英華 vs 聖瑪加利 ?

monkeydad

AdaHo123,

Thanks for your tremendous efforts in highlighting the pros and cons of SMC which appears obviously not as your cup of tea.

I reckon "語文同數學科老師冇受過專科訓練" may not pose material impact to primary education as 小學課程尚淺.  Teaching is a process involves (1) acquisition of knowledge and digestion of such knowledge by the instructor; (2) throwing of such knowledge to the receivers and (3) absorption by the receivers.  Given its relatively simple and straight forward syllabus, very few would consider 專科專教 is of crucial importance in primary education.  The skill sets of the instructor in the knowledge transmission flow and management of such flow to yield predetermined objectives are more important instead.  The skill sets come with experience and from the heart and will of the instructor which are all qualitative, not quantitative.  It is not easy for observers rather than users to provide true and fair comments.  I understand from existing SMC parents that teachers of SMC are on top of this.

I had compared both YW and SMC last year and would like to "share" my observations -
The principal of YW made a fabulous presentation - "YW is school for fun and play" whereas Dr Li of SMC made a less interesting speech - "importance of language profficiency".  The result of the selection process revealed YW had picked up a remarkable number of boys from 根德園 and 劍鳴 - who were trained to learn one grade up, to love doing homework, dictation, test and exam (YW is a school for fun and play for lovers of homework, tests and exams) whereas SMC selected those who were relatively active and possessed certain level of proficiency in English.  This made me feel SMC is more clear and consistent.

monkeydad

WD40 and G-Ma,

I am very happy that we (like most of the SMC parents) share the same view.

I have compared the homework (both the load and style) of SMC to YMT Catholic - SMC has less writing and copying but is rather creative and interesting.

My boy just finished the Maths project - which was to find out animals / insects with different number of hands and feet; select the best type and create your own wish.  During the process, my boy has learnt and was directed to think about the purposes of different number of hands and feet before he chose the best type.

monkeydad

kls12,

You are correct "出名的學校會吸引到好的學生去讀" like Cambridge, Oxford...  However, not all the applicants are fit for Cambridge, Oxford...  Those fail to get into Cambridge, Oxford have to find a school also.  Whether a school is good or not depends considerably on whether it fit your kid.

It is not easy to find you an answer on "學生的質數" as there is no generally accepted quantitative criteria to make such judgement.  Just a simple thought - parents of SMC have to pay some $30k a year.  Hence, they all would expect something from the school and also on their kids.  In this regards, the quality of the students would not be bad.

默書測驗考試 - the school told us "officially" that there would not be any formal test nor exam for P1.  However, we find there are dictation, quiz and tests during the class.  I think this is primarily for the teachers to test the standard of the students and adjust the pace accordingly.  HKQQbaby has replied to you on this already.  Starting from P2, there are 3 term exams a year.  It is not much different from traditional schools except that SMC has less writing and copying.  If you think writing and copying are the key elements for your kids to learn, SMC may not fall in your category then.

In respect of 成績表, I think it is quite similar to all schools - reflection of the exam results.

I am not sure whether you are interested in SMC or you just want to make a challenge on the teaching style of SMC.  Anyway, I am happy to share what I know and hope this would help.

原帖由 kls12 於 08-9-29 09:36 發表
HKQQbaby ,

讀直資或私校其中要買的,是學生的質數,出名的學校會吸引到好的學生去讀,SMC的英文環境很好,但學生的質數如何?
有沒有默書測驗考試?
有沒有人留班?
成績表是什樣編排?

Thanks for your comment ...

monkeydad

Smartcar,

I totally agree with Kyliema2006 and G-Ma - parents involvement.

My boy was in the same kinder as you boy.  He knew the name of the kinder both in Cantonese and English while he was in K2 as we understood this would be a quite standard question to be asked during interviews.

I would say graduates from the kinder you mentioned (HKBUK) are relatively weak in writing and spelling as the kinder is rather focused on training the kids to think and explore by themselves through the theme based curriculum in which the contents are quite indepth at kinder level - this is the strengh of the kinder (though this is not widely accepted by most schools).  I also understand some of the parents of this kinder did supplement the weakness of the kinder by putting their kids to tutorial class like kumon for sake of smooth transition into traditional schools.  

I am very glad that SMC advocates similar teaching style so that we can have continuity.  

I note even DBS and St Paul Co-ed are adopting the same - less homework, more activities and to develop the habit of self-learning.  The major homework in St Paul Co-ed in P1 is to read 40+ books a year.  Students would learn a lot of vocabulary and from contents of these books - i.e. knowledge outside the school syllabus.  While DBS has little homework, the exam paper is not that easy (usually 1-2 grade up) and this is to develop aggressive self learning discipline of its students and provides flexibility for the parents on what have to be enhanced for their kids.  The exam is the benchmark of what should be known to the students of the same grade per the school's standard.
P.S. these are the real cases of the kids of my friends currently studying in St Paul Co-ed and DBS (P5 and P6 respectively).  Their calibre are fit for those schools and both of them find it not difficult.

monkeydad

Kyliema2006,

If the kids are fit for the school, they would find school life happy and easy.  That's why I try to point out that suitability is most important.  Hence, parents have to know their kids well and also to know themselve well (evaluate how much time resources could be spent on the kid) before they choose the school.  One's candy may be another person's poison.

原帖由 kyliema2006 於 08-9-30 11:55 發表
對，聖保羅男女的小學都是很輕鬆的，因為差不多每個家長都會培育其子女，所以成績都很突出。但到中學就變回傳統中學了。

monkeydad

Catcatmom,

I think your friend did not have conducted sufficient research before putting the kid there.  The style of the kinder remains the same - theme based curriculum, less writing and copying as the kinder believes the early education should be an extension of family education.  Thus, students are not required to put on school uniforms and the themes they study are closely related to real life, e.g. they learn sports and the olympic game in 2nd term 2008 in very depth.  Besides, doing too much writing at an early stage is considered not so good for the kids as their small muscles have not yet fully developed.

I understand some parents of the kinder were quite frastructed in the P1 process as the affilate primary school suddenly refused to accept all graduates from the kinder (against what was said in the K1 interview - a full chain school from kinder to U).  Besides, the teaching style of the kinder are not widely accepted by most traditional schools.  This is a valid point that parents have to consider.

Frankly speaking, the kinder really help developing the curiosity and creativity of the kids as they are encouraged to explore and express their views.

I would say the mentioned kinder is different with traditional kinders but close to international kinders, like ESF, Kingston...  It is good that your friend realized the gap in time.

原帖由 catcatmom 於 08-9-30 11:03 發表
你間kinder, 我朋友個仔讀了一年, 無鞋挽屐走! 愉快教學唔係o甘既 ! 我一早收曬"風".   

monkeydad

Catcatmom,

Thanks for your response and apologize for my misunderstanding.  I am happy to learn your friend eventually found her cup of tea.

We didn't take up the offer from the affiliate school because we were quite disappointed with the inconsistency of the school board.  In our K1 interview in Dec 2004, we were clearly told that it would be a full chain from kindergarden to secondary using the same 理念.  However, we subsequently found out (very late, in K3) the affiliate school is not following that 理念.  The affiliate school is moving towards the traditional school style.

Besides, the most determining factor was our 2nd interview with the vice principal of SMC - she explicitly and concretely decribed the style and methodology used in SMC whereas we found the 2nd interview of the affiliate school did not provide anything of similar nature.