it's on food and culture of different countries.  My son has made and brough home pizza, sushi, irish bread, etc.  In brief, my son enjoys the class a lot!  

At Woodland Peak Pre-school, at least, the student mix is very international.  My son got Chinese, Japanese, Western, Indian friends in his class and school.  Class size is small with teacher to student ratio in each class is 1:12.  The school campus is quite small though, with limited open space.  But that is fine with us as parents as we treasure the quality of teaching staff and student mix more.  I know some parents in BK consider the campus far too small.  

For Yew Chung playgroup, I would say their strength is with training the kids to be independent as far as possible, e.g. for eating their snack, washing hands, tidying up, etc. Language training there is weak.  Though they claim to be bilingual (by having one Chinese teacher and one native in each class), 70% of the time would be Cantonese-speaking as most parents would speak to the kids in Cantonese.  The native would lead the 20-min English session only and talk to kids in English during free playtime.  Class structure-wise, I do like the relaxing 2.5 hr playgroup there, as compared to the 1.5hr playgroup conducted by Tutor Time (WOW).  Personally, I think 1.5 hr is too packed for a kid as TT will try to jam a series of activities into the 1.5 hrs.  No time is allowed for the kids to explore and do the things they want.  But at Yew Chung, they have 2.5 hrs each day and have enough time to pick the activities they wish to do.  I must stress though, this is just personal preference.  As I do hear a lot of parents preferring TT more as they feel that TT has a more structured class while Yew Chung is just allowing kids to play whatever they want just like they're at home.  

原帖由 vicjo 於 10-8-13 11:32 發表
It's good to know many of your Children can switch languages well when they grow up.

However, I worry if my boy can't pass the interview because of less fluent English.

To: Ann0805
Would you share ...

[ 本帖最後由 Ann0805 於 10-8-13 18:35 編輯 ]

vicjo

I heard “Woodland Peak Pre-school” is good too (also head from a parent compare it with TT).  However, there’s only 4 months for stepping stone (2yr 4 mo to 2 yr 8 mo).  I wonder what the children (their parents) will choose their kindergartens because I guess the earilest international kinder (ESF K1) starts at age 3.  

原帖由 Ann0805 於 10-8-13 18:33 發表
My experience is Woodland's stepping stone class is great.  Coz' my son started in July, he is joining the summer programme for now.  Depending on the theme(s) picked by the specific Woodland school,  ...

Ann0805

You'd better check.  Different Woodland branches may have different age range for Stepping Stones.  For Peak Pre-school, the age range is until 2.5 years for Stepping Stones.  But my son is allowed to progress to the next level two months earlier, i.e. 2 yr and 4 mths.  The level after Stepping Stone, i.e. the 1st level of pre-school at Woodland, is equivalent to Pre-K1 (or Prenursery/Nursery as other schools may call it).  

There should not be any "teething problem" iro pursuing K1 studies in other schools.  Take my son as an example, he should be K1 next Sept (when he is 3 yr and 4 months).  So, he can simply follow the normal process to file applications (including ESF) starting this Sept/Oct for K1 next year.  

原帖由 vicjo 於 10-8-16 13:55 發表
I heard “Woodland Peak Pre-school” is good too (also head from a parent compare it with TT).  However, there’s only 4 months for stepping stone (2yr 4 mo to 2 yr 8 mo).  I wonder what the children  ...

[ 本帖最後由 Ann0805 於 10-8-16 16:43 編輯 ]

orancarmen

In my case, I think most of the time our family communicates in Cantonese. It is because my mother tongue is Cantonese. Though I can speak english, but I do not want to pollute the kids' accent which is cultivated from the IS environment of western teachers and classmates. Meanwhile, I think chinese is also important. One more silly thinking is that  I think I should teach them my comparatively strength rather than my comparatively weak one. I do not know it's right or not. Just for sharing.

RayEE

first, mixing english terms into a chinese sentence does not create a significant prove of "confusion", as long as the sentence itself makes sense and is logical. linguists uses the term "code mixing" to refer to this situation.

second, i don't think having an asian accent in speaking english is a bad and unforgivable behaviour, and i dont think it can be termed as "polluted", what a harsh term!

in fact, different races speak their own languages, and language is just a tool of communication between people. and having different accent is a good way to get know of where the people come from. even "native" accents, it may refer to british, united states', canadian, australian, european..... those professional tv reporters, they have special training to erase their "native" accents. so if u want to get rid of an asian accent, better decide which "favour" u want before u start talking to your little ones...

for successful placement in international schools, “fluency in english” may not be the sole key, it may also depend external factors, say the total application numbers for a certain year, priority in-take numbers, ….

my case is, i talked to my little one in cantonese, which is my 1st language, during pregnancy and the childhood. except for a few months attending the playgroup, a few months in the nursery and a few months in the kindergarten (both were in an english environment), my little one was generally exposed to a cantonese-only environment. the language-learning media were mainly dvds, tv cartoons and internet in early stages. and then, i started to teach on my own with aids of some curriculum books for almost a year.

the interview my little one had attended was quite generic. it tests the english standard in all aspects, like listening, reading, writing and spoken english. what you expect a 5 year old kid knows? even a “native” kid at age 5, he/she may only be more proficient in spoken english and listening than a chinese one. but this is not always true… say, as if that kid is a german/french, his/her level of english may be the same as a chinese one. i saw a lot of “native” speakers talk to their kids in their “native” languages, “native” may refer to german, french, austrian, spanish, indian….

kids have their own pace of learning, once they are ready, they can will learn very fast.

orancarmen

Hi RayEE,
Thanks for your sharing.
To me, it's really good because some of your opinion is valuable to me since I haven't thought in this way. What I want to add is that the term I used- polluted. Actually, I do not merely mean the accent. The truth is what I articulate, what I write - I am not quite sure it is grammatical or in the correct expression or of the right prounciation. As a housewife at home, I forget what I have learnt in school for a long time. i am not ashamed of this since it is true that I am not living in the english context environment. But as you say, language is the tool of communication, therefore, I  still write, type and speak. However, I dare not use it to teach my beloved little one. I am not afraid that people laugh at me but i am afraid that i set a wrong example for my kid to imitate.

In a word, the word "polluted" is only applied to me but not in the intention to offend any people or race.

Let me conclude in the same sentence. I do not know it is right or not. Just for sharing.

vicjo

Thanks Ann0805 : I checked with woodland.  They do have pre-school arrangement after stepping class.  (as mentioned in 1st place) my boy now attending a local N1 in am and may have time crash if he also enroll woodland pre-school.  I need to make decision by that time.

To: RayEE
from your experience, what & how do int'l schools make judgments to accept applications (except the English proficiency)?

RayEE

generally speaking, international school takes students based on the age requirement, available vacancies and their language ability.

other than those external factors in which you have no ways to alter, to proceed a good understanding of the english language must be of a good advantage. it may not refer to a “sound” proficiency in the english language but of which, ur children understand and can follow instructions in english, can express him/herself in english (doesnt matter whether it's grammatically correct or not and/or with an asian accent or not) and can communicate with others. this proceeds to a very helpful and unique learning ground for her/his future studies in different areas/subjects.

just to share, this is what my little one did on the interview. recognizing alphabets, sounding the correlated consonants and vowels, spelling simple english words, drawing a picture and writing a simple sentence describing the picture. in this short interview, it accesses every aspect on the english level (according to the right expectation of the age).

of course, if u target for reception class, it may be totally different, especially on the reading and writing parts. what i prepared myself is, by knowing what will be taught in that particular level and help my little one prepared for this.

RayEE

just come across some interesting readings on the web that, if u target for reception class, u may be interested in reading the "early years foundation stage profile handbook". hope this will get u more insights on what are you looking for.