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88807
Lurker
Joined: Oct 15, 2004
Posts: 25
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
Jan 02, 2008 - 04:47 PM |
 
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You just invest in good sets of books, and let teachers add to the material, not that hard. |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Jan 02, 2008 - 10:20 PM |
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And since there's no expectation from the parents that the kids *must* eventually do a certain syllabus (unlike SSIS - parents expect their kids to eventually do the Singapore syllabus), it can be implemented with greater ease. Understand. |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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Loganth
Seeker
Joined: May 20, 2007
Posts: 57
Status: Offline
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Jan 06, 2008 - 09:28 AM |
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Not trying to diss StMichael, but I do not find an employee of the school, who is a parent who does not believe in the teaching system of the school (by not putting his children in the school) very reassuring. |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 06, 2008 - 12:19 PM |
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Hi Loganth,
If you are referring to the fact that my 2 sons are homeschooled, then I can say that it has nothing to do with my school.
My children will be homeschooled no matter which school I join - nothing beats the personal attention of homeschooling, and children are placed in schools today (a product of the Prussian educational system during the Industrial Age) because parents either do not wish to, have a career to handle, or else do not feel adequate enough to teach their children personally.
I am an educator, and I am best at what I do - mass education, teaching a group of pupils in a classroom setting using a mandated syllabus pitched at the pedagogically determined average-ability child, with differentiated learning according to the ability of the child (and the teacher, frankly speaking).
My wife used to tease me, "Mr Chan, I know you are a very good teacher, but 20 pupils have to share you. My two sons get only me."
As an educator, you want the very best for whoever you are teaching. My sons got the very best I can give him. For my clients, I give the very best for their preferred style of education - the formal education system. |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 01:38 AM |
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In any case, my school does not pay for my children's education. Even if I want to, I have no choice with the kind of fees charged. |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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tnmom
LoopKicker
Joined: Mar 04, 2004
Posts: 856
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 07:14 AM |
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Wow Michael - I'm really surprised by that! How does your school get any teachers to come over from Singapore if they don't include education costs for their children? It really seems like bad marketing to have your teachers' kids not go to the school! I can understand if it's for a personal belief - homeschooling - but if it's financial that's just wrong! |
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sbergman
Veejay
Joined: Sep 12, 2007
Posts: 2120
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 09:00 AM |
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I'm the director of marketing for a school in the States (just in Shanghai for the year) and I have to agree with tnmom. I think it's terribly short-sighted of your school not to make it possible for teachers to send their kids there. Not only is it good advertising for our school that the people who know us best entrust us with their children, but our teachers speak very passionately about how much they learn from having the experience of being parents. For instance, I had one teacher say that she never really understood why parents complained so much about all the homework until her own boys were in the school. The experience led her to adjust her assignments.
To be honest, even all your passionate justifications for homeschooling would be a hard sell for me. A bit like parking my Honda on the lot while I try to sell Toyotas (perhaps a better homeschooling analogy would be riding a mountain bike to work?). |
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hautumncloud
LoopKicker
Joined: Nov 04, 2006
Posts: 848
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Jan 07, 2008 - 09:36 AM |
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I am curious....does most international schools provide free education for their teachers' children? |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 07:38 PM |
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| sbergman wrote: |
A bit like parking my Honda on the lot while I try to sell Toyotas (perhaps a better homeschooling analogy would be riding a mountain bike to work?). |
No - like parking my Audi on the lot while I sell bicycles. My personal vehicle is the better one, but I understand that it's not for the masses. I sell the vehicle for the masses.  |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 07:40 PM |
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| hautumncloud wrote: |
| I am curious....does most international schools provide free education for their teachers' children? |
I know that YCIS provides free education for up to 2 children, and Concordia for ALL the children of staff. SSIS subsidises up to 60% of the fees. No other international school I know of pay for staff dependant schooling. |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 08:02 PM |
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| tnmom wrote: |
| Wow Michael - I'm really surprised by that! How does your school get any teachers to come over from Singapore if they don't include education costs for their children? |
Not difficult to - limit only to those teachers who have no children or else do not put their children in the school. It does shrink the pool considerably though - there is a reason why I mention that it is hard to get good teachers from Singapore in the quantity that we want.
I've mentioned in another post that we are not the only international school here not to pay for staff dependant schooling.
| Quote: |
| It really seems like bad marketing to have your teachers' kids not go to the school! |
It sure is - and I have to keep explaining each time people asked. Especially clients. It was almost like I needed a tape recorder!
It is very interesting how we went the homeschooling route. My wife wanted to just try it "for a while" back in Singapore (we had a lot of problems with my firstborn's pre-school) and she was about to give up (trust me, homeschooling is *very* tough) when we came over here.
Knowing that she had no other choice, she hung on - and it was thus that I began to see how homeschooling can be a viable alternative to our formal education system. Yes, I've been bought over by the growth I see in my 2 sons through these 5 years of homeschooling (1 in Singapore, 4 here).
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| I can understand if it's for a personal belief - homeschooling - but if it's financial that's just wrong! |
Depends - many of the homeschooling parents here homeschool because of the prohibitive fees of the international schools here. Two of their high schoolers have just been admitted to college in the States, and stories of homeschooled children acing their SAT and ACT are not abnormal.
My wife has a blog on homeschooling, you may want to find out more - http://www.homeschoolshanghai.com |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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tnmom
LoopKicker
Joined: Mar 04, 2004
Posts: 856
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 08:20 PM |
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SAS waives tuition for children of teachers also and gives partial waivers for some of the local hire positions.
Edited to add that I have several friends in the US who home school and am a supporter of the benefits and the need to do it under certain circumstances - even briefly considered it when my kids were young. That's why I can understand choosing not to enroll your child in your own school for the purpose of home schooling - but what's wrong to me is when it's due to financial reasons. My husband works in the auto industry and gets a discount on cars, people who work in clothing stores get discounts on the clothes, etc. |
Last edited by tnmom on Jan 07, 2008 - 09:01 PM; edited 1 time in total |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 08:22 PM |
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| tnmom wrote: |
| SAS waives tuition for children of teachers also and gives partial waivers for some of the local hire positions. |
Is that a recent thing, or quite some time ago? I ask because I actually looked at the websites of various international schools here for such information a year ago. SAS was one of those I could not find information for on the website. |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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GladiolusSilvermoon
Newbie
Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 07, 2008 - 09:20 PM |
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Hello all, 
I'm not new to SH, but new to this forum.
I see the topics on Homeschooling Vs Traditional School - why a teacher would not send his kids to school.
I'm a homeschool mom. Let's put it this way, all kids are unique and different. Some fit better in school, some fit better in a school system. The more important thing is that the children grow up learning. It's for their well-being, is it not? Education is not a "one-size-fits-all" thing.
There are many of all who homeschool for various reasons, finance is just one of the factors, not "the" factor. But yes, we have families whose husbands (or wives) are teachers in our group. For some, the fees are still too high after subsizing from the school (each family has their problems and financial situation, so let's not talk about the standard of pay packet here.) For others, their kids are working at a different pace from the schools already when they came here. And schools are not flexible enough to accomodate them - age, grade, subjects... that's something that's unique in traditional system - the inflexibility. Some of us travel from country to country. Sending kids to school for a short period of time and then pull them out when it's time to travel is just not a good choice.
What do you do when your kid does better in a home environment than in school?  Do you put the child in a school system because everyone perceive it to be "the" right way? Or is it a "face" issue because the parent works in the traditional education system?  I think that's one question our parents who are teachers face, each and everytime they meet a prospective client, despite the schools they come from. 
I have a friend who had a different problem. Her child cannot fit in the homeschool environment, not matter how much she wants to homeschool. She struggled with herself for a while, and finally decided to send her child into the traditional school system and the kid is doing well there so far.
So, the point comes down to - all kids are different, it has nothing to do with the occupation of their parents.  |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Jan 07, 2008 - 09:24 PM |
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fuyu_jinjin
Newbie
Joined: Jan 09, 2008
Posts: 8
Status: Offline
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Jan 09, 2008 - 11:27 PM |
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Hi everyone! I'm a student from Vietnam. I'm interesting in China and want to study there. I visited SHanghai about 1 week ago and also had chance to visit Jincai and Gezhi. Jincai is quite good but I'm not really sure cause they gave me a test (all multiple choice, Maths) with lots of mistakes, and while I noticed the staff there (only one I could see), she first didn't care and then like "it's not a big deal"!). I was accepted to attend the school but nobody except that woman talked to me!
Gezhi's better for me if one of the staff there I contacted to before I went there hasn't worked there for a year. And when I contact to another one the guard there gave me the phone number, he talked like "OK, what can I help you? just go and visit the school, I'm not well now".
arrrrrrrrrr.........I dont know how to make the decision: should I go to JIncai? I'm finding a local school that has int'l division because I want to go to a Chinese university ( my Chinese level now is 0^^). So can anyone help me to make this decision?
Thanks! |
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sbergman
Veejay
Joined: Sep 12, 2007
Posts: 2120
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2008 - 01:38 PM |
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Just to clarify - I didn't mean to suggest that a mountain bike was inferior to a car. I meant that, like riding your bicycle to work, home schooling is bucking the norm because you believe in a different set of principles and priorities.
Read today that a Singapore company is expected to make a serious bid for SMIC this year (the company, not the school). I wonder if this would affect how the school is run - or if it is... |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 10, 2008 - 05:50 PM |
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I don't think the chairman would give up control of his company so easily. He has strong Christian ideals with SMIC, and that would go if he were to give it up. A Singaporean company may not do anything much to the school though, if they take over. Or at least that's what I think! |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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guojiawen
Newbie
Joined: Jan 15, 2008
Posts: 3
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Jan 15, 2008 - 04:39 PM |
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| Post subject: Shanghai-Singapore Smiling Star International Kindergarten |
New Singapore International Kindergarten is now opened in Jinqiao, Shanghai!
Looking for a relatively affordable international kindergarten that is situated near your home and offers your child a bilingual curriculum? How about an early education immersed in a diversified cultural environment without forsaking the local Chinese culture?
Look no further because Shanghai-Singapore Smiling Star International Kindergarten (SSIK) is the school to enrol your child in!
SSIK fully follows the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) curriculum with materials which we brought over specially from Singapore. Our motto of 'Learning with Fun' ensures the holistic development of your child and we will develop and further enhance the creativity, social skills, motor development and independence of your child.
To find out more about SSIK, please visit our website at www.smilingstar.com.sg or call us at 13641895314 or email us at sales@smilingstar.com.sg.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Karen Kwok
www.smilingstar.com.sg
Smiling Star |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 15, 2008 - 06:55 PM |
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Hi Karen,
May I know if you are a fellow educator or a marketing staff? |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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guojiawen
Newbie
Joined: Jan 15, 2008
Posts: 3
Status: Offline
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Jan 16, 2008 - 01:34 PM |
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Hi Michael,
I am a educator of the Phonics program run by SSIK. I help to do the marketing aspects as well.
Regards,
Karen Kwok
www.smilingstar.com.sg
Smiling Star |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 16, 2008 - 07:26 PM |
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maneo
Rocker
Joined: May 12, 2007
Posts: 716
Location: 中间
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
Jan 16, 2008 - 08:49 PM |
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| sbergman wrote: |
| ]Read today that a Singapore company is expected to make a serious bid for SMIC this year (the company, not the school). I wonder if this would affect how the school is run - or if it is... |
| StMichael wrote: |
| I don't think the chairman would give up control of his company so easily. He has strong Christian ideals with SMIC, and that would go if he were to give it up. A Singaporean company may not do anything much to the school though, if they take over. Or at least that's what I think! |
I believe that you are referring to the CEO, not the chairman.
The CEO has already had one company bought out from under him.
So, yeah, not likely that he "would give up control of his company so easily."
This rumor and its reverse crop up every now and then, probably every time the CEO travels to SG.
Anyway, getting back to the school, SMIC private school provides affordable education for SMIC employees' children and to the community at large.
The curriculum is challenging -- it does prepare kids well for the universities. Many of the expats are Asian parents that have high expectations (almost half are Taiwanese; more if you count those with US passports). Kids from the first graduating class are in Cornell, Berkeley, UC Davis.
They do have some sports programs -- basketball, soccer, volleyball, etc. I believe one year an SMIC kid got a gold medal for interscholastic cross-country running.
The high teacher turnover does have an interesting "positive" side -- fresh faces (i.e. enthusiastic, idealistic). |
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StMichael
Ranter
Joined: Feb 19, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: Qibao, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Jan 16, 2008 - 08:52 PM |
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Heh. I get what you mean. I've always thought the chairman is the Christian guy... |
_________________
Michael Chan www.senseimichael.com |
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hautumncloud
LoopKicker
Joined: Nov 04, 2006
Posts: 848
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Jan 16, 2008 - 09:15 PM |
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This may be a silly question, but is SMIC a registered international school? Are they accredited with any organisation? |
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