Kidsland

Posted by mayafox (277 days ago)

Does anybody have any experience with the Mandarin playgroup, Kidsland? I'd love to hear any feedback on this, specifically on the language and the kind of activities the kids are involved in. Thanks!

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Posted by mommy sara (258 days ago)

We went to a trial class there. It's a playgroup with some group activities like songs, snack, etc. but about half the time is individual play. If the caregiver attending with the child does not speak Mandarin the child won't get much out of it. I found better options for the non-Mandarin speaking family. Hope that helps

Posted by mayafox (257 days ago)

Thanks Mommy Sara! Can you post or PM me what you thought were better options?

Posted by mommy sara (254 days ago)

Little Sun Mandarin Centre (http://www.littlesunmc.com/courses.htm) is the cheapest and pay as you go, no commitment. We go to Blossoms Early Mandarin (http://www.earlymandarin.com/) in North Point. I haven't tried the YWCA playgroup (http://esmd.ywca.org.hk/).

Posted by mayafox (253 days ago)

Thank you so much Mommy Sara, these are really helpful.

I particularly like the look of Blossoms. Can you tell me a bit about how the classes are structured? You mention that they have better provisions for non-Mandarin speaking parents than Kidsland (which I visited -- not a single parent in sight, all the kids were accompanied by English-speaking helpers, which makes for a difficult environment for learning Mandarin). How do they do this? Are there more native speakers accompanying the children? Thanks so much...

Posted by mommy sara (248 days ago)

usually it's mandarin speakers attending with the kids but also there's only a few kids so they all get personal attention from the teacher. It's all group activities with puppets, songs, pictures, art project, snack time, and story time. It's really a class that chinese people send their kids to rather than expats who want to teach their kids a second language. You can sign up for a trial class.