P K C

iamgiuliano

It appears to be a little bit too late to discuss Summer activities.

iamgiuliano

ENGLISH SPEAKING Group

I remember decades ago in University there was an English Speaking Group.  A group of 10 or 12 students were sitting together in a circle to talk about some common and easy topics, like favorite ball games or food etc.  There was a foreigner tutor sitting with them.  He did not actively participate in the talk.  When there was dead air, he used his body language or simple questions like "What do you think, Jenny?" to start up the discussion again.

It was not so much about teaching pronounciation or skills in speaking English.  It was designed to help students to speak up in an unfamiliar foreign language.  Once they get through that psychological hurdle, they can speak freely in English, rightly or wrongly, broken sentence or not.

I think the exercise for about 10 sessions each for 1.5 hours could build up confidence of kids.  Once confidence to speak is there, other learning paths like reading and listening more are relatively easy.

PTA may consider this for PKC student activities, if parents support.

iamgiuliano

原文章由 mummom 於 08-8-5 18:21 發表
but my kid speak quite a lot english at school.
The english teacher always asks the students to speak at least one hour english at home during holidays.

It was just a suggestion.  

You are right.

My observation is that kids in primary school are more comfortable speaking English when given the environment.  When they are in their teens, they will be more concerned about their appearance, the way they speak, possibility of mistakes, chance of being laughed at ...

If they don't keep speaking a lot all the way, there is a chance of their getting shy on the way of growing up.

iamgiuliano

原文章由 mummom 於 08-8-12 15:59 發表
小兒告訴我, 他有時在小息也跟同學說英語.我問他原因. 他說因為有同學不是中國人(其實也能說廣東話), 另外有幾個同學在外國出生.  最有趣是, 他說有時上完英文課忘了轉台.    真惹笑!


...

Good for you and your child.  

Peer group is important.  Some HK students went to Canada spending a few years in College with no significant improvement in English.  The reason is that all these HK students stick together and speak Cantonese all the time.

For your child to speak English with other students all the time, he must have a very strong English background.  Though I think your case is an exception rather than the norm, I still have to send my congratulations to you and your child!  

Keep on taking the full advantage of the cultural mixture in PKC.

iamgiuliano

原帖由 nono2006 於 08-9-17 09:11 發表
Piukiufriend,

請問G1是否還不能用e-class？我到現在還沒有收到學校通知login和password哦！

另外，學校之前有通知圖書館的login和password，但是我之前想幫仔仔續借都入不到去哦！ ...

Last year, we did not get the login and password until November.  This year has improved.  

Anyway, you may ask the teachers in the school meeting on 19th this Friday.

iamgiuliano

I have seen some concerns about Chinese (non-foreigners) teachers teaching English.

I don't know that many English teachers in PKC.  I have spoken over the past with 3 Chinese and 1 foreigner teachers.   Their English standards are generally good.  To be fair, their standards are way higher than the average English teachers in other schools.

iamgiuliano

原帖由 Heidibaba 於 08-9-26 23:53 發表
我反而覺得我選培僑是因為學校不會像其他私校傾向催谷學生，可以給小朋友一個愉快的學習環境。至於學校何時選用英語教數學，個人沒有特別的要求。如果孩子的語文根基好，對掌握英數應該不會有太大困難。在其他中文小學的學 ...

What you said is right, but I can also see the concerns of many parents who are worrying about the English standards of their kids.  I have never seen one worrying about the PuTongHua standard of PKC students.

Personally I don't have no worry at all about the standards of PKC English teachers or their teaching method.  But my child told me one uncomfortable fact: some kids with English mother tongue are actually using Cantonese during recess (bearing in mind that they did not use Cantonese in Grade 1).  

Well, that is understandable, these foreign kids also need friends and somebody to play with, and Cantonese is a convenient tool to make friends and play.

Can anything be done encouraging or can any incentives be given to kids speaking more English in school?

iamgiuliano

I happen to be free tomorrow.  Last year, we can stay with our children at the sports arena during sports day.  Can we do the same this year?

I cannot locate the relevant notice.  Can anyone tell me that?

iamgiuliano

原帖由 bodadami 於 08-10-22 23:21 發表
在eClass看見有關  "校董選舉" 的通告, 這校董其實是做什麼的?

比如說, 這校董可否要求學校多 [拔尖] 及多 [著重英語] 或 多 [在國內外重點大學留位] 或  [協助特別需要的學生] ... ...

This is the result of so many years of heated debate of "校本條例" , I guess.

The successful candidate can get into the board of the IMC (該是 "校董會"), i.e. the decision making body of school policy.

A parent (or two) in the IMC board is a minority, but still can reflect parents' concern on school matters.

iamgiuliano

原帖由 sunmoon 於 08-10-29 19:46 發表
Dear all,

As my daughter forgot to submit the reply slip of Halloween Party on the deadline, The slip had been bounced back . She felt disappointed.Does it mean that we can't join the Halloween Party ...

I overheard that around 1000 tickets were sold last week.  It would be very crowded.  If they are having dinner at the school hall, participants might have to squeeze in.  It is already a big challenge to accommodate all participants comfortably so it's unlikely that school would still sell any more tickets.

Since PTA is having another free of charge function on the same day at the same time, I don't know if you and your daughter would be satisfied by just going back to school to feel the festive atmosphere but not joining the function at the school hall.

iamgiuliano

原帖由 Hang'sMum 於 08-10-29 15:45 發表
Dear all,

星期五( 上課時候 ) 是否有慶祝活動呢 ? 放幾多點 ?

應該係正常上課時間, 因為節日活動在晚上.  Puikiufriend對唔對?

iamgiuliano

原帖由 hjm 於 08-11-1 23:05 發表
Puikiufriend

We were one of the families who went and participated in the Halloween Party.  I was also curious to find out about the gathering party at classrooms...but since we ate first when we wen ...

Basically I saw what you saw.  But I did see 5 to 6 parents of same class here and there hanging around at school.  

Perhaps the Halloween function was so successful that the parents stayed here and there with their children for fun, but never stationed at the same classroom.

When I walked along the second floor,  I did see at least around thirty parents crowded in a classroom (with some kids yelling and running) all stuck in one room.  I did not get in, as I thought they were Grade 1 parents.  But there seemed to be some serious and loud discussions going on, probably because the adults were trying to use their own voices to cover the noises of the kids.

iamgiuliano

原帖由 WingYiuMum 於 08-11-7 13:06 發表
My child (also in P2) said there's no need to do the "Reading Log" now.  I remember that she did that for one or two weeks and then stopped afterwards.

Coincidence.  My child (also in P2) was not given the Reading Scheme booklet like last year and did not bring any book with levels 1-6 assigned like last year.  

The Reading Log, which is (if I understand correctly) part of the My Day Book, is still being done.  But I am the one who provides the book for reading.

iamgiuliano

I read the recent postings about the G3/G1 incident.  

I do not know how true the incident is as described.  Neither do I know the details or sequence of events.  But I still took the opportunity to teach:

-    my younger kid not to do anything annoying others even though it might be considered funny by some.

-   my older kid not to bully other yonnger kids even though they may be doing something annoying.

A strong kid may stand up and fight, while a stronger kid can walk away and avoid a fight.

A strong man may stand up for himself, while a stronger man can stand up for others.  I tried to teach my older kid to intervene when bullying is happening, but he said he would be scared if it really happened.  I said, "If you are not scared, then they would be scared, especially when justice is on your side."  He said, "I am still scared."  I said, "Then you just do what you think is right.  You may get help if you think you can't handle the situation."

[ 本帖最後由 iamgiuliano 於 08-11-9 21:47 編輯 ]

iamgiuliano

I agree that the ordering of school uniforms could be improved:

1.   Measurement of uniforms could have been made on the registration date during summer holidays.

2.   If point no. 1 is not feasible, measurement of uniforms could have been at school.  For those experienced tailors or their assistants, they could tell the measure through a glance, without using the measuring tape.

3.   Some stocks of various sizes should have been made available by the suppliers.

If conenience of parents has never been in the mind of the supplier, what good is it to have them retained?

Honestly, the supplier in MK is much better.



3.   If

iamgiuliano

原帖由 dc_law 於 08-11-21 17:07 發表
I think we are not asking for something not reasonable, if the ability of the children is really a big off from the brother or sister, I will give up..

But this is not the case!  I 'heard' that the  ...

I don't want to discuss specific cases, but I think that there might be individual incidents that school has to say no sometimes.

I do however agree that a 2nd interview be at least granted to those kids with elder brother/sister in school, such that it can be found out whether the kid could fit in the school.

I think these issues can be talked out and sorted out by the parents and school.

Good luck to you all!

iamgiuliano

原帖由 lfcdhsbc 於 08-11-26 09:51 發表

試下call 校巴公司黎生, 我以前打過但一時找不到佢電話, 好多家長都有佢電話, 麻煩幫忙PM給jychan.  引用:

原帖由 bodadami 於 08-11-26 08:53 發表
記憶中上個月中或尾收過一張關於 "校董選舉提名" 的通告, 差不多一個月了, 好似無下聞, 有沒人可以update一下?

上禮拜有通告, 你可以上eClass睇翻, 有3個候選人, 有照片又有簡介, 上去睇下.

不過, 老實講, 我都唔知這些被選出的 [家長校董] 是做什麼的?  佢地又係唔係義務?

...

I never think much of IMAIL in eClass, but this morning when I accidentally clicked into it, I found a imail message from『Candidate No. 1』in the current Election for IMC Parent Manager.
The message makes me understand more about the present Parent Manager Election (家長校董選舉). The only problem about is technical, I think.
The message is unfortunately incomplete.
Though I understand enough.
Thanks.

iamgiuliano

原帖由 honglish 於 08-11-27 12:14 發表


Why don't we have voting paper yet?  Are we going to get it today?

Got the ballot paper now, right?

IMC is the body running the school.  Parent managers will help to voice our requests to the top management body.

After reading the self introductions of the 3 candidates in the school website, I have already made up my mind.

iamgiuliano

原帖由 WingYiuMum 於 08-12-3 08:48 發表
我覺得功課量尚可。除了必須完成的功課，其他比如必讀書、同步閲讀及BookMax book等，老師並沒有強迫學生在限期内完成。我們可以按照小朋友做功課的快慢，自動調節其它"功課"的安排。我覺得"若要馬兒好，哪有馬兒不吃草"。老 ...

You are generally right, but frankly I still have the feeling that homework is more than I expected.

I also have the same feeling as "lfcdhsc" about emphasis of the curriculum being a bit tilted towards Chinese.  I would really like to see a more parallel development in both Chinese and English.

Puikiufriend,  do you have any views on that?