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Furious on my son's 1st Local KG Interview

  1. #9
    Shenzhennifer is offline Registered User
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    I`ve just had the loudest, most colourful laugh of the week, thank you, Lesliefu and Bruhildda, for your stories. The pictures in my mind are priceless against the ridiculous backdrop of the HK interview system. What a load of crap it all is. Behavioural problems sure, but not from your normal kids. My son would fail all interviews in about a minute, or at least when it came time to take the toys from him at the end.
    Sorry to make light of all of this and your anguish, but in such ridiculousness, I cannot help myself. They are TWO YEARS OLD, the poor things.
    This is one big reason I am leaving HK when my kid has to go to school. Can`t afford the international ones and we`d also probably be rejected for the local ones.


  2. #10
    thanka2 is offline Registered User
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    I think that the "name brand" kindergartens in HK, whether they are local or international play by a set of rules that they make up themselves and that are very subjective. Of course, not in all cases but because they will have customers no matter what they do, sometimes they have no incentive to be gracious or considerate.

    Bruhildda, if I were you, I would simply say, "Their loss." If they are looking for docile, compliant kids who will sit and follow commands in a monkey-see, monkey-do fashion (as a lot of HK kids are trained to do) then they are missing out on the active kids (who in my experience are usually the more creative, more intelligent ones) who want to explore and actually LEARN by experience.

    But, I want you to know that local kindergartens are not all the same. In our experience, we were not impressed by the spendy "famous" schools but more by the unknown schools that have staff that are dedicated and care. You really don't want to be forcing your 2 or 3-year-old into a situation where they are stifled and disciplined for being a curious child. Curiosity and activity should be rewarded, I think.

    So, my suggestion is to ask the local mothers in your area where they send their kindergartners and what they think of the school. I would rather send my son to a small school that maybe doesn't have all the bells and whistles and frills where the teachers care and are patient and are ready for different learning styles than a "chain school" where my kid is just another number--eventually that's how it ends up in HK but kindergarten is too soon to start in my opinion.

    But yes, it's their loss, truly.


  3. #11
    shenwen is offline Registered User
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    we took our son (almost two years) to Learning Habitat for an interview. We expected a little one on one time with the principal but were instead met by a production line interview process with what appeared to be upward of 100 children.

    All interviews were done according to a set process (name this, use that, etc) and when our son deviated (wanted to play in what was a very stimulating play environment, named different objects in the rooM, etc) the interviewer was visibly disappointed.

    Such a rigid system is not what I expect for a two year old and even if we "get in" to this school, we will turn it down and prefer for him to stay at PIPS (the only reason we were considering changing in that LH is closer to our home). my wife has a montessori background and was very shocked by what she saw at LH. We both left the interview, looked at each other and agreed there was no way we would want our son at that KG.


  4. #12
    Bumps Guest

    I know for a fact that kindergartens hold interviews to gain revenue. An application fee of $30 x by around 4,000 applicants is a considerable income for a school. Don't get me wrong, this absolutely appalls me - especially when the school knows that they have already allocated the majority of the places to family members (sisters/brothers) of those already at the school.


  5. #13
    Frenchy is offline Registered User
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    I know now why they are doing interviews... I've always wondered what was the point of doing this. How can they decide whether a 2 yo child will be a good student or not after seeing him 5 minutes out of his usual environment ?? also, isn't the school job to help the kids socialise with each others, teach them the basics ? what's the point of teatching kids if they already know how to do all this before to get in school ??
    Each time there is a subject about interviews, everyone seems to react the same way, thinking it is absolutely ridiculous, but how/why is it still going on ? is there anyway to raise our voices against this ??


  6. #14
    Gabriel ma is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by shenwen View Post
    we took our son (almost two years) to Learning Habitat for an interview. We expected a little one on one time with the principal but were instead met by a production line interview process with what appeared to be upward of 100 children.

    All interviews were done according to a set process (name this, use that, etc) and when our son deviated (wanted to play in what was a very stimulating play environment, named different objects in the rooM, etc) the interviewer was visibly disappointed.

    Such a rigid system is not what I expect for a two year old and even if we "get in" to this school, we will turn it down and prefer for him to stay at PIPS (the only reason we were considering changing in that LH is closer to our home). my wife has a montessori background and was very shocked by what she saw at LH. We both left the interview, looked at each other and agreed there was no way we would want our son at that KG.
    Sorry to hear that. It might be difficult for the school to arrange individual interview for many than few hundred of applicants.

  7. #15
    Gabriel ma is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheQuasimother View Post
    Try Learning Habitat. They are much friendlier when we approached them. There was no difference in cost between the streams. Has a good reputation. What about PIPS at Elements?
    Learning Habitat accepts foreign students. My child has non-Chinese classmates.

  8. #16
    elaine is offline Registered User
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    My non-Cantonese speaking daughter got in to Creative Primary School's Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong (Oxford Road). We requested the interview to be conducted in English and they accomodated that. Her teachers translated instructions from Cantonese to English to her during the first term and by the end of the term, she was coping well. The only problem is the school notices are all in chinese and the assignments too. My daughter loves going to school and this means a lot as it is a totally foreign environment to her.


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