any technics for ESF interview?

[thundacatchergo]

thanks yall

 

[joyofliving]

Thanks everyone, especially peainpod for your offer. My daughter didn't get a call unfortunately, keeping fingers crossed that they have a second round of interviews and she is invited. I would definitely like to know how the interview goes for your children so if you can share your experiences it would be great.

 

[corawong]

Thanks for the information. My chlid will attend an interview next week, is it just simple to test children's understanding? any special testing like drawing, playing blocks, etc.... For the parents part, I am not sure the teacher will ask us some questions formally? Anythings else I need to prepare for the interview, please advise, thank you.

 

[rapid_jap]

Hi Guys,

I know I am picking up on an old thread but this was such a relevant one...

My child got an interview call from ESF Hillside for Kindergarten. She will be attending in Jan'14. My main concern is that she still has a separation anxiety and cries terribly whenever she is in a new environment. The last time we took her for an interview to another school here, she cried a lot (as soon as she entered the premises) and couldn't join the other playmates slotted in the same group as hers. The teacher there was very kind and said she would just assess her individually and they did finally send a confirmation for her to join.

Since I've heard so much about the long waiting lists for ESF and given this anxiety my child currently has, are the chances really low that she will get selected? Worth mentioning here is also the fact that she otherwise has an excellent English for her age; talks long sentences, makes up stories of her own and is overall a very happy child.... but of course, all this will be invisible if her fear of new places and crowds takes over.

I hope, having interviewed hundreds of thousands of toddlers over the years, the team there will be understanding of the fact that some toddlers do have this temporary phase of anxiety which will subside once she starts preschool (she just turned 2 and doesn't go to a playgroup yet) and I hope they will not count this against her.

Any thoughts / insights / tips / personal experience will really really be helpful.

 

[victoryu19]

We applied for ESF Abacus but still haven't heard from them. It looks like an interview won't be granted for our kid.

 

[rapid_jap]

We applied for ESF Abacus but still haven't heard from them. It looks like an interview won't be granted for our kid.

I know that ESF Hillside had been sending out letters till recently. You might want to call Abacus and check with them as well. You may even ask them re your particular case by giving them the application reference no. I haven't tried it myself but would definitely have if I were in your position.

All the best!

 

[charade]

Hi Guys,

I know I am picking up on an old thread but this was such a relevant one...

My child got an interview call from ESF Hillside for Kindergarten. She will be attending in Jan'14. My main concern is that she still has a separation anxiety and cries terribly whenever she is in a new environment. The last time we took her for an interview to another school here, she cried a lot (as soon as she entered the premises) and couldn't join the other playmates slotted in the same group as hers. The teacher there was very kind and said she would just assess her individually and they did finally send a confirmation for her to join.

Since I've heard so much about the long waiting lists for ESF and given this anxiety my child currently has, are the chances really low that she will get selected? Worth mentioning here is also the fact that she otherwise has an excellent English for her age; talks long sentences, makes up stories of her own and is overall a very happy child.... but of course, all this will be invisible if her fear of new places and crowds takes over.

I hope, having interviewed hundreds of thousands of toddlers over the years, the team there will be understanding of the fact that some toddlers do have this temporary phase of anxiety which will subside once she starts preschool (she just turned 2 and doesn't go to a playgroup yet) and I hope they will not count this against her.

Any thoughts / insights / tips / personal experience will really really be helpful.

My child is similar. He was on the younger end of the age scale when the ESF kindy (we applied to Abacus) interview happened and he clung to me. The good thing about the ESF 'interview' is that the parents can be with the kids and it's like a playroom set-up with lots to amuse them. There's also loads of time for the kids to get warmed up and forget that they are in a strange place. I really appreciated that it was thoughtfully done keeping in mind that the kids are so young.

Nevertheless, my son froze up every time the teachers came up to speak to him and they do come up. I guess that's why he was waitlisted...but from what we understood there was a very good chance he would get in, as he was high up on the waitlist. We dropped out of the list eventually because he got into another kindy closer to home.

But anyway, my experience was that the ESF process is friendly to shy kids, however, a child that doesn't speak up probably fares less well in their assessment. I think your child probably has a fairer chance in ESF than in other places because they do seem to understand that kids are not automatons, the problem is that there are so many applicants so definitely hedge your bets.

 

[rapid_jap]

Great... thanks for sharing your xeprience there, charade.

Yes, as you said, I am definitely playing it safe and enrolling her into other places as well. I have also enrolled her for the Busy Bees language playgroup session at Hillside... just to get her used to the place before the interview.

The issue is, she not only freezes but cries terribly and tries her best that I get her out of that 'strange / new' place ))

Let's see what happens... fingers crossed!