Think International School

IJJK

Hi,

Reception Class is K2 or LK, and Preparation is K3 or UK. There is one class of reception and 2 classes of preparation now. For the reception class, there are two very experienced teachers (one is Canadian) in a class of about 18 kids.

Grade 1 is the elementary school section (primary).

IJJK

WYmom

Hi, IJJK,

Do you like their Grade 1 class?

IJJK

I had an urgent meeting to attendn yesterday morning, so I could not make it finally. I will try to attend the session next Tue. I will update you after my visit.

How about you? How's your visit?

IJJK

WYmom

IJJK 寫道:
I had an urgent meeting to attendn yesterday morning, so I could not make it finally. I will try to attend the session next Tue. I will update you after my visit.

How about you? How's your visit?

IJJK

Oh, I think it would be better if there are more students per class.  They said that there will be 2x  P.1 kids next year, so should be expanding.  

carolsin

WYmom,

I would prefer less students per class, ie. smaller students to teacher ratio so that teacher can have more attention to each student.

What do you think?

WYmom

carolsin 寫道:
WYmom,

I would prefer less students per class, ie. smaller students to teacher ratio so that teacher can have more attention to each student.

What do you think?

In theory you are right. I think class of 10 is good for kinders, but for primary, if there are more students in a class (I mean 20+, not so few like the nos of grade 1 we saw), there can be better studying atmosphere, more chance to work with different personalities, different groupings in doing projects, worth for more investment in studying tools (such as story books) and more different kinds of activities.  For better teacher to student ratio, they can use an assistant to help as well.

In my opinion, primary stage is different from kinder, kids need to have more development.  In a bigger school, they can form choir, football team, music band, etc.  The team work creates some kind of team spirit and sense of belongings to the school.  So I hope the school can expand much more to be a medium size one.  They said there will be 20+ P.1 students next year.

So do you like their primary school?

IJJK

20+ is still an optimum number to me. If the class is too small, provided that this school only has 1 class in each grade, I hesitate the kids will only have a small peer group to play with and learn from each other. Kids also need stimulations from each other, learn different persons strengths and know how to get along with kids with different personality. So, I thought if it's only more than 25, it is still a good number.

I have checked with many schools, and I found many private schools and international schools at least 30 students in a class.

I consider this school as it will strengthen my boy's language skill, however, I hesitate the standard of maths might not be that competitive compared with local schools, and also the limitation of extra curricular activities. It will be great if we can know the new campus of this school.

IJJK

WYmom

IJJK,

That's exactly what I mean.  The principal said that they are looking for a larger campus for expansion, maybe in Shatin. Actually, she is running the school quite well, but they should do more to attract students from other kinders into their primary school if they want to expand faster.

No. of kids per class in some very famous primary can go to 40, which is too much.  20+ per class will be the best no. for handling and conducting group work.

carolsin

WYmom,

I agree with WYmom and IJK's points of view.

Kinder is different from primary school.  From what I observed, during kinder stage, in a class of 10/below, the atmosphere, teacher's attention and control to the whole class, learning effectiveness are obviously much more better than a large class.

justjust

carolsin 寫道:
WY mom,

I will visit on 21 Mar at 12:45 -預備班.  Is it equal to grade 1?  
and you?

carolsin,

Is 預備班 reception class or preparatory class?
I attended the 12:45pm session on Mar 21 for preparatory class.  Probably we have met.

We spent half an hour with the English class and half and hour with the Mandarin class.

The English class was a bit chaotic as the teacher was pre-occupied helping the students to make model airplanes.  While holding the hot-glue gun, she also had to keep an eye on the other students in different corners of the room taking part in various activities, all related to transportation - plane/airport.
I don't know how the class was normally but to me the teacher seemed to have difficulty to control 14 kids, especially when there were several just running non-stop and did not respond to instructions.  But I quite like their approach, with one single theme, they bring out many things to teach the kids, colour mixing, design, team work, numbers, vocabulary, .....

The Mandarin class was more peaceful as there were fewer students, 8, I think.  I appreciate the teacher's approach of letting the students decide what they want to do and give them necessary help, instead of telling them what to do.  So along the same theme of transportation - plane/airport, the kids moved around the seats to simulate a cabin, even with seat belts.  We, parents, were invited to be involved in their class activity.  We were given tickets and hand bags to check-in, and offered food and drinks.  The teacher encouraged the kids to talk to us and suggested vocabularies when they could not find the right words.

One thing very impressive is that in both classes, the kids talked between themselves in English in the English class, and in Mandarin in Mandarin class, with satisfactory fluency.

The school regards language skills of the students there high, but also admits that their academic level may not be as competitive as the other famous schools, as they are not so demanding in homework, etc.

I can't summarize my overall impression in a few words as I feel that I don't have enough information to make any meaningful conclusion.  I wish I could stay longer but couldn't because of my tight schedule.

Any others can share their views after the visit?

WYmom

justjust,

I agree with you regarding their approach used for K3, which is very good and satisfactory, and in fact the same will be adopted in other branches as well. For grade 1, I have given my view already.

carolsin

justjust,

I think 預備班 is preparatory class K3 while reception class is K2.

As we observed 2 classes, one is of 14 students, the other is 8 students, I found that there is quite an obvious difference.  That's why I consider that a small sized class is good for kinder stage.  

For smaller age students, their attention span is so short and they are so active that I think more teacher's guidance is required.  

Indeed, students' oral language skills, proactivity in participation and the teachers' teaching approach are impressive to me.

rdc888

Maria,
Nice to hear your son's transition is very good.  Am exteremly busy these days.

rdc888

maria_lai

rdc888,

thx

he loves his new class very much

maria_lai

rdc888 and WYmom,

my son starts to sing and say some mandarin songs/words this week.
it's interersting

WYmom

maria, that's good.  The mandarin teacher is very good.

You know, they will play a musical drama by July, acting as different insects, quite interesting.

pamam

do they take students transferring from other kinders at age 4 or 5??

maria_lai

WYmom 寫道:
maria, that's good.  The mandarin teacher is very good.

You know, they will play a musical drama by July, acting as different insects, quite interesting.

oh it's a drama?
i just know my son will be a spider, haha
what's about your girl?

maria_lai

pampam,

i think they do accept students if they have seat available.  you can just call to check

WYmom

oh it's a drama?
i just know my son will be a spider, haha
what's about your girl?

maria_lai,

I don't know if it is a drama, but each child acts as a different insect, and my daughter sings her song at home to us.  She will be a butterfly.