Urgent need to admit to a Preschool for 3 years old for this FALL

J

Jacolio

New member
Hi, we just arrived Hong Hong from NYC a week ago and need to place our 3 yrs old daughter in preschool for this fall. I guess in HK standard she will be in K1. We called and visited some international schools but all have a long wait list. Anyone could give me advice on how to find one. We are flexible in location as we have not found an apt yet. But easy access by public transportation will be good. Kowloon Tong or Hong Kong Island. Also, we are only familiar with the international school but is interested in good local kindergartens as well.

Any suggestions and tips will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Stephanie
 
My daughter goes to Woodlands Montessori Pre-school at Caine Road, (Hong Kong island) she is 3.3 yrs old. Very happy with the school and will keep her there till she gets admission in a kindergarten. We applied for K1 last year and she is on waiting list at the moment. Do a school tour.
 
my two kids go to a local kindergarten in sai kung. we are all very happy with it, in september our son will attend a local primary school, too.

they use only cantonese, but there are quite a few western and mixed children in their classes. at my daughter's table, there is her (a mix), a little black girl, a couple of chinese and a little white girl.

by the end of the first year, my girl can sing some chinese songs and count in chinese, as can the other non-chinese speaking kids. by the end of the 3rd year, my son is writing/reading some chinese and able to converse at the playground in chinese.

personally, i think it is an excellent opportunity for the kids to learn chinese.

oh, yeah.... it costs $817/month/child for full day school and is free for 1/2 day.
 
there are LOTS of western kids at my children's kindergarten. the school is used to having western, non-chinese speaking, kids in their school. they even send notices home in english or chinese depeding on what the parents request.

if the kids are in whole day, they have time to work with the teacher to finish their chinese writing etc.

i think that many people automatically discount local schools with the excuse that "no one speaks chinese" at home. it's too bad as the kids miss out on such a great opportunity...
 
starbucks2 said:
I think its a great idea to go to a local school but I think a lot harder if neither parent speaks Chinese.
Click to expand...

I put 3 kids thru local schools with 2 western parents. I would agree with you for primary but for Kindergarten, its a non issue. They are learning some basic characters and singing songs. Cantonese parents are really not necessary fro K
 
starbucks2 said:
I think its a great idea to go to a local school but I think a lot harder if neither parent speaks Chinese.
Click to expand...

Definitely agree with Starbucks2, I know at least 3 families were the kids are struggling in local schools (Kindergarten & Primary) because parents are both non- cantonese speaking. Beyond school their exposure to chinese is very limited.
 
if their exposure to chinese is not continued out of school... then who is to blame? it's not like there are no chinese activities around! my kids have a cantonese speaking swimming teacher, go to art classes and african drum classes in chinese.... why? because i want to increase their exposure.

parents need to follow through.

what do you think the chinese speaking parents who send their kids to english speaking schools go through?

sometimes i sense a very euro/ameri-centric view from expats.

my mum used to say that nothing worth having/doing was easy.

i could just as easily point out 15 families where the english speaking kids are thriving in a local kindergarten! and not one of them has a chinese parent.
 
just to clarify, i am in no way saying that this would be the right choice for everyone, but to dismiss it out of hand by saying,
"oh, it's too difficult, no one at home speaks chinese."

is not only sometimes inaccurate, it can be downright wrong. yes, it is more challenging that going to kindergarten in your native language, but learning a new language is SUPPOSED to be challenging!

for us, the benefits outweigh the negatives by a mile.
 
I would think it would depend on the personality of the child as well, some will thrive but perhaps for some moving countries followed rapidly by going to a school where they don't understand the language could be too much change all at once. Sometimes it's unavoidable but I probably wouldn't do both things at the same time with my son knowing his personality.
 
not necessarily. most local kindergartens teach mandarin anyway. just the other day while i was driving, my two kids started singing mandarin songs.... i had no idea what they were singing, but they sure seemed to enjoy it!

a couple of reasons we wanted cantonese:
1) so they could speak to their grandparents
2) so they could fit in with the locals
3) if you know cantonese, it is easier to learn mandarin later
4) cantonese kindergarten was FREE.
 
Cara -- I agree with your comment.

Many expats who see Cantonese / Chinese as such an enormous hurdle seem unaware of what most local families go through all the time.

Turn the tables. Imagine trying to give children English-language education / exposure when both parents are native Chinese speakers. They put ALOT of effort into this, from classes to tutors to trying to learn / speak English themselves. OK, it's often over the top. But if Chinese parents can make an effort to give their kids English exposure, then the opposite can be true, too. Watching my local cousins learn English -- and some of them are near-fluent in this second-language -- I saw that they had to be more independent, too. They couldn't just run home to mom and dad for homework help!

As for Canto vs. Mando -- when the kids are this young, I think it doesn't really matter. I think it's crazy when people start making decisions for 3 or 4 year olds based on which language is tried to the greater economic power (that would be Mandarin, hands down).

At this age, kids are sponges. It only makes sense that a child should have some exposure to the language spoken by 90% of the local population (that would be Cantonese). Could you imagine being an immigrant to Britain, or France, or Spain, and not having your kid learn English, French or Spanish?

With either Canto or Mando, the basics of the Chinese language will be there -- the basic structures, the characters, etc. If your kid is getting regular Cantonese exposure at a young age -- and mixing with kids with Hong Kong locals -- learning Mandarin and understanding Chinese culture will be much easier later on.
 
Have you also considered International kindergartens (as opposed to kindergarten sections of through schools)? If you go to Directory - Education - International kindergartens and preschools it has a list of international kindergartens. I can't help with the areas you are looking at, sorry.
 
Totally agree that it depends on the family and the child. All I said was it was much harder if the parents don't speak Chinese. And I totally stand by that (both before and after the usual heated opinionated posts).

Stephanie - I agree with geomum that Woodlands is a good option. I have lots of friends with kids in there. Really depends on where you are wanting to live. If you are going to be here more than a couple of years then think longer term about primary schools and start putting names down on lists now (for International schools anyway). As far as I am aware, for ESF primary schools you can only put your child's name down the year before they are due to start. But you can think about living in an area which has slightly shorter waitlists if that is possible. Our catchment ESF primary school is Bradbury on HK Island and it is massively oversubscribed this year.

We live in DB and there are lots of options here for kindergartens - Sunshine House, Montessori and DMK to name a few. All of these ones take kids up to around 6 years old so gives you some time to wait for a slot at another school.

Good luck. IMO schooling is a drama in HK.
 
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there is nothing wrong with opinionated posts. we don't all have to agree. that's the whole point of forums isn't it. to post our opinions, please don't make it sound like a bad thing.

as it is, i didn't disagree with what you said, rather i qualified it.

no, it isn't for everyone. but neither is it the impossibility that many make it out to be.
 
I wanted to make myself clear, too. I'm not saying that local schools are right for everyone, or even most people. And I'm not saying that everyone has to learn Cantonese.
Whether you choose local, ESF or international, it's up to you.
Like Cara, I was just opening up the idea that local education is not an impossibility, esp. for families who want to be in HK for the long run.
Personally, I don't even know where my own (expected) baby will end up, schooling wise!
 
starbucks2 said:
Totally agree that it depends on the family and the child. All I said was it was much harder if the parents don't speak Chinese. And I totally stand by that (both before and after the usual heated opinionated posts).
Click to expand...

Have you put any of your kids thru local schools? What parts did you find to be "much harder" ? Which school was it?

HC
 
HC - obviously its harder because you can't give them help with their Chinese homework or generally with their Chinese language skills unless you also learn the language at the same time. Surely you can see that?! I'll say it again for those in the back row who were snoozing, I can see it is a great option for some families especially if as parents you (a) speak Chinese (one or both parents) or have time/interest to allocate to learning the language yourself, (b) have a commitment to the region (c) have the additional cash to pay for additional tutors for your kids (although I appreciate that net net it may be cheaper for a local school than an international school and therefore the difference could go to tutors - our schooling allowance doesn't work that way). We do not fall into any of the categories (a) to (c) and will be happy to go with an education system that will fit best with our home country when we return.

Perhaps we can agree to disagree on this one and let the OP decide for themselves what works best for them (and you and I can decide what best works for us respectively).
 
You are missing the OP's question : they are looking for K1. Your points *may* be valid for primary education but completely miss the mark when talking about kindergarten. Furthermore, your school allowance is irrelevant to the OP.

As for K1 : there is practically no homework, no tutors necessary, parents dont have to learn anything and if OP wants to change 1 year later they can.

OP can only decide what is best for them if they are given accurate information.
Carang has put her 2c in as she has put her kids thru the system; I've added my bit to the conversation as I've put 3 of mine thru the system.

You failed to answer my question : Have you put any of your kids thru local schools? Which kindergarten did you find so tough and challenging that required tutors?
 
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