Vic Kindy to IS?

Atecila

貝珠 發表於 17-7-23 15:20
I knew one who is study in Vic k1, I never understand what she says in English. Actually, she was bo ...

Thanks for the example! Yes we don't want to exclude Cantonese all together as it's  the family language which he needs to master for bonding with relatives and grannies etc. i also avoid broken English  (but need to stop my in laws from saying things in half English and Cantonese to him). I am actually comfortable in speaking English to him (given I have to speak mostly English at work all along in my career for over 10 years). Just thinking if it's the right/effective way for my son.

Dear-Valerie

del.

ratafan

Atecila 發表於 17-7-23 16:01
Thanks for the example! Yes we don't want to exclude Cantonese all together as it's  the family lan ...

I guess it is not only bonding with the old generation, it is also the love and bonding between mother and son/daughter. I believe you need to pick a language which you feel most comfortable and carefree to communicate with your child. The conversation between parents and kids is not just functional, it has to include a lot of implicit feelings which can only be effectively expressed in your true first language.

964000

ratafan 發表於 17-7-23 17:32
I guess it is not only bonding with the old generation, it is also the love and bonding between mot ...

That's what I thought too. But sometimes I saw couple of a white man with a south East Asian wife who speak quite poor English, and yet they seem to work out quite well, so I start to reflect how does this work and can it be extrapolated to parents and offsprings relationship?

siubotze

mandy_ng207 發表於 17-7-23 15:56
回覆 siubotze 的帖子

Congratulations on your girl's achievement. I'm just curious, why didn't you h ...

After our Filipino helper finished her contract and left HK, we hired an Indonesian helper who used to work for my friend for years until she no longer need a helper.  She speaks fluent Cantonese with very little English.  I do hope that I can spend more time with my girl but I have always been a working mom.  

Overall, sending a kid to international school is not only a matter of different medium of instruction, but also the acceptance to a different culture than what I was brought up.  I do believe the kid absorbs other language like a sponge and we should not worry too much on her fluency at this age.  Stuff ranging from socialising with fellow parents, organising play date to close to zero homework but with projects of a variety of topics are things I found it harder to adapt.  

Atecila

siubotze 發表於 17-7-23 20:01
After our Filipino helper finished her contract and left HK, we hired an Indonesian helper who used ...

Thanks siubotze for your experience. Right - Probably we need to adapt to a new way of teaching at IS and language is not everything. Yet, Just wondering if you mind sharing - seems you also want your girl to have some level of Chinese (hence you have withdrawn the GSIS offer). Have you considered applying for CIS for your child?

chocosub

My girl is 3 now (finished Vic PN, going on K1) and I think she is pretty much bilingual in Cantonese and English.

We are a Cantonese speaking family with relatively good English. I am a ESF graduate while my husband is local school graduate but university educated abroad.

My baby's first language is English as we are both working parents and she is exposed to filipino helper all day. When we hired the helper, one of the key things we looked for was good english and grammar. When she started learning to talk at 1-2 years, she clearly preferred english and my husband and I just continued to speak to her in English as it was easier to get her to understand. Of course we would try to communicate to her in Cantonese too but she clearly preferred English.

However, when she started PN at 2 at Vic, I was slightly concerned because at our campus at least, majority of parents are cantonese speaking, and hence her classmates are also cantonese speaking. From one some of their interactions, I felt that she wasn't socialising as much as she could since her friends couldn't understand what she was saying in English (and she didn't understand the cantonese). Hence I increased the effort to speak to her more in Cantonese at home, but it wasn't until Christmas when we took a weeklong trip together (without helper, so full cantonese immersion) that I felt her cantonese greatly improved. In the second semester, I found that she seemed more happy at school and was better at socializing.

Her english hasn't deteriorated as it is still used everyday and I can easily get her to switch languages depending on who she is talking to. So I feel that it is pretty easy to get kids to pick up languages at this age as long as they are fully immersed in the environment for a while. I am currently very happy with her language abilities in both Canto and English and the next battle for us is the Putonghua which we dont use at home regularly but slowly she is beginning to sing songs and communicate in simple answers. This ability I solely attribute to the teaching at Vic, but she is definately not fluent in PTH so I'd imagine if I had no english at all at home, her english may be at a similar level.

So I think overall, Vic provides the medium for all 3 languages but whether your child can be fluent really depends on your work at home.

mandy_ng207

回覆 siubotze 的帖子

oic. Thanks for your reply.
I was quite scared of the difference in culture before I apply for IS but I've been actually looking forward to it after I decided to switch from local to IS. I think my family does not teach in a "local" way, although I was brought up in a traditional girls' school also. Do you enjoy getting along with parents from IS?

964000

mandy_ng207 發表於 17-7-24 13:17
回覆 siubotze 的帖子

oic. Thanks for your reply.

Actually one of the reason I choose IS is because  I think I cannot get along with the local school parents myself. Well I am not saying it in a bad way but just we are different types, they are generally more obsessed with rankings and grades and comparisons and competitions. Not to mention the culture of schools and teachers.

halvard

I am very impressed by this thread of conversation as this has been one of the most constructive and friendly chats I have come across!

I am also a working mom and my child is going to attend vic's PN this summer.  The drilling and all sorts of competitions in local school appear to be visual nightmares and I am seriously considering going into the other stream instead.

I agree with 964000 that one of the many reasons not going to local schools are the parents who focuses only on academic achievement!!

I am currently looking into IS/ESF/VSA and exploring which is the best for our child and family.

Can I ask
1) what do I have to prepare for my child to get into one of them?
2) if it is difficult for cantonese speaking family (conversant with English) to mingle in one of the schools listed in the above?
3) other than school tuition, are there a lot of misc fees to pay?

siubotze

Atecila 發表於 17-7-24 09:53
Thanks siubotze for your experience. Right - Probably we need to adapt to a new way of teaching at  ...

To be frank, I did consider applying for CIS but I ended up give up.  I know a couple of CIS graduates or parents.  They are all from very well off family.  We are just ordinary working class and I would rather bringing up my girl in a more down to earth environment.  At the end of the day, we are planning to send her to boarding school in UK hence it is important for her to get familiarised with Brit culture too.  

siubotze

mandy_ng207 發表於 17-7-24 13:17
回覆 siubotze 的帖子

oic. Thanks for your reply.

I quite enjoy spending time with expat or more westernised parents because my working environment is like that for the past 15 years. For me, the only difficulty is most expats are ftm but I am not.  I may not have sufficient time to socialise with them to build that relationship.  

I do agree that I cannot stand the local HK culture of comparing academic results.  However, even at ESF nowadays, you will find lots of parents like that and some send their kids to tutorial class every day.  The world is not perfect.  

964000

siubotze 發表於 17-7-24 18:47
I quite enjoy spending time with expat or more westernised parents because my working environment i ...

Yes, I like hang out with families of similar values too and usually the western families, usually we only discuss where the play dates are going to be. Even some of the classmates do worry about yr 1 ESF interview next year, we just decide we will arrange more play dates for the kids.
On the other hand it's the same school there are parents that have commented the activities I arranged for my daughter ( e.g. Mandarin playgroup, sports etc) are not too " fruitful" and " nothing much to learn", and suggested some formal Chinese tutorial and English phonics class for me. I just don't want to bore my daughter with these classes before any formal learning.

Atecila

chocosub 發表於 17-7-24 12:16
My girl is 3 now (finished Vic PN, going on K1) and I think she is pretty much bilingual in Cantones ...

Thanks so much for you sharing indeed! I must say I have been very touched  by all the useful and constructive comments/sharing. Am glad that I started this post - indeed not expecting so many good sharing. My heartfelt thanks again to you all - you don't know how useful these are for me - as I am constantly anxious with the language ability of my son vis-a-Vis an intended IS route. Particularly now I still can't tell whether Cantonese or English is his dominant language as he doesn't talk yet.

Atecila

964000 發表於 17-7-24 19:07
Yes, I like hang out with families of similar values too and usually the western families, usually  ...

Thanks for this sharing - giving us a peek of what it's like to be a parent in an IS environment. Re ESf, just wondering : do u see any small bs (like December baby which my son is) got passed the K1 interview ? Am just trying to assess how likely it is for him to get got a place - we are looking at ESF Abacus as that's nearest to us. If he can't get in- I need to have other back up options like Vic PN (as he may hopefully have a higher chance being super big b?)....

Atecila

siubotze 發表於 17-7-24 18:42
To be frank, I did consider applying for CIS but I ended up give up.  I know a couple of CIS gradua ...

Oh I see- true: actually all CIS graduates I know are super rich too (like living at the peak). Guess most of the students there are quite wealthy.

siubotze

964000 發表於 17-7-24 19:07
Yes, I like hang out with families of similar values too and usually the western families, usually  ...

Totally!  It's funny enough when I tried to organise playdate, only a few local kids would join because most of them need to attend academic classes after school.  

siubotze

Atecila 發表於 17-7-24 19:41
Thanks for this sharing - giving us a peek of what it's like to be a parent in an IS environment. R ...

In my girl's K1 class, the youngest kid is Nov born boy.  I guess being a small b does have disadvantages in interview.  You may want to broaden your choice to those with August as cutoff date.  

If you eye on Abacus, I would advise you joining the Abacus playgroup which is on Saturday.  It does not give you admission priority for K1 but help getting your girl familiarised with the environment for the interview.  A few of her classmates were from the playgroup.

siubotze

halvard 發表於 17-7-24 14:38
I am very impressed by this thread of conversation as this has been one of the most constructive and ...

Being a local parent with Cantonese as mother tongue, i can offer my 2% for you:
1) your kid needs to be close to native in English for the interview. K1 interview will not be too demanding though.  It will be enough if he/she understands English instructions and responds.  Organise lots of play dates with native speakers will help.
2) not hard,  it's a matter of openness.  Expat parents are generally very nice.  The schools you listed are, however, predominantly attended by local HKers, even though some ESFs have higher ratio of expat parents.  Overall, I don't see any issue to communicate with these parents.
3) apart from school fee + capital levy/enrolment fee, you need to pay for school bus  and ECAs.  There is not much other hidden routine cost.

Atecila

siubotze 發表於 17-7-24 20:52
In my girl's K1 class, the youngest kid is Nov born boy.  I guess being a small b does have disadva ...

Thanks for the info! Yes I know they have playgroups at Abacus - on Mondays or weds now. Let me check again! Btw re esf:

- how do you think of the teachers in Abacus ? Nice and caring?

- And what's the class size?  

Sign - my case is quite bad as mine is a boy and a December baby. Seems the chance of him getting in esf is close to zero. Am looking for 31 aug cut off indeed. I just realize NAIS will have nursery class - but their new campus is a bit far in Sai Kung. Will your daughter be joining their reception at the Lam Tin campus instead ?