Comparing English Enrichment Programmes

[Yong HL]

Hi titank

yes, we are discussing about english enrichment

Hi honeybeel and adafew
hiaz... yes.... i am trying to think really carefully. Just to add-on to adafew's info, i just been MA(Kovan) this afternoon see see look look.. The \"trial\" class is for a month and we have to pay the one month school fees. The make-ups are very flexible, if go holiday or mc, just produce documentation proof, make-up class can be arranged. 1.5hr class is only on weekdays and weekend classes are all 2hrs. The sch term mostly follow MOE except for June where they will hold 2 more weeks of classes. Generally it is alright on surface, but will have to be in the course to know in depth.
adafew, yes, some parents i talked to shared the same thought as you. i bumped into a fren today who was waiting for her son's class to end. Her son is in ICR. She has the intention to withdraw her son from ICR too. Her son and my daughter are in the same ICR level (but different centre). The reason for her withdrawal was that she finds the course \"too demanding\" and her son is practically dragging his feet to school. I heard from her that our another common fren also have to persuade her son to go ICR every week too with a promise for some play session after that. But different people gave me different view. Another parent told me ALL her frens send their kids to ICR and some of them are in gifted programmes! So, ???
haha, i tink it still voiced down to each individual ya... i have decided to end ICR and shld be more inclined to BC at this moment. Tomorrow going check it out. At the end of day, i just want to my daughter to have fun in learning English for now. She is still a preschooler.. she has plenty of time to be drilled to study when she starts p1.. Just my own opinion here..

[sleepy]

adafew:

I2) School fees - S$2300/year 80hrs (for weekend) signup before end Dec less S$200. That means S$26.25/hr. S$2050 for weekday(-20% if book before yearend = S$1640/year/80hrs = S$20.5/hr),

Hi, I saw on BC website weekdays fee $1050 for 20 weeks.

How to work out to $20.5/hr?

Are they are giving $200 for whole year payment then addition 20% discount?

Must sign up by which date to get the discount?

Thanks !

[amylqf]

adafew:

I have narrowed down few key pointers between both centers


BC
1) Native speakers (80% from UK/US, 20% AU/NZ)
2) School fees - S$2300/year 80hrs (for weekend) signup before end Dec less S$200. That means S$26.25/hr. S$2050 for weekday(-20% if book before yearend = S$1640/year/80hrs = S$20.5/hr),
3) Payment 1/2 yearly or yearly
4) no makeup class for whatever reason
5) 1 story book /wk for kid to bring home for reading
6) twice yearly parent-teacher review
7) Class size max 18pax
1hr45mins/lesson
9) teacher to time slot typically not decided till end year

MA
1) Native speakers (20% from UK/US, 80% AU/NZ)
2) School fees - S$56/wk for weekend(include Fri) , if signup before end Dec, less S$1, that means, S$27.5/hr
3) Payment every month or every two months
4) makeup class allowed if produce proof of documents
5) 3 story books /wk for kid to bring home for reading
6) twice yearly parent-teacher review, one open wk (in May), allowing parents to sit-in the class to evaluate the program.
7) class size max 11pax
option 1hr30mins or 2hrs
9) teacher to timeslot allocated, so parents is able to access preference towards teachers preferred

Hope above helps for those who are considering these two centers

Wow, thanks for the comparison. That definately help.

[Yong HL]

just an update - Toa Payoh K2 class weekend full

[adafew]

sleepy:

adafew:

I2) School fees - S$2300/year 80hrs (for weekend) signup before end Dec less S$200. That means S$26.25/hr. S$2050 for weekday(-20% if book before yearend = S$1640/year/80hrs = S$20.5/hr),

Hi, I saw on BC website weekdays fee $1050 for 20 weeks.

How to work out to $20.5/hr?

Are they are giving $200 for whole year payment then addition 20% discount?

Must sign up by which date to get the discount?

Thanks !

Hi ,

If $1050/20wks, then this is for 1/2year and for weekday. full year is 2045 (typo-error in my earlier comparison, sorry..). If you signup for 1/2 year on weekday, there will be 15% discount. Per lesson is 1hr45mins.

BC discount structure is
1/2year - S$1050 (wkdy) less - 15% ,S$1,150(wkend) less - S$50
1 year - S$2045(wkdy) less - 20%, S$2,300(wkend) less - S$200

full year is 80hrs. It is recommended to book full year as there is no guarantee for your kids to get the placing for the next half year if you only sign for first half year.

[adafew]

[quote]Must sign up by which date to get the discount?


Thanks ![/quote]I think before end of 2009.

[adafew]

Hi Yong HL,


I agreed at the end of the day, we parents do not want to press our kids to go for enrichment which they dont enjoy, since it will also mean they will either drag their feets to go or that they just follow the momentum and dont benefit them at all. I am blessed with that my DS1 is quite ‘open’ to go for enrichment classes. He seems to enjoy them as well.

I just started his enrichment classes 3 months before his P1 next year, and I think language have to do with more reading too… so dont need to press them too much.

[MMM]

Yong HL:

Hi MMM,

may i ask where is your k1 going next yr and why you aint impressed with MA? Thanks

Hi,

I am putting my K1 at Lorna Whiston.

My girl has attended 1/2 year phonics program at Jan & Elly. So she knows all the sounds of alphabets and they are also starting on blending. I contemplated between J&E and ICR previously before we started on J&E. I was thinking of ICR because of convenience. But J&E was something that was test and trusted given that my 2 older kids went through the program. I spoke to someone from J&E (I know the PIC given that my older kids studied there), she related to me that quite a no. of their students are from ICR and some going for last minute crash course. She mentioned that iCR focuses on sight words rather than phonics understanding.

My K1 will still continue J&E phonics. This is a solid program but they will only complete in K2. Phonics alone is not sufficient IMO so I was looking for another program to supplement this. I was keen on reading, writing where eventually by P1, the child is able to write in sentences.

My older kids are in BC, so I thot of sending her to BC. I didn't choose BC in the end because looking at their K1 coverage, I felt that it will duplicate what my girl is doing in J&E. That is not what I want and no point wasting $ on that.

I went to LW, happened that the admin person let me speak to a teacher who was teaching nursery class at that point. She shared with me what the kids do. She told me their phonics content is about 20% which I think is fine in our case. She also showed me some of the writing kids are expose to by end K1. So I am pretty happy with what i see. In addition, I am sending her to parkway and happened to have some friends and relatives who put their kids there and they are happy too.

For MA, I spoke to the PIC at hougang. Wasn't impressed with what he told me and haha his verbal communication :roll: So I didn't even bother to go down and have a look.

Depending on how LW goes, I might consider BC when my girl is K2. I wanted it to be a natural progression for her when she goes to P1. Heard that LW is stronger in pre-school and not primary school.

[KSP]

CrazyDad:

I think this is a waste of money. I spent $4000+ on one of my kid when he was young. Now also speak very very good Singlish.

This is a very good one!!! The best ever in KiasuParents forum.

I keep laughing :rotflmao: :laugh: when I saw your post. Sorry but I just can't control myself..... :salute:

You can pay 4k for a highend English enrichment class but bottom line is still the environment in both school and home - and they are priceless!!!

[MMM]

Oh yes, I also looked at learning cycle (previously literacy circle). All native speakers and my older kids attended some creative writing camp before and they also enjoyed themselves. But for my K1’s level, their focus is purely phonics, again this is not what I want. But I saw their materials for those K2 (assuming already has good phonics background) and I found it very solid too.


I spoke to one of the teachers during my kids’ camp. Was sharing with him on the perfect tenses challenges,etc… He said that for english/ language learning, there is no school that dare to promise overnite success. This is because language learning evolves over time through speaking, reading, etc… One of my kids’ teacher from BC also told me this before. She said some parents send their kids to BC hoping to see immediate results. She said this will not happen and parents need to be realistic.

For primary level, do note that BC is not the place where your kids will be drill for examinations. During the course (I can only comment on P1 and P2), you may find that they may not be 100% following school syllabus (eg. preparing kids for compo writing, grammar drilling, etc…). Or there won’t be any moment where they will give your kids some top school/ BC prepared test papers to test their std/ prepare them for school exams. This is not going to happen. If you expect this, then BC is not the place to go. Bear in mind that it is an enrichment program and not a tuition centre. So you need to be clear on what you want.

But what BC does though is fun learning through themes. So kids will do things like crossword puzzle, word searches, listen to some stories and answer questions related to them. Kids look forward to their lessons in BC as they find it fun and interesting. So this will indirectly lead to greater interest in learning the language. IMO, this will probably lead to longer term sustainable interest in the language as compared to drilling.

So parents, be clear on what you want and what you are getting.