Be careful to choose which English IM class to join in Kinder U

SkyPenguin

I am just writing to alert other mums to choose carefully which English Intelligence Multiplier program class to join because i think they have not enough teachers and they just try to get any new teachers to teach. Of course these new teachers are inexperienced. Their prices are not cheap, over $200 a class but quality is inconsistent! (Others like Little Dynamites is much cheaper, over $140 a class, and the teachers are experienced and know the course well! But unluckily I found it after I joined Kinder U!!)


Back to Kinder U, it recently hired a Chinese (Ms. Kitty) to teach babies' English class, she is not even an ABC! Her English is bad. Pointing to a picture of forks, spoons etc and teach babies that they are UTILITIES!! and said something like 'GENTLELY' which means gently!! She couldn't even flash the cards properly!

When i join their trial class, it was taught by a foreigner and i thought the class was good so i joined. But then at the beginning of first lesson, they already said that teacher was sick and would be replaced by NEW teacher. After 2 classes, parents thought that teacher was not good and requested to change class. Because they didn't have enough teachers and need time to hire new teacher, the class was suspended for a month! The class was then resumed with Ms. KITTY!!!! even more disappointed then the one before!

So if u are going to enrol in their babies' IM class, make sure u ask for a 'foreigner-teacher' class or make sure the classes u will join are taught by the teacher u saw in your trial class!

masterricky

I had exactly the reversed experience.  I changed over from Lxttle Dyxamixes since I was not happy with their teacher who knew nothing about what she was doing.  Her English was not very good either.  When I asked her about how I do my flashcard revisions, its theories and reasoning, she gave me a blabble and I finally had all my queries answered by Mrs. Ho at KinderU.  

I appreciate the seminars, primary school visits, picinics that KinderU invited parents to attend.  I went to ISF and DBSPD with them.  Their recent list of selected primary school was enlightening.

As far as schools, learning centres are concerned, I trust that those who do a good job will stay and those who do not take their work seriously will perish.  

I do not like expatriate teachers since most of them are backpackers.  As long as the teacher does not speak Singlish or have an Asian accent, they will pass my test.  There are many good Asian English teachers at KinderU.  

As for "Kitty", give this little girl a break if she is new.  We have all been new once (hopefully not that long ago).

SkyPenguin

That's why the quality of the teachers is very important. I am not surprised that teachers are not as knowledgeable about the theories behind the flashcards as the principals like Mrs. Ho.

I am not against KinderU, that's why I asked people to be careful to choose which class to join rather than asking people not to join KinderU.

One good thing about KinderU i think is that their services are more personal in the sense that Mrs. and Mr. Ho are always involved in teaching physical exercises, giving seminars, connecting with other schools, etc. while Little Dyn is more running like a commercial business.

I prefer expats more than someone who can't even say fluent and correct English. Wrong English in my view is worse than Singlish. Though this Kitty has good attitude.

wongbibi

I agree with SkyPenguin. I think you should reflect this to Kinder U. Otherwise,other babies will suffer.It's radiculous to speak wrong english in a English class.

masterricky

Point taken.     

I will send an email to Mrs. Ho and inform her of your opinion.  I understand that they are fast acting genuine people.  

iandaddy

hi all, 我個仔join 左Little Dyxamixes 成2年. 感覺佢地唔COMMERICAL WOW. 仲有佢地 教我用FLASH CARD 都好清楚.... 仲有佢地個英文老師同各位職員都好有愛心 KA.....  

masterricky

Subject opinion is just subjective.  I trust that the fair comment to make is that a school has its ups and downs and good schools may stumble on an unfortunate day.

I trust that parents are just trying to make positive comments in the hope that all educators in Hong Kong do better for the children of Hong Kong.

Josephine108

masterricky : Are you Mr. Ho ?

shopgirl2004

I agree with SkyPenguin.  Mommies who are thinking of enrolling their babies at KinderU should choose carefully.  My baby has been in Miss Winnie's class for 3 months now and I find Miss Winnie to be a really good teacher.   At the trial class, the teacher was a foreigner who was also very good (and that teacher was recommended by a friend of mine).  Recently, there have been some new teachers coming to our class to "observe and learn".  Personally, I don't like those new ones and as mentioned by SkyPenguin, I think one of them's English (but forgot her name) is not good at all.  As for Little Dynamites, my baby went to a Mandarin IM trial class before (even earlier than KinderU).  My comment is the teacher was nice and spoke perfect Mandarin but the flow of the class was not good and the teacher was not able to keep the babies' focus & attention.  I didn't join after the trial class.  

ShatinMaMa

ShatinMaMa

In another topic, another member "sasasasa" also pointed out

咪咁容易相信人啦，你信唔信masterricky即係mr/mrs. ho?佢地成日扮家長扮醫生在此宣傳自己開的學校!   

Josephine108 寫道:
masterricky : Are you Mr. Ho ?

SkyPenguin

shopgirl2004,

how old is your baby? what time is your class? because i think they said different teachers teach different age's class, so probably Winnie doesn't teach babies of my baby's age.
Is Winnie the Japanese one?


I didn't reflect that to KinderU, i simply quit the English class there.

shopgirl2004

Skypenguin,
Please check PM.

柑桔

Skypenguin,
Do you have any other suggestions?
THANKS!

angfun

I think different school has different teaching methods and that so course differs from teacher to teacher!

Some of the teachers might work really well for some and not others.  So you have to find the teacher that you are most comfortable with and suitable to you and your child.

I also had been to class held by Miss Kitty, I must say that she is really very green, and therefore might not be able to run the class smoothly.  However as 1 mother have said, we were all in-experience once, including us being a mother.  So why penalize others for not being experienced and not give them more time to improve!  Honestly I just stopped the class with Ms Kitty.  And my son is now doing other courses! Hopefully she (Kitty) will improve with time and experience!

On the other hand, the mother that posted this message may have used wording that is too harsh! And maybe she doesn't really know how to express what's on her mind!

Again, there are many "妹" and pretenders out there be it KU or LD!  So WE as true parents should not make judgement so hasty.

All I can say is:  See for yourself and be your own judge!  Why let other people judge for you since you are the responsible parent?

SkyPenguin

inexperience is not the main point, her bad English is!


柑桔,
i suggest that u take the trial classes in both Kinder U and Little Dynamites first and decide yourself. all i can tell u here is my opinion of both. u can also see other mums' messages.
KU has english, mandarin and french but LD only has english and mandarin.
LD is much more flexible, after u joined for e.g. 24 lessons, u can take english or mandarin classes at any time u like.
For KU, u can't change after u joined and u need to join 2 separate course if u want to take English and mandarin for example. They are very inflexible and they have many rules and regulations, like u can only take 1 lesson leave with every 8 lessons, etc. etc. KU is also more expensive.
KU has more teachers, which can be its advantage or disadvantage.
KU's class schedule is not published, u need to call them and ask. They need to have at least about 3 to 4 students in order to start a new class / course.
LD's class schedule is set and published, the class is also held if there is only 1 student.
there are also differences between the contents of the classes in KU and LD. KU's English class has a session for foreign language such as Japanese song. LD's class has a session for other encyclopedic knowledge such as famous paintings by artists.
LD has a little handbook for students, which records what they learnt in the class.

sigh, there are too many things to tell lah.
i think u'd better experience it yourself and make sure the class u join is taught by the teacher u like or the teacher u had in the trial class, and u like how the class is run and the contents.

bigheadcat

i...i also want to share some experience about KU.

After the trial class, i said i want to join but i wanted the same teacher. They said it's okay and the new class conducted by the same teacher would start two weeks later, so i paid. However, they called me one day before the class started and said it was cancelled because only one student. Now is another two weeks already,but no news at all. They seldom call people. It's alway i'm the one to call and ask the progress. It seems that they don't care that much whether you join or not.It's wasting my baby's time. I'm thinking of getting the money back and change to LD. Could anyone recommend the teacher in LD?i had the trial class in LD before but the teacher was not that good.Pls pm me for the teacher's name if it's not good to post here. Thanks a lot.

ritalovebaby

Please PM the teacher's name to me as I still consider to join KU or LD. Thanks a lot!!

SkyPenguin

KU seldom call people becoz they are under-staffed. the admin. staff have to work til late like 9pm at night. one reason for that is becoz their class schedules are not organized. there is no transparency, u don't know when they have class, they do not publish their class schedule. all parents and potential customers have to call and ask about the schedule, so they spend a lot of time answering customers phone calls.
they tried to take as many students as possible and they would not start a class unless they have about 4 students in the same class.
bigheadcat, your case is similar to mine, they wasted my baby's time too, thats why i tried to find other schools and found LD.
i suggest u get back your money first and ask them to call u when they have class and see if the teacher  is the one u like before u decide to pay and join again! But i doubt if they will refund to u becoz they have strict rules, very inflexible!
they recently hired many new teachers, most of them are Chinese, they said they are overseas educated. Well, many people are overseas educated but that doesn't mean that their English is good!
Anyway, I dunno which teacher in KU is good for english lessons any more becoz I am not interested in their lessons now. But i had Loushe and she was good. Also the French teacher is really nice and good.

For LD, i think they have only a few teachers, i like Kumud for english. For Mandarin, both Ma and Lau are good.

DomanFans

Josephine108 寫道:
masterricky : Are you Mr. Ho ?

do u mean masterricky = mr Ho (the owner of KU) ?