01年出生準備報考ESF的家長

Ryanma

0尋日先至寄出application form, 唔知通常幾時至收到acknowledgement letter 呢?

Mich 寫道:
Has anybody received the acknowledge letter from ESF for applying 2006 P1?

ashleymama

dear all,
I've sent the app on 2 sept by registered mail, however, i forgot to write my return address on the envolope (as they request to do so) so do i need to re-send the app again?
please advise, thanks!

ashleymama

dear jjd,
my daughter is studying at Anchors International Kindergarten at Tai Po.

charie

Dear all,

Would you mind to tell me the full name of ESF ? Is it mean International school ? Tks.

charie

do you know how much for monthly fee ?

aling

Hi,

You should be able to find all the information required from their official website.

Rgds,
ALING

http://www.esf.edu.hk/schools.html

momom

Dear all,

Can you tell me which kindergarten would be offered an interview for ESF P1?
I wonder apply ESF K1 or any other international kindergarten for paving to ESF P1.
Thanks a lot.

mrs_ho

my daughter studied in Victoria Kinder (Tin Hau) for K1 and K2 and she got accepted by ESF P1 this year.

interview is in a group of 7-8 kids and parents are supposed to wait in the waiting room. my daughter had her interview in Jan this year, it lasted for an hour, she told me that it's like attending a normal ESF class, they had pic drawing, songs, story time etc.

Two things my daughter told me about the interview:
1. the teacher showed a pic to my daughter and asked her "what is the boy doing?" my daughter said, "the boy's wearing his pants".

2. the teacher asked my daughter where do lions live and she answered lions live in forest.

just to make sure your kid is comfortable in an English speaking environment, i think their willingness to respond in English (and in full sentence) is very important.

hope the above helps & good luck to all!

gab

momom: I was told by the staff at Starters School www.starters.edu.hk that this year around 80% of their K2 graduates were accepted by ESF primary schools.

mrs_ho

my daughter and i are holding Canadian passport but my husband is holding HKSAR passport.

she's the only child in family, no sibling

i trained her to speak in English at home since baby and she speaks to our Filipino maid most of the time, but she speaks with her daddy and Victoria kinder friends in Cantonese

we live in causeway bay so we applied for QBS campus in Braemar Hill. heard that HK Island is not as competitive as Kowloon side

i think once you're offered an interview, the chance is pretty high provided the kid can communicate in English.

the interviewer told us after the interview that a few kids in our group failed..... i was so worried after i heard that until the result came out after Chinese new year. My daughter told me a few boys in the interview were not willing to speak in English, i think that's the reason....

mrs_ho

i was told by a lady in ESF office last year that the acceptance rate for Victoria Kindergarten students is only 50/50 because kids usually communicate with each other in cantonese

Starters students' chance should be higher because English is the only language they use in school. the only reason i didn't send my girl to Starters is that they don't teach Chinese at all, which limits my girl's chance to study in local primary school in case she fails ESF interview

gab

mrs_ho: Thank you for sharing your valuable first hand information regarding ESF interviews! Hope your daughter will enjoy her school life in the fine ESF primary school.
Are you sending your daughter to after school Chinese classes?

mrs_ho

So far my girl enjoys so much studying in QBS though i have no clue what she's doing everyday!!! besides playing and eating.......

i think after school classes are offered to Y2 and older students only?!?! i have bought some K3 Chinese textbooks/worksheets as well as Chinese workpapers for P1, i'm "forcing" my girl to write at least one chinese charactor each day though i know she's really reluctant to do so, but i know once i let her stop she would never pick it up again. have to be tough on this

she's already attended 3 Mandarin classes in school (once a week) and she learns to write one word each week, last week was "you" and this week is "good" in Chinese charactor. My girl has studied Chinese in K1 & K2 so they're quite easy for her, but i wonder how the non-chinese are going to write them, honestly they're not easy for beginners. heard that ESF is offering daily chinese class in 07.

Ryanma

mrs_ho

I & my son are holding Canadian passport & my husband holds British passport. He is my only son, he attends Int'l Kinder & the whole family communicate in English since he was born.  However, my son is so quiet & doesn't talk a lot. But whenever he requests for anything, he'll speak in English. I'm afraid that due to his proactive behaviour that will lower his chance of getting accepted. Girls are different, their language ability developed earlier than boys. So I'm quite worry.....

mrs_ho 寫道:
my daughter and i are holding Canadian passport but my husband is holding HKSAR passport.

she's the only child in family, no sibling

i trained her to speak in English at home since baby and she speaks to our Filipino maid most of the time, but she speaks with her daddy and Victoria kinder friends in Cantonese

we live in causeway bay so we applied for QBS campus in Braemar Hill. heard that HK Island is not as competitive as Kowloon side

i think once you're offered an interview, the chance is pretty high provided the kid can communicate in English.

the interviewer told us after the interview that a few kids in our group failed..... i was so worried after i heard that until the result came out after Chinese new year. My daughter told me a few boys in the interview were not willing to speak in English, i think that's the reason....

:cry:

gab

If the family is holding foreign passport and child's first language is English but parents are Chinese, will this affect the priority in getting an interview?

mrs_ho

Ryanma,

I know one of the criteria of passing the interview is "ready for school", below are some of the tips which may be helpful to you.

my girl's interview was scheduled in the afternoon, that morning i brought my girl to Toy'R'us, didn't buy her anything, just to make sure she's "awake" and in a good mood

then we went to a bookstore to let her choose some English books to read (get prepared)

we went home for a relaxing lunch and went to the school 30 minutes earlier to make her get familiar with it. It happened to be the school's lunch time and she enjoyed so much watching others kids playing

i told her to smile and relax during the interview, let her know it's just like a normal school day. i kept reminding her to use English even if other kids talk to her in Chinese, and i explained to her that Chinese is in no way inferior, the only reason that she has to use English during interview was that the teachers won't understand Chinese so she has to RESPECT the teachers and to speak in English.

of course i spoke with her in English that whole morning, but i saw some of the parents were still speaking with their kids in Cantonese while waiting for the interview, personally i won't take this risk, what if she cannot switch her channel in just a few minutes

remember not to let your child know that you're nervous, our mood will obviously affect our kids'. i bet every parent will be 'shaking' that day but don't let the kids know! show them we're happy and relax as if we're bringing them to a playgroup.

mrs_ho

Dear gab,

i'm not sure how they rank the priority, but my family is pure Chinese and still got the chance to interview.

which area are you living in? QBS on Braemar Hill is more "multi-cultural" with even ratio of different nationalities, but heard that the ESF schools in Kowloon side are composed of Chinese mainly.

gab

mrs_ho: Thank you for your reply. We live in the Aberdeen area so we will have to apply for Kennedy School if we are not moving in the next year or so.

mrs_ho

i heard from a parent that his child applied for Kennedy School this year however it's full so ESF asked him if he wanted to transfer his daughter to QBS with fewer applicants, so his child is studying in QBS now.

don't worry, this year's case was quite exceptional because the applicants were all born in 2000/year of dragon (the birth rate in 2000 was exceptionally high), demand is much higher than supply. I think starting from next year, the situation shouldn't be as crazy as this year.