2001 - Looking for good Chinese enrichment class for P1 boy

Hi,

I am looking for a good Chinese enrichment class in the east for my P1 boy. He dislikes Chinese and so far I have not found an enrichment class that interests him or good/nice teacher whom he likes. Teachers play an important part in creating interest in the kids.

Anyone whose boy like to go for Chinese enrichment class in the east? Does he like the teacher too?
 


Hi,

You may want to try Berries World. They have several branches, including one at Tampines. My son is in the N2 class at Tanglin CC and he loves going there. He disliked Chinese at first too.
 
hi adeline,
My 2 boys have a chinese teacher coming to our house for tuition. They too dislike chinese, but now, they love the teacher so much that they fight to go for lesson first. Personally, I am happy with the teacher as I find she really work hard to have creative ideas of handling kids. Do contact me if u would like to try.
 
Hi Sera Lee,
Can you recommend the tuitor to me? Does she live in the east and how much is her lesson?

Pls PM me. Thanks.
 
I would really recommend Berries as they are not rigid in their teaching and the content.. They have lots of activities for the kids plus story telling. My gal started early this year for P1 and she really enjoys the lessons. I heard Tienxia is more focused on academic like tingxie and lots of worksheets. It may be more expensive but I spoke to some parents whose kids are grown up and they strongly recommend group learning for Chinese as compared to one to one tuition..
 
Hi Siew Pheng,
Which branch did you send your girl to at Berries? I understand it is a franchise, so there may be slight differences. Also, the teachers are important in creating interest in the kids. Some branches and classes may not have good/nice teachers.

The branch that is nearest to me would be Kembangan Community Club. Anyone know of any good teachers teaching P1 at that branch?
 
Hi
I heard from a friend there's one Chinese enrichment school in Kembangan Plaza basement that's pretty good. They use songs, dance & crafts to teach Chinese. Maybe can check it out?
 
Hi,

My gal is attending the one at Hougang interchange.. She has attended make up classes with different teachers and she enjoyed the lessons too. So I guess the teachers must be quite good.
 
Hi Sera Lee

can you share what the private tutor would normally do in a session. Is it seat work or games?
 
hi to all,

my girls are in berry for 2 terms. it doesn't help. I think those kids with mark like 80+, when u attend their course it doesn't help much. 1 thing i dont like about the school is during sch holiday they will still hv lesson, which i prefer my kids to relax.
 
Hi dtyq, what is jin ying pang? Can let me know the name of the school? Is the lesson fun or like the sit down type in school?
 
Hi,

My son is attending class at Story Island at Taman Island.

Showed great improvement & most importantly, he enjoys going.
 
Hi Dtyq, thanks. I'll take a look at their website.

Hi Yvonne Tan, where is this Story Island, Taman Island. Is it in the east? Btw, how old is your son?
 
anyone has comments about Molin (@ East Coast)? deciding between Molin & Tien Hsia cos both r near my place.

does anyone also know Seedtime Learning Centre in Mandarin Gardens?
 
I am also contemplating on Chinese enrichment class for my son. Let me share our situation, we are a Singapore style Chinese speaking family. As parents, we are very pro Chinese, I have already restricted my son to only watching Chinese translated cartoons and always remind him to speak to us in Mandarin.

My son's mid year Chinese score about 90%, he is in "Kexin" or the middle level syllabus. Everything looks normal from outside but there are many warning signs. My son says he doesn't like Chinese, it is very difficult. He doesn't read Chinese story books but reads English fiction and non fiction books. He forgets a number of Chinese words learnt. Kexin syllabus for P 1 is very basic, no "Zao Ju" /sentence construction, just imagine Chinese will become more and more difficult, the current dislike will turn to hate and then it will be too late!

Maybe we don't need an enrichment with academic style, I am looking for something exciting to arouse interest. Is there such a class? Maybe we should attend a Chinese Church.
 
Hi, Biyan

Have you tried Story Island? My son is currently attending the chinese classes and he seemed to be enjoying them. It is slightly different from other types of chinese tuition lessons which are usually academic based. Here they teach Chinese via story telling, and sometimes acting it out.
 
Thanks mlhg, for the recommendation. Can advise on the fees and what kind of stories are acted out, 3 little piggies type?
 
Hi, biyan

This centre emphasized more on speech/oral speaking, and occasional 'acting' of the characters in the story books. The kids are required to do 'lang du' on stage (facing the parents as audience) based on a selected paragraph of the story. Each kid will also have the chance to be the 'compere' for that week. As for vocabulary and writing, it is usually based on the words found in the story book and sometimes mini-tests are conducted to test their proficiency, both in speech and writing.

You may refer to their website at www.storyisland.com.sg. The costs is roughly S$400+ for a term (16 weeks)

I personally feel that this concept of teaching is better for kids who generally do not like to speak Chinese, but are ok in terms of their writing and vocabulary. Having many kids on stage reading aloud motivates my son to do the same. The occasional acting upps the 'fun' factor so I think that's why my son enjoys it.

Hope this helps :)
 
Hi. My girl did badly for her p3 chinese too. Any good tutors or tution centre to recommend.Now cracking my head to find her one. Help!!!

Please pm me. Thanks a lot.
 
hi mummies

i am a school chinese teacher with 8 yrs exp and 12 yrs exp as tutor . Now on leave to look after my 3 kids . I gave tuition to Pri 1 to 6 students and all my students have improved cos i use a very fun way to teach them . Parents testimontials avail for reading . if u need a chinese tutor pls sms 97651438 for enquires
 
Hi I recently send my girl to Berries. She's in K2 this year. I like the teaching method. Alot of emphasis on reading and recognition of words which i find it's good.
 
My son was with Tien Hsia in P1 this year. I find they follow MOE syllabus very closely. They have Ting Xie every week and can be quite stressful with school's Ting Xie.

I recently changed him to Berries and I find their coverage is wider and more interesting. For the last 2 lessons, they touched on recyling and planets. They also listened to news report and answered questions on the report. Very good exposure for the kids.
 
I heard quite abit abt Berries and planning to send my son (gg Pri 1 nxt yr) to attend their Hanyu Pinyin class in Dec.

Some of my frens recommended YuQuan Language School too.
 
I send my P1 son to berries. he enjoys it there.

has anyone heard about Busy Bee Learning Centre? Any comments.
 
If someone has feedback on Yuquan, I would like to hear it. Wonder if they conduct lessons like Berries.

I send my boy (4yrs+) to Berries. My boy is the typical jiak kang tang (only speaks English, refuses to speak Mandarin) type, so I thot I beta let him go and brush up Mandarin. Last time when I asked him if he's interested, he would say "No". Recently I tried again and he said "Yes". He is happily going for his lessons every week now. It's a relief to me!
Last week he was singing some tune and I asked him where he learnt it and he said at the class.
 
Hi Mummies ! so far it seems like there are many good things said about berries. does anyone know if the one at Kembangan cc is any good. I'm actually choosing between berries and busy bees. My girl's P3 this year so it's getting more and more challenging by the year..
 
Hi Mrs ee,

May I know how much do Berries charge for P3 Higher Chinese? I'm in a dilemma whether to get my son 1-1 tutor or goes to those Chinese tuition center? His chinese wasn't good and scored average.
 
Hi Fion,

My son is like yours, Chinese not so good. He is also going P3 next year but the normal Chinese. I have been having 1-1 tution for him at home, once a week. Not good enough.

For next year, I'm also thinking of putting him in either Berries, Tien Hsia or Hua Language at Parkway Centre. I think having both a 1-1 tuition and a group lesson may help to reinforce what has been taught. Since my family doesn't speak Chinese nor watch Chinese shows, having additional class will give him more exposure. In addition, we as parents need to follow up with what has been taught after each lesson.
 
Hi Adeline,

Do you practice with him those "sheng zi" cards? Have you try to get those chinese cartoon VCD for him or go to the library to borrow those chinese story books which have "han yu pin yin".

His problem is he can't focus esp class size is 1:10. So far he haven't try 1-1 tutor, hopefully it's work on him. He used to study normal chinese during P1-P2, the school change their P3 MTL from normal chinese to higher chinese and I'm so worried he can't catch up, sigh...
 
Hi Fion,
It will be tougher for your son when he takes the higher Chinese. My son is now in the Tien Hsia Enrichment Programme during this holiday. They teach the higher Chinese syllabus only, no normal Chinese. Looks tough but it is good to prepare him for his normal Chinese.

I must admit that I have not been very hands-on, so didn't really work with him much on his "sheng zi" nor read Chinese books to him. I am now trying to get chinese VCDs from the library for him to watch and be exposured to the language.
 
Hi Adeline,

Are you SAHM? May I check with you, is it they finish the programme before the sch re-open? Is it a short term course? How much do you pay for the course? I'm still consider whether let him join enrichment courses during this holidays?..

Ya, I know will be hard on him next yr as higher chinese hv lots of words to learn and write. My chinese knowledge is limited, think hv to decide before the sch re-open
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Hi Fion,

Yes, I'm a SAHM living in the east. The Tien Hsia Enrichment Programme that my son is in now is a once-a-week programme for only 5 weeks ($165). It is in preparation for the first few chapters in the P3 Higher Chinese textbook. Please see this link:
http://www.tienhsia.com/promo/promomain.html

If you want to sign him up for any holiday classes, you'll have to do it fast as most of them would have already started. The Tien Hsia class started last Friday (20 Nov).
 
Hi Adeline,

I just made a call to Tien Hsia, too bad no slots for holidays programme. Thanks for the link.

Once the sch re-open, your son will continue the programme? They told me the programme is a preparation for P3 and those who sign up for P3 chinese course can continue from this enrichment course and too bad is no available slots for P3 next yr. Wow... that's really fast & popular!!
 
Hi Fion,

Yes, they are very popular. I tried to register him for the P3 regular class but is already full. I had to put him on waiting list and hopefully someone will back out so that my son can be in. :-( Alternatively, I'll have to put him in Berries at Kembangan or Hua Language. I can't seem to decide which one yet.

Are you a SAHM too? Which area do you live in?
 
Hi Adeline,

Yes, I'm a SAHM too, I'm living in the North. Hahah! seems like we are quite far away from eachother
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In this forum quite no. of mummies feedback Berries not bad, perhaps u give it a try. Now everywhere seems fully book for P3 chinese course, I think I hv no choice hv to teach him by myself for the time being... till they got slots.
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How's ur son year end results? Think shouldn't be a problem beside Chinese ;) I just got his P3 books, sigh... now he has to learn one more subject "Science" Some saying that Science is an interesting subject, hopefully he picks up an interest along the way...
 
Hi Fion,

Ya, I'll probably let him go for a trial class at Berries to compare with Tien Hsia's class. His SA2 results are not ideal, although I know he can do better. Hopefully, with the additional Chinese class that he'll be getting next year will help him to improve.

My son has been reading Young Scientists magazines and also Magic School Bus books which are all related to Science. He seems to like the subject. Hopefully he'll have no problem with the subject next year.

All the best to you for next year :)
 


Hi Adeline,

My son loves to read Young Scientists Magz too and he wanted me to buy more but I think is a little too exp. Does your son engage any tutor for his Eng/Maths? My son has his Eng tuition every sun and I find that he can't really focus in the class and easily get distracted. Sigh... intend to look for 1-1 tutor for his Eng as well...
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