Comparing Chinese Enrichment (Primary/Preschool)

[maisy]

Hi tamarind,

Really hats off to you lei - I m really impressed... u r not only very instrumental in nurturing your children...you seem very well-informed in many other issues too... you are slowly becoming my \"role model\"..hahaha... so are you a teacher? just curious

[tamarind]

maisy,

I am also learning for all the parents in this forum I am teaching young adults now

[blueblue]

Can anyone advise me? My son is attending Berries N2 this year. His kindergarten offers Speech & Drama Chinese and I am not sure if I should let him join.


Is attending Berries enough for him? or Speech & Drama is a diff thing? Plus he also has other enrichments and I don’t want to tire him.

[hquek]

hi blueblue,


depends on your needs. My kids (K2 and N2) attend chinese speech & drama, and chinese enrichment classes at hokkien huay kuan. It’s tiring (both classes on the same day) but I find it necessary cos DS1 doesn’t like chinese. Figured since he won’t speak in chinese to us, we will get him more classes related to that. I feel it’s useful and so we’re continuing with this approach.

To me, chinese enrichment has writing, word recognition (plus others); S&D is more of bringing out the drama and story telling/lang song aspect.

I did contemplate on dropping chinese S&D but when I peek into the classroom, the activities they do seem very fun and I do like the teachers. So ended up didn’t drop any.

[MMM]

Yes, I agree with hquek on his observation.


My kids (P3, P2 and K1) attends chinese S&D and they’ve separate chinese lessons. The chinese lessons is on the academic aspect but S&D is about confidence, speech & fun.

I put them through it because I felt that yes the kids speak mandarin but it is not "perfect" due to bilingualism they sort of become rojak. With oral exam given strong emphasis (not sure if it will become stronger with the change as I assumed it will), I hope S&D will train them to speak proper mandarin.

Eg. my K1, she speaks mandarin to my parents and her vocab is wide BUT her pronunciation is not correct. By not pronuncing correctly, it might affect her ability with HYPY.

In our case, for S&D class, kids typically do rao kou ling and also kuai ban.

[titank]

hquek:

hi blueblue,


depends on your needs. My kids (K2 and N2) attend chinese speech & drama, and chinese enrichment classes at hokkien huay kuan. It's tiring (both classes on the same day) but I find it necessary cos DS1 doesn't like chinese. Figured since he won't speak in chinese to us, we will get him more classes related to that. I feel it's useful and so we're continuing with this approach.

To me, chinese enrichment has writing, word recognition (plus others); S&D is more of bringing out the drama and story telling/lang song aspect.

I did contemplate on dropping chinese S&D but when I peek into the classroom, the activities they do seem very fun and I do like the teachers. So ended up didn't drop any.

Hi Hquek,

Can share how the chinese enrichment from SHHK? Must be member then can sign up for the course? Is the group size in the class considewr big?

[hquek]

titank:

Hi Hquek,
Can share how the chinese enrichment from SHHK? Must be member then can sign up for the course? Is the group size in the class considewr big?

Hi titank,

They have different classes for different levels. From N1 to K1, there's 乐乐华语班. It's basically like what you get in Berries, only theirs is story version (Berries version dun have story, just sentence) and there is no hanyupinyin at that level. It's quite fun - so far there are 3 teachers to the class (about 12 -15 I think). Kids bring back mini readers, they will read to the teacher previous week materials. For younger levels, there is a bit bit of writing (more of stroke style) and mini worksheet. For K1 then it will be writing whole words - but it's pretty basic and not a lot of writing.

学前认读班 is for K2 prep. They have 1 sheet of text that I think kids have to read aloud - it's a lot of words. Then there is a sheet containing sentences relating to the text...not sure how that comes in. And followed by writing. Each week, I find he has to write anything from 4 to 8 characters - each repeat about 12 times. This class is comparatively quieter (compared with the noisy setting of the above)...whilst waiting for class to end, I thought they were having exams. Class size I think is about 15 to 1 teacher.

Mine are weekend classes, so sizes can be big. I understand that the sizes for weekday classes (if available) can be smaller in comparison.

For primary/secondary, they have creative writing classes also, but that one I not very clear. Next year lah....when DS1 goes P1, I will sign up for those classes.

For S&D, there are again different levels depending on how old your child is. My son is in k2, 2nd year of S&D. They have different teachers who run around the classes - one will handle the lang song, another the story telling etc...the teachers seem very fun type.

What I am impressed is that a lot of teachers in SHHK are locals, but their mandarin is impeccable. And thus far, the teachers bond very well with the kids.

SHHK members get some discount off the courses, but their courses are open to all. Registration starts in Oct, but you can always enquire if there is a timing available. one disadvantage of SHHK vs Berries is that if you miss the class, there is no make up - over means over. BTW, they also have an assortment of other courses like calligraphy, kids art, kids percussion, and even chinese dance.

(I think I'm walking commercial for them)

[blueblue]

Many thanks hquek & MMM! will seriously consider to put my son in S & D then…

[cloubhappy.05320live.05320com]

Any1 with child at N2 with Berries at Orchard?

[corneyAmber]

Can any kind mommies/daddies here provide feedback on Tien Hsia re. their primary school chinese programs? What are the activities they do in class? Did your kids enjoy the lessons? My son is currently in P1 studying higher chinese.


TIA