Singapore International School vs ISF Academy

fanapril

My daughter got offer from one of the two schools, but will very likely get the offer from the other as well. Any suggestion on which one to chose? We are very focused on her Chinese foundation, and it seems ISF is better in terms of Chinese? However, SIS is better in terms of academic? Much appreciated your insights!

type409

回覆 fanapril 的帖子

Depends on what circle of friends you want your daughter to hang out with...

fanapril

Thank you. Can you kindly elaborate how the friends circle different from each other? And how about quality of education?

type409

As you mentioned your daughter may get offers from both, you should have visited them quite often recently. So what can you tell from your visits?
The only "big" difference I would say is the chinese subject, traditional chinese vs simplified chinese.

ikerberg

My boy is studying at P2 in SIS...I know nothing about the Chinese standard of ISF [except they adopt 'traditional Chinese characters']...but what can I say is SIS's Chinese curriculum has been revised in the past 1-2 years, and accordingly it is very advanced now.... what I can say the content of my boy's Chinese learning is a lot more difficult than those of mine when I was studying at a traditional Chinese primary school... for example... they are now learning and being able to 造句.....by being offered.... "雖然"...."但是".... which as far as I could remember was P.3's standard at my time... they at just P.2 are now even learning the difference between "比喻" / "擬人", which as far as I could remember was P.4's content at my time.

So, I doubt it very much when anybody says SIS's Chinese standard is lower than any IS .... but frankly speaking, I think SIS's Chinese teaching is reaching the maximum point that most parents would accept...and I think if the contents are higher than the current standard, it would attract criticism for being too difficult...so, in brief, the current Chinese standard of SIS is difficult enough...You can prove it by going to SIS's bookstore and ask the staff to let you have a look of the text books they are using...

964000

原帖由 fanapril 於 15-02-07 發表
My daughter got offer from one of the two schools, but will very likely get the offer from the other ...

主要是繁體字同簡體字的分別

caa

Math at SIS may be better as singapore's math is renowned

fanapril

Thank you. This is very helpful. Ikerberg, your discription about Chinese level is very convincing. May I ask 3 follow up questions? (1) other than the Chinese class, is the rest of class taught in English? Eg math? Science? I am asking because in ISF other subjects (eg math) is also taught in Chinese, and the Chinese : English ratio is 70:30 at earlier years which I found interesting. (2) how does sis focus on traditional Chinese culture education? In ISF, they focus on 八德一智（忠孝仁etc) and kids learn 三字经、弟子规etc. Does SIS only focus on learning Chinese but not Chinese culture? (3) is it absolutely guaranteed for Kindergarten kids to get into primary school program? Any assessment ion selection process in sis? Many thanks.

964000

fanapril 發表於 15-2-7 09:40
Thank you. This is very helpful. Ikerberg, your discription about Chinese level is very convincing.  ...

You are so lucky to have these two great schools to choose from.May I ask you which kinder are you in now? Did your kid speak fluent mandarin and english?
Are you singaporean too?
sorry for so many questions but either one will be my dreamschool

HKTHK

回覆 ikerberg 的帖子

Better to compare with other schools instead of back in our times since Chinese standards in HK has moved up a lot. What you said sounds similar to LS or current ISF students in middle primary. ISF has made its Chinese program even harder the last two years. Parents with kids in both LS and ISF has commented that the Chinese program is now harder than LS but potential parents will have to decide whether they want that since the curriculum is not easy.

HKTHK

回覆 fanapril 的帖子

I thought the two schools have different entry year?
The two schools are quite similar and probably more on the academic side with better Chinese than most other similar types of schools in HK. What this also means is they aren't as well rounded in terms of sports, music and other ECA. I don't think you can do badly with either one. Better to visit both schools in person to get a feel for what the community is like.  Try talking to the students as well if possible.

Jane1983

SIS的中文吾淺，同學中吾少中文係勁(可能歸功家長努力)，普通話朗誦比賽參加的人多，獲奬也多，睇得出有個氣氛。但因為近一兩年無論local和IS，中文都加了料，所以難比較，但聽講讀寫係够用有餘。

Jane1983

至于中華文化，有看名著，有教孝順等，但佢吾係教你熱愛中華，為自己係中國自豪等等，始终角度吾同。

picture

原帖由 Jane1983 於 15-02-07 發表
至于中華文化，有看名著，有教孝順等，但佢吾係教你熱愛中華，為自己係中國自豪等等，始终角度吾同。 ...

請問多大陸移民嗎？

Jane1983

回覆 picture 的帖子

有的，有些聽落是移民新加坡或海外，但somehow在香港居住，有些是在國內讀IS，隨父母來港。

annie40

good point

mama530

SIS 小學生除每天有中文課外，每星期有两節文化欣賞課，印象中兒子在小一時會讀西遊記等名著，過新年會教剪紙，寫揮春等，小二時睇葫蘆兄弟民间故事，呢排教成語，又會排下成語故事話劇，都是趣味性活動為主。

jilin1960

一定是SIS 。

ikerberg

some more points to add for your consideration:

1. proficiency in PTH - they complete teaching PINYIN [併音] in 8 weeks in P1... which I thought was kind of 'mission impossible' [considering some IS spend 1 year to do the same], but the children did it....after learning PINYIN, my boy had very good grasp of distinguishing between the subtle differences between 一聲 vs 四聲, as well as...二聲 vs 三聲....and he was able to correct me if I was confused with them, haha...

2. Looking it from a broader prospective, Singapore [as a country] embraces pragmatism and elitism...and see who have been the winner in Asia after globalization? [Singapore and Korea, I think]..... and see who have been advancing in global ranking in education?  It would tell you something about what systems are working and what's not...and who will be the winner in the coming decades....therefore, being brought up in a better system with values and skills equipped for competition in the global village is a privilege the school can offer..... [from the bottom of my heart, I love HK, but you know what I mean]...

3. They have drama class from day one of PY1..... I do not intend to elaborate on this point, but doing drama is the best way to develop 'multiple intelligence'.... speaking, presentation/expression, co-operation, and even leadership.... I just meant... how smart and forward-looking the school was when I knew that they intentionally put so much emphasis on this.

fanapril

Thank you, everyone. This is very helpful. We don't have Singapore passport.