讀國際學校是否最好先讀國際類型的幼稚園？

DonaldTsang

想請教大家應如何預備？坊間好多雙語幼稚園號稱國際幼稚園，但其實佢地的教學內容又好似不像Esf的幼稚園，起碼這些幼稚園是讀到K3的，請問如果想將來報讀國際學校，但又只是讀這些所謂國際幼稚園是可行嗎？

FattyDaddy

Depends on what international primary school you plan to send your children to, if you're aiming for ESF primary schools, it goes without saying that you should send them to an ESF kindergarten.

stanton.angela

You should definitely send your kid to international kindergartens that are connected to primary and secondary schools. ESF kindergarten, Chinese International School reception and German Swiss International School reception are very considerable choices.

DonaldTsang

原帖由 stanton.angela 於 12-08-25 發表
You should definitely send your kid to international kindergartens that are connected to primary and ...

Thank you so much. What do you mean " reception class"?

saikungmom

sometimes they call kindergarten "reception year".

DonaldTsang

原帖由 saikungmom 於 12-09-03 發表
sometimes they call kindergarten "reception year".

Oh I c as I thought reception class is equal to Y1. So does it mean k1 n k2 are known as reception class?

lui

原帖由 DonaldTsang 於 12-09-03 發表
Oh I c as I thought reception class is equal to Y1. So does it mean k1 n k2 are known as reception c ...

Yes. For age 4 up

DonaldTsang

原帖由 lui 於 12-09-04 發表
Yes. For age 4 up

Thank you

jolalee

All schools call them differently, sometimes pre-reception =k1 & reception =k2, but for some schools reception years = k1-3... The key is to check the age range on each of their website. Some starts at age 3 even.

Angela Stanton is right; Kindies with affliation are definitely good, but they're also very hard to get into. Many requires that the child is / close to being a native English speaker. Some other good international kindie options includes: Woodlands, Tutortime, Sunshine House etc. Please feel free to add to the list. I'm just pulling names out from my head :)

ktschan

Does it help to start at playground?

md23

Yes it does.

FattyDaddy

yeungsir2012 發表於 12-10-2 12:20
not necessarily, many kids go to local primary school first, then they apply to international school ...

Life is largely a game of chance and probability.

Why are the so called "dragon schools" so popular? The reason is attending their kindergarten provides a higher chance of proceeding to their primary school and subsequently their secondary school. Same goes for international schools, if a child starts off on the right foot, the path ahead is smoother. Even if "all roads lead to Rome", some roads are easier than others {:1_1:}

manfatcentre

原帖由 yeungsir2012 於 12-10-02 發表
not necessarily, many kids go to local primary school first, then they apply to international school ...

家陣應該困難很多，太多人爭位

Radiomama

Your idea is not up-to-date. To get a place in upper form (switch from local to int'l school), it's not easy nowadays. Study aboard somehow is easier.

ktschan

Yea I think nowadays is getting really competitive, any suggestion how to plan early ?

Fatrara

Not only that it is becoming harder and harder to switch to international schools by the year, you also need to consider the difficulty faced by the child in adapting to the switch.  And this assumes the child keeps up with his/her English fluency to be able to switch to an international school.   (Trust me, it is not at all easy trying to be able to speak like native not being in a complete English speaking school environment, unless you are a native English speaker at home)

The difficulty comes from the fact that international schools use the IB (IB similar) curriculum.   The training is all about developing in-depth reading & writing, and critical thinking abilities.  How to communicate and how to make your point of view presented to others.  A lot of debates, critical literature reviews, projects and presentations.    Kids in international schools are trained starting from Day 1 of Year 1.

Now imagine a kid who has gone through of 6 years of traditional education in which he/she is trained in filling in the blanks, multiple choices, memorizing facts and figures.  Then there you have it, boom... you put him/her in a totally unstructured learning environment in which he/she is required to write a lot of essays, presenting his/her ideas to the class.  Not easy.   Some very smart kids have done the switch successfully.   Some do it even later when they go on to universities overseas.   But not easy, not easy at all.     

I see many parents are trying to have it both ways, but only a very few can achieve that, and usually these are the ones whose kids are super smart anyway.   They do very well whatever school system you put them in.  Note this, most of our kids are good and smart, but not super smart.   Let them have a happy learning experience if you can afford it.

minirat

Fatrara 發表於 12-10-4 13:55
Not only that it is becoming harder and harder to switch to international schools by the year, you a ...

Thanks for your tips.  It somehow reinforced my understanding of local and international schools.  And I definitely share my sentiments about providing my child with a happy learning environment within what we can afford.  Personally I prefer the international style of teaching and emphasis on language development.  In fact, our ultimate aim is SIS, and I am trying to focus to be on the right track from start, since my boy is only 15 months old.  I agree with the owner of this thread that there are too many self-labelled international schools in the market now and it is not easy to judge which are the "real" international schools, or rather the "right" international schools for us, given that we already know we are aiming SIS.  And we should not forget to think ahead on a contingency plan, if we fail to get into SIS, which is a definite tough one.  Any advise?

oooray

那些號稱(其實不是號稱，是EDB攞正牌)國際幼稚園當然有不少成功考入IS例子；但更主要是服務那些一心行local school但又願意係kindergarten stage花些錢加強英語水平上local school小學同人砌的，或冇信心考到IS留條local school後路的家長。
反正各取所需...

Fatrara

回復 minirat 的帖子

I am not qualified to give advice, but I can share what I know.   One thing that I do not do though is to comment on which school is good which is not good.   It is all very personal and subjective.  Please forgive me.
When you said SIS,  I assume that is Singapore International School.    Other options within a more affordable range would be:

Christian Alliance International School -  It follows the Alberta/Canada curriculum.  No K1 and K2 though.  They have a Preparatory Class which is equivalent to K3.  It has primary and secondary schools.  That takes away some headaches after finishing primary education.  But you have to find a Kindergarten for K1 & K2.  A brand new campus is coming its way expected to be finished in a couple years of time (somewhere in West Kowloon reclaimed area?)

Norwegian International School - It has K1 and K2,  then primary school.  Currently no secondary school, but they are in the process of planning for one.   I heard that they should be able to have one in a few years of time.   Note that it is also a Christian belief based school.  In Taipo.

KCIS -  It follows the British curriculum.  It has K1 and K2, then Primary and secondary.  Again, this takes away a lot of headaches in finding schools every time the kids finish a section of the education.  It is in North Point.

Where do you live?  I personally think that being close to the school is important so the kids can get more sleep which is critical for their mental development.   It hurts to see that so many kids in local schools having to struggle with their homework until 10 or 11 p.m.  Then having to climb up at the crack of dawn to go to school.   I think pretty soon, we will have a generation of kids growing up so sleep deprived that all kinds of health problems to them will arise.

Hope this helps.