Any Recommedation for Phonics Enrichment Class ??

Hi Mum2Yen
Sorry but so far Excellrate only have a branch in Tampines and Hougang. I guess the most important thing is the teacher herself/himself. How committed to the class they are and if their style of teaching will fit your child will play a big part.
Take for example Tian Sia in Bishan CC. Many have said that they are good including a friend who sent his kids there. I went down there to check it out and found that almost all their teachers are native teacher/speakers ( read "ang mo" ), many of the children there learn the correct pronouncation of words, and their grammer and composititon were very good, BUT, it can't suit my kids as they are more inclinded to chiness speaking as that's the lang. used at home with my in laws. I'm very sure that they would not be able to understand what is taught in class.
On the other hand, I've overheard a parent at Excellarate ( where my kids are now attending ) that they want to take her child OUT of my kids's class as they want a change of teacher ( overheard that they think she's not very good ), but for my kids, after just 5 lessons, even their school's form teacher have notice a change in their english and maths. Both my wife and myself feel the same way too as my 2nd girl who's the weakest of my triplets, can now read more words and can understand those "thinking sums" better.
I guess we as parents have to do our research first and than keep a watch out on how our kids are copping and make adjustments if needed be. I do agreed that reading is very important, we try to get our kids to read at least a little bit every night before they go to bed.

Cheers
 


Hi yqt,
Jus realised from earlier postings dat u hv triplets - wow! my god-sister's expecting twins in october n we're all very excited how they'll turn out. we've never known any twins or triplets
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can you tell them apart?!

Agree that as parents we have to do out research first and lucky for me i can ask for help here!

Hi Lim,
ya, agree definitely cannot do without reading. but i think without phonics, i don't think she can expand her vocab fast enough... if not she will only memorise new words by rote learning. Too bad zoophonics only take till 6 y/o - but good luck for your boy!
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btw, do you mind if i ask how long was ur boy at ICR? :p really no help ah? if just for English enrichment, do you think they'll be useful?
 
Hi Mum2Yen
Congrets to your god-sit on having twins. My kids are not identical triplets so we can tell them apart rather easily.
Cheers and happy hunting
 
My boy was at ICR Jurong East for 24 sessions (6 months), paid good money, $40 per session but get very little return. ICR method/theory looks good, their material is also impressive. To be fair, maybe some children will find it beneficial. If you wish to try, please remember, it is very difficult to get a refund on the paid fees and deposit. Be very observant on how you child cope and give enough notice (1 month) if you wish to withdraw. I have heard of a few other withdrawal cases.
 
Lim

During my volunteer work at primary school, I noticed the primary 1 kids read a variety of titles. No clear trend for boys although I noticed the girls like to read Disney princess stories like Cinderalla

For my girl, she reads ladybird 'read with me' series and Disney series like poohbear, classic like snow white, cinderalla, etc. However, her favourtie is a non fiction book 'pocket scientist' from MPH
 
Lim biyan
Can you elaborate on Zoophonics? I called Bukit Timah. It is like all rounded including writing. My boy is active. His phonics teacher said he still need more time to know blending (next week he would be having assessment on first modules --basic). As this is academic, not using big colourful charts or other media, I thought of changing to Zoophonics.
 
My boy is at Bukit Timah, Beauty Centre branch. I suggest Caroline can visit this branch during high traffic timings eg. Sat mornings to observe lessons by peeping thro. tinted glass doors. I find Zoophonics suitable for children who need more effort in phonics, especially those who are a little more active and dislike regular testbook style.
 
Hi Lim,

ur boy is in zookids? which timeslot and who is the teacher? thks for sharing...cos i also thinking of joining bukit timah.
 
Biyan
Bukit Timah would arrange assessement to see which slot my boy can join (ie current class schedules). There is a new slot coming up on 2 Sep (ie Sun) at 9.30.

According to the lady Shirley, their course includes writing which I don't mind. But if the new class starts in Sep and it takes one year before he can be promoted to wise owls (ie for K2), then isn't it too late?

She said by K1, kids should be able to write simple sentences. It is rather scary as my boy couldn't spell, not to mention writing sentences.

Course fees $120 per month regardless of calendar whether 4 or 5 lessons. Sick, no make up.
 
Assuming your boy is K1 now, don't you worry, my boy is in K2 now, he has only attempted to write simple sentence on his free will recently. Eg. Mummy cannot have ice-cream for 2 years. He has been writing sentences to form simple story since mid of K1 with help from teachers in Kindergarten. If I had tested him last year, he wouldn't be able to write too. The assessment at Zoophonics is more detail as compared to I Can Read. The teachers at Zoophonics did not stress my boy, it has been about 2 months I am seeing some results.
 
Hi mommies,

Can anyone give me feedback on Read in a Week located in the building next to Lot1? I am thinking of enrolling my child in their phonics class.
 
Einstein
My son just finished basic level (16 lessons) there last week. Teacher is Ms Chin. Because my son is active & attention span is short, she said he needs more time for blending (short & long vowels). Originally she suggested me to repeat the whole module. Then she said she would give extra 15 min for 2 lessons (during intermediate level), if still cannot, then 4 lessons.

The structure at Read in a Week is academic, like primary school. If your child is learn through play, this is not the right place. Some mummies here highly recommended zoophonics. I went for the assessement. The lady told me it is better not to go on to intermediate if the basic is not grasped. So I signed up zoophonics, starting 8 Sep. For about the same price, I chose to repeat at zoophonics. They have activities like flash cards (each animal tag to each letter) to reinforce. Their classrooms are very colourful.
 
I share Caroline's observation, my son was also not good with blending at the start, so Ranee, the lady boss of Zoophonics suggested 4 lessons of one-to-one bridging class during weekday. That was really helpful, my boy did catch up.
 
hey mommies,
My ger oso in ZP BT.
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she in Zootodds, sat class. Had been with ZP since she is 18mths.
hmm.. now she is 2.5yrs old.
FINALLY can c results!! keke

In ZP, there are no overnite results. It take mths n patience, eventually sure will c results. Money worth.

Gd to c positive feedbacks of ZP.
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Give me assurance to stick to them n follow their programme.

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Dear HoHo,

Your expectation is really high, my boy only started to speak sentence at 2.5 years. At 18 months, he could only say " no. no."

And looks like we should get some commission from Zoophonics. Oh yes, they do give incentive for recommendation - a $20 fees reduction voucher to the recommender and a FOC water bottle to the recommended. So, if anyone decide to register Zoophonics after reading my positive feedback please let Ranee know that it was Lee Shao Feng's (Beauty World) mummy's recommendation. Anyway, I hope to let my boy graduate from ZP once he start P1 next year. I am putting lots of effort to enhance his reading interest so that I can save $120 on ZP fees every month.
 
Lim,

Ranee is the boss of ZP? so who is shirely? i called up ZP (bukit timah) and spoken to shirley. i wanted to enrol in the zookids but shirley say is full on sundays leh
 
Hi caroline & other mommies,

Thanks for all your feedback. It is really useful to visit this forum to get some insights. There are just so many phonics schools so I can't decide which one to go. Will check them out.
 
hey lim,
why did u say my expectation veri high? :p

my ger only started to know her a-z when she reached 2yrs old.. i consider myself veri patient to let her learn at her own pace.

i was initally very scared as she din talk, thought smething wrong with her. But by 2yrs old, she suddenly speak tog. with the teacher in class, i was veri surprised n happy!
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but now, i can say, she learn lots in class, she knows her phonics sounds n signs. Singing, talking in 3-4 wordings at a time, not really sentence.

i would say, ZP classes really help. overall, my hb n i r happy with the class n results.

next yr, we hv decided to put her in wkdays class.
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my ger like reading, playing puzzles, so i bot lots of these for her.
did u buy the leapfrog littletouch or leappad, i find them gd. can invest kind la.
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To be fair, ICR offers a very systematic approach to phonics and reading. Their teaching materials are of high print quality and very impressive to any adult. At Jurong East centre they even have a small library that offer story book loan to students. Stress depends on the level, at the preparation level it is little but at higher levels there is reading, comprehension & spelling homework. Quite stressful if parent don't prepare the kid before lesson. Unless the kid is very good already. But yet again, how many kids are so good, otherwise don't need to go ICR. I am not a pro-ICR. My child did not benefit from it although I did not consider about the higher fees. To me, it is not worth the money.
 
Hi Mummies
My girl is only 19 MO. I also called up Zoophonics at BT branch, and they told me they are startg a new class on 7 OCt.

Is 19MO too early to start lessons? Hb was making noise that I am being too kiasu, stressing her at such a young age. But I thot, hey, she is also there to have fun mah, why not?

Can gimme some advise? It's not cheap at $120/mth, no makeup classes, hence no chance of us gg for short breaks over the wkend, sigh.
 
My boy went to Zoophonics, while my girl went to Montessori phonics. Personally I prefer Montessori, no frills and to the point. Zoophonics got too many animals, more confusing.

The Montessori syllabus is quite fast, at the beginning of the year, they are learning the letter sounds, then middle of the year already reading simple sentences. Now learning more difficult words like str, squ, sh, th, aw, ay, etc. I don't find it very stressful. For example, one week they teach oi and oy. Although parents do need to spend time at home revising with the kids. I like it that they emphasize the technique, and not making the students memorize many words. They teach the students to listen to sounds and relate them to the alphabets, which I think will be very beneficial to spelling in future.

My girl started at 3 years 8 months old, her class has students who are 5 years old. She enjoys the class there very much. The teacher invited parents a few times to sit in the class, so that parents can learn the teacher's technique and practice the same thing at home. After every class, the teacher also brief the parents about what is being taught and how to revise with the child at home. I really like their style very much.

For younger kids, I would suggest that you familiarize them with the letter sounds first before sending to any phonics class. The best way is to learn from Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD. Both my kids learn all their letter sounds simply by watching the DVD
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I saw Leapfrog Talking Word Factory DVD at Robinson's bundled together with Word Whammer at Robinsons. But I haven't seen Letter Factory selling in Singapore yet.
 
Lim
After 1 lesson at Zoophonics, my son likes it and he wants to go. Unlike ICR, he always cries, not wanting to go. At 2nd lesson, I saw him enjoying himself.

You know I did a small test on him after 2nd lesson. I asked him what letter does snake start with. He said "S".
 
Hi Tamarind,

Can share with us which Montessori school u sent ur girl for phonics? And how much is the course fees. Thanks.
 
tamarind!!!

long time no chit chat liao hor!
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I m still sticking to ZP lor, very lazy to change. But i want to put Phoebe into mandarian enrichment class? any to recommend?

Sunshinekid,.
Its never too early to start 'school'.
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My ger started 'school' at Kindermusic when she was 8-9mths old. :p
Then 17-18mths, at ZP.

I m glad i started her early, cos as i mention in earlier posting, she only started to really talk when she hit 2yrs old. I was very worry. But now, she is a noisy chatter box!
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As for Leappad/little touch. Check out their webby - www.leapfrog.com
Or go toyrus for sample demo.
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hoho03,
Yes long time to "see"
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My girl is now in Berries Chinese class at Bukit Batok CC. Very good. They start from 3 years old, so you may want to try next year.
 
hi tamarind,

i m also tinking of puting my 3YO son to ZP. just wondering would the kids be confused if they will to learn the ZP techniques and when in school, the teacher teaches another mtd?

does MMI allows trial class?
 
hoho, Stressma, tamarind,
All of you are here arh
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Hee, my Alicia still in ZP daily class, and not thinking of changing. She is enjoying herself there, and we can notice that she is always eager to go for her class, and meeting her friends.

Stressma,
Sounds of letters, vowels, consonants etc are the same (abeit some minor differences between British and american), so in my opinion, any methods is equally good, as long as there is consistency (dun change methods too frequently to avoid confusion). As Tamarind mentioned, MMI is faster to go into word blending, while ZP focus more on writing (fine motor skills) concurrently with phonics, so word blending will not come until a much later stage.

hoho,
Send P to daily class lar. Daily class incorporate chinese lesson
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stressma,
When the child is in P1, I think the school don't teach phonics at all.

I am not sure whether my girl class allow trial. Her class is for 3 years 6 months old to 5 years old. Below that they have the toddler class, which allow trial class. Personally I think that MMI toddler class is better than zoophonics, but that is my personal opinion, other people may not think so.

In toddler class, MMI concentrate on one alphabet in one session. The teacher pass around one alphabet printed using a sand texture, and ask every child to trace their fingers on it. I think this is a good way of teaching. In ZP toddler class, the teacher flip through all 26 A-Z cards in one go and very quickly. Most of the time they do it only once in each session, not every child can learn well this way.

Your boy is 3 year old, I think better to go to my girl's class. But better make sure he already knows all the letter sounds very well first.
 
Alicia's Daddy,
Long time no "see"
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Yes it is true that my girl's phonics class does not have much writing. They concentrate on reading and listening. My girl has writing in her daily PCF nursery, so it is OK.

stressma,
Note that my girl's phonics class is an enrichment class once a week only, not a daily class.
 
Tamarind,
Long time no "see"
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too.
Now that you remind me of the MMI sand paper letters, it is hidden in one of my storage box. Better take it out to make use of it
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A's dad!
Wa! u here oso ah... keke

GOOD news! Phoebe can be promoted!
She can try try to attend (still)wkends Zookids next mth... got got got incorporate chinese lesson!! And it will be conducted at the NEW place in BT, bigger n cleaner n new! YEAH! but 120/mth la.
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U know why i want her to speed up her mandarian.. So that she can tok to her poor ah ma. If not mil, keep complaining only the maid u/stand what P is toking about.
Worst, i m sending my maid back next wk.. new 1 will be in 1st oct.
So for those days w/out maid, hmm.. i oso dun know how ah ma going to tok to her. :p

Stressma,
HIHI! dun b a stress ma... relax ya!
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Er, r u oso fm tt old JW thread?

Tamarind,
Hmm, from the way u describe, the way MMI teaches oso not bad hor. At least the kid can oso learn the stroke of the alpha.

When P goes ZooKids, let me c how they teach.
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hoho,
Long time never "see" hoho, so when I noticed "hoho", better see lor
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Congrats to P!
U mean chinese for weekend class too?
I hope JW can also move to bigger space. The current one seems too small
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, but definitely not at the expense of increasing fees. Alicia and her friends will be moving up to Nursery workgroup next year
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A's dad,
dun say like tt lei..
nothing to post so din post lor..

oso, new workplc, quite diff. to post openly. :p

yup, 1hr english, 30mins chinese. Perfect for me!
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Just hope tt P can b independent w/out me.

Then hor, i will need to plan what m i to do with tt 1.5hrs... keke..
 
hi hoh03,

yes i from the old JW thread. i also sometimes pop in the may 04 or july 04 thread.

i not so stress now lah....

i called up BT ZP, was told got a new class on the 7 oct 07 for zookids. sun class. is ur gal attending tat also? i wanted to put my son there. but having read tamarnd's post....may consider MMI...haiz...i stress again....hehe

tamarind,
y u say P1 dun teach phonics? but preschool teaches rite? my son attend N1 at SFA and i think the teacher does teaches...althou may not be any particular method loh... so i just scared that his daily N1 class teaches "this" and in his enrichment class, he learnt "that"....

A's dad,
ZP is british or american? MMI leh? wow...u seems to know a lot leh....u say must be consistent...tatz why i scare if he go ZP, wat he learn different from his N1 class loh...at leats for u, Alicia attend ZP daily mah..so u not going to let alicia attend SFA next yr? actualy i think SFA is good cos they got many outings..
 
wow,

found u all here once again... the old jw gang
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long time never "chat" liao leh.

tamarind,

seeing your comment on phonics makes me wanna put S into the MMI also
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There is a new centre in jw and I was considering putting J in their daily.

But I wonder if the toddler class also gets so right to the point and into sentences, blending etc. In fact, I talked to a number of preschool like chiltern house, lorna whiston, MMI JW, I was a very disappointed to find that they dun offer actualy phonics till N2. S is only N1 next year
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Imagine, he gotta just wait till 4 year old then can go into those in his daily sch. He is already very advanced in writing skills and do tracing vv well on his own.... I felt he can shd be able to start doing pre-writing activities or even writing activities in school next year in N1... but again, they tell me no, must wait till N2. From my point of view, I feel they did not offer me the differentiating factors. If I am not working, he might as well be homeschooled. The system is too rigid to think that from what age to wat age can only do this and that... and cannot touch others if the kid is interested and has the ability.

I stopped the JG playclub this term liao. I feel that they are not as strong in introducing phonics too the child... he is there for 3 terms liao and they had not even gone through all the 26 letters.. maybe becos its a billingual class.. the emphasis is just not there. I dun think phonics is the world but initially I sent him there so that such things can be internalise and become natural to him as young as possible. He still know 90% of his phonics and all the letters, but i get the feeling it may have been better if i sent him to MMI or ZP like u all did. I think S learn more from me and the letter factory plus brainy baby.

hoho,

so P not going to weekend classes liao ah? S also going to preschool coming monday. Its the lorna whiston preschool. I booked the chiltern house as backup liao if that fails my expectation. Anyway I am now having a lot of 2nd thoughts. After knowing they wont touch on phonics (they will touch a bit here and there but not formal in syllabus) or prewriting or writing skills, I feel I may be wasting money and might as well send S to a cheaper preschool like ZP or MMI and then send him for enrichment. Hope I am wrong about them... will see when I go on Monday and see them in actions.
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The fun factor is definitely there... just that as S gets older, I feel he should get a higher portion of academics too. and that's his interest too anyway.

A's daddy,

so wat does ZP do in the N1 class? A is in the JW branch right? is it good? I am thinking of putting my J in there also....

stressma,

me too considering the same sun class in ZP BT leh....
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poohy,
The toddler class in MMI is only teaching alphabets and their phonics sounds. In fact, I believe every preschool out there is the same.

My girl's MMI phonics enrichment class is for kids 3 years 6 months old to 5 months old. This class takes only 4 weeks to cover all letter sounds, than goes straight into 2 and 3 letter blendings. I asked Zoophonics before, their syllabus is a lot slower.

I think your boy is more suitable for my girl's class. You may want to ask them whether they can accept younger kids. They also have 1 teacher to 1 student class, $189 a month, which I think is quite reasonable.

You should also consider Kumon classes. They go according to the kid's ability, not the age. A 3 year old kid can be doing fractions, I think that is P1 or P2 standard. Kumon also has a lot of writing (note that MMI phonics emphasis reading and listening skills first).

English phonics is not the only thing. I also sent my girl to Berries Chinese class, because I think that once a week (1 hour 45 mins) of Chinese only class, is better than any other bilingual class like JG. Berries Chinese has a very high standard, at N2 already learning many "cheng yu", at K2 already writing short essays.

You booked Chiltern house ? The one at Orchard Road ?

stressma,
Yes I think phonics is not in MOE syllabus. What your son learns in N1 is only the letter sounds right ? There is still the most important part blending letters to make words, and this is a lot more to cover. As far as I know, only phonics enrichment class teach this. In primary school they only make kids memorize the spelling. In any case the kid is supposed to already know how to read and write English before they start P1.

hoho03,
Your girl ZP class is once a week right ? You sending her to daily class in another school ?
 
WOW! all back in action liao ah..
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stressma,
relax!

Hmm, to me la.
There is no 1 very gd or very bad school. It all depend on how comfortable the kid is when he/she attend class.
If it is a very tiptop school, but the kid everytime go school, oso cry, i think u wun want to cont. right.

Secondly, how comfortable ur pockets can stretch.. :p

Thirdly, distance bah.

Most impt, the interaction betw. the kid n teacher.
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Yup, Phoebe will be in the sun, 11.45am class!
Come trial trial la.
If this ZP failed, then go MMI. There is 1 in The Rail Mall - http://www.modern-montessori.com/presch_centres_bt.htm
They oso have the class on Montessori Phonics
(3.5 to 6 years old)

This will be the 1st time, Phoebe attending class w/out me. Hopefully she can take it! Otherwise, i guess goto demote back to ZooTodds. keke

If Zookids no gd, then we transfer to MMI together hor. keke

Actually, i find that its gd to explore the kids to diff. methods of teaching, since now its input stage. Let their little brains do the sorting n thinking. keke

Poohy,
Nice to 'c' u here....

Nope, I am still more comfortable with wkends class. Next year then mayb sent her to daily class in ZP.
But def. not CC lor.

Lorna whiston preschool is a CC? Then take school bus or ur mom will fetch him there n back?

U oso came trial trial in ZP lor.. It will be in the new school, really NEW!

Then when the 3 kiddos go school hor, we can go facial la, drink kopi hor.. :p:p

Any1 else wants to join us??!!
 
tamarind,

ya, u r rite, I should seriously consider MMI phonics. I dun like classes that keep dragging their feet on something over and over again. I like straight to the point cos kids also dun like to keep saying the same thing again and again for 1-2 years. I also like to send S to kumon .... I think they have their merits ... do u know which kumon centre is good in our area?

Berries sounds good leh! I think I will send S for a trial. In fact, I actually wanna send S to JG english/chinese edudrama.... but maybe I shd just send him to berries if they are really that good
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I want him to learn progressively and not just keep dwelling in the same thing endlessly and getting bored.

ya I booked chiltern house turf club... not orchard cos too far for me... I would have prefered them though cos fee is the same but too far for us to travel daily. So now S will go to lorna whiston preschool and if not up to my expectation, I will likely send him to CH cos I paid the school fees liao. But if they are all v rigid in their syllabus then I think they may not be suitable for me and I should just send S to a cheaper alternatives so that I can spare more money to go something less rigid
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thanx for your advice... valuable!
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Ta-ta-ta ma-ma-ma-rind...

ur ur ur posting always make me sh-sh-shiver!
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".... A 3 year old kid can be doing fractions, I think that is P1 or P2 standard."
I fainted!

Yaya, P is still attending wkends class. Mayb next yr then let her attend daily class, but still hopefully w/ ZP.
We goto c how she perform in Zookids wkends, then we dare to let her go daily class.
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Berries gd ah... but they only accept 3yrs old n above right?
 
hoho,

they never offer me the 11:45 class when I called leh! got vacancy? I wanna trial? can try this sun? who should I call?? Where is the new BT ZP? I am in the midst of eliminating sunday morning classes cos wanna go church... but I think 11:45am I shd be able to reach BT.

oh LW is a CC style very much like chiltern house. The environment is really great. How good they are... I need go next week then I know
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will give feedback here. Me and hb will be driving him to sch on our way to work in the morning and then lunch time, we drive him back. If we are having urgent meetings, then my mum may have to come fetch him by cab. Same goes for CH.
 
hoho,

ya lor the problem with the MMI phonics and berries is their syllabus not for 2 year old leh. Sigh.
 


poohy,
relax!

Hmm... i think this Sunday class start 7th Oct lei. Btw, its 1.5hrs hor, cos got chinese.
The new lady incharge is Shirley.
The new ZP is still in Beauty World, but its at B1. They occupy another area, so its new n bigger.
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Accrd. to Shirley la, there will be 2 teachers in the class.
 
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