Canadian International School Interview for 3 and 5 year old

[birddiz]

Hi PaulaL,

The reason my son took the second interview was because he coudln't attend the first interview. He cried right after he left me and didn't stop, I was very embarrassed because I thought he failed at the interview.. Luckily, they gave us another chance, and he was ok on the second interview.
(As second interview was in March, even he passed it, he was put on a waiting list for a few months.)

FYI, if this is your kids' first school interview, let your kids informed that a teacher will call their name, and take them from the waiting room to the classroom room and you can't be with them about 45 mins. During the trip to the interview room, many kids get nervous. (it's from the admissions affice to the classrooms near the main entrance...quite a travel with a stranger for an only 3 year old kid)

I like this school alot. My kid loves it too. he got more curious, active, caring, independent.. and happy.

Hope your kids do great on their job!!

 

[Hannah's Mom]

My daughter did the interview for Reception a few years ago and it was maybe 15-20 minutes. They seemed to be looking at how well the child was without a parent and how well they spoke english. There was no writing (mine could not write her name anyway at the time) and it was really just observing the child in a new social setting! I know a few people who have been doing interviews the past few weekends and there seems to be lots of people! With the large amounts of interviewees maybe they are having to fine tune the interviews now? don't know. Large crowds can also set off some little ones! Maybe go up to school and have a look with your little ones before hand!

Best advice is for the parents not to get all anxious ... the child will pick up on that. Just relax and make it seem like a regular adventure. It really isn't the be all end all getting in. When we were interviewing there was a little boy crying and the mother was yelling at him to stop "do you know how much we had to pay for this!!!!"...... like a 3 year old cares! I would have been stressed out with all her stress also!

Good luck ... It's a lovely school.

 

[PaulaL]

Canadian International School Interview

Just a quick report for today's interview.

My kids (3 and 5 year old) did their interviews today. Our time slots were 12:30pm. We arrived at the school around 12:15pm, waited in the library for 15 minutes. There were about 50-60 kids in different age groups waiting too. Luckily, nobody cried at that time.

I would say I was very nervous about the interview. I could feel my heartbeat went faster and faster while waiting. My kids seemed to be OK, especially my son.

When the teacher called my daughter's name (she is 3), we walked over to meet the teacher. She was a little bit reluctant to say Hi at first when the teacher greeted her. She didn't cry when they walked into the classroom hand in hand. There were 4 kids and 2 teachers in reception class, two girls and two boys. After 50 minutes she came out, she looked very happy and excited to see me. She told me she played balls with the teacher, she draw a man without hair, she played hand puppet with teacher. She didn't mention anything about writing her name and counting. Maybe she did some counting, she just forgot to tell me. Sometimes it's really hard to count on whatever a three-year-old is saying.

For my 5-year-old, he looked very comfortable during the whole process. The teachers held everybody's hand to walk into the classroom (very nice move to get rid of their nervousness) He did some simple math (addtion, shapes). He was asked to read two simple books (no writing sentences), draw a picture. The teacher read a story to them (3 boys 1 girl), then asked some questions, the kids raised their hands to answer any question. He also played lego. He mentioned that there were three teachers in the classroom, only one was the lead teacher who did all the talking, and the other two chatted a lot.

The whole event was well organized. Everything went smoothly according to the schedule. Staffs were willing to help and answer any questons. Snacks and drinks were provided for the parents while waiting in the lobby. The final result won't come out until March. So I will keep my finger crossed.

Thank you very much for all parents' help. Good luck to all the parents and kids who are applying for this school too.

 

[kblade]

This thread a bit out of date, but figured would update on the interview process should it be of interest. Interview was March 20 2012 for Grade 1.

It all seemed fairly relaxed and he spent 45 mins or so in a room with a few other kids and some teachers. We asked him later what he did, and all he said was that he played a bit, wrote his name at some point, was asked why he liked lego, and spent some time drawing. He loosely mentioned some simple addition/subtraction, but reports from 5 year olds aren't that reliable, so can't be sure of that.

He seemed to think of the whole thing as a bit of a non event, so it seemed fairly gentle.

The only preparation we did wasn't too serious but was based on a story we heard about a different school (not the Canadian one) that rejected a 3 year-old based on the teacher putting toys on the table and the three year old being distracted by the toys ! (grounds for instant fail apparantly) So we joked around a bit seeing how much he could maintain eye contact while we did everything we could to distract him, a game he found highly amusing (and was pretty good at).