Comparing Chinese Enrichment (Primary/Preschool)

[mummyloves]

jedamum:

mummyloves:

i think Berries is overrated... saw their syllabus not impressed. most parents shared that it is able to instil enjoyment of the chinese language, but as for reading and recognising words, they are not so strong. my kids are with zhiying. not so well known but i find them really good!

haha...mummyloves,
berries is overrated to you cos you found a better alternative.
berries have a lot of branches in conveniently located locations, so naturally, their exposure to the public is wider. so with a 'good-enough' curriculum, they became the popular brand of choice.
where is Zhiying ah? more suitable for preschoolers or primary schoolers?
i am game to try it out so long it is accessible.
berries is able to instil enjoyment of chinese language for preschoolers or primary schoolers that started their chinese learning with berries from preschool, but not necessary those primary schoolers that joined after preschool. but then again, enjoyment does not really mean translation to results. my husband enjoy reading selected english and chinese historical literature but he skipped his O-level literature exams cos he constantly flunk this subject in Sec 4 .
you are right to say that reading and recognising words are not so strong. they are after all only an enrichment programme and truly to reap the full benefits, reading chinese books is the way to go.
now to get my boy interested in reading chinese. :slapshead:

ha ha i am always going against mainstream popular enrichment classes with all their heavy advertising which i dont like the idea of part of our fees going into TV print ads.

the zhiying we are going is at parkway centre. think they have 2 other outlets but didnt take note where. they have free trial class that you can try. some of my friends went for the trial and found it good and signed up. what i like- prog is good (esp strong with word recognition for pre school), admin is friendly and flexible, teachers are dedicated and my kid enjoys the classes!

[starystarynite]

So, u find tien hsia good? all your children with tien hsia? Are they able to read chinese books before primary?


i have registered my son for tien hsia at orchard. Just thought of trying out while waiting for berries. still hesitating. cause dunno which is good.

thanks,
stary

Monster Mummy:

starystarynite:

Hi All,

Berries has a super long queue for nursery level. i checked all west and central branches.

waiting list as long as 60 people in front. So, i need to consider Tien hsie, hua and beijing language school.

Iam looking for one that can cultivate interest for my son and build up his vocab and also confidence level when reading.

Some told me Tien hsia is too stressful for nursery level. With all the spelling and hanyu pinying?? for nursery level?

Any comment on these 3 language centres?and particularly tien hsia orchard centre,is the teacher good??

Thanks all .
stary

Hi,
My children attend the class in Tien Hsia. I am not quite sure in which area they refer as stressful, maybe the end semester got performance in front of the parents. I believed that this is quite good as it instill the children to learn to face the crowd.

As for spelling and hanyupinying, it is only started in K1/K2 but still quite minimum. For K1, they only have around 1 spelling per semester while K2 around 2 spelling semester and hanyupinying also not so rigorous.

[starystarynite]

what is Zhiying in chinese?

mummyloves:

jedamum:

[quote=\"mummyloves\"]i think Berries is overrated... saw their syllabus not impressed. most parents shared that it is able to instil enjoyment of the chinese language, but as for reading and recognising words, they are not so strong. my kids are with zhiying. not so well known but i find them really good!

haha...mummyloves,
berries is overrated to you cos you found a better alternative.
berries have a lot of branches in conveniently located locations, so naturally, their exposure to the public is wider. so with a 'good-enough' curriculum, they became the popular brand of choice.
where is Zhiying ah? more suitable for preschoolers or primary schoolers?
i am game to try it out so long it is accessible.
berries is able to instil enjoyment of chinese language for preschoolers or primary schoolers that started their chinese learning with berries from preschool, but not necessary those primary schoolers that joined after preschool. but then again, enjoyment does not really mean translation to results. my husband enjoy reading selected english and chinese historical literature but he skipped his O-level literature exams cos he constantly flunk this subject in Sec 4 .
you are right to say that reading and recognising words are not so strong. they are after all only an enrichment programme and truly to reap the full benefits, reading chinese books is the way to go.
now to get my boy interested in reading chinese. :slapshead:

ha ha i am always going against mainstream popular enrichment classes with all their heavy advertising which i dont like the idea of part of our fees going into TV print ads.

the zhiying we are going is at parkway centre. think they have 2 other outlets but didnt take note where. they have free trial class that you can try. some of my friends went for the trial and found it good and signed up. what i like- prog is good (esp strong with word recognition for pre school), admin is friendly and flexible, teachers are dedicated and my kid enjoys the classes![/quote]

[MummyThreeStreams]

I just signed DS1 up for Berries! I must confess that we didn’t do much shopping around. We just wanted something that would help him enjoy the language. His word recognition and understanding is already not bad but he doesn’t feel comfortable speaking in Chinese (and neither do I!). Berries was the most conveniently located, and had the right scheduling for us. We also considered Hua, but the timing was all wrong. We took a trial class at Berries and really liked the atmosphere there. It’s very positive and nurturing. The clincher was my son who told us he enjoyed the class and he very rarely says that for any class we send him too (even those classes we know he does enjoy)! But that was just the impression from one class. Let’s see how things go.

[laughingcat]

Here is the link to Zhi Ying Language School


http://www.zhiying.com.sg/

I read that another mummy felt that their syllabus is not inline with Singapore. Is it still true?

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php&p=124077

[raisintan]

Hi mummies,


I know Berries is good for pre-schoolers. What about for primary going kids? Any recommendation?

[bigsnoopy]

How about Han Language? They have a new centre at habourfront. Any comment?

[Angelight]

DD attended a trial lesson at Zhi Ying. She rather likes the lesson, but fees abit steep - $420 for 16 lessons. Is it more ex than the other enrichment classes?

[jedamum]

Angelight:

DD attended a trial lesson at Zhi Ying. She rather likes the lesson, but fees abit steep - $420 for 16 lessons. Is it more ex than the other enrichment classes?

what is the duration of lesson? ie what is the rate per hour?

[jansonirene]

My daughter attended Tien Hsia for more than 6 mths in K1 class. Yet, she can hardly speak a word of chinese. During the performance at the end of each semester, she could not recite the poems like what other kids do. She also cannot recognise the chinese characters on flash cards. Quite difficult words like crab, giraffe in chinese. I am pulling her out and going for Berries instead. I think at least for someone like her who grows up in an English speaking environment, it is more important to instill fun in learning at early stages.

Monster Mummy:

starystarynite:

Hi All,

Berries has a super long queue for nursery level. i checked all west and central branches.

waiting list as long as 60 people in front. So, i need to consider Tien hsie, hua and beijing language school.

Iam looking for one that can cultivate interest for my son and build up his vocab and also confidence level when reading.

Some told me Tien hsia is too stressful for nursery level. With all the spelling and hanyu pinying?? for nursery level?

Any comment on these 3 language centres?and particularly tien hsia orchard centre,is the teacher good??

Thanks all .
stary

Hi,
My children attend the class in Tien Hsia. I am not quite sure in which area they refer as stressful, maybe the end semester got performance in front of the parents. I believed that this is quite good as it instill the children to learn to face the crowd.

As for spelling and hanyupinying, it is only started in K1/K2 but still quite minimum. For K1, they only have around 1 spelling per semester while K2 around 2 spelling semester and hanyupinying also not so rigorous.