Isf

[rosachan]

Does anyone have comments about this school and can share with me your experience with putting kids there? I am particularly interested in their bilingual Mandarin/ English emphasis. How difficult is it to get into ISF and what kind of preschool/ kindergarten will have a bigger chance of getting admitted there?

 

[miran]

Hi,

Know someone who teaches there and she has GREAT things to say about the school. However, it is very expensive and not easy to get in. The class size is only 15.

 

[Konradsmom]

Another thing to consider is the language support at home - this is my personal opinion only, but If your kids are going into primary then they would be on 75% putonghua at school, and I think it would probably follow then that parents ( either or both) would need to be quite conversant in chinese/putonghua if they are to help their kids in this area. I have seen some of the children's work, and I must say as someone who has studied chinese from early years on, its not for the faint hearted.

Class size for foundation /primary is around 15 but I hear it sometimes is larger ( around 18-20 max??) , but there are around 5 classes at the early years ( if I remember correctly). You really need to visit the school to get a feel for what it is like.

 

[howardcoombs]

...I think it would probably follow then that parents ( either or both) would need to be quite conversant in chinese/putonghua if they are to help their kids in this area. I have seen some of the children's work, and I must say as someone who has studied chinese from early years on, its not for the faint hearted.

Unlike many of the schools who claim to teach the language, ISF is one of only a handful that truly teaches fluency in English and Putonghua.
Vast majority of the kids have at least 1 Chinese parent however there are a few kids that dont have any Chinese parents at all. We are one of those few families.

What makes the place hard to get in is:
a) in the early years, the demand is quite high; they can only take in so many
b) in the later years, they expect a a fairly high standard of English, Putonghua and Math; select few qualify.

HC

 

[Konradsmom]

Have been to 3-4 school visits and I do note that there are some children who are expats.

Have stated that it is my personal opinion that children may need chinese language support at home if they are to go beyond just being able to speak. ISF stresses that it is not an international school and will teach Chinese at a level which is comparable to local schools ( my humble opinon)vs the elementary chinese kids get at other international schools - I think ISF makles a point of clarifying this right at the start which is what I am trying to point out here as well.

Chinese is a truly difficult language to master regardless of where it is taught , and at some level the appreciation of chinese culture and history becomes involved - I personally think, at least for my kids, home support would come in very helpful once they get to that certain level which probaly won't be in the primary years but a bit more later on).

 

[penguinsix]

There was a steady blogger who had her kids in ISF (she just moved to Singapore a few weeks ago).

http://www.gweipo.com/

If you search through her archives about ISF and schooling you can get some idea of what it was like to have a kid there. I probably can't summarize her overall view, but it's probably something like "recommended, but with some caveats". Better to read through and get the good, bad, and other about the school and the process of immersion education at ISF.

 

[rani]

Parents who we've met from ISF seem to be happy. I have heard kids from non-Mandarin homes take extra classes after school in addition to English/phonics.