Apple Plus School - Discussion
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Hi - Does anyone have feedback on the Chinese classes offered by Appleplus? I’m wondering if I should send my children there given that they’re very new on the market. Not sure if their syllabus or teaching style is any good.
Thanks! -
My eldest (6) has been attending abacus while my youngest (4) has been attending Chinese since last year. They love it and I can see their improvement. Especially my youngest, from hate to love Chinese. Thumb up for the teachers. Both my sons are attending their Serangoon branch.
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My 6yr-old son has been attending since a yr ago. He likes it because there is no numerous formula to be remembered as compared to the traditional abacus. He likes the caring teacher. My son is attending their Serangoon branch.
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Hi titank
Did you eventually sign up your kids for apple plus monkey abacus? If yes, appreciate if you can let me know if you are happy with them. I am thinking of signing up my 4yrs old gal soon turning 5 with the main branch at BT Timah shopping centre. Thanks. -
Yes I did signup the abacus course by Apple Plus School for my DD.
So far I would said it really benefit in a way in which the kid enjoy the lesson. :rahrah: -
titank:
Thanks alot for your response.Yes I did signup the abacus course by Apple Plus School for my DD.
So far I would said it really benefit in a way in which the kid enjoy the lesson. :rahrah: -
Hi all, just want to share my bad experiences with Apple Plus School (艺泉语言艺术学校), not trying to bad mouth but just based on my personal encounter. It could be just me being very unlucky, but if its not, then hopefully can help to alert others from falling into the same plight.
I started researching for a better abacus method late last year, after discovering that my daughter hated the conventional method. it was a chore dragging her to go to class, and there were so many formulaes to remember and homework to do. I narrowed down to 3G Abacus and Apple Plus School Monkey Abacus, it has 9 beads and formulaes were much reduced. The only difference is the color of the beads, and Monkey Abacus appeared to be more professional with proper teaching material and own trained teachers.
I went for a trial class and my daughter said it was much easier to pick up than the conventional method. They offered me a huge promotion of 50% and so I enrolled both my kids. Then nightmare starts.
I encountered a lot of admin problems thereafter. Just quote some vivid examples, e.g. I was informed they forgot to charge me some deposit, also the duration of class was not what as stated on my receipts, it is 1.5hr instead of 2hr. They said they were all mistakes as they are a new centre. The branch manager also gave me wrong info on how my left hander kid should use the abacus, later when I found out the correct info from their own teaching material, she said she is just a branch manager doing admin and i should direct my question to the teacher instead.
I also realised very often we have to wait outside the school under hot sun, because the teacher is late. There is no one else in the school and so the main door is locked. They also change the teacher very often as my kids' teacher was always not available. I requested for a permanent teacher and was told the only permanent teacher will be the branch manager herself. I was not convinced based on my previous encounter with her, and I do not think an admin person (who is also actively involving in roadshows getting new students) shd be involved in full time teaching. When she is doing roadshows, another teacher comes in to teach.
I blew up finally when we had to wait outside the locked school for more than half an hour (can't remember if it was close to an hour) and wanted to withdraw after 1st term. Then a woman from HQ (later found out that she was a principal from another branch) called to convince me that Monkey Abacus is a very good method and it will benefit both my kids tremendously, even though my elder is already in P3. Their method conforms to MOE maths and so students will not be confused when they do sums at school. Also it will help to understand problem sum much better, understand the concept of number bonding, etc. In short, they advocated that Monkey Abacus is not just about speed in counting, it's much more. The branch gave me 10% disc and assured me that there will be no more changing of teachers, and we will not have to wait outside the school under hot sun. They also said they have fired that teacher who was late as it was not her first time.
So I continued for a few more terms. Thats when I started to notice that the teacher (also the previous 3 other relief teachers during the first term) needed to check the answers at the back of the book when marking the worksheets. They are very simple sums that I can even come up with an answer within seconds without knowing abacus. I started to wonder if Abacus really help. For speed counting, if u don't practise it regularly, u still ended up having to use a calculator or conventional way. But then I did not question since I was told the method is not just about speed counting.
Then I realise my P3 kid maths result in school dipped after taking lessons in Apple Plus School, what they had promised obviously did not happen. I asked the teacher if there's any problem in both my kids' learning, but the answer was always positive. However, the teacher started giving my P3 some problem sums to solve during the lessons. I thought he was very helpful and reponsible. But after an internal competition the school organised in Sep, and talking to other parents, I realised my kids' progress were pretty slow as compared to students from other branches. I also found out the teacher whom they said they had fired is still teaching. I checked with my other friends who decided to go with 3G abacus and was shocked to find that one of my friend's kid, who is the same age as my younger child, and started around 6 months later, is already doing mental with 3 numbers (eg 3+2+8). My kid can only do the same but with the use of Abacus, and without it, he can't even add or subtract beyond 10. Obviously, he can't do mental.
I questioned the branch manager and was informed she will be teaching in future as the current teacher will not be teaching anymore. I had only one lesson left with them and so requested to try out in another branch.
That was when I was confirmed that my kids were indeed very behind. There was a P1 kid who has just gone through 4 lessons and reached similar standard as my elder P3 who had gone through abt 30 lessons! I sent an email to the HQ and demanded for explanation and questioned how they control the standards in the franchise centres, and how do they determine the progress of the kids etc. The same woman who previously convinced me to stay called and said that the branch that I went to did not conform to the policies from HQ, it was unfortunate but I should continue my kids in the new branch and they will definitely benefit from their method thereafter, since the teacher in the new branch is also the trainer for other teachers and therefore I should not have to worry. However, I can choose to stop if i still do not feel confident, but it will be very sad as that means my previous investments going down the drain. They did not provide any resolutions or answers to the questions I posted earlier. I had requested to talk to the founder, but she never once emailed or called, although I was told she is fully aware of my situation in their weekly monday meetings.
I was not very please with this answer, imagine after investing more than $2k and the only thing they tell u is to switch to another branch? But after a few correspondences, I have come to realise that I will be wasting time if I continue to delve on this, they avoided further discussions on the branch at fault, their committments are verbal and nothing official via email. As such, I requested that they at least give me an idea what my kids will learn after one term in the new branch, this shd give me the confidence to continue to invest. I mean how confident can I get when you keep telling me how wonderful your method is and my kids will definitely benefit, there shd be at least some KPIs that I can use to measure right? The woman agreed to discuss with the teacher and revert.
I waited for 2 weeks, there was no response. I emailed the HQ again and this time, they don't even sign the email off with a proper name, just HQ, and asked me to call the teacher in the new branch directly (no number given), and that they will offer me a 10% disc for one term in conjunction with a roadshow. This is a clear take it or leave it. The woman never call back (which she normally would each time I sent an email to HQ).
I started researching online on this school, to see if I am the only unlucky one, and came across this website (http://www.entrepreneur2011.sg/editorial/Apple%20Plus%20School%20International%20Pte%20Ltd.php), the more i read the more mad i get, especially on this part \"she understands exactly the worries of parents and disappointment of a teacher when students underachieve.\"
I decided to tell my story so that no one else will fall into the same plight as I did. I still think the method is good if ur kid wants to learn speed counting (not so sure about the other benefits they advocate since I do not see it happen on my kids yet), but then parents should follow and monitor closely to ensure the kids are learning what they should be learning, and how qualified the teacher is.
I still cannot decide if to stop or continue. I have emailed back asking for the teacher's contact (still no news after 4 days), and will make my final decision after talking to this teacher. All my friends said I am stupid and I should just stop, but I just cant decide. After wasting almost 1 year and money and realised my kids are not learning what they should have learnt, and now they tell u that u just need to try one more term and i will see my returns, so how???? sigh.... -
Maybe can share which outlet that you had such a bad experiences. My DD had started off with Apple Plus somewhere in Feb 12. Right now the teacher said have to learn timetable of 2 & 3 if not would be difficult to proceed. Glad that I am having the same teacher all the time. We also had went to take part the competition that was held a few months ago.
For Abacus, I would stop once they reach around P3 where it involve in Maths problems sum. After all it help in doing the addition, subtraction, multiplication & divison.
I also noticed that not many older kids like age 10 & above still doing abacus. -
Just to share…I signed up for 10 days holiday abacus workshop with BTSC after positive feedback from Titank (and please do not misunderstand me, I am not upset with titank).
I had the same experience that my dd has to wait outside the centre and the air on of BT shopping centre is not on yet so really stuffy as her lesson is at 9.30am. I feel the teacher or admin staff shd be there at least 15mins before the centre opened. Also, teacher didn’t turn up for 2 lessons (although they offered us to at attend the 11am lesson instead). My dd is only 4 plus so it wld be too tiring to wait for another 1.5hrs…fortunately for us, my hubby waited with my dd when the teacher of another class said my dd teacher is on the way and asked him to leave my dd there…my hubby waited for half an hour till 10am …teacher still not here. When he pressed for an answer, the other teacher made a call and then told him that my dd teacher can’t make it for class. There was another poor kid (same class as my dd) being left in the class all alone all the time…she is also v young around 3 plus. My hubby was very upset and we did not finish all the 10 lessons. Frankly, if it was my dd being left in the class alone for 30mins, I would have lodged an official complain to the relevant authorities or MOE. I felt so sorry for that kid…
The branch manager called me to apologize but we decided not to continue. -
titank:
Hi titank,Maybe can share which outlet that you had such a bad experiences. My DD had started off with Apple Plus somewhere in Feb 12. Right now the teacher said have to learn timetable of 2 & 3 if not would be difficult to proceed. Glad that I am having the same teacher all the time. We also had went to take part the competition that was held a few months ago.
For Abacus, I would stop once they reach around P3 where it involve in Maths problems sum. After all it help in doing the addition, subtraction, multiplication & divison.
I also noticed that not many older kids like age 10 & above still doing abacus.
Glad that you did not encounter any of the problems that i had gone through. i dont think they are all bad, but I have more or less come to the conclusion that in the minimum the HQ has poor quality control if i give them the benefit of the doubt, otherwise they are probably full of lies and just out to get money and totally not interested in teaching. I am still waiting for their last reply to make my final conclusion. Will update again probably next week.
For timetable, I was told by that lady that there is no need to memorise, as their method will help you to derive the answers, and after u incorporate with mental, the answer just come naturally, without the use of the abacus. I can't verify that though, as my kids have not gone to that yet!
So which centre did u go to? Looks like u have not encountered a time when the teacher is not available? The one i went to is near to shunfu. I was told that the relief teachers were sent by HQ from other centres, coming over just to teach whenever the centre teacher is not available. So far, I did not find these teachers good.
As for this lady whom I used to talk to (but had not call back since despite telling me she will always be a friend that i can always talk to if i have any problems in future), i was told that she is principal from the BT centre. Not very sure though, as I always thought she was from HQ. Anyway, she referred me to try out at the nearest centre (to the one that my kids were going). The teacher appeared to be a lot better than the teachers i have seen, at least the way she talked, she sounded like she knew the method very well. She should be since she is the trainer for all other teachers...but then...some issues that i need to sort out first before I comment further on this teacher.
As for the competition, did u get back the results other than the trophies? From what i gather, every kid who attended that competition gets a trophy, but no one actually know exactly how they fare in the exams. There was also no official certificate after that to indicate what standard the kids had achieved. I was just told to prepare my kids to be able to answer more than 20 sums within 4 min (or 5? cant recall) and pay $40 for each exam the teacher had assigned my kids to take part.
Anyway, I was glad that I attended this competition and got to talk to other parents. I just don't understand how a kid who only finished 14 or 15 out of the 20 questions and can still come in FIRST. So imagine what kind of standard the rest of the kids who did not get first. And yes, I was also puzzled why I didn't see any older kids when they said the method will benefit them not just the young ones. It was this competition that sets the alarm and leads me to find out the real truth about these people.
You need to monitor the progress of your kids closely. According to this trainer teacher, the teachers are supposed to start teaching mental when your kid finished K102, and start multiplication when at K201. I was not informed of such thing before. I tried to ask for this kind of information to decide whether to continue but none of them is willing to tell me now.
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