Comparing English Enrichment Programmes

[AgnesMM]

My daugther has been attending BC Tampines for some weeks and it seems to be progressing well. Most likely we will continue with P2 as well.

[mum03]

AgnesMM:

My daugther has been attending BC Tampines for some weeks and it seems to be progressing well. Most likely we will continue with P2 as well.

My DD is also in the Tampines Branch. She attends Sat 11.00 am class. Her Teacher's name is Jacquie. How about yours????

[MMM]

Hi,


My kids also attend BC (P2 and P1 this year) since beginning of 2009. They are at Napier road.

My kids actually attended literacy circle june holiday camp for creative writing and my P2 girl in particular had intention to switch to literacy circle. BTW, my P2 girl’s results in school is so so and we find that she is generally weaker in her english. One of the reasons stem from not speaking proper english (eg. in proper sentences) which we are consciously correcting her. Also her writing still sucks. She usually score very high on creativity BUT her tenses are not good and in addition, she don’t proof read what she wrote so her results suffer that way. Frankly having attended the class for 3 terms we don’t find that she has "improved significantly" to a level that is good. But we realise that when she does proof read and check her work, she can do decent stuff. But we feel that english is a language that you need to perfect over time so probably with that mindset, we weren’t expecting to see immediate results by sending them to BC.

Meanwhile for my P1 son, he started with reading development as he wasn’t reading well for his std. He did reading development for term 1 and 2 and from term 3, he is now in creative english and coping well. In fact, his english has improved signifcantly. He is reading widely and absolutely does not show signs that he was struggling with reading previously. His school work is also fine.

We rec’d the re-registration info. We checked with them if they want to continue and it’s apparent that both of them enjoy their lessons at BC. There are various learning resource eg. watching a movie and getting the kids to answer question with regards to that. I wouldn’t say BC is 100% following school syllabus but it is more general english learning. Eg. for my P2, observed that they are not doing compo writing which the teacher told me it’s more for P3. But in my kids’ school, they start written expression in P1.

Having said that, we’ve decided to continue with BC for another year and have re-registered inorder to get the ideal timing (being kiasu). We hold the thinking that there is no immediate results that a school can guarantee (The teacher at literacy circle also told me that). To improve, the child still need to read regularly so that with such programs, it becomes more effective in their english learning.

[KingRascal]

Glad to see this link! I am currently also eyeing on British Council for my boy going P2 next year. At the same time, I have been introduced to ICreative Learning (ICL), which I know nothing about. Does anyone have any feedback to share?


My son reads very well but he's not applying them in his composition in his Tony Buzan class, according to the teacher there...so I have to start working on this aspect. I am not sure if I want to put him in a general English Programme or pure Creative Writing class. I asked him and he chose the 1st option as he said that he wanted variety and not just writing...

Parents with children who have been through this phase, please share your experience :?:

[hquek]

hi japhys,


for icreativelearners, you can check out their website http://www.icreativelearner.com.sg/.

My son is in the kindy program, apologies I'm not able to share experiences on the primary program. All I know is that places are limited in kindy level, and primary level is even worse (due to lack of supply of teachers).

[AgnesMM]

My girl is attending the Sunday 9am class (started only in Jul). I am not sure of the teacher’s name to be honest. Only get a glimpse previously - A big big lady with loud voice.

[chasingjelly]

Has anyone attended the Literacy Circle’s (now called LCentral) Success Program for your K2er? Not sure if I should start my dd there.

[sleepy]

japhys:

My son reads very well but he's not applying them in his composition in his Tony Buzan class, according to the teacher there...so I have to start working on this aspect. I am not sure if I want to put him in a general English Programme or pure Creative Writing class. I asked him and he chose the 1st option as he said that he wanted variety and not just writing...
:?:

Hi, can share what he learns in Tony buzan's class? Mind mapping for creative writing?
Is it difficult to apply if he's not applying them?

[KingRascal]

Tony Buzan's Mindmapping - at the end of the day, having compared with several other centres, they seem to be using similar formats of 5Ws, 1H & Results/Conclusions/etc. The format does help him to craft out a story. However it's the application of vocab that he knows that matters here...which he is not doing...


ICL website - thanks! Already went to the website. Wonder if there's anyone who can give first-hand account of the syllabus and how it's different from other centres? :lol:

[KingRascal]

Hi AgnesMM


Which ICL centre is your child in? I am considering the one in Laguna Park…I have sort of left my name with the teacher for next year’s P2 class. She has yet to get back to me on the vacancy.

How did you decide on ICL? So far I only have feedback from 1 friend and no one else.