anyone with children at International Montessori School?

[joannek]

my daughter went there for 10 mths, barely knew her classmates, and hardly develop an interactive relationship with the teachers.

[somebodyfamous]

Sounds like you & your child didn't like it there Joanne. Thanks so much for your input.

A friend of mine, whos child is now 3 loves it there and he plans to let her attend all the way up to 12 years old.

Any more comments?

[chubbysan]

thanks joannek for your input! can i checked if they have the same teacher for the english or/& mandarin class? do you hv any option to choose a more engaging teacher for the toddler class?

[joannek]

you are right, i don't like it there. but of course, it's a very personal experience.

i think it's the style of their classes more than the individual teachers who "engage" more. of course, there are teachers who make you feel like they genuinely like kids, and then there are the ones who're there because it's a job.

and i also think that parents have to choose a school which have similar disciplining styles as at home. IMS's general disciplining style is different than our parenting style at home, so i chose not to let my daughter stay there.

i find a lot of the teachers there more traditional and less sensitive to a child's emotion. i've heard many teachers raise their voice at the children (on the playground at 3-6yrs old). and use very stern tone for something very trivial. but a lot of parents like that style, especially asians. so as i say, it's very personal.

you can always sign up for your son, go with him for a month or two, then you'll have a general feel whether you like it or not.

[somebodyfamous]

We're going to visit the school and see what we think. Thanks for all the comments.

[Linda&Hanley]

Recently attended an information session about Montessori teaching. From what I understand, the essence of the Montessori approach is the development of independence and self initiative; it's more about a way of thinking and an approach to learning (learning how to learn independently). The "inactive" role of the teachers is just what Montessori advocates.

Actually I don't see any difference between an English and a Mandarin Montessori playgroup. I bet the children can benefit most if they attend the group using the language they already know. After all, abundant input is indispensable in language acquisition (from my knowledge in child language acquisition, there is a commonly accepted theory about the inborn special learning device that only works if the child is given sufficient input). I appreciate the philosophy behind the Montessori approach, but when talking about learning a language, Montessori doesn't seem to be the answer.

What I believe is that no single approach provides a solution to all problems. I’ve heard people criticize Doman’s approach of spoon-feeding children with knowledge using flashcards, but if that’s not the only thing in a child’s daily life (not difficult to imagine how dull and passive the child could become if it is!!), and if that helps a child gain early literacy with much ease, why not give it a go? How about Montessori plus Doman? Or even Montessori plus Doman plus some teacher-led language playgroups?

Linda

[somebodyfamous]

Thanks for your input Linda. It's all a learning curve for THIS Mum I tell you. I'm actually going to do the Doman method myself after having read the book, watched the DVD and started making the personal flashcards and look forward to making their books too. The Doman method only takes 5 seconds three times a day though so really we do need to fill up our babies times with other activities. hahahaha

I tried a playgroup in Causeway Bay who heavily promotes the Doman method but was surprised after attending a trial lesson that the teacher didn't follow the Doman rules and the flashcards are really small and in black (!)

Anyway I digress, I like the independence that Montessori promotes and I also like teacher led activities where the children can learn to be part of a group (BOTH are necessary in life). So maybe we'll eventually have to send our girls to two places to get the benefits!

[joannek]

as i have mentioned, my daughter started at IMS mandarin parent/toddler group when she turned 2. she went there for 1 year. from feb-june, her teachers were both mandarin native speaker with correct putonghua accent. she learnt a lot of putonghua vocab thru story time & circle time.