TESTIMONIALS

From Iris's Mum

Within a short period of 3 months, Iris’ Mandarin has improved tremendously.

Iris attended Nursery 2 at a Church Kindergarten for a year before joining ChildFirst. During her time at that Kindergarten, she learnt relatively well under the guidance of her teachers but we noticed that her interest in Chinese was very low. We were very concerned about her Chinese language development as we appreciate the importance of being bilingual.

Our elder daughter, who is now in Primary 5, has done well in all her subjects except Chinese. Coming from an English-speaking family, she prefers to converse in English, read English books and watch English TV programmes. When she entered Primary 4, she found it difficult to keep up with the learning pace for Chinese in school so we had no choice but to sign her up for a Chinese enrichment class to help her cope. After our experience with our elder daughter, we tried many ways to improve our younger daughter Iris’ interest in Chinese but failed miserably. At our wits end, we decided to also enrol Iris in a well-known Chinese enrichment class for 2 hours every Sunday. With the enrichment class, her understanding of the Chinese language improved slightly and she was able to recognise the Chinese characters taught. Unfortunately, she was still reluctant to converse with us in Mandarin.

At the start of this year, we decided to enrol Iris at ChildFirst. We were impressed with the strong bilingual curriculum presented during the open house and we believed that their half day English and half day Chinese approach would be good for Iris as the amount of time spent on language learning was significant. Our task of convincing Iris to switch over to ChildFirst was made easy by the beautiful speech and drama room and the friendly teachers. After the first visit, Iris was eager to start playing and learning at ChildFirst. Ever since Iris joined ChildFirst, we noticed that she has become more independent and confident. More importantly, she is gradually showing more interest and confidence in Mandarin. Every day when her dad picks her up from school, she will eagerly recite the new Chinese phrases she learnt from school. Not only is she able to recite the phrases, she is also able to explain the meaning of the Chinese word relative to the different Chinese stroke when we probed her.

During the recent Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, Iris surprised us when she enthusiastically shouted auspicious Chinese New year phrases ‘恭喜发财’, ‘新年快乐’, ‘年年有馀’, ‘身体健康’, ‘万事如意’ when we ‘Lao Yu Sheng’. This was just after being at ChildFirst for a month! Now, Iris replies in Mandarin when we speak to her in Mandarin. She will ask her dad how to say certain items in Chinese if she doesn’t know them. Her query on how to say “Play-Doh” in Chinese sent her dad frantically searching the digital dictionary for an answer! Lately she has started to ask more complex questions like what is the difference between ‘嘴巴’ and ‘口’. Her dad remarked that he is learning Chinese along with her!

Within a short period of 3 months, Iris’ Mandarin has improved tremendously. We believe we made a right choice in sending her to ChildFirst.

From Jia Ying's Parents

…interactive whiteboard…and computer lessons will groom my daughter to start to use technology at an early age

Our first contact at ChildFirst was with Lilian, Administration Manager, at 7pm in Jan 2011. It was an adhoc visit. My wife and I were impressed with her politeness to show us the centre in spite that it was closed for the day. She went the extra mile in service and we had a good first impression of ChildFirst.

Our second encounter when we were invited to attend the open house briefing for parents was equally impressive. Not only did we learn more about the structured curriculum with focus on Bilingualism (Mandarin and English), we also saw how technology was used in teaching and learning, from interactive whiteboard, touch screen computers to login accounts for parents to view their child’s work. We are very impressed with the investment that ChildFirst’s management has put in as it shows that they are serious about quality pre-school education.

Jia Ying first day at ChildFirst went well. Assisted by her teachers, her adjustment to the new environment (big classrooms with modern teaching equipment, teachers wearing uniform, computer labs, very generous common space such as gym and indoor interactive areas, and other amenities) was smooth.

As parents, we are confident that the structured program in ChildFirst will help a child to develop their learning of new knowledge and skills in pre-school in a fun way with the use of animated and interactive mode. We also feel that picking up new technology skills from young is crucial for a child in a technology driven society.

There are so many good encounters with ChildFirst for Jia Ying and us that it is quite impossible for us to numerate them. Carol and I are now able to focus on our work during office hours as we know that our daughter (Jia Ying) is in good hands, doing what she needs to learn and excel in at the age of 6 with competent and caring teachers and staff in a conducive and safe environment for her to cultivate a passion for learning at pre-school – preparing her to receive her Primary 1 education next year.

From Eleanore's Mum

It is a great bilingual school!

My daughter Eleonore, 3 and 2 months, has been going to ChildFirst Mountbatten for nearly three months now and is really enjoying her time at school. She shows a great enthusiasm every morning to go to class and I feel she has a special bond with the teaching team, both in Mandarin and English class.

She is getting more confident in her behavior and has now a balanced routine with sports sessions and big naps in the afternoon so that she comes back home all happy and relaxed after a thoroughly filled day with her classmates.

As parents we are pleased to have a helpful and available at any time staff, dedicated to care for her needs – It is a great bilingual school!

From Darius's Mum

We previously enrolled him in two other well know pre-schools before we stumbled upon ChildFirst by chance. My husband and I are so happy that Darius is enjoying pre-school at ChildFirst, you have no idea. We previously enrolled him in two other well known pre-schools before we stumbled upon ChildFirst by chance.

In the first two preschools, it was really difficult for Darius to cope with separation anxiety. He cried a lot as he was not accustomed to spending most of the day away from me. The teachers tried in vain to make him feel better. People kept telling me that it was natural and a normal stage of development for children. Having been a primary school teacher myself for more than a decade, I do not see separation anxiety disorder a normal stage of development, but a serious emotional problem from extreme distress.

Believe it or not, when we first brought Darius to ChildFirst for a trail session, he was all smiles and mesmerized by everything he saw. We were taken aback when he hesitated to leave because of all the eye catching playroom, gym room, computer room…which are quite different compared to the countless schools we brought him to view. The teachers were able to transform his separation anxiety to curious anxiety very quickly during the first week of school. By the end of the first week in school, he started waving goodbye to us whenever we dropped him off. That was really amazing! And by the second week I was shocked to hear Darius saying, “老师我爱你!”. We hardly converse in Mandarin at home.

Darius is by nature a fussy eater. It really requires a huge amount of patience and tons of ideas to get him to eat more nutritious meals. Feeding time can stretch from an hour to two. Honestly, I am still trying to figure out how ChildFirst did it. By the second week of school, Darius has already tried a variety of food in school. The teachers are amazing! They take only an average of twenty minutes to feed him and to full consumption too! What else can I ask for! At least in school he gets a good meal and a hearty breakfast. Once, I saw Darius helping the school chef push the lunch serving cart to class. Another time, I saw him helping the teachers clear the bowls and spoons for his peers when they finished their lunch. On another occasion, he even helped to feed the younger ones.

The bottom-line is – Darius loves going to school.