NAFA Arts Kindergarten

[clare]

insider:

Nayang Kindergarten has very good Chinese immersion program. Would recommend it strongly if your kid need that kind of immersion to prepare for P1.

Hi insider! I must really thank you for your advice, because somehow I forgot about the fact that Nanyang K conducts the nursery classes totally in Mandarin. My younger kids definitely need the groundwork; may be a little too late now for my oldest who will be six next year and frowns when I bring out Chinese books. Totally my fault as this is a kid who didn't speak a word of English for the first two years of his life; he used to answer in Mandarin even when spoken to in English.. It's strange how after a few months of school in the U.S. he totally loses his grasp of Mandarin :shock:

If there are parents who are very competent in both English and mother tongue reading this thread, I'd like to ask how you cultivate your child(ren)'s interest in both languages. My husband and I are the products of SAP schools and we are pretty strong in both languages, but somehow even though we speak both English and Mandarin at home, our kids end up preferring to eat, breathe and sleep in English. I can't figure out how to 'steer' them to like Chinese better.... Advice much appreciated!

[Mandie]

Hi Clare


Just share some of my experience.

I am Chinese educated and my husband is Malay educated for the 1st 18 year of education in our life. We need to put in extra hard work to compete with the English elite here to make our living in Spore. Hence, I put in a lot of effort to help my child to start her life with English and hope that will benefit her in future. Hence I always ensure the Kindy teacher speaks good English as 1st priority when deciding a school for her.

When my daughter was 18 month, I started to introduce Chinese by putting her in JG’s speech and drama class, for 2 complete terms. The fun learning environment there brought out her interest in Chinese and confidence. And continue from there, I introduce Chinese children DVD programs, plays and lots of Chinese story book. Also, I do remind her often that mummy and daddy is Chinese, you are Chinese too, no matter what, please speak good Chinese. She seems understand it:)

Now she just turned 4, she is fluent in both languages, and able to do translation for her grandparents who come visit us once or twice a year. Right now, daddy continues to speak with her in English, and I speak Chinese with her most of the time. She has no problem switching the language alto she is better in English. I guess, as long she does not object it, she will be able to love the language and master it later.

Also, her Nafa teachers did help a lot in her Chinese learning (she was there for one and half year). Her form teacher is Singaporean, but she speaks good and correct Chinese (hard to find here). Having such a teacher staying thru the classes helps her language development, as most of the kindy has only about 1 hour Chinese class.

Btw, I just heard from my auntie who wanted to put her child in Nanyang kindy, the wait list for next year K1 is about 300+. Act fast if you are interested. Nafa has quite a few vacancies as the revised fees push some parents out (I am one of them:), and their waitlist is not as long as Nayang.

[clare]

Mandie:

Now she just turned 4, she is fluent in both languages, and able to do translation for her grandparents who come visit us once or twice a year. Right now, daddy continues to speak with her in English, and I speak Chinese with her most of the time. She has no problem switching the language alto she is better in English. I guess, as long she does not object it, she will be able to love the language and master it later.

Hi Mandie! Thank you so much for sharing. Wow, your little girl is very accomplished I don't know many kids who are fluent in both languages these days... Your constant work with her really pays off.
Oh yes, the waiting list for NY Kindergarten is really, really long.... Did you aunt manage to get her child in?

[Mandie]

No, she didn’t. The wait list is too long… connection also no use (maybe the connection is not powerful enough:p ) she put her child into Maris Stella Kindergarten eventually as she found the principal is very nice sister.

[Belle]

[quote] How does your children adapt to the afternoon session, for those whose kid is or will be in the afternoon session ? My hubby say children can adapt very easily, how do you train your kid to adapt ? [/quote]
Hi happymom,

My daughter is in the afternoon session. Prior to that, she was in a childcare and used to have afternoon naps. I was like you, a bit concerned that she might feel sleepy during lessons but I guess my worries were unfounded cos' \"kids don't feel tired or sleepy as long as there are activities and play.\"

However, there are times when she dozed off in her school bus during her journey back home. We allow her to have a short nap before dinner though.

[happymom]

Hi LittleKS & Belle,


Thanks very much for your reply, appreciate the info provided.

Just got a call from school that there is a AM slot for my gal, so the percentage of worries has reduced... now my worry is that whether my gal can adjust to this new school, nowadays i got more grey hair eversince i become a parent, worry too much :roll:, has been trying to \"physco\" my gal about new school and being able to wear school uniform....hopefully she can adapt fast to this new school, haven't got a chance to visit this school yet, i think they are still having a renovation. Understand the teachers are friendly and nice (based on past postings), so hopefully my gal can settled down fast, but do you all know how's the turnover rate of teachers, and how's their experience & qualification ? Haven't got a chance to see the teachers yet, haiz, these questions just come to my mind as i am writing all these, aiya, i am starting to worry again :!:

[clare]

happymom:

Understand the teachers are friendly and nice (based on past postings), so hopefully my gal can settled down fast, but do you all know how's the turnover rate of teachers, and how's their experience & qualification ? Haven't got a chance to see the teachers yet.

Hi happymom
In the one year that my ds was at NAFA (up to mid K1), I did not hear of any teacher leaving. I hear that a good number of them have been there since the kindergarten's inception. As for the art, dance and music teachers, they are definitely very qualified in their respective fields, so no worries there. I was very impressed in particular by my son's music teacher. By the way, your child will have six teachers altogether (2 class teachers, 2 for art, 1 each for dance and music), so budget some time for parent conferences hor.
I think there should be an orientation coming up soon; do take the chance and ask away.
Just remembered something. The kids change for dance class, so make sure that your dd can handle changing her clothes without much help..

[happymom]

Hi Clare, tks for the info. , yap i am looking forward to the orientation, finally have a chance to see the school, teacher & principal.....my gal still quite ok wearing t-shirt & pant on her own, except not very good with small buttons and can be quite slow, hmm maybe give her more training & practice

[jessie chew]

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


Hi, anybody knows about nafa kindergarden @ east cost or comments ? Thinking of sending my 3 year old girl there but school fee quit expensive, does it worth the money? :? :?

[Lucky]

hi Jessie


Some comments from me :

1) The normal academic program is quite similar to any other kindergarden. On top of the 3 hourly program, they have an extra hour each day on the arts side, 2 days on music, 2 days on art and 1 day on dance.

2) My daughter attended the kindergarden for half a year in 2007. She always comes back with nice art pieces which is quite different from the normal kindergarden which I am glad but so does not like music at all.

I have later on transferred her to a montessori environment which I find more suitable for her.

I think your choice will depend on what you want for your child. This kind of program is good if you want to expose your kids to art/music/dance at a young age and you see where the interest of your kid lies. You also do not need to send them for extra lessons during weekends because all in done at school.

Overall, choose a school that best fits your child. Heard the waiting list is long for AM class.