Learning habitat

redappleh

Recently we plan to let our kid go to preschools and thus also started to visit kindergartens in Hong Kong. We've been to preschool interviews at different kindergartens. As a psychology professor, I really do not agree with how learning habitat interviewed and selected their students. I think it is ok to ask kids to name objects or match colors as a way to understand their development. However, I do not think it is right to use the results of these tests as a way to "assess" whether they can get admission or not. On the notification letter, they said "according to our assessment ...", but what they assessed was mostly developmental differences due to age. These are kids between 1-2 years old; as we know, one month during this period makes a lot of difference; kids who couldn't name objects during the interview were most likely because they were simply not ready. Also, girls in general have faster language development, and bilinguals in general have slower language development; these individual differences in development do not mean girls are smarter than boys or monolinguals are better. Thus, their interview process and attitude just sounds so ridiculous to me. I wonder whether they ended up with getting mostly older girls.

jeff76916

True. But the existence of so many education books written by developmental psychologists cautioning against accelerating their learning schedule years ahead is proof that this is a world phenomena, or problem to be precise. The real problem is that too many parents believe that learning much more difficult stuff at younger ages promotes a child's intelligence. That belief transform into expectations on schools as well. As a result, all aggressive high profile schools are doing what they are being expected.

zoeyin

my baby was born in Nov, i also fear that she would fail the interviews since she is a "small baby" ...

hecabb

It's true. My son borned in Jul2010, he had his 1st PN interview when he was only 13 months old, teacher ask him to told his name and answer who accompany you to the interview? It is funny that they expect a one year old baby to tell his name and answer the questions! My son end up accepted by the nursery which not interview with 'language" assessment.

Virginia_Arare

That's what most of the top tier kindergartens doing during interview for N & K1. Well I don't agree with this kind of interview but it seems it is a general way of assessment towards children by teachers in a limited time of interview nowadays.

There are still some kindergartens having interview without asking children questions but instead, teachers observe the interaction and relationship between parents and children during the interview. That's what I have experienced from Ning Lam pre-nursery class interivew last year. It is a great respect to both of parents & children as I don't feel pressure during interview and let my daughter to feel the environment. As she was very relax and enjoying much when she played inside the classroom, we accepted the offer from Ning Lam finally which I think it's the best choice for my active daughter.

torunpoland

It is exactly the reason that I felt upset with such a reputable nursery which had been one of my top favourites. After the interview I just felt that I had a bad taste similar to loving someone I shouldn't have. The feeling has nothing to do with that if my kid is admitted or not but the way the so-called assessment was carried out as the almost only selection criterium.

Christi

有一間在九龍塘很出名的幼稚園,PN的面試經驗如下:

1.和小朋友在門外等了1小時;
2.入去登記之後,6位小朋友坐在枱上玩玩具,老師問家長問題(actually 只有2條:平時邊個照顧?平時用什麼語言溝通?)
3.該6位小朋友移師去旁邊的地毯,坐好,聽老師講英文故事(與此同時,附近環境極嘈雜)
4.聽完故事,6位小朋友站起來,走到一旁沒有地毯的位置,突然,音樂響起(因為很嘈,基本上聽唔到是什麼歌),小朋友要隨即投入起隨歌起舞...
5.面試完畢,跟老師說再見.

最厲害是,由以上的第2點到第5點,一共只用了10分鐘. 所以,如果某位小朋友經歷這種面試而獲取錄,我真心的佩服!

樓主你說你是psychology professor,你會如何評價這種面試方式? 我只覺得小朋友變了機器,設了開關制,一按on,他們要立即進入狀態,一按off,就要準備下一環節.

我想說,還有更多幼稚園的面試更crazy ! 你提到的LH的評估方法,其實很多幼稚園也在用,或者,你因此會對很多幼稚園的面試感到難以理解.

這是什麼問題?

2歲的小朋友要測驗他一些什麼? 2歲小朋友本來就是吃睡和玩的階段.

問題出在社會普遍存有的[贏在起跑線]的心線.特別是家長.越來越多家長有各種原因,大包圍去報考幼稚園. 於是,一間幼稚園有100個位,居然有2000人去報名.在2000人裡面,能達到2歲小朋友應該達到的能力的,假設有1800人.理論上,這1800人都應該可以入學.問題是,只有100個位,於是挑選方法越來越誇張. 你想想,CCKG只收80多人(K2),有3-4000人去考,CCKG可以怎樣做評估? 先到先得?

問題的根源在哪裡?

我看,大部份出自家長身上.

jeff76916

All of what you have said are so true. It is the market force (ordinary parents' wishes) that drive those schools to travel on the wrong path.

redappleh

Thanks a lot for all the feedback. I agree that some parents' misconception about what is the best for their kids is one major driven force. However, as "prestigious" kindergartens, I think they should really be more professional rather than reinforce the misconception.

We only applied for three kindergartens for PN around where we live, and the other two were more reasonable: Kids did a group activity with singing, dancing or some simple tasks such as pick up a toy and put it into a basket, which were more age appropriate. One of them had an interview with the parents too to understand the family background. I do not think they are actually able to "rank" 2-year-old kids, and thus it is ok for them to select kids according to their preference. However, it was just not right to use some age-inappropriate tests as their assessment and gave parents a wrong message that their kids did not "pass the assessment".

tofee

回復 Christi 的帖子

i think you mean keen X?actually i'm agree with you as my daughter is the slow warm kid, she needs to warm up in every strange place.
however, most interview just hold for 5-10mins to access the kids, i think it's not fair.
just want to say, after interview several kindergartens, i think York is the best interview holder, as they will hold a group singing and exercise before the interview, let the kid warm up and cheer them up. my daughter very enjoy and doing well in that interview after warm up! even though lots of ppl think York is money-oriented (i think most kindergartens are) but at least they will do more and pay more time to discover all kids talent.