Zoophonics

[jon00]

Tree nymph,

My 2 kids are with Zoophonics daily programmes.

Vonneee86,
Yes, like LKVM said, they do have enrichment classes, both in weekdays and weekends.

[mrswongtuition]

My boy was with Zoophonics (Tampines Mart) for once a week enrichment.

I took him out after 1 term.

Main issues:
1. Teacher is a middle age lady who can’t speak proper English. Her pronunciation was not clear and my boy also picked up the poor pronunciation for certain new words which were taught during the lesson. (Until today, he still pronounces the word ‘nurse’ wrongly as taught during his lessons in Zoophonics. We tried correcting him but he insists that the teacher was right.)
2. The teachers could not manage the class.
3. When given feedback (before we decided to withdraw him), no action taken and no effort to explain.
4. They took very very very long to refund my deposit although I gave them more than 1 month’s notice. (I paid for a while term, so when we told them we wanted to withdraw him, they told us that they will pass us the cheque for the refund of the deposit on the last lesson with them. However, it did not happen and we had to keep calling in and emailing them. When I call in, it was hard to get hold of anyone - and they supervisor of the centre kept persuading me to let my boy join back. Finally, the sent us the refund after I called their HQ to complain. That was 3 month after his last lesson!)

Things we liked about the class:
1. My boy likes the songs.
2. The thematic approach is fun for my boy.

Anyway, we let my boy join the class for fun (more for social interaction). Before he joined the class, he already knew all this basic phonic sounds but the teacher insist that they cannot let him join the older children though he is independant (can attend class without us accompanying him) and his standard is faster than the older kids.

For the price you are paying, I think there are better options elsewhere. I’m glad to take my boy out and he’s having lessons elsewhere now - with very fast improvements.

[jon00]

Well, I guess it depends on the teacher as well (the execution process), even though the school has good teaching materials, and methods. I think my kids are fortunate to have good teachers (both english and chinese) in their daily programmes, and I am happy

For the record, my kids are not with Tampines branch

[vonneee86]

Hi all,


Looks like the opinions are quite different, is Zoophonics a franchise? Do you know which branches are better?

jon00, which branch does your child go to?

mrswongtuition, the branch that your child goes to seems bad, is it the management or the teachers?

Do you all know who started this? Is it very established?

Thanks!

[mrswongtuition]

vonneee86:

Hi all,


Looks like the opinions are quite different, is Zoophonics a franchise? Do you know which branches are better?

jon00, which branch does your child go to?

mrswongtuition, the branch that your child goes to seems bad, is it the management or the teachers?

Do you all know who started this? Is it very established?

Thanks!

Both the management and teachers

[tree nymph]

Zoophonics is not a franchise. It is owed by an ex-school teacher, who was also the english dept head. Anyways, from my understanding, the older class they use ex-school teachers trained in the zoophonics method to teach the kids. For the younger ones, I have the idea that not all of them are ex-teachers. I’m not very familiar with the management structure but I understand that there are ‘principals’ or ‘curriculum heads’ in different centres and they are supposed to be responsible for the running of ‘their’ centres. Its like a bank with different branches so there is a branch manager in each branch. I’ve not been to the Tampines mart one so can’t comment on that branch.


My kids are in Siglap Branch and Bukit Timah Branch. We are lucky. We got very good teachers and my kids enjoy going to their enrichment classes. The system at both places are quite ok, fast and efficient. I didn’t hear much complaints from the parents. In fact, I heard many good comments from the parents there (at least from the same classes as my kids…)

However, please bear in mind that there are words that are not phonetically correct too. So we should still continue to read with the kids so that they know the sight words too. One good example will be chaos.

[maisy]

Thanks Tree Nymph.


I stay near the Siglap branch. May consider putting my son there.... (just that the drop-off zone is a real nightmare... but small price to pay if it is good )

[jon00]

Vonneee86,

Jurong West branch

vonneee86:

Hi all,

Looks like the opinions are quite different, is Zoophonics a franchise? Do you know which branches are better?

jon00, which branch does your child go to?

mrswongtuition, the branch that your child goes to seems bad, is it the management or the teachers?

Do you all know who started this? Is it very established?

Thanks!

[Joeyz18]

tree nymph:

Zoophonics is not a franchise. It is owed by an ex-school teacher, who was also the english dept head. Anyways, from my understanding, the older class they use ex-school teachers trained in the zoophonics method to teach the kids. For the younger ones, I have the idea that not all of them are ex-teachers. I'm not very familiar with the management structure but I understand that there are 'principals' or 'curriculum heads' in different centres and they are supposed to be responsible for the running of 'their' centres. Its like a bank with different branches so there is a branch manager in each branch. I've not been to the Tampines mart one so can't comment on that branch.


My kids are in Siglap Branch and Bukit Timah Branch. We are lucky. We got very good teachers and my kids enjoy going to their enrichment classes. The system at both places are quite ok, fast and efficient. I didn't hear much complaints from the parents. In fact, I heard many good comments from the parents there (at least from the same classes as my kids...)

However, please bear in mind that there are words that are not phonetically correct too. So we should still continue to read with the kids so that they know the sight words too. One good example will be chaos.

just to share that my elder boy also went bt timah branch for quite some time and i like the teachers there, they are very committed and help my son improve his english alot. My elder is in wise owl now and i am considering enrolling my younger boy who is 30mths to start early. furthermore their fees is not ex compare to the services they provide. :celebrate:

[vonneee86]

jon00:

Vonneee86,

Jurong West branch

vonneee86:

Hi all,

Looks like the opinions are quite different, is Zoophonics a franchise? Do you know which branches are better?

jon00, which branch does your child go to?

mrswongtuition, the branch that your child goes to seems bad, is it the management or the teachers?

Do you all know who started this? Is it very established?

Thanks!

Hi jon00,

Thanks for the info, might try out the branch you go to since you feel it is good.