有冇弘立小學媽咪

zimba

KC and alovera,

Thank you for sharing about this school, now I have some questions:
What kind of homeworks do your child have?
Can they finish on their own? Do you have to help them?
Do you do the revision with them?
Any homeworks assigned by school for parent and child?
As for the PutongHua, do you teach your child at home in advance?
I hope you can give me some ideas on these.   

ykwong

Yes, it is more complicate, let me ask, at F.4 and 5, is that all students taken the IGCSE. Then at F.6 they can choose either IB or IGCSE (A-level??). That's how come 130 taken IB out of 12xx students.

Do I interpret correctly?

warrrren

Hi Zimba,

The P1 kids do not have much homework.  They are only required to write Chinese and English journals and build their own dictionary.  Every now and then they are asked to memorise some simple pieces.  The school does not assign work to parents, but does expect parents to encourage their kids to read.  My girl is the can-sit-still type (I once gave her a pile of Oxford Reading Tree of different grades, she just went ahead and read for almost 3 hours).  She can finish reading assignment very quickly.  The Chinese journal writing part is more difficult for her as she was from Small World Christian Kindergarten (which does not offer any Chinese training).  I had my girl had a few Putonghua courses at Earth Village.  Those courses are quite useful.

I guess you and others may be interested in the curriculum.  What follows is a brief summary of the materials I received on the curriculum night.

Chinese – Taught in Putonghua by native Putonghua speakers.  Students are required to learn Pinyi (拼音).  It is a must.  There is no dictation for P1 students and they are not required to write a lot for fear that they motor skill is not fully developed.  The teachers use storybooks, simple folk songs and poems to teach.  They do not use any standard local textbooks.  The students are expected to master basic Pinyi, recognise 1000 to 1400 Chinese characters and be able to write no less than 400 characters.

English – Also taught by native speakers in small groups.  The P1 kids have English class everyday.  The duration is one hour.  The English programme is designed to develop a range of essential skills in reading, writing and oral communication, including a good foundation in spelling, grammar and phonics, and an appreciation of literature.  The teachers sometimes teach with a theme.  For an example, my girl and the kids in her group were once asked to describe and write on a kite things that they value most.  And the kids built some kites and wrote “care, love, friendship etc”.  The idea of using a kite is to give them a feeling that those things that they love should fly high.  I saw some of those kites the last time I went to the school.  You may see them on the school’s open day.

Math – Taught in both English and Putonghua.  For P1 kids, math is taught on a problem solving approach based on everyday situation.  For an example, the students are asked how many 50 cents coins they need to produce $2.  

Guided discovery - The topics in unit 1 are: living things, our communities, properties of liquids and solids, generations and structures.  The way the teachers teach is very interesting.  The topic last week was living things.  After telling the children what mammals, fishes, birds etc. are like and how different parts of their bodies work, the children were divided into small groups and asked to create their own “best animals”.  The children then put their head together and drew their best animals, and they got something with mouth of crocodile, wings of bird, eyes of owl, and so forth.  They then presented their work to their fellow students.  I do love the way the teachers teach.  It is not an one-sided process.  The kids have to apply what they have learnt.  And through such application, the knowledge becomes part of them.

The children also have dance, music, and visual art classes.  They form part of the curriculum.

It seems that I have permitted this post to run into excessive length.  Bad Habit.  Let me put a full stop here.

Regards,
warrrren

warrrren

Hi ckwliu,

Your husband's concern is a real concern.  But, as I said, one has to take various factors into consideration and make compromise.  I consider ISF a good compromise.  

Regards,
warrrren

warrrren

Hi ykwong,

My undertaking is that all F.4 and 5 French International students take IGCSE.  And all F.6 students take IB Diploma.

Regards,
warrrren

mattsmum

hi warren, the book you talk is perhaps this ( available in dangdang.com):"用爱哺育"    作者：（日）铃木镇一 : 用爱哺育，从零开始培养…… 你注意到这个事实了吗？每个孩子都能讲一口流利的母语，不管他在家长和老师的心目中天资聪颖还是反应迟钝，即“母语教育法”。每个孩子之所以都能讲一口流利的母语，是因为他生活在这样一个环境中，而且父母也在他学习语言期间给予了他耐心的、细致的、充满爱的教育。

記者：沒有父母不愛自己的孩子，看好自己的孩子，似乎是為人父母的本能。這種父母之愛與賞識之間有什麼不同嗎?

　　周弘：僅有愛是不夠的，關鍵是把愛孩子昇華為懂孩子。懂孩子，就是要不斷喚起孩子心靈深處“好孩子”的意識，讓孩子在欣賞中成長。吃飯、穿衣、身體健康，只是孩子有形生命的需要，而內心世界的滿足和愉悅，是所有孩子無形生命的需要。我發現所有孩子心靈深處最強烈的需求和所有成年人一樣——渴望得到別人的賞識。現在的父母希望孩子進步快，總是習慣地認為：優點不說少不了，缺點不說不得了。而賞識教育恰恰相反：優點不說不得了，缺點少說逐漸少。賞識就是無形生命的營養，是孩子生命成長的陽光、空氣和水。

　　記者：看來，愛孩子不僅需要情感，更需要智慧。那麼，作父母的該怎樣去賞識自己的孩子呢?

　　周弘：賞識自己的孩子，就要把孩子當成鮮活的生命去看待。我們大多數人總是把孩子當成了私有財產。許多家長在這種心態下教育孩子，就難免失態，不按規律“種莊稼”。沒有種不好的莊稼，只有不會種莊稼的農民。我們教育孩子，就是要回歸到教孩子學說話、學走路時的心態。在孩子學說話、學走路時，家長就承認差異。說話早的孩子行，說話遲的孩子也行，不僅承認差異，而且欣賞差異。由於堅信孩子“行”，就能在孩子一次次不小心跌倒後，一次次鼓勵孩子站起來，從不斥責和埋怨。持之以恒地相信孩子“行”，是我教育孩子的心得，也是讓孩子心靈舒展，生命和諧的秘訣。相信孩子“行”，就要信任、尊重孩子，理解、激勵孩子，寬容、提醒孩子。

　　記者：賞識是走向成功的秘訣。那麼，在許多家長以分數“論英雄”的今天，“成功”的標誌究竟是什麼呢?

　　周弘：考試分數只是衡量孩子學習成績的一把尺子。在以分數“論英雄”的氣候下，家長更需要清醒。關心孩子的成長，不能只關心一時一事，而是要對孩子的一生負責。要賞識孩子，而不要去拔苗助長。賞識教育應該與幸福有約，一個與幸福有約的人，一定會與成功有約。它的目標就是一個字——通，讓家長與孩子的生命處在和諧協調的狀態。陶行知先生曾說過，教育的目標是培養人中人，而不是人上人、人下人，更不是人外人。“通”是溝通、是共鳴、是接納、是寬容，是舒展、是和諧、是幸福、是快樂。擁有舒展心靈的孩子，進入到健康、自然、可持續發展的狀態，學習想不好都難……



I had got the book "賞識教育" too, they even got a summer camp this summer in guang dong province and Wing On Travel was one of the agent.

nice to know that there are parents in HK reading this book, this is such a good book that i want to order more for all of my friends, perhaps teachers should read it too.

warrrren

Hi mattsmum,

Thanks for bringing my attention to dangdang.com.  Me too am looking for more copies of Zhou's book.  It's a great book.  Have you viewed the VCD that comes with the book?  I'm amazed how well Mr. Zhou delivered the speech.

Regards,
warrrren

mattsmum

hi, warrent, thanks for sharing your opinion,

one question, do you still need to pay for extra lessons on music, sports and painting? if we count tuition fee plus these activity fee into education cost, it is not very far from what your school fee is.

warrrren

Hi mattsmum,

Music, sports and art classes form part of the curriculum.  Some optional after school classes (Chinese painting for an example) however do come with an extra fee.

Regards,
warrrren

anxiousparent

Are applications for ISF closed yet?

warrrren

Hi anxiousparent,

Are applications for ISF closed yet?

I guess not.  Why don't you just call and ask (tel: 2202-2305, ask for Terry Chow)?  Make sure you get the date of the next guided tour of the school, if any.

Regards,
warrrren

toffeeli

Hi anxiousparent,

Yes, you may phone Ms Terry Chow. She is very nice.


toffeeli

toffeeli

Hi, KC,

I'm interested to know what type of activities would the school offer after class. Grateful if you would give me some idea.


Regards,
toffeeli

warrrren

Dear all,

A few BK parents emailed me and asked me to update them on my experience with ISF.  Here is the update.

On the whole, I am very happy with the school.  Most of the parents, I guess, are happy too (only one student left the school this year).  I am not troubled by the fact that the school is still very new and things do not look very organised at times.  I am satisfied that the school is able to strike a fine balance between academic requirements and making sure that the kids are having fun in learning.  ISF is very much like an international school - the teaching method and the curriculum is by and large not much different from that of an international school.  The ISF kids have to do show and tell, oral presentation, project work, to perform in concerts, do the Read-a-thon thing and have pyjamas party and so forth.  

I have been asked whether I am concerned about the kids' English standard, given that most of the P1-P3 classes are conducted in Putonghua.  No, I am not.  Most of the ISF kids speak very good English.  It is a fact of life that a school like the ISF has kids from middle class families.  English is by no means foreign to those kids.  In fact, most of the ISF boys and girls are probably more comfortable with English than Chinese/Putonghua.  The students' language ability is ranked very highly on the school's priority list.  The fact that Chinese/Putonghua is very commonly used does not necessarily mean that English is neglected.  I am happy to see that English is not considered secondary to Chinese, or vice versa.  The students have plenty of opportunities to use both English and Chinese.  They have to write English and Chinese journal, do oral presentations and are given assignments in both languages.  

I am curious that there are quite a few of you who want to know how my girl is doing.  She is having a good time at ISF and doing fine.  She is now able to speak (to me) perfect Putonghua and read simple Chinese books (she still prefers English books though).  I am glad that she loves reading as much as she did when she was at Small World Kinder.  At present she is reading Charlie and the chocolate factory.  She really enjoys the movie and the book.

I would classify most the parents as working middle class.  Though there are kids from the rich and famous families (by the way, the rich and famous are not necessarily snobbish and hard to get along).  The school does have a financial aid programme, which to my knowledge is not for window dressing.  Anyone interested in the programme may contact the school for further information.

I do not have any crystal ball and cannot tell how well the kids will do in public exam.  All that I can say is things appear to be on the right track.  The students are working hard, and the school and parents are working even harder.  The school has a very small population at present.  Most of the parents know each other and are giving a lot of support to each other and to the school.  

Struggling between local schools and international schools, I am glad that there is a school like the ISF.

Regards,
Warren

mattsmum

any reading class in this school?

how is reading being taught in most school/ anyone know?

warrrren

Dear Che,

Yes, the Chinese programme was a major factor.  My wife and I had in fact enrolled our girl in an ESF school.  We however decided to let her go to ISF after talking to the principal of the school and other parents who had kids there.

Warren

warrrren

Dear mattsmum,

No, there are not any "reading" classes at ISF.  If I may ask - why should there be classes designated for reading?  Are the kids not supposed to read outside those classes?  Teaching reading as a subject like math and literature sounds horrible to me.  It is probably one of the best ways to kill the kids' interest in reading.

Regards,
Warren