I Can Read - Discussion
-
Hi, would like to know anybody has problem with the course fee for I Can Read online classes?
My daughter is in pre-reading 3 during CB. We signed up for the online class which we were told that course fee was 50%. We were told to make full payment for classes during CB and they will make deduction in the next term.
However now we were told that the online is 50% for April. May & June only 25%. Only pre-reading 1 entitled to 3 mths 50% during CB online classes.
In June I did checked with their staff and they confirmed that is was 50% for April to June. Now another staff insisted that my information is not correct.
Would like to know does anybody have the same problem or was unlucky to be given the wrong information in the first place? -
Ok so now I will talk about the start of class, break time, pick up time, homework and letters from the centre.
1) Start of Class
Enter the centre 5 minutes before class starts. Centre should have a designated waiting area. Please do not enter that area, allow your kids to go mingle with their friends while waiting for class to start. For very young kids, you can bring them in just before class in case they cry. Encourage your child to have a routine to remove their shoes and put them on the shelf, then sanitize their hands. Front desk staff will not be handling cashiering or enquiries during this crucial period, as many kids will be moving around and need supervision.
2) Break
Some centres have a "library" which are just book shelves with books to encourage reading. However, depending on the centre, some of them may not allow the kids to read during break time. This is because complaints were made when parents see their kids "not in the classroom" and "not learning". Before making complaints, it is best to find out the rationale behind letting the kids hang out at the shelves. Teachers do need a toilet break too and it would be good to let the kids read leisurely while the teacher makes a quick trip to the bathroom.
Eating is not encouraged during break time so, unless there is a medical condition, please make sure the child has eaten before class or will eat after class. Food can cause allergic reactions in other children, or some foods may be against some kids’ religious beliefs. Drinking plain water is fine so kids should always bring a filled water bottle.
3) Pick-up time
Classes that end just before lunch hour or closing time are trickier. Parents/guardians should try to pick up their kids on time. For lunch hour, most centres will close as teachers and staff leave to purchase food. Therefore, we encourage parents to come on time. There have been cases where children tried to sneak out to find their parents or were frightened as they thought they had been abandoned. There were instances where parents or grandparents miscommunicated and forgot to pick up the child. So kindly remind family members and guardians of pick-up time.
4) Homework
Each teacher has a slightly different approach to homework. Each class also differs in their progress and the amount of homework they can handle. If your child is struggling, do let the teacher know. If your child is doing well but his/her class is progressing slowly, speak to the teacher about your concerns, especially for the Reading Level programme. Let the teachers know if there is difficulty getting the child to practice or if there’s no one available to practice with the child.
5) Letters from the centre
Whenever there are fees to be paid or important notices (Revision Spelling, PTM, holiday closures), letters WILL BE GIVEN. Each child will receive it unless he/she was absent. Letters may be given to the children to hold in their hands (so they can give to their parents immediately) or put in their bags (to prevent it being lost in transit). We have had cases where parents were furious at not being notified, because they did not check their children’s bags. During change of classes, teachers have limited time to attend to queries and may not be able to inform everyone, so do check the kids’ bags for homework and important notices. -
PSLE & ICR PEP (Primary Programme)
Hi for all the parents whose kids are in the PEP programme, I’d like to give an honest update.
If you are signing your child up for enrichment and creative writing, go ahead.
If you are signing up to prepare your child for primary school… SKIP IT.
I will be very honest - it is marketed as aligned to MOE syllabus but actually only 50%. And that is a generous amount of close-one-eye estimation.
Not only that, the content is at a higher level than most average primary school content. So there’s a chance that your child can be put at a lower program than he is in MOE school.
However, if your child is assessed to be more than 2 grades below his school level, I would suggest getting re-assessment or finding better alternatives.
Here’s how it went for my colleagues:
- Teach creative writing in styles not used or not accepted in MOE compositions (write superhero stories, write instructions for recipe, write alien stories etc).
- Lots of explanation that is not useful for primary school. It’s good for extra knowledge but not helpful if your child is already struggling.
- No practice for MOE-style papers except during Lesson 11, which is at the end of each term. So from Lessons 1-10, they don’t do anything in MOE format. Suddenly at Lesson 11, they do a MOE-style test, in MOE format.
- Lesson 11 test comprises of composition, grammar mcq, vocab mcq, cloze, comprehension etc… and all must be done in 1.5hours. That is hardly enough time for those who really struggle. Many parents are not aware of this, some did not even know there are tests at all.
* Lesson 12: some terms have an extra lesson for going through corrections. TAKE NOTE: some teachers mess their schedules up, so instead of doing the test at Lesson 11, they play it cool and do it on Lesson 12. Then they SKIP GOING THROUGH AND CORRECTIONS. So parents, please track the schedule. Unless there’s a valid explanation (public holidays, centre closure due to emergencies, teacher absent and relief teacher messed up), the main teacher should not skip or push back unnecessarily.
***************
Some children may enjoy learning in a group, with content different from school stuff. My suggestion is that you observe and see if ICR is supporting your child or making things more stressful. I have seen kids who got better in terms of creativity, but also those who started to dread coming for classes. Especially true if they are in Pri 3 and above, when school work is piling up. -
Omg! The structure is so similar to MES.
-
Hi @cindycsm,
From what I heard, ICR and MES used to have some form of collaboration. Then they decided to part ways. There have been some ex-MES teachers who hop over to ICR and vice versa. IIRC, ex-MES teachers have said that ICR treat their staff better.
No comments from me personally as I never worked at MES. I did attend an interview that did not feel right: one of the owners was having a bad flu and still shook my hand, they lied about "not related to ICR at all". When I worked for ICR, no one hid the fact that they used to collab.
Education wise, I have heard that some materials in MES are a bit better structured than ICR. -
Hi, can anyone from Tampines branch ICR have referral code? Gonna enrolled my kid there for phonics class… also any recommended teacher for that branch? Many thanks in advance !
-
Can I check if all I Can Read branches only have one staff at the counter? I went to a branch in the ‘east’ 3 times (2 times last year and 1 time this year), there seems to be only one counter staff there. And obviously this one staff could not handle everything there. Parents going in to enquire, parents going in to register, let students to go in one by one by checking their temperature, dismiss the students one by one to ensure all students go to the their respective parents and not running about. All happening at the same time.
I rarely write bad review but this is really making me angry because I brought my child in for a trial class. I’ve brought her in last year to try but she was reluctant to go in, so I thought okay I shall wait for her to be a little bit older to bring her in. Fast forward 5 months, she’s now 4 years old, I’m thinking to bring her in to try again. I called in and explain to the staff that my child is difficult to enter the classroom on her own due to separation anxiety, otherwise she’s really keen to join the class. The staff said no problem, they understand some kids are like that, need time to adapt. So I brought my child in on that day and she had a meltdown when we reached there (she was very excited prior to reaching there). And you can imagine this ‘one’ staff would not be able to handle it plus have to do everything other thing at the same time. She refused to help to bring her in, she said she can only allow her to go in if she stops crying. And obviously my child would want to cling to me and cry when nobody else help me to bring her in. So finally the staff reluctantly brought her in after I insisted that she should help, otherwise there’s no way we can help her to settle down into the class. So I left to hide at one corner, my child cried for about 5 mins and stopped. The staff brought her into the classroom. Then I overheard the staff chatting with another teacher outside the classroom (the main door was opened and I was waiting outside the center), the staff actually badmouth about my child and me! She said ‘I’m so tired handling that girl, the parent shouldn’t bring her in when she’s still so young, parents nowadays are so different from my time’. (My girl is 4 years old this year, ICR advertise that they accept children from 2.5 years old, and I did call in a day before to prompt them that my child may have separation anxiety and they assured me over the phone that they know how to handle).
Management of ICR please ensure you have sufficient staff, so that your staff will not give such comments and please remember to close the door if you decided to say something ‘not so nice’ about the child/parent. -
I have went to ‘I Can Read’ trail lesson at Hillion Mall. Very disappointed with the staff attitude at this center. No registration or assessment was done. My child went straight to join the class without any assessment, registration (no filling up of details as well) and no introductions conducted by the staffs. After the class ended, the teacher in charge of my child class walked out and simply say “oh u can enrol your child if you want”. I was puzzled and ask if she can tell us more about the course or was the class suitable for my child etc. She simply replied “don’t join us if you don’t trust us”. When we ask politely the second time. She didn’t reply our question and She repeated the same thing ‘don’t join if you don’t like it’.
The teacher name ‘Miss Lim’. She refuses to let us know her full name. Parent do take note if your child class was with her. She has no patience with parents not to say kids. Bad attitude. -
As an ex-employee, I can tell you that many branches have one-man show. It is really terrible for everyone, customers and staff. I have seen colleagues who went hours without a toilet or even meals because they were swamped doing one-man show. Worse still, I've heard of teachers who had to help out incompetent front desk staff! However, that is not the common practice. Through the grapevine, I've heard that several front desk staff left in 2020. Perhaps that's why they are short on manpower.
I think what happened to you is unacceptable. However, do know that you absolutely have the right to rebook assessments if your child had a meltdown. Don't feel like you have to stay and do the assessment. A meltdown assessment NEVER goes well and your child may end up not performing to what he/she can do. A friend of mine had two or more assessments with a child. Each time, the child cried and refused to cooperate. My friend told the parents to come again the following week. After 2-3 attempts, the child enrolled. My friend told me the child seemed to have separation anxiety, but over time the child came to her own SOP: cry, enter, stop.
Your child may need more time than others, but that is not your fault.rosm\" post_id=\"2013090\" time=\"1611534777\" user_id=\"94141:
Can I check if all I Can Read branches only have one staff at the counter? I went to a branch in the ‘east’ 3 times (2 times last year and 1 time this year), there seems to be only one counter staff there. And obviously this one staff could not handle everything there. Parents going in to enquire, parents going in to register, let students to go in one by one by checking their temperature, dismiss the students one by one to ensure all students go to the their respective parents and not running about. All happening at the same time.
I rarely write bad review but this is really making me angry because I brought my child in for a trial class. I’ve brought her in last year to try but she was reluctant to go in, so I thought okay I shall wait for her to be a little bit older to bring her in. Fast forward 5 months, she’s now 4 years old, I’m thinking to bring her in to try again. I called in and explain to the staff that my child is difficult to enter the classroom on her own due to separation anxiety, otherwise she’s really keen to join the class. The staff said no problem, they understand some kids are like that, need time to adapt. So I brought my child in on that day and she had a meltdown when we reached there (she was very excited prior to reaching there). And you can imagine this ‘one’ staff would not be able to handle it plus have to do everything other thing at the same time. She refused to help to bring her in, she said she can only allow her to go in if she stops crying. And obviously my child would want to cling to me and cry when nobody else help me to bring her in. So finally the staff reluctantly brought her in after I insisted that she should help, otherwise there’s no way we can help her to settle down into the class. So I left to hide at one corner, my child cried for about 5 mins and stopped. The staff brought her into the classroom. Then I overheard the staff chatting with another teacher outside the classroom (the main door was opened and I was waiting outside the center), the staff actually badmouth about my child and me! She said ‘I’m so tired handling that girl, the parent shouldn’t bring her in when she’s still so young, parents nowadays are so different from my time’. (My girl is 4 years old this year, ICR advertise that they accept children from 2.5 years old, and I did call in a day before to prompt them that my child may have separation anxiety and they assured me over the phone that they know how to handle).
Management of ICR please ensure you have sufficient staff, so that your staff will not give such comments and please remember to close the door if you decided to say something ‘not so nice’ about the child/parent. -
This is very strange. Before I left, ICR did not have a trial class policy. Not sure when this changed?
Any child must have an assessment done. Assessment forms need to be kept by front desk. There should not have been a trial class before an assessment was done, because how else would they know which level the child is at? The only time I can imagine skipping an assessment is for the Primary Levels bu even then, from what I recall, they still need to do an assessment to keep a record.
I am very sorry about your unpleasant experience. Did the front desk staff explain the course content as well? Or was it all left up to the teachers? I feel that sometimes, some front desk staff leave the \"sales-pitch/marketing\" part up to the teachers, when they should inform parents directly, at least the gist of the course. Then details can be discussed with the teacher if parents wish to know. That would prepare you for what to ask the teacher and if the teacher is in a rush, at least you already got some info. That said, I do think every parent deserves to be informed, especially when they are paying an arm and a leg for such courses.
You could consider other branches or other teachers if this experience has marred your impression.Yen zi\" post_id=\"2013131\" time=\"1611559308\" user_id=\"191007:[quote=\"Yen zi\" post_id=2013131 time=1611559308 user_id=191007]I have went to ‘I Can Read’ trail lesson at Hillion Mall. Very disappointed with the staff attitude at this center. No registration or assessment was done. My child went straight to join the class without any assessment, registration (no filling up of details as well) and no introductions conducted by the staffs. After the class ended, the teacher in charge of my child class walked out and simply say “oh u can enrol your child if you want”. I was puzzled and ask if she can tell us more about the course or was the class suitable for my child etc. She simply replied “don’t join us if you don’t trust us”. When we ask politely the second time. She didn’t reply our question and She repeated the same thing ‘don’t join if you don’t like it’.
The teacher name ‘Miss Lim’. She refuses to let us know her full name. Parent do take note if your child class was with her. She has no patience with parents not to say kids. Bad attitude.[/quote]
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login