Hua Cheng Education Centre - Discussion

[Isabellabell]

My dd weak on her chinese compo and oral in the exam ,sentence structure is a big problem for her, i heard that Hua Cheng Bukit Timah which is the nearest centre to my place, has a 10 days holiday programmes… (only in doing compo writing , reading comprehension and oral.) i think it is a good choice for her…however, i would like to know has anyone try their holiday classes b4? any comment??besides, 10 days only in doing compo writing ,reading comprehension and oral , will it be too much for her???need comment!!!

[Tall172]

ZJMummy:

XEK3:

Hi, comparing Hua Cheng and its neighbough \"Xuelin\" at Bukit Timah, which is better?

Hi XEK3, it is pretty hard to give a quick answer of which one is better by simply comparison.
It is actually depended on many factors to draw a conclusion and different people with various preferences may lead to completely different results. I was ever in the same dilemma when trying to sign up one of the centres for my P5 son, as these two seems more popular around my place. Thus, I collected info by personal visit and feedbacks of my friens who had experience in the both centres.

Some people may had the same difficulty as me to make choice btw these two centres when going to the Bukit Timh plaza looking for chinese enrichment programmes. It is not only because of their same location, also because they are operating in some ways in common:

1) They both have good teaching materials well designed to boost learning interesting and in-depth practices for foundation build-up.
2) They are same in small size classes (normally less than 8).
3) Their teachers are nice and caring with motivated way of teaching as well as well education backgrounds, are trained and familiar to MOE syllabus.
4) They provide all range of chinese enrichment programmes from k1 to Sec students

Of course, there are also quite a lot different areas.

Although both of them applying newspaper cutting approaches, unlike XL using newspaper articles for all levels even k1s, Huacheng is more on encouraging upper primary students to embrace it as reading supplementary material. They said that this approach is not suitable for lower primary as they are still too young who required more firm foundation work and further brain development in order to better understand, and they are still in the age to be lured by colourful pictures and fairytale stories and get motivated by role playing games. Otherwise, it may spoil their potential interest in reading Chinese if it is too early overrun. My friend's k2 gal quitted from XL because she was afraid and quite resistant to join newspaper readings. Huacheng's AppleTree approach is quite appreciated for effective way of motivating lower primary and preschool students.

Another important factor for making decision is the flexibility of registration and makeup lesson option. There is a little difference here, XL doesn't have trial lesson available for first registration while HuaCheng allows to give four trial lessons before parents make final decision. If parents drop the lesson after trial, there is no registration fees charged.

However, both of them give free makeup lessons in kind and flexible manners. Unlike some centres they won't give makeup lesson unless medical certification is present for sick for example. My DS is P5, he sometimes had to take makeup lessons for his missing ones as unexpected activities happened in school.

As to the most important criteria to choose a centre is the quality and proven results. The comments of quality maybe varied from one to another, but the proven results may give more concrete hints. As far as I know, Hua Cheng had a longer history of being recognized as an established brand in Chinese enrichment for more than ten years. Same as its sister company Learning Point which is famous in english enrichment, some people comment that their ways of teaching may be too drilled and result-oriented with much stress especailly for upper primary. However, its results turned to be promising with almost 100% scored A & A* in 2011 PSLE. For XL, although hasn't shown much more outstanding results as still quite new with shorter history, it is getting more popular recently with their colourful teaching materials and some fresh teaching approaches like newspaper cuttings. It may be more welcomed for lower primary and pre-school students.

The last and the most crutial factor is the course fees. XL has no much competitive advantage over its neightbour. XL charges about $550 for 11 lessons per term while HC charge about $350 for 11 lessons. From only cost perspective, it seems obvious which one to be chosen. But as I mentioned it should be the one with better cost-effective outcome, so you may want to check your own needs first before you decide
Hope above info will help you make right decision which just fits for your own needs. :xedfingers:

Hi,
Just like to share my experience and alternative view.

I have sent my DD to XL when she was in K1 and now she is going to be promoted to P1 next year. During this period, we have seen a vast improvement in her Chinese language, in term of words recognition, sentence construction and reading interest in Chinese. Even, her child care teacher is impressed with her and she is chosen to be the narrator for her speech n drama graduation concert. (cos when in n1/n2 she disliked chinese so much that she did not want to communicate using it). Just last week, my DD even corrected my Chinese by writing out the correct character. So embarrassing.

Initially, I am also doubtful with the newspaper cuttings approach. I am worried it will have adverse effect by deterring her interest. However, it is not the case, my DD enjoyed them and it also encouraged her to want to read n learn about the content of the articles. E.g after the class she will ask me “do you know etc etc?” citing from the newspaper article and proudly tell me about it. At home, she will also pick up English/chinese newspapers and read.

Therefore, I strongly felt that this approach is suitable for preschoolers. They do not just learn the language but they are aware of the current events that are happening and cultivate their interest n quest in reading.

Yes, XL is still a new establishment without long history. But as I have mingled with other XL’s parents, they are delighted with their school’s results of their dd/ds.

XL price is definitely much higher in comparison. If measuring cost effectiveness can determine which centre is good? 一份钱一份货吧...

Overall, the content and teachers are very crucial.

[Sweetluv]

Hi tall, agreed too as I c improvement in my son too. $ well spent!

[emilytan]

i really don’t think, we have to spend much more or higher price in order to get a good results for chinese tuition. i have a kid , she is in K2 , and she is now with HUA CHENG BUKIT TIMAH, my DD , she loves her K2 teacher at HUA CHENG, what does her teacher teach, she will follow and learn.One morning, we were at the park, she tries to explain to me the chinese phrase for good weather is 风和日丽，and i asked her if she can make a sentences to me with the phrase, i’m so suprise by her word, 今天风和日丽，我和哥哥在公园玩得兴高采烈。and she also mentions the teacher at chinese tuition class (HUA CHENG)always ask them try to say out or make sentences in the class. By seeing her can really apply the phrase to her daily life, i feel happy and this is what i want.

Moreover, i like the management of HUA CHENG, because i always get the latest sms from the centre ,by telling me the progress of my DD and updating me what are they doing and how i can guide my DD learning at home. So, i have a very clear picture with the centre and how to cooperate with the teacher to help my DD to make in progress …Over rall, i think Hua Cheng price is reasonable, i think is a better choice for me . In my point of view $ does not mean = good results and the interest in learning.

[bellyhoney]

Agreed, $ does not mean = good results and the interest in learning.


However, I do not mind paying but my kids must benefit from the center. I must say Xuelin is more expensive but their teachers and materials are fantastic! It’s worth the $$$ spent especially when I see my kids are progressing well and always looking forward to their classes.

[Tall172]

bellyhoney:

Agreed, $ does not mean = good results and the interest in learning.


However, I do not mind paying but my kids must benefit from the center. I must say Xuelin is more expensive but their teachers and materials are fantastic! It's worth the $$$ spent especially when I see my kids are progressing well and always looking forward to their classes.

Hi Belly,
Totally agreed!!! kudos to xuelin..

[XEK3]

XRDkid,


I have seen both school materials and I would say they are pretty similiar in the approach. However I have ended my DD in XL reason being, there is no extra homework for her after school and they expose the kid to newspaper articles.

My DD already having quite a handful of homework and spelling from her K2 school…therefore the purpose of me enrolling her into chinese enrichment is to build up her interest in Chinese Language and not to had on stress to her at this stage. I understand that HC is more academic??

Anyway, I will see how she progress.

[sherlynDD]

Just to share again my P5 boy’s SA2 results in his latest chinese exam.


Paper 79/90 Compo 33/40 Oral 49/50 Listening 20/20

Looking at this results at the moment when it is closer and closer to his PSLE next year, not only pleasure did I get to his big and constant improvement, but I could also sense his strong confidence to Chinese which was attained from Huacheng classes for over years’ tuition there. Especially to my suprised, he was able to get almost full marks unexpectedly on Oral and Listening this time, which he was a bit week in the past. I can see great observable progress here.
This year, he was taking two classes with HuaCheng, Enrich（强化班）and Elite（精英班）, each once a week. Enrichment is more focus on fundmental stuff while Elite class is targeting to achieve higher on compre, writing, oral and listening. I think that his progress on compo, oral and listening is mainly attributed to Huacheng’s theme-focus approach. Their materials are nicely classified into many kinds of themes, and they systematically make use of some same kinds of topics or themes repeatedly and creatively in separated practices for different type of questions for comprehension, oral and listening. I saw those topics were distributed also as extra readings as homeworks and would be gone through in class. The children felt also happy to see these familiar topics again and again in various practices which are also often tested in school exams, eventually more solid foundation and confidence were both gained. My boy especially loved the atmosphere in his Elite class, as the teachers always tried to make them brainstorming on topics and gave hints on how to score higher right to the points required while he was often enlightened by others’ ideas.

I am happy to see this theme-focus approach worked effectively for my son. I also feel more confident for the coming P6 challenge. I will continue and also going to take their holiday programe for P6 preparation, I heard they are going to review all the lessons from P4 to P5. It might be the last chance for them to replenish, as the drumbeat of PSLE is closing.

[lesmay]

Hi,


Just want to share on my P5 DD's progress since signing up mid this year.

There has been a marked improvement in her compo and open-ended comprehension passages.

I do believe that credit should be given to Hua Cheng's teacher (Ms Kuang) for the improvement in her grades considering her below par results during mid-year.

Even her school chinese teacher commented that she has shown great progress.

Will be signing her for holiday program. Quite intensive 2 weeks to do her final revision.

[XRDkid]

Does anybody has the experience with Hua cheng at Thomson plaza? Is that as good as this one at BT plaza? I enrolled their P1 preparation holiday program, which is quite impressed with its materials and nice teacher, and my gal likes it, but it is a bit far to my house.