Comparing Chinese Enrichment (Primary/Preschool)

[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.

[Busymom]

tamarind:

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.

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.

Interesting to hear that you find that Tien Hsia's standard is much lower than Berries. I have a 2.5 year-old son and I am contemplating whether to sign him up at Tien Hsia or Berries next year, since there is so much good review about Berries here. My DD has been with Tien Hsia from 3+ and she is K1 this year as well. Have decided to post her latest test here so that other parents could take a look and compare. I would have thought that the words in Tien Hsia's oral test are quite difficult too, but does that mean its standard is higher? Depending on what has been taught in class, students will learn accordingly. I understand that new words for the term are revised weekly, so naturally children will know those words at the end of the term. But I wonder how many words could still be retained after the term ends? Unfortunately, I haven't been revising with DD her work at Tien Hsia all this while and I don't have any answer to that.


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[Busymom]

Busymom:

Hi tcdl

Just saw your message. So far, it has been DH who attends the class with DS. I haven't been going myself as I have another class to attend with DD. :oops: Will be going first time this Sat and will give you first hand account after the class, ok?

Hi tcdl

In case you are still interested to know my views on the playgroup class by Hua.

The plus points in my opinion:
- a lot more verbal exchanges between the teacher and each child individually. Some parents may favour group responses, but at this age and especially if the child is more reserved in nature or can't speak the language well, the individual time given to speak is good.

- there are hands-on activities for the children, like picking apples from apple trees pasted on the board (learning the word - apple), running around with balloons on their head (learning the word - head), etc.

- some art work, like for this term, the theme is about colours and the children will either paint their hands or fingers with the specific colour of that week, or colour, paste coloured paper, etc.

- scope of the lesson seems wider than what I expected. On the day when I was there, the teacher bought a box of cherry tomatoes for the children to try (to eat), as the topic for that day was about red. Naturally, the children were taught the chinese word for tomato. Hence, I do not think the lesson was restricted to learning just apple or red colour on that day.

- repetition of earlier lessons through songs. They seem to have a song each week for the word that was taught and these songs were sung at the start of the class, which serves as a revision. I think this is good as it reinforces what was learnt previously.

- story time. There was a short story time with the teacher reading from a large-sized story book. This is neither a plus or minus point, except that I realise that the story continues weekly.


The minus points in my opinion:
- understand from some parents that the teacher occasionally (during the last term) used English to explain the words / instructions to the children as she felt that some children would otherwise not have understood her. This did not happen when I was there that day.

- pace of the lesson is indeed a bit slow. On the other hand, as it is a 90-min lesson as compared to some others that I have been before, I personally think it is alright. Another reason is perhaps the small class size (only 3 students on the day that I was there). Naturally the teacher could be excused for being more relaxed in her pace.

- a short passage given in the worksheet was not read to each student. Maybe, the parent was expected to read to the child (or maybe it just happened to be so on the day when I was there). My problem is DH who accompanies DS for the lesson cannot read Chinese!

- sound quality of the songs played not that good.

- floor mats really quite old.

I must emphasize here that the above are strictly my personal opinion. I couldn't say that I was overly impressed (or perhaps my expectation was already set very low, afterall this is a class meant for 2yo), but overall, I believe it was a good exposure for DS at this age.

[tamarind]

busymom,

Thanks for sharing.

When my boy attended the N2 trial class at Tien Hsia, he only learned 2 new words in one lesson. While at Berries N2, they are already learning to read simple sentences.

When I looked at the worksheets for K1 at Tien Hsia, I had the impression that they were still teaching words. But in Berries K1 class, the kids are already learning to read sentences very well, and are also writing complete sentences.

I don’t see the point in learning so many individual words. What is most important is how to read and write in sentences. At Berries K2 the kids can read books with a few sentences a page. I have heard the whole class reading out loud, and they do remember most of the words they have learned before.

Berries method is similar to the Ladybird key word series. The new words are taught and then repeated throughout the year in new sentences, so the children can have lots of practice.

I also think that Tien Hsia’s worksheets and materials are not as good as Berries. That is only my personal view lah. Mommies should visit both Tien Hsia and Berries and compare for themselves.

[titank]

Hi All,


Berries shown me their course materials & seem quite good. Eduplus is not able to show me as must after registration.

Any idea where can I enrol for HYPY class during the school holidays after the Term 4? Think I'm too late to get into any HYPY class by now! Prefer to have weekend slots as both of us are FTWP!

[jedamum]

titank:

Hi All,


Berries shown me their course materials & seem quite good. Eduplus is not able to show me as must after registration.

Any idea where can I enrol for HYPY class during the school holidays after the Term 4? Think I'm too late to get into any HYPY class by now! Prefer to have weekend slots as both of us are FTWP!

if your boy is in K2 this year, berries have Dec holidays HYPY crash course. inquire with them.

[Lucky]

titank:

Hi All,


Berries shown me their course materials & seem quite good. Eduplus is not able to show me as must after registration.

Any idea where can I enrol for HYPY class during the school holidays after the Term 4? Think I'm too late to get into any HYPY class by now! Prefer to have weekend slots as both of us are FTWP!

hi Titank,

Just curious why do you need to send your children to HYPY crash course as I understood most kindergardens/cc would have already covered all the HYPY by term 3 ?

[titank]

I had checked from the existing kindergarten that they do not cover HYPY.

Quite worried if my DS not able to cope well if he enter P1 next year!