有人in左kbck嗎?

alunsweeney

我是19日，你們有沒有人早過這日?

YYFUNG

We did it on 4 February 2009 (wednesday).
That was the first day of all the interviews, and the last date will be 11 March.

On 12 March, the school will send the offical acceptance letter to the families.

The above were mentioned in the conversation between us and the principal.

Regards,
Maria

原帖由 alunsweeney 於 09-2-8 19:15 發表
我是19日，你們有沒有人早過這日?

alunsweeney

Ms Fung

我以為自己是早一批，原來有人比我們更早。你們在什麼時候交表的呢?

聽說interview差不多20分鐘，你的孩子表現好嗎?我的孩子可以明白英文指示，但你要他說實在比較困難。我怕他會突然說下廣東話出來，笑死人了。

如何interview不成功，便讀回victoria啦。順其自然...

YYFUNG

Dear alunsweeney.

We sent in the form in the last quarter of 2006, as we would like to target at their morning session.

The meeting was scheduled on 4 Feb at 1PM.
Probably we had a common topic with the teacher (I forgot her name)and the principal (Ms. Lola Louie), we had been talking for 45 minutes.

Non-local cirriculum schools are not going to "test" the child like the local kindergartens.

In our case, in the very first beginning the principal sat on the floor , played and chatted with my kid (the toys were spread all over on the floor) while the teacher kind of kneed in front of us (probably would like to have the same eye level) and talked to us regarding the school.
Then the conversation continued by the principal about the decision of the education direction and the education path we plan for the child. At the moment the teacher played with the child.

In fact we did not listen to the conversation among the principal, the child and the tecaher in that meeting. (to us, it is not necessary as her native langauge is English anyway).

We talked a lot with the principal and the teacher about the education system in HK and the "indecisive" approach of the parents nowadays.

They ususally would give you the hint before you leave, while they said the official letter would be sent out on 12 March.

Regards,
Maria

原帖由 alunsweeney 於 09-2-8 23:30 發表
Ms Fung

我以為自己是早一批，原來有人比我們更早。你們在什麼時候交表的呢?

聽說interview差不多20分鐘，你的孩子表現好嗎?我的孩子可以明白英文指示，但你要他說實在比較困難。我怕他會突然說下廣東話出來，笑死人了。

...

alunsweeney

Dear Ms Fung

Thanks for your details explanation.

Are you planning to put your kid to ESF in the future? Why do you like this school?

Honestly speaking, I am not targarted at ESF because school fee is very expensive.
My husband visited this school and he found teachers are very helpful. He wants the kid to build up a good foundation of English as early as possible. If he studies in so-called “int’l kindergarten” like Victoria, St. Cat, we don’t think his English will be very good too because there is a lack of English environment for him to speak English and school is the only place!!!!

If he is succesfully accepted and we will start to train his Chinese at home. I think this is much more easier for us!!

YYFUNG

Dear alunsweeny  : )

We are targeting international school since my daughter's birth.

We pave the path for going back to US anytime, as well as we appreciate the education phillosophy of the non-local cirriculum.

It is the reason we all apply for pure English speaking schools since nursery.

Probably ESF primary would be one of the choices, meanwhile we aim at other ISs.

We are not greedy and should not be greedy - we do not teacher her any Chinese, although she is able to say very little verbally, like greetings. (This is for basic survival only in HK environment). Therefore, we treat Chinese as a foreign langauge (not even the 2nd) for the child just like French, German, Japanese and alike.

Pardon me saying this - I am not towards the approach that school is the only place for English. You can do alot, yes you can.

Please dont mind the accent but the courage of you & your husband talking to the child in English, using English as a major language.

I can tell you that the principal of KBCK (ms. Lola louie) can spot the child whether he/ she is the first language user or is the second language user or a bilingual user.

If you target learning English in this kind of school, probably they will not. They are English speaking, it is supposed all the participants understand the language. KBCK would not reject the child who knows English on basic level because they are church school and they treat everyone equal. To their eyes, Japanese, Korean, French and German children are not English native speakers.

They 'd rather the families would match the education direction so that the children could have smoother times.

I think you probably may talk about your education road with the principal when you are in the interview on 19th.

She probably may give you an insight.

Thank you for letting me say so much : )
Kind regards,
Maria

原帖由 alunsweeney 於 09-2-9 10:13 發表
Dear Ms Fung

Thanks for your details explanation.

Are you planning to put your kid to ESF in the future? Why do you like this school?

Honestly speaking, I am not targarted at ESF because school fe ...

alunsweeney

I think this BK reader wrote very good

"隨便假設  "讀國際學校的英文程度很好, 但是, 可能學習不到中國傳統文化; 而且中文又未必能應付未來社會的挑戰,..." 可是 "讀傳統學校, 可能更善於掌握考試技巧, 在公開試及全球的會計或數學比賽/考試名列前名茅, 但可能成為一般人所批評的高分低能, 不善解難或創意欠奉."而維小的好處可能就是中間落墨" do you have any comment?

YYFUNG

Dear BabaTed,
I dont think the principal would show any disagreement to your decision, and she'd rather wish the parents was decisive and used Englsih also in non-school hours.

The rationale is that they had two students attending ESF primary interviews and were speaking chinese very fluently in the session. It is not wrong with the children, but the screening mechanism of ESF need to identify the chinese language users (they have chinese language teachers there in the interview). The most important point was they jotted down "English" as the only language in the application form. The background of these children were bilingual education - they use Chinese at home and/ or attending local kindergarten as well.

The parents could not blame the children " you fail" as in the eyes of the principal, children is too young to be used with the word "fail/ failure".

Yesterday we also attend ESF kindergarten perents info night. The class teacher reinforces the parents "You cannot expect the child to be fluent in the language if she/ he justs learning English during the school hours. What can the child achieve in just one year, and attend the ESF primary interview?" ESF is not against home language but they also remind the parents of heavy & consistent exposure to English.

Again, KBCK, SWCK, Starters all these kinds of schools would not reject you. They only kindly remind you of the possible consequences.

Kind regards,
Maria

原帖由 BabaTed 於 09-2-9 21:16 發表


Hi Maria,

Thanks for your sharing about the interview. I am applying K1 on 2010 and searching for more information about this school now.

Frankly speaking, I will switch to local primary school as ...

matthewdad

BabaTed
In additional to YYFung's comment, it is not easy to switch back to local school as most P1 interview expect the kid can read/write chinese(Mandrain) i.e. they will consider your kid cannot meet the requirement.

FYI, there are only a few IS has emphasis on Chinese such as Chinese International school but it is very difficult to get in and expansive.

I am not discourage you to do it (switch back to local school)  as I have seen some sucessful case but you need to have detail development plan before you make the decision.
Please check PM.

原帖由 YYFUNG 於 09-2-10 09:07 發表
Dear BabaTed,
I dont think the principal would show any disagreement to your decision, and she'd rather wish the parents was decisive and used Englsih also in non-school hours.

The rationale is that  ...

[ 本帖最後由 matthewdad 於 09-2-10 09:36 編輯 ]

alunsweeney

Hi

As I mentioned before, KBCK is our 1st priority but the only big problem for us is that this school is purely English and students will not be able to learn any Chinese characater. I understand that parents will organize different kinds of Chinese lessons after schools for their kids, however, I am not sure whether this direction is good for them.

One of my friends they are now sending their kids to Starters in the morning session, they put their kids to local kindergarten to learn Chinese. Their mother told me that she is not the only one to do this way.

My son was accepted by Victoria kindergarten but after the orientation date, I observed that the enlighs environment of the school is not strong enough to let students to speak good english. All teachers are Cantonese speakers, there are only 3 NET in the schools (they all are not Westerners!).
If we send our kid there, we still have to pay him money to practise English outside.

My friend's son is now studing in Chow Kai Yau Primary school, his English is very native because he studied at Yew Chung for 3 years. When he was interviewed by teachers in CKY, the teachers also quetioned about his level of Mandarin. Luckily he was able to show his basic level of Mandarin to the teachers and he was able to get the offer.

English is important because this is the most popular language in the world. But we can't ignore the importance of Chinese, especially MANDARIN too. Where is the best schooling for our kids to learn both languages!???!

bakusensei

Million thanks for YYFung, Matthewdad and others comments and valuable advice. :)

We've been to the interview and honestly, the interview env't was v. cozy. my kid enjoyed it and talked a lot. the principal was really nice and gave us much assurance.

we love the school. it's definately a gd place to develop interest in learning and self-confidence, acquiring social skill and building a strong eng. foundation............. not much pressure, learning thr play........... it's really gd as we ve decided to go for the int'l stream before the kid's birth (my husband is teaching in one of the local traditional elite secondary schools, "producing" lots of "A"  every year. yes, producing, like a factory!)

but we would advise parents think twice if they plan for a local primary school. for one thing, KBCK only offers K1-K2, you have to consider where to go at K3. for the other, the standard in local P.1 is abnormally high in HK. even kids from those local kinder not being too pushy cannot adapt the P1 curriculum.

alunsweeney

my interview will be taken place tomorrow ...wishing me good luck!

Chewy

______Deleted__________________

[ 本帖最後由 Chewy 於 09-2-20 23:50 編輯 ]

alunsweeney

sorry to reply you late

the interview was started at 10:20 am and we were asked to attend the K1 class with the students. Honestly speaking, I was very shocking because the class room was very messy. all toys were on the grounds and some students were reading in the reading corner. The other helper was making "咖哩角" for students. Some students were eating the food at the other corner. My husband and I walked out from the classroom and the corridor was even more messier. Many toys were placing in different places and some students were fighting. I spoken in Cantonese with my husband in a very low voice and some students heard our conversation and they immediately pointed to us in English, "English, English, speak in English."!!

The interview was conducted by the headmaster Ms Lola and one Chinese lady who spoke in fluent English. My son was asked to play the toys with the headmaster and my husband was interviewed by the Chinese lady. The conversation was a relaxed one. They just wanted to know your educational concept and the education path of your family.

At the end of the interview, the Chinese lady said the interview was postive and we will receive the letter in early March.

That's all I can share, if you do want to know more information, you are welcome to send me message to my email box.


Good luck with your interview and look forward to hearing your good news!
Kind regards,
Alun Sweeney

alunsweeney

I would like to share one more thing, according to the Chinese lady, there were over 150 applications and there are only 50 places for am and pm class!

The school enviornment, when comparing with YMCA Int'l Kindergarten is slightly old and messy. The majority of the kids are from Asian and parents are invited to be the volunteer from time to time.
+

Chewy

I have no comment on this school after I visited. And I am pretty sure, I will send my kid to Anfield in coming Sept for K1.

matthewdad

please check pm.

原帖由 Chewy 於 09-2-20 23:53 發表

I have no comment on this school after I visited. And I am pretty sure, I will send my kid to Anfield in coming Sept for K1.