Comparing Chinese Enrichment (Primary/Preschool)

[MMM]

Hi Sleepy,


Could it be a readiness thing? Maybe other parents would like to comment.

My boy is also doing P1 higher chinese now. He is good in his hypy but when it comes to writing chinese character, it is also a struggle. Even with his name esp sirname as there are too many strokes!

I was trying to recall what my girl did last year when she was in P1 and for her, the emphasis was very much on hypy in the 1st semester. I think they only started with some writing from 2nd term. I don’t recall that my girl was very good at writing characters then.

But after SA1 and they are streamed according to results, there was significantly more emphasis on chinese character and lesser on hypy eg. tingxie has many characters and hypy,etc… and probably a readiness thing, she just picked up then. Till now I am quite impressed with her level of knowledge in the language and sometimes hubby is also put to shame as he was previously from those missionary school so not "chinese focus". Like last nite, we were struggling with the san zi jing homework that my P1 has… I got my girl to teach him as mummy is also helpless.

[Picolo]

Hi


Anyone tried Xue Ni ( http://www.xueni.com.sg/ ) before? I am looking more at the compo writing classes. Feedback appreciated.

I have friends who send kids to StoryIsland ( http://www.storyisland.com.sg/index.html ) and they give good feedback too. However, StoryIsland doesn't have compo classes.

BTW, both founders are ex-broadcasters.

[sleepy]

MMM

Thanks for sharing your experience




Chief, MMM
Why did you choose Molin over Jiang Education for your child?

By the way, earlier in the thread was there a comparison done between Molin & Jiang Education? (can't seem to find it)

What's the difference between these 2?

[J2mum]

MMM,

I just signed up with Molin. My ger is going to K1 class on Sunday. At the end of the lesson the principal brief the parents about what they have learnt.

Is the principal going to brief the parents after each lesson?

I checked with my ger, she told me she enjoyed the lesson and there is only 4 kids in her class. The teacher should be able to give her all the attention she need.

I’m signing up my N1 son to Berries as there is no N1 class at Molin. After comparing, Berries is more expansive.

[MMM]

Hi J2mum,


Great that your child enjoys her class.

I am not too sure but the principal seem to do it everytime with my K1 previously. Either her or the teacher will give a briefing after the class. Maybe she sees it as the perfect level to get started??? I am not too sure but we didn’t have that for our K2 or N2.

[J2mum]

MMM,

I think the principal will brief the N2 and K1 parents. I got briefed again. hahaha…I like their style, help us to understand what the kid has learnt in the class and how parents could follow up from there.

[MMM]

Maybe not for N2. My mum didn’t tell me about any briefing for them on weekdays. or probably no parents around to brief?


Yah the principal is a very committed lady. She is there all the time. Think she is probably a ex-teacher.

[googaga]

hi MMM,

seems Molin is a good choice from most of ur comments abv… my kids r currently with berries: K2 and N2. We’ve been with berries since 2008 and found it not bad. Am thinking of switching over to Molin as the current teachers for my k2 son seems to be just "doing" her job… ;(

[googaga]

oh ya, plus molin is within walkable distance only!

[MMM]

Hi Googaga,


If your kids are happy in Berries then let them be.

My cousin highlighted 3 schools (Berries, Tien Hsia and Molin) to me when she encouraged me to seek chinese enrichment classes for my kids. Berries is out due to location and since Molin comes highly recommended and the fees are reasonable, I just went ahead even without looking at Tien Hsia.

Objectively, I only tried Molin and can’t say for the other 2 but I believe there are good things as well given that they are popular too.

In our case, Molin is a centre that I think I will continue putting them looking at my P2 girl’s ability to cope with the language without me doing much at my end even though she is in one of the best class. Also, quite a no. of her schoolmates are also in Molin.

Just want to share that although my P1 boy started Molin since K1, his character recognition is definitely not as good as my girl (who bothers to revise when she was in K2). On top of that, mummy din spend much time to help him. So I am not driving that all kids who go to Molin will definitely be able to recognise all the characters well. Those who pay attn coupled with family support should be able to recognise alot of characters up to Primary levels easily. My son don’t belong to this category. I see his classmates being able to recognise so many characters but he can’t I know it’s an issue with us not coaching him enough.

I feel that the success of any programme is very much driven by the kid him/herself and parental home support. So we are gg to work hard on our N2 hoping that with more home support, she can pick up earlier than her siblings.

I was so worried about my son coping with P1 and sent him for extra hypy classes in Molin. They usually conduct this during term 4. Now in P1, he appears to be able to cope well with his hypy. With weekly school test averaging around 13.5/15. I felt relieved and preparing him for the test is also painless too. His Molin teacher told my mum that she spoke to him at the beginning of the year that though she heard from his previous Molin teachers that he is not focus,etc… but she is gg to ignore all the earlier comments and will give him due credit if he does well in her class. It’s just 2 months and the teacher and I saw a significant change in him. He is very serious and focus in class now and is doing fine. Though we do need to work on his character recognition still. I am just wondering if he mge to "squeeze" into one of the best chinese class after SA1, will he able to cope given his character recognition and bad handwriting esp when term 3 onwards is all about characters. Bet I got to weigh and discuss that with his Molin teacher soon.