Julia Gabriel or Growing up Gifted?


Hi Kit,

Currently i send my girl to GUG and she has been there since she is 14 months. For me, GUG is good and so far she is able to recite the phonics and for toddler class, they are learning new word every week using the phonics.

For JG, i heard comment that the one in Evans Road is good but not the one in Forum cos i talked to another mummy who bring her girl for trial that there is one session free play that about 2 classes(each class about 12 children and 12 adults)would go to the corridor at the same time and she said quite choatic with 48 people at the corridor and there was not enough toys for 24 children and some were crying when they cant get the toys. I tried to bring my girl to trial at the JG butlong story in the end never go and i dun think i will ever sign my girl up for JG in Forum
 
Hi Larkspur,

How old is your girl now btw. And do you go for their weekday class or weekend class? Did you buy the zoophonics materials from them btw?
 
I just signed up my boi 12 mths old with GUG for the very first time, i didnt go for trial class cos darn hard to get a slot.. mine is Sunday 4pm class starting from 22 Oct. Anyone also same class?
happy.gif
 
Hi Kit,

My girl is now 22 months and I send my girl for weekend class cos both my hubby and myself are working so no one to bring her to weekday class. Anyway i feel weekend class is just nice for her. Nope i did not buy the zoo phonics materials cos my friend bought and I photocopied from her.

Fun,
normally i tried to go for trial class first in case both and my girl dun like.
 
Larkspur

One thing to chk with u.. is the trainer's voice soothing with comes to singing??? not those loud loud like seller in the market rite? keke
 
Hi Kit,

my girl is in Sat class 11.30am. Prefer sat and morning cos sun can rest and sat morning fresher for her and that she can sleep in the afternoon.

Hi Fun,

trainer's voice loud enough to cover the organ sound but not like seller in the market.8)) they will use softer voice when playing CD. Your child started the class already?
 
For GUG i know that if you signed up for the baby class,waiting list time is shorter , for me about 2 months and you can move to toddler class when your child reaches 18 months. But if you decides to join the toddler class, i understand waiting list very long cos my colleague wanted to put her girl for toddler class and she waited for 6 months and still no place so she signed up actphabet
 
Larkspur

Starting on 22 Oct Sunday class lor
happy.gif
Cos actually wanted to sign up with Kindermusik.. th trainer's voice soo nice. my boi like her singing leh
happy.gif
but their current jsut started class theme i dun like.. so wana try on GUG first lor
happy.gif


BTW is the class realli very crowded?
 
Hi Fun,

my colleague previously signed her girl at Kindermusik when her girl was 13 months and until her girl reaches 18 months that she wanted to try GUG or Actphabet. From what i understand from her is that Kindermusik is great and her girl loves it so much that she enjoys her class. but then the switch from Kindermusik to Actphabets is very great for her girl cos from a total singing and music class to a learning + playing class is a great transition for her. For my girl it is the same thing. The transition from baby class to toddler class is so great that I am still trying to help her to adapt. maximum is 12 toddlers + 12 parents. for crowded, it will depend cos sometimes some parent din turn with their kids so it might just be 9 kids + 9 adults

Hi Kit,

For toddler class, teachers are really very serious and will try to motiviate the kids. They do make sure they really learn. For toddler class, they will normally start by putting each child's name on the board and by calling out the colour of the t-shirt or dress the child is wearing, they will come out and pick their own names and paste on another board. then they will follow by zoo time when they introduce one of the alphabet like eg nigel night owl. the teachers will have a zoo bag then normally hand puppets of the animal will be inside. For like today, to specify that owl is a night animal, they switch off the light and the whole room is dark and teachers will use flash light to look for the owl. then followed by introducing more items and words starting with N. then they will introduce a word each week by using the phonics to make out the words. after which they will recite the zoo phonics and do the action to drill them to remember and follow by art and craft time. Sometime they will introduce bingo either by giving each child a smaller version of the flashcard to find or match the big flashcard or those majong chip to place animals or the phonics the teachers will call out to be put on the A4 size paper with the 24 phonics on it
 
hi larkspur,

thanks for the comprehensive reply... it does sound fun and interesting to me... so will u still be continuing with them next term?

is your gal also attending other playgroups besides gug?
 
Hi Kit,

I will be continuing with them until my girl is 30 months that is for the toddler class it is for 18 to 30 months, after which i see if there is anything else intereseting for 30 months and above.Hope to put her cos when my 2nd child turn 1 year, can enroll him in at least with priority cos have sibling in there.

Nope my girl did not attend other playgroups cos dun want to burden her with so many things. Just let her attend one will do and for the rest of the time, just let her play or flip her own books. But think i will send her to I Can Read when she is older
 
Hi Fun

I am also interested to put my 15 mth in the GUG class. Called them today but classes are full, so on waiting list. How long do you have to wait before you registered your child?
 
hi Choonie

I called like during last mth end.. i think they will know which are the kids opting out by 4th weeks of term.. as they will ask all if they are going to continue and come back to them by the 4th weeks of the 8 week term. u might wana call again ard 12 Nov.. which one are u looking at? weekend or wkday? Btw if they tell u got slot hor.. u will have to pay asap lor.. if not they will not leave the slot to u :p
 
hi Fun

I opted for the Sat 4pm slot. Actually was thinking of going for the trial session first, but i heard quite difficult to get. dun know whether my girl likes it, she is a bit afraid of strangers.
 
Hi Sarahs_mom,

I can Read is a program for 2.5 years and above where they learn(the one i enquire)dictionary, spelling and how to do speed reading. More like english program
 
Since my son was in his 13th month old, I sent him to GUG and he has been there for almost 6mths. I see him lost interest of what the teachers are teaching. Most of the songs are repeated. In the beginning, me and son were enjoying and later on, lesson gets bored! Though, my 20th mth old son still remembers the zoo phonics. The Mandarin 15mins lesson is all REPEATED! Boring x10.

Now my son is with JG(evans), only his first term. I see he is enjoying the session and starting to taking up words from what the teachers taught(also because now he is in 20th mth). I like what the teachers wanna kids to express and speak up. At GUG, your child will not experience that. GUG has 2 teachers to 10-13 kids, JG has 3 teachers to 8-10 kids. So far, I experienced less than 10 kids. I like Evans outlet cos they have a spacious playground and my son loves their drama too. Teachers very expressive and creative ideas for handicraft.

GUG and JG, I will definitly say that JG is much more educational and interesting. GUG is kinda boring if you plan a longer term school.
 
hi,

anyone's bb join the JG playnest?? Any comments abt it?? Is it held in weekday only?? Also, how much is the cost..

thanks
 
choonie

I believe such playgp will improve the social skills of the kids ba.. not to worry if she will be shy for the first lesson lor.. practice makes prefect..
happy.gif
 
kit,
Mine is in Mandarin playclub, every Tue and Thurs. 1 term is 10 weeks, I know one lesson he attends is ard $40+.

fun,
Mine started at GUG, used to be quite sociable then all of a sudden like (15th mth old) started to be very shy, cling to me like koala bear. Haha... think depends on individual.
 
Hi missylan,
roughly hw long did u wait before u get a slot for yr son for JG? btw, is it a wkend slot?
i was told the waiting time can be 9 mths for wkday slot & even longer for wkend slot.
 
my 13m old has been going for GUG this term but i'm taking her out.. feel that the it's not suitable for her.. the songs are v repitative and the craft too difficult, plus she doesn't pay attention to the zoophonics that when they teach in the class.. i've been teaching her the zoophonics by myself at home and she responds to it better than in class!

thinking of going for JG playclub (the 18m one )trial.. but it's 2 hrs long.. don't know if my girl can take such a long class.. can mummies share the general format of the class? TIA
happy.gif
 
fuschiastar: i juz went to JG today to register. Long waiting list. May have to wait for at least 6 mths. Is GUG really getting worse? I almost wanted to switch my dd fr wkend enrichment to wkday twice a week programme.
 
Wei lin
how much are JG's charges? wow... need to wait for 6 mths... i m thinking to go for the trial before deciding signing up. i email them, but they didn't reply leh.
 
rae: sigh.. i guess it also depends on each baby..i've gona for kindermusik and i feel that for songs, it's much better, as in there is a theme and cos they add instruments and actions, my baby is more interested and follows better, whereas at gug for the song segment, it's v repetitive so after a couple of times, she gets bored so she won't listen but will crawl away.. also she's only abt 1 yr old and the craft they do is almost always using paint whether it is with hands or brush or fruit as a medium and she keeps trying to put the paint into her mouth so i feel it's not suitable for her, if she was older like 18m, then she'd enjoy the craft more.. as for the zoophonics which is the part that i really want my baby to learn, she doesn't even want to look at the flashcards or pay attention.. and i flash the glenn domain series of cards to her at home and she will look at those.. also i've recently started to teach zoophonics to her at home and she seems to respond to it better! at gug they've taught "p-y" and my baby can't really recognise there alphabets but at home i've started teaching her myself from "a" and she can recognise "allie aligator ah ah ah" ! so for my baby at least, it doesn't seem that she benefits much for gug lor.. my take after almost 1 term is that gug may be more suitable for older toddlers..
 
fushiastar,
For JG, depending on which session you are choosing. I understand from the teachers that the first class (9am or 9.30am) is pretty packed already. Maybe for that class, teh waiting list is long. Mine 4.30pm, is pretty ok. 12-13 kid the max. with regular 3 teachers. He is in Mandarin class so the fee is less than $800. I can't recall the exact amount.

I was considering Kindermusik too, but I don't like the idea that we got to purchase their CD or books.

My son attends GUG since 13th mth and drop out somewhere 17th mth. Cos he gets real bored of the songs. JG has more creative and interesting handicraft. My son knows most of the zoophonics fr GUG. I will sign with him occasionally and surprised that he still can rmb. He loves the "J" cos he gets to do the silly movement.

4.30pm - Upon entering the class, teachers will greet child, bring them to a table where there are full of children's photo+ mandarin character name. Children will need to find their photo and stick onto a name board. Children to ask to pronounce their name. Then it is free play for 15min-20mins. Teachers mingle and speak to them.

After the free play- Sing and intro every child who attend the class.

After singing - Handicraft. Some will get to practise their pronouncation while the rest are doing their handicraft.

After handicraft - Sing song

After the 2nd sing song - Wash Hands

After washing of hands - Snack time

After snack time - Children get to free play outside the class. (Depending on week, sometimes, water play, swimming, sand play)

After play - Watching drama act teachers

Hope I didn't miss out anything.
 
sunny: $450 for wkend lesson, $420 for wkday class. Fees r for 10 wks term. 1 lesson per week.
i m opting for twice a wk, abt $840 per term.
 
Fuschiastar: Ya, I share the same view as u for GUG. Thus, I have stopped for a term before when she was younger coz I realised she doesn't seem to absorb. When she went back for the last term in GUG, she could recognise 3-4 of the animals. However, I feel that she was not enjoying the lesson.
 
missylan and rae: thx for sharing! was checking out JG and realise that cos i want just a once a week session, she can only attend the bilingual playclub.. also realise that JG has no trial
sad.gif


Can anyone share on whether the evans road or the forum one is better for JG..?
 
Fuschiastar: Ya, they don't conduct trial coz the waiting list is simply too long!
I've been to Evans Rd & Forum. Evans Rd has bigger outdoor play area, with water & sand play. Not sure if there's sand & water play outdoor. But I have called both places up before. The attitude of the admin staff at forum is not very gd.
So, I have shortlisted Evans Rd in the end.
THink they should have the same programs.
 
i agree the admin at forum is not very friendly, a bit proud leh. the admin at evans is much much better! and pretty helpful too!
 
Need to check with the mommies' whose child is currently with JG. By experience - how long is the waiting period before your child gets a confirmed place? I am disgusted with their requirement to pay the registration fee when they cannot confirm when your child will have a place!
 
My boys are at GUG United Square Sat classes. Onl attended a trial class and signed them up after the trail. I didn't recall waiting to get into the class. It's almost confirmed quite immediately.
 
Growing up Gifted is terrible, very proud and mighty type, i agree with Co11ectionz, the teachers are proud and unfriendly, the counter is horrible, the program is not that good, my kid cannot adapt, scolded my kid. nice to you until take your money, i send to other school, better, met the owner very proud and high and mighty type, look down on common people
 
Hellow everyone, anybody heard about GUG preschool in Tampines? heard they have opened a new preschool in Tampines hub area.
 
Both my kids attend Growing up Gifted at Thomson. I did not encounter any high and mighty, or snorty Teachers there. The teachers are very serious about academics and would feedback on the child’s performance. I have seen great progress for my K1 kid. The class sizes are kept small, so that’s a plus point. Agree it is not cheap, but they are still cheaper than the big names like MindChamps or Eton.
 

Back
Top