Is it good at ISF

mrshoho

I didn't expect a rude reply like this, I was just asking why. And you are correct, I didn't visit their website.

kfy

回復 CorinneCook 的帖子

Hi CorinneCook

My daughter is in Foundation Year now. She is very happy and I am satisfied with her academic development. We are purely Cantonese speaking family. She can now speak comfortably in English and PTH too.
Their language curriculum in Foundation Year is rigorous. She learned PTH pinyin and English phonics at the same time and mastered both pretty well now. Of course I have to help her at home e.g. read to her & read with her both Chinese and English storybooks. But she does not need extra tutorials.

My daughter's classmates are from all kinds of kindergartens, to name a few : Victoria, Tutortime, St. Catherine, KCS, Woodland, Yew Chung etc. But I would suggest you choose a bilingual  school. Learning to recognize Chinese words and write some certainly would help your kid in ISF.

Hope it helps.

Birkin

kfy:  My child received an offer from ISF for the Foundation Year program.  I know they have a pretty strong Chinese/Mandarin curriculum but how about their English?  We were all told by the Principal at the parents' meeting that they expect their lower school students to lag behind in English for the initial years as they do 70% in Mandarin and 30% in English up to Grade 4/5 and then gradually catching up in English...

kfy

Hi Birkin
Congratulations!
Yes, in FY to Grade 3 they only have 30% curriculum in English, including English Language (mainly Phonics in FY), English Math and English Guided Discovery.
For my daughter's case, she has big improvement in English because she was from a local kindergarten with minimal English and she did not learn phonics before. Now she can speak English fluently and starts reading simple books by herself and writing some English sentences. She speaks mostly English (a little bit PTH) during playtime.
I heard about other classmates from international kindergarten. They commented that their kids' English level improved in a slower pace then before.
Hence, in terms of English, ISF should be weaker than international schools but stronger than local schools in general.
I think it is very important to develop the reading habit. The English teacher requested parents to read with kids at home, at least one book a day. Usually I read chapter book (e.g. Magic School Bus) to my daughter and let her read a graded reader to me everyday. Furthermore, the school library provided online resources, we have account to access USA elibrary and my daughter read ebooks (with read-aloud function) almost everyday.

Birkin

Many thanks, kfy.

What are the school hours and do they have school bus services? I couldn't find such info' on ISF's website. Thanks!

elock

Hi, your information is in good details, but should that be a concern for working parents regarding the reading homework you mentioned?

It sounds like the school is merely a mirror image of local school with different packaging.  Am I right?

Please advise!  Thank you.

kfy

Hi Birkin
The school hour is 8am - 210pm for FY and 8am - 330pm for other grades. There are bus services for most areas including Kowloon. The service is provided by Koon Chung. The school will provide you with the info on the registration date. I drive my daughter to school everyday and the arrangement is quite smooth.

kfy

Hi elock

Well, it may be hard for some busy parents but I consider that reading with kids is a very good habit for all families. I am a working mum myself though I enjoy high flexibility in my work. My friends with kids in ESF also read with their kids and they have parent workshop on how to read with children. If the parents are too busy or cannot read Chinese, I think hiring tutor may be an alternative.

I do not know how to answer your 2nd question, as I cannot comment much about mirror image of local school.

ISF is offering IB curriculum instead of local curriculum. As such, the students may not memorize a lot of hard knowledge but they are supposed to be "inquirers" and need to have creativity and research ability - hence reading plus good analytical skills are important to survive in IB curriculum.

Say, I was quite impressed when my daughter told me casually (I never ask the question "what did you learn in school?") about the planets in solar system or about characteristics of dinosaurs. She was keen to search on the internet for more information (of course with my help). I was happy because she was interested. I don't expect her to remember those facts forever ... you can look up the information again anytime if you like. I think going to school nowadays the major objective is learning how to learn and how to solve problems.

On the other hand, I do not say that local schools are inferior. The local curriculum also has very good initiatives and lots of teachers are good and with heart. The only issue is resource problem. If all local schools can have more teachers such that each teacher can have more spare time slots for lesson planning, I am sure that the situation will be much better.

Birkin

kfy: Many thanks for your sincere and unbiased responses :)

elock

Thank you kfy for your detailed reply!

You said you were a working mom with flexible schedule, and so you were able to read with your kid.  Does that mean fixed schedule parents will find it hard to achieve this?  

Reading Chinese books: in Mandarin I supposed, am I right?  If parents do not know Mandarin, will it be a problem?

Lastly, in your experience, are teachers really open to questions asked by the students or they may find them offensive and time consuming?

Thank you.

kfy

Dear elock

Yes, actually I quit my job since my daughter was born and eventually changed to this new position. Sometimes I think that it's a matter of priority. And being a mom is an excellent training for self-discipline ... You have to take care of her even if you are extremely tired. You make her sleep before you dare go to bed ... Bittersweet, right?

Regarding reading to kids, I consider it's irrelevant to which school she is attending. I have a friend from Norway who is teaching in university. You know the kids in Norway do not receive formal education before 7. However, the daddy every night spends at least 2 hours read with his daughter. And he said it's the norm in Norway. That's one of the reasons they got such a high mark in PISA.

elock

Thank you kfy.

You forgot to reply my question about students asking lots of questions in class! Will these be considered as offensive to the teachers?

Thank you.

kfy

Hi elock

Good morning! Let me continue.

My daughter is only in Foundation Year. Up to now, I perceive that the school encourages student participation and active learning. The school is quite strict in discipline. Definitely, they train the students to raise their hands before speaking out. However I never heard anyone being discouraged or punished due to asking too much questions.

The teacher plays the major role in classroom management and as a learning facilitator. A good teacher will somehow control the dynamics and guide the students to ask or answer question that will direct to the expected learning outcomes.

Birkin

Spantan: Please share more information on what you have heard from your freinds.  We need to decide whether or not to accept ISF's offer very soon.  This is very important to us and our child.  Many thanks!

Anne1999

回復 spantan 的帖子

I handed in the application form of Grade 7 for my girl, , i just heard the positive stuffs from ISF, could you tell us some more, please?

kfy

Dear Spantan
Thanks for your advice.
As a parent in ISF I certainly hope that my daughter will be happy in school.

Sometimes I talked with other ISF parents of higher grades.  Some have elder kids in other IS (e.g. HKIS) while putting the younger one in ISF. Hearing they sharing their rationale of choosing a school let me learn more.

I read your post about choosing school and I feel that you are a very thoughtful parent. While you may not want to share what exactly happened to your friend, maybe you can share with us your view about the weaknesses of ISF.

tingtingting

Hi Spantan,

I personally guarantee that in every school you can find both happy and unhappy parents, as you can find the most perfect and problem kids.  The problem kids may not reflect very well on their parents but (it may offend but I'm going to say it anyway) the fact is that problem kids are more likely to have problem parents.  It is true that some kids are "stuck" as you said.  But chances are that they'll get stuck wherever they go unless there are some changes in the fundamental.  I happen to know quite a few parents (who have kids at other local and overseas big names) who actually rate ISF higher than others.

tingtingting

Can't comment on Christian values or personal judgment.  There are people who actually prefer Francis Chan to Charles Freeman.