Any experience with Kiangsu Chekiang local kindergarten?

[jmonkeypuppy]

Run4fun,

Totally agree with you!

Also, much .... much .... appreciated for your advice! But still, if you know anything about "Bambino", please let me know.

jmonkey

I only have their Chinese names. One of them is Ms. "Li Jing" (in Madarin). She teaches K3B in the morning and K3G in the afternoon.

I think if you aim for ESF, and if maintianing your child's English level is a concern, then go for Starters. I am betting on the fact that I could get my sons in ESF later because I am a graduate of ESF myself. It's not without risk though.

This is the problem for us parents today in Hong Kong. Sending them to a Chinese School, then we have to worry about the kids' English standard. Sending them to International school, and we have to send them to places like "Better Chinese" over the weekends. Can't Hong Kong have happy schools that could maintain the balance without breaking our bank account??

 

[jmonkeypuppy]

Most say Victoria is good. But personally I think it is quite commercial. It knows well of what the parents want (rather than those of the kids) and how the parents can and may pay in $$$, and then, tries hard to feed the kids accordingly. I just don't like its commercial kind of "business"!

Thought those kindies with 50-50 Chinese/English is a better option i.e. Victoria and may be few others that I have not heard of yet. That is my first priority for now. I know the response is typically overwhelming there...

 

[pradie]

hi, just read your post... my son is now in victoria, k1, he was there since pre-nursery. i also sent him to lingnan kindergarten to learn cantonese and he said he prefers victoria. cantonese is mainly for him to be able to speak and understand the language enough for him to get around afterall we're living in hk and indefinitely. he understand alot more cantonese now since he started last sep. we intend to let him continue at lingnan until next summer.

his first language is english and it's important to my husband and i that he knows chinese as my husband who is chinese only speaks english and nothing else. i agree victoria is quite commercial but don't let it bother you too much, i never felt obligated nor had time to deal with it, most of the time, i just ignore them. i'm a working mum, so i hardly had a chance to send him to school and in the process get to know his teachers better. but the teachers are friendly and i can call them after class if i have any concerns re my son. i noticed my son is more willing to speak putonghua with me after he attended victoria although with a little coaxing. the class is half english and half putonghua and right now they are teaching phonics which my son seems to enjoy very much. he always asked me to test him on the phonics, also i'm amaze he is able to recognise upper and lower case alphabets and is able to write most of the alphabets and numbers. i think at the end of the day, it pretty much depends on what we want for our child. for us, the choice of schools are limited as putonghua is a must and there are not many schools we can choose from and much as I like the ESF, it is out of the question as i don't think they are strong in putonghua. so it's either victoria, kiangsu or int'l school and even then there are only a few int'l school with good enough putonghua. We had a choice of victoria or kiangsu but chose the former, a matter of personal preference as we prefer the school environment in victoria vs kiangsu. I recently met a young japanese american lady who was visiting hk, her parent insist she learns japanese while growing up in new york, she hated it then but is now very thankful that her mother did not cave in. she is fluent in both languages and currently living in tokyo and now translate for his mainly japanese speaking mother. Anyways, as long as I’m sure my son is not stress out in school, i’m letting him continue with 2 schools until he goes to k3.

 

[future mommy]

Hello to all the mommies out there!!

From what I think, if you really want your children to learn english, you can send them to Starters (Tai Hang). There's a great opportunity for your child to get accept to ESF later on.

run4fun:
The teacher your reffering to is Mrs. Anna of P1. She came back after her vacation in Sweden. Do come and visit the area in your free time. The nursery teacher is Mrs. Alla, she is warm and loving with the children. She is working with Mrs. Jacky, still young but funny, nice , warm and very approachable person. You can trust your children with her. It's all I can say. :agree:
Do try to visit the school. I knew them all cuz my nephew is going there.

One more thing, starters have afternoon classes for Lower KG and Primary 1, it starts at 1:30-400. MWF learning through play session, TTH phonics and they also have mandarin class in a different class, that's every Tues-thurs.

Lastly, I recommend Starters Tai hang. They're very kind and very considerate.:cheerlead

 

[kiwimango_88]

Hi,

does anyone know if the primary section of Victoria School is any good?

 

[Buckeroo]

Hi, wondering if there is anybody here who is not conversant in Chinese and who is sending their kid/s to Kiangsu & Chekiang's local stream... I'm interested to know how you are supporting your child's studies --i.e., are you hiring an after-school tutor to help out with homework? Do the teachers at K&C give you a brief translation in English of what the homework is so that you can follow up? Do they provide school notices or announcements in English? I really like the idea of sending our son to the local stream so that he can learn Mandarin, but am just concerned that we might not be able to properly help him with homework... All feedback welcome. Thanks!

 

[donosti]

Does any of those KG offer bus transportation from Bel-Air or this is too far. I will also like to send my son to a local stream. We are going to be there indefenitely and I will like for him to be able to speak the language ( cantones or mandarin - no preference).

I have posted other threads asking for suggestions with no response...

I have check Victoria but they are not accepting kids for 0607 but I could put him on the waiting list. Same thing with ESF Kindy.

Since I am not working something part time a couple of a days a week will work fine. I just want him to get used to the new language and enviroment.

Thanks

 

[new mommy]

Hi Mums out there,

Does Starters offer any Chinese (putonghua or Cantonese) lessons at all? Or do they have a 100% English curriculum?

Besides Kiangsu Chekiang and Victoria, are there any other options for bi-lingual schools?

Also - is it common to send the kids to 2 kindergarten (one for Chinese and one for English)? Will it be too tiring for the kids? I guess for the kids, it is just more play time.

 

[melohk]

I am a Chinese parent and my child will attend N1 at KCS. My child just like the child of you that she doesn't know any Mandarin as we speak Cantonese and English at home. I think most of the Chinese students only know Cantonese so they need time to adapt it. So don't worry, it's a good school to learn Mandarin. If u worry about the English, u can take Internation section in the afternoon and traditional in the morning.

 

[Estelle]

Information on Kiangshu and Chekiang

My three year old daughter has been accepted to Kiangshu and Chekiang. We are French. I will arrive in Hong Kong with next May 11th. We will stay there for 3 years.
My husband, whi is already in Hong Kong, quickly visited Kiangshu and Chekiang and found it nice. But they want us to pay the deposit before May 3rd.
I don't know what to do because it is a problem I can't see it before signing up.
My daughter speaks a little bit of English only. Do you think she will like it? Will she not be too much lost? I heard there is one teacher only for 24 pupils. I am afraid if she feels lonely she will not get too much attention.
She has been accepted in the English section but later on I would be happy if she could go also to the morning mandarin section.
Are there many children like her coming from abroad?

Thank you for your reply.

My son went to Starters for nursery, but a year later, we switched him to KCS local section, wanting him to learn Mandarin. The transition was quite smooth, at least much better than we expected. We were worried that KCS might be a bit too traditional in the way they teach when compared to international schools. But it turned out to be just fine. Quite a number of his friends are native English speaking kids. They all seem to love it. It's a happy school.

My son is now 5, attending K3. He is not the best in class, but he can read and write quite a lot of chinese words. They do have more homework than Starters, but it's not like he couldn't handle it. He loves his school and hasn't complained so far. And he truly believes that his teachers and classmates will miss him terribly even if he miss just one day of class.

I am quite satisfied with their teachers. I find them patient and caring. Anything that I am not satisfied? I think they should have more English class time. You only get 1/2 hour of English for half day school and that's quite insufficient. Also, the facilities aren't that impressive. If they could improve on that, then I have no complain.