Comparing Chinese Enrichment (Primary/Preschool)

[titank]

Hi All,


Anyone had try Yuquan Lanuage School of the following course:

华语启蒙课程（4-6岁） Child Introductory Course (4-6 years old)
艺全强化课程常年滚动式开课, Primary 1

Is Yuquan good for Pre-schooler or Primary schools onwards?

[kiasumummy]

HI there


My son (3yrs) doesn’t know much about Chinese. I am considering to send him Chinese language center…Is Tien Hsia good? Are the teachers there child-like and conducting lessons in the fun way ?
Appreciate your feedback.

[titank]

Hi All,


Guess the more chinese lang centre I see, the more I'm getting blur. :oops:

Some asking me to sign up HYPY so that ready for next year in 2010.
Anyone put thier child in different centre?Eg DS in Molin or DD in Berries?

Now would consider the following centres:

Molin Tutorial Centre
Yuquan
Berries
Eduplus Lang
Xueni Lang
Han Lang
Hua Lang
Tien Hsia

[hquek]

hi titank,


My process of elimination in the following order:

1. strike out those located at inconvenient/far out places;
2. strike out those that don’t have holidays (I think berries didn’t use to have holidays, played havoc when planning holidays);
3. visit the centre to view course content, charges and see if i’m comfy with the set up.

It’s really difficult to sieve out which is THE ONE for your child. My DS1 attended berries for 1 year and is now at SHHK (le le hua yu ban) - so far no adverse reactions to either.

[titank]

hquek:

hi titank,


My process of elimination in the following order:

1. strike out those located at inconvenient/far out places;
2. strike out those that don't have holidays (I think berries didn't use to have holidays, played havoc when planning holidays);
3. visit the centre to view course content, charges and see if i'm comfy with the set up.

It's really difficult to sieve out which is THE ONE for your child. My DS1 attended berries for 1 year and is now at SHHK (le le hua yu ban) - so far no adverse reactions to either.

How come switched from Berries to SHHK? Berries seem to be popular among the parents in here. I'm looking for more for those who had tried Eduplus,Xueni, Yuquan etc.

Ya I would be bring 2 kid so really need to do a good evaluation. I'm suprised that I need to pay 2 times registration fees.

[tamarind]

My advise is to bring your kids for trial classes if possible.


I brought my boy for a trial at Tien Hsia. He looked so bored and told me he did not like the class. But he always comes out of his Berries class looking happy.

At one time I actually seriously thought of changing my girl from Berries to Tien Hsia which is nearer to my place. I looked through the materials of Tien Hsia, and found that it is not possible because the standards at Tien Hsia is much lower than that of Berries.

A good Chinese enrichment class should place top priority on character recognition. A child must learn to read as many as Chinese characters as possible, and should be reading very well before he starts to learn hanyu pinyin. Otherwise if he learns hanyu pinyin first, he will become very dependent on it and may not want to read anything without hanyu pinyin.

At Berries, kids learn hanyu pinyin only at K2, after they can read Chinese very well. This is the correct method of teaching Chinese.

I will not go to any enrichment class that starts to teach hanyu pinyin at K1 or even earlier. Remember that your child still must know how to read and write Chinese characters, hanyu pinyin is only a learning tool and will never replace Chinese characters.

My boy had a Chinese test at his Berries K1 class in April this year, you can take a look at the test here :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/05/jeromes-chinese-test-at-berries.html

Parents can use this test to compare the standards of other Chinese enrichment class with Berries.

[titank]

Ok going to check which of them have trial class! Guess most expect me commit 1 term of 1 month as the minimum. I would update my report in here!

[tamarind]

Also remember to look at all the fine prints


At Berries, you don't have to worry that your child is on M.C., or if you have to bring him/her on holiday and miss lessons. You will definitely not lose money. Other enrichment schools may not have such good conditions.

[hquek]

titank:

How come switched from Berries to SHHK? Berries seem to be popular among the parents in here. I'm looking for more for those who had tried Eduplus,Xueni, Yuquan etc.

Some push/pull reasons:
1. In berries, didn't like that the kids were sprawling around on the floor colouring/writing. Teacher said they use the small table thingy earlier on but I still don't see why they end up sprawling on the floor and the tables left unused.

2. At that time, there were no holidays in berries (not sure if that's the same now), so it was a nightmare when I planned long holidays (we go for long holidays at least once a year, and some short regional trips). SHHK has regular holidays so it's easy to plan.

3. SHHK started the le le hua yu ban for N1 - K1 last year, I spoke to the teacher in charge and found that the way classes structured was comparable to Berries. Also, I viewed the texts and it was pretty alright. There are 3 teachers in my DS1's K1 class currently - so no lack of attention.

4. Charges are very reasonable (note SHHK has 3 terms in 1 year, not 4); and I think is much cheaper than berries.

[hquek]

BTW, I am evaluating Yuquan's zijing class based on good feedback from friends.


It's supposed to be very good (but very tough) in teaching kids to recognise 4000 words all in all. But when I went there, the lady kept selling me their chinese idioms class. A bit put off by her hardsell.