Phoenix

Ruby1219

Please share : What do you think about Phoenix ? Especially as it will be moving to a new campus and adopting the IB system?

How would you compare it to the other ESF schools ?

Any parents with kids now studying in Phoenix can share their experience with us ?

Thanks,
Ruby

Ruby1219

Up.

Any mommy with kids studying in Phoenix ? Can share your comments ?

Thanks,
Ruby

CD

I want to know too.

Vrindavan

me too

Ruby1219

up.

WYmom

i joined the visit the other day and was impressed too.  i like how they run the program and how they see themselves evolve further down the road.

chinese standard is important to me and i would think it is beyond my expectation, while english is as good as any international schools.

the new school facilities couldn't be better.  esf secondary schools will be moving to IB (except KGV) and phoenix will be an important milestone of esf in this respect.  so i expect esf's weight behind the development of this school and makes it a success.

i've talked to people with kids there.  positive feedback so far.

you can see some Phoenix discussions in this ESF forum.

http://www.hkcampus.net/webforum/list.php?num=4

Ruby1219

WY Mom,

So, is your kid offered an interview from Phoenix ? When will it be ? You plan to put you kid in Phoenix already ? Do you have other choices, say other ESF schools ?  I previously prefer SJS over Pheonix, now, i'm not that sure lar.

Ruby

Vrindavan

Ruby1219

Did SJS offer an interview to your kid too ?

WYmom

Ruby1219,

I will apply Phoenix and one ESF at my area.  English standard of normal ESF is higher than Phoenix, but Chinese standard is lower.  So each has its own advantage over the other.

Vrindavan

Do you know why Phoenix
English standard is lower than other ESF ?

IS it possible to transfer to other ESF
if you are study at Phoenix?

Ruby1219

Vrindavan

I also want to know why people say that Phoenix's English standard is lower than the other ESF schools. Is it becos' their Chinese student ratio is relatively higher ?

No, you can't transfer from Phoenix to other ESF schools. You have to apply and pass the interview.

My son is not granted interview from SJS. We're on the waiting list now.


Ruby

WYmom

Transfer is not allowed.  You can apply for ESF to get in.  Phoenix and ESF schools are separated, Phoenix is a private independent school managed under ESF.

gracemama123

Ruby1219
Some information I have got from my friends, hope it helps.
Yes, the English standard is lower compare to other ESF school.  However, don't get me wrong.  "Lower" do not mean "Bad".  My friend's kid is studying in Phoenix, more time spend on Chinese, time spend on English is lesser (comparively speaking).  It really depends on how you want a balance on the language skill.  If you consider Chinese is also one of your concern, have you consider Kingstone since this school emphasize on both English and Mandarine.

Vrindavan

in fact i think the English standard for many ESF schools should be lower now as fewer native speaker kids in there. More and more Chinese students now.

it is possible and more likely for the kids to speak Chinese at play time in the school

i believe the number of native speaker kids in a school do have big influence

i wonder how many native speaker kids in Phoenix, may be none !!


>> more time spend on Chinese

how much more ?
all lessons are in Mandarin ?

Ruby1219

Vrindavan,

I hold quite different point of view from you. As the teachers are all native English speakers, I don't think the low ratio of native English speaking kids would affect too much. On the contrary, I do buy the point of Gracemama that since around 20% of the lesson time will be on Chinese (Cantonese in P1 and Mandarin from P2 onwards, they have 50minutes Chinese every day), the time on English is less than that of other ESF and this might be the reason why the English level is a bit lower. Nevertheless, i do think that the English standard of Phoenix should be still ok.

Vrindavan

My friend share me his experience when he studied in Australia from primary to University level. His classmates are native speakers do play a big role in his learning the language well.

He said the time of playing and interacting with your playmate is the best time to learn, it is great fun and learn it very quick

Non-native kid talk to non-native kid can help too. But it is not that helpful compared to you can talk to native kids directly

Of course, less English lesson time every day is another major reason too.
But i like Phoenix teach traditional Chinese rather than SC in all other ESF.

WYmom

I guess ESF schools normally accept native English speaking kids as first priority, and the cirriculum is designed in a way to fit these kids, which naturally has a higher English standard.  Phoenix does not set the priority to accept native English speaking kids, they accept more local kids and some Asians as well.  So their curriculum is designed with English and Chinese which fit the students.  So the English level in Phoenix may be not so high as in ESF schools, but their students still can speak very fluent English as per my observation.

gracemama123

Agreed.  Since our environment are mainly Chinese, it is not easy to have much communication with native English speaker.  If we want our kid have more chance to speak to native speaker, then we may need to consider other Int'l School, like HKIS, French / Germany Int'l school.

In my visit to Phoneix, children can speak fluent English.

Vrindavan

With zero native speaker kids or even indian kids,
Phoenix give me the impression is that it is just an English school for Chinese kids

i guess students must talk in Chinese when they are not in classroom

Ruby1219

Vrindavan,

I don't really agree with you on that as ALL their teachers are native English speakers. It's true that it's an international school for local kids (HK residents, not necessarily Chinese), which is the condition that the gov't imposed on Phoenix when granting them the land and subsidy. And, they are going to use the IB system, currently they are using Canadian curriculum and therefore they are regarded as international school.
I want my son to study in Int'l school is not just becos'  of English. English is just part of it. The major reason is I like their inspirational education style, which I think Phoenix holds the same philosophy as the other int'l schools.
Honestly, even if you look at the other ESF or other int'l school nowadays in HK, most of their students are Chinese. I wonder any int'l school now in HK will have over half of their students are foreigners.
And, I won't under evaluate the importance of Chinese for my child, esp. we are Chinese.
Ruby