對ESF kinder的疑惑 ......

foreverbb

我囝囝剛入esf kinder K1,返左學幾日,發現大部分時間都係小朋友自己玩(玩下火車,玩下kitchen set),冇老師理會(或者可以講佢地唔會主動照顧每一個學生),circle time得45mins,其他時間都冇人理......比起以前間international kinder,佢地多好多活動,唔係只係玩玩具,起碼會做下勞作,好多explore activities,esf kinder的老師好似冇乜heart,行行企企,有D仲坐係度發呆,唔係好落心(希望係我睇錯!),人多到佢地根本控制唔到,亦唔想控制......

真係好擔心,係咪揀錯左學校俾囝囝?

我見BK的mami對esf kinder都有好的評價,唔知係唔係咁先學到野?(但每日玩火車都學到野?......真係好擔心......)

little_bunny

Hi  foreverbb,

Which esf are you studying??

原帖由 foreverbb 於 09-9-1 17:00 發表
我囝囝剛入esf kinder K1,返左學幾日,發現大部分時間都係小朋友自己玩(玩下火車,玩下kitchen set),冇老師理會(或者可以講佢地唔會主動照顧每一個學生),circle time得45mins,其他時間都冇人理......比起以前間interna ...

牛津

唔好咁擔心, 可能d老師係觀察緊佢地, 始終老師同學生都係剛剛認識

原帖由 foreverbb 於 09-9-1 17:00 發表
我囝囝剛入esf kinder K1,返左學幾日,發現大部分時間都係小朋友自己玩(玩下火車,玩下kitchen set),冇老師理會(或者可以講佢地唔會主動照顧每一個學生),circle time得45mins,其他時間都冇人理......比起以前間interna ...

foreverbb

sw esf

希望只係剛剛開學先係咁啦,但我睇佢地的"typical K1 session in sw",大部分時間都係open play,小朋友點會咁叻主動搵老師,如果老師唔主動,小朋友真係會"hea"足一日!

hellopigpig

forever bb
Can I ask which ESF?And how many children to one teacher?
Thanks

foreverbb

Sheung Wan

teacher/student ratio around 1:6-7

其實老師係足夠,不過佢地大部分都唔會主動,only望住小朋友,多都冇用(起碼冇乜老師理過我個囝!)

hellopigpig

bb,

Actually,I think so,
I join one international kindergarten playground,not ESF,the teacher teach over 10 student,but only care 1 to 2 kids,
if this condition continue,I think you should change the school

原帖由 foreverbb 於 09-9-1 17:46 發表
Sheung Wan

teacher/student ratio around 1:6-7

其實老師係足夠,不過佢地大部分都唔會主動,only望住小朋友,多都冇用(起碼冇乜老師理過我個囝!)

蜜蜜

原帖由 hellopigpig 於 09-9-1 18:43 發表
bb,

Actually,I think so,
I join one international kindergarten playground,not ESF,the teacher teach over 10 student,but only care 1 to 2 kids,
if this condition continue,I think you should change th ...

my daughter attends SW ESF too, i do think the teachers were not taking care of one single child at all time, the teachers walked around, looking at this one then moved on to another, and most of the children played on their own,  especially when the children were with their parents/helpers/grandparents. so i dropped her off and left from the 3rd day, and that i didn't see much, i don't want to worry about that as it's only the beginning of the school, as long as my daughter loves the school, i'm satisfied. moreover, when the time that i picked up my daughter, i asked them questions about what  my daughter did, the EAs and teacher could at least tell me what she has done, so i think, they did watched what they were doing. besides, the most important is, from the first day, i told myself that i must not depend on the school to teach much to my daughter in kindergarten (in fact every kindergarten even the locals, except those like KV, start dictation in K2, but i don't want my girl to suffer in writing pages of homework at this early age!) therefore, now my target is to go to ESF primary which i believe will be good for her in future, then i'll let her stay. at least, the teachers are quite nice in front of me. may be situation will change later on, let's wait and see.

[ 本帖最後由 蜜蜜 於 09-9-2 00:01 編輯 ]

kohuei

Parents were invited to the ESF Kindergartens for a talk before signing the contract. I still remember very clearly what the principal shared during that talk - learn through play...I also remembered she said, if you don't believe in our philosophy, don't sign the contract. If you decide to sign the contract, you have to believe in us.

Anyway, I suggest you go to their  curriculum overview page and have a read. http://www.esf.org.hk/esf_kindergarten/curriculum/overview.asp

oooray

原帖由 kohuei 於 09-9-1 22:45 發表
Parents were invited to the ESF Kindergartens for a talk before signing the contract. I still remember very clearly what the principal shared during that talk - learn through play...I also remembered  ...

Exactly!
Parents should ask themselves before making any complaints : why did u sign the contract?
Just for doing artwork; learning vocabulary or find someone one on one taking care your children (same as your domestic helper?)?
I'm so happy that my child can explore and learn in such environment, totally different from those famous kindergarten : duck-feeding or so-called well-packaged by "active learning" but the content remains traditional and everything is  inside a rigid frame...

蜜蜜

原帖由 foreverbb 於 09-9-1 17:46 發表
Sheung Wan

teacher/student ratio around 1:6-7

其實老師係足夠,不過佢地大部分都唔會主動,only望住小朋友,多都冇用(起碼冇乜老師理過我個囝!)

foreverbb, did u try the parent login? go to look through it, i think u will feel better afterwards.

foreverbb

我唔係想complaint,我都相信learn through play,不過在玩的途中,老師係咪應該從旁協助,而唔係坐係度"望"?如果老師只係望住小朋友,咁真係同請個工人差不多,我的意思係小朋友應要有很多空間,但不代表老師可以坐視不理,老師有老師應有的角色,例如開始open play之前可以介紹下有咩活動可以玩,讓小朋友可以自由選擇,呢個係有冇"heart"的問題,正如我之前所講,有D international school都可以做到,點解esf唔可以?

Sorry!我真係擔心先問下大家意見,唔係想針對esf,我都想囝囝讀完出黎的結果係正面,有咩得罪請見諒!

Cara2006

原帖由 foreverbb 於 09-9-2 09:36 發表
我唔係想complaint,我都相信learn through play,不過在玩的途中,老師係咪應該從旁協助,而唔係坐係度"望"?如果老師只係望住小朋友,咁真係同請個工人差不多,我的意思係小朋友應要有很多空間,但不代表老師可以坐視不理, ...

You have come to the wrong place.

Here, no negative comments about ESF is allowed. Whenever there is complaints, the problem must be you.

I think there are 2 things that we all know:

(1) ESF kindergartens are well known to be poorer than other english speaking kindergartens. The teachers are not doing most other kindergartens are doing. If the actual quality is what you want, you should choose other kindergartens.

(2) However, ESF kindergartens do have priorities for interviews at ESF primary schools. So many parents ultimate targets are the primary schools because that priority means a lot to them. If you want the priority, you may want to stick to ESF kindergarten.

But you cannot get both worlds.

The problem with the quality of ESF kindergarten has been raised here many times. This is known to most parents. So no more new discussions here anymore. If you want, you many have to seek older topics. Those may have been very old topics so they have sank to the bottom.

Regarding the problems with ESF (teachers, admin, etc), ESF knows it, parents know it. But once they still get the priority with the primary schools, they have no problems with the sourse of students. If it was not because of the priority they have with ESF primary, I doubt anyone would choose ESF kindergartens at all.

One more thing to bear in mind. Many genuinely english speaking families do not choose ESF kindergartens. Most ESF kids are local chinese. No matter what they claim, the kids do speak a lot in canontese at school. My neice actually have learnt perfect cantonese after staying with ESF TY for one year. Some of the words she learned were really rude (eg 死人頭, 癡線). So you can imagine the quality of the kids. She has always been total english speaking kid and knows no cantonese or mandarin, not even simple sentenses. So parents might want to bear in mind that the english environment is not as strong as you think.

matthewdad

This is a new concept and I found the result is very interesting. My son has just finished K1 in a school with teaching style similar to ESF (not ESF kinder).He only has few minutes of singing, show and tell and not much instruction from teacher. He spent most of his time playing in different classrooms (all K1, K2 kids are mix together). I took him to do Cambridge pre-starter test and he nearly got full score and eligible to attend Starter course (for P1, P2 kids) although he is about to be 4 years old by the end of this year.

原帖由 Cara2006 於 09-9-2 10:14 發表


You have come to the wrong place.

Here, no negative comments about ESF is allowed. Whenever there is complaints, the problem must be you.

I think there are 2 things that we all know:

(1) ESF kind ...

oooray

原帖由 Cara2006 於 09-9-2 10:14 發表


You have come to the wrong place.

Here, no negative comments about ESF is allowed. Whenever there is complaints, the problem must be you.

I think there are 2 things that we all know:

(1) ESF kind ...

Cara2006,
Thanks for your impressive comments.
A few points to clarify:
0. I, as an ESF parent, don't think negative comments on ESF is bad as long as they are reasonable;
1. foreverbb has not in the wrong place. I had a few chat with foreverbb before and i had told her the same as your point 2;
2. your point 1 : Does ESF kinder is poorer? Personally, I don't know at the moment. I may tell u 2 years later (after my little son has completed his kindergarten stage so that i could make a fair judgement between ESF kinder and a non-ESF kinder). Of course, you can conclude that if u have enough experiences about that;
3. For the rest of your points, I generally agree with you.
4. I would like to re-emphasize, most probably ESF kinder are not the best (or actually one of worst in your mind) kinder in Hong Kong.
The fact is that Priority for ESF Pirmary is really an important factor for Cat. 2 parents targeting ESF primary, especially they are expanding their kindergarten in terms of no. of campus and size in 2009 to 2010. (ESF primary may be not so attractive to many parents, but that is another topic for discussions).

almom

It has only been a couple of weeks since school started. What possibly could the school have done with the children? Teach them trigonometry? Teach them how to do a somersault?

Relax! I assure you that almost ALL KINDERGARTENS would probably be just trying to run in during the first month for K1.

Of course teachers would not be able to attend to all kids at the same time. A kindergarten is not a one-on-one care provider. Parents need to be more hands-off.

Yes, leave your kid in the hands of the school. Go home, go to work, and relax. Your child is likely to get hurt, get ignored, get pinched, etc. That is normal kindergarten life. We are not talking about an one-on-one 100% attention personal nanny service. It is a school and no matter how small the class size is, and how huge the teacher to student proportion is, your child would never get full attention all the time.

Your child is a human being. She/He is small but she/he is less fragile and much smarter than you can imagine. And she/he does not need a one-on-one carer.

oooray

原帖由 foreverbb 於 09-9-2 09:36 發表
我唔係想complaint,我都相信learn through play,不過在玩的途中,老師係咪應該從旁協助,而唔係坐係度"望"?如果老師只係望住小朋友,咁真係同請個工人差不多,我的意思係小朋友應要有很多空間,但不代表老師可以坐視不理, ...

I was not complaining your "comments".
As you told me before, ESF primary is (was?) your target. That's why i suggest you go for ESF kinder.
(So am I).
Life is always give and take.
Now you will have a higher priority for interview...
U can supplement those you are not satisfied in ESF kinder after your class.
But u cannot supplement a priority for ESF interview even if your child is studying in a perfect and ideal non-ESF kindergarten.

蜜蜜

原帖由 thankful 於 09-9-2 13:08 發表
foreverbb,

Don't worry too much about it.  It has always been the way.  My 2 nephews went through the same thing in ESF and they managed to get into good universities eventually.  If you don't like  ...

echo to thankful, "One's individual academic results also depend a lot on his own abilities as well as the time and effort he puts in." ... plus the time & effort you - the parents put in! my daughter has not been to nursery before entering ESF K1, she is now able to read English textbooks of my Primary 3 cousin and at least 150 Chinese words, i can tell, this is not because she is "gifted" (which most of my friends think she is), but because in the past 3 years, i spent all of my time being with her, reading stories and playing word games with her after work everyday. this is because i always remind myself not to depend on the kindergarten to teach in academic but to depend on myself to teach my daughter as much as i can. kindergarten is a place that my girl can make friends with, learning to be independence and a place to explore & experience in different matters, which i can never teach her at home. children learn things every minute while playing, that's why we need toys for them!!

[ 本帖最後由 蜜蜜 於 09-9-2 13:49 編輯 ]

oooray

原帖由 蜜蜜 於 09-9-2 13:44 發表


echo to thankful, "One's individual academic results also depend a lot on his own abilities as well as the time and effort he puts in." ... plus the time & effort you - the parents put in! my daught ...

Yes. I was paying much of my attention how my son interact with other children and whether he can make friends there (rather than how can he learn. In fact, i noticed quite a no. of parents asking teachers in the first day about "what" we their children learn...)