[Funland] Chia sẻ kinh nghiệm du học Mỹ (vui lòng miễn thảo luận chính trị và nước khác)

[pp9902]

DS, tôi đoán là Data Science? Data Science, Informatics, Information Science là các ngành tương đối mới, chuyên sâu/hẹp hơn CS, và nói chung là chưa thu hút nhiều học sinh như CS nên tỷ lệ chọi có thể thấp hơn. Đồng thời nhóm 3 nghành này không có ở nhiều trường tư/trường nhỏ/trường trong top 30 nhưng nhiều hơn ở top 40-60 như University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, College of William and Mary, Case Western Reserve University, Rutgers University, University of Massachussetts - Amherst

Nếu khai DA trên hồ sơ thì thường sẽ khó kết nối bài luận với hoạt động ngoại khóa (vì hầu như không có hoạt động ngoại khóa liên quan trực tiếp đến DA ở cấp 3; nếu muốn chắc phải dùng lớp học online hoặc independent research project) nhưng vẫn có thể viết chay nói về hứng thú với dữ liệu lớn Big Data cũng như các ứng dụng của nó trong tương lai.

Nếu khai Undecided thì sẽ đi ngược lại hướng trên, không viết về hứng thú với một thứ nhất định cũng như mục tiêu này nọ. Thay vào đó, bài luận sẽ dùng một trong hai phương án chính sau đây:
- Viết về hai đến ba hứng thú trong cùng một bài (multiple interests), và nhấn mạnh muốn tìm hiểu về chúng kỹ hơn trước khi quyết định hoặc muốn kết hợp chúng lại với nhau (interdisciplinary interest) ở bậc đại học
- Viết về tư duy đa diện (interdisciplinary/multifaceted thinking) hoặc hi vọng tìm hiểu năng lực bản thân qua mô thức học phương Tây vì ở VN chưa có điều kiện tìm hiểu thực tế về nghành nghề (theory-heavy learning; no internship/exposure).

Với học sinh có nhiều hoạt động ngoại khóa trong nhiều lĩnh vực khác nhau mà không có phương hướng nào nổi trội thì chọn Undecided nói chung hoặc Social Studies-Undecided / Physical Sciences-Undecided nói riêng sẽ dễ viết luận hơn, đặc biệt là ở những trường có Why major/Why school essay dài >500 chữ.

Cám ơn cụ !

 

[quangxe]

Cảm ơn kụ nhiều, mong kụ tiếp tục giúp các cháu theo đuổi ước mơ và vươn tầm trí tuệ.

 

[McCord]

Hôm nào rảnh mong cụ chia sẻ thêm cho chúng em được nhờ.

 

[mimozabk]

May quá có thớt hay thế này đúng cái em cần tìm. Chú ruột em cũng tính cho thằng em vài năm nữa đi mà tìm hiểu trên mạng đầy rẫy thông tin loạn hết đầu

 

[Gengine]

Du học bây giờ luyện thi cũng kinh thật. Có một trung tâm với 1 kỳ thi mà cả chục cháu Điểm SAT 1570-1580/1600.

Kiểu như này nếu cháu nào chỉ tự học tự làm hồ sơ thì rất thiệt.

Mặt khác đi tư vấn thì cũng tốt xấu lẫn lộn mà cũng tốn kém

 

[doanh_bma]

Thớt cần quan tâm, đánh dấu sẽ cần trong vài năm tới. Tks Chủ thớt

 

[Uchihakula]

16. Phương pháp đánh giá chất lượng (sử dụng dữ liệu định lượng) của các trung tâm luyện thi SAT:

Du học bây giờ luyện thi cũng kinh thật. Có một trung tâm với 1 kỳ thi mà cả chục cháu Điểm SAT 1570-1580/1600.

Kiểu như này nếu cháu nào chỉ tự học tự làm hồ sơ thì rất thiệt.

Mặt khác đi tư vấn thì cũng tốt xấu lẫn lộn mà cũng tốn kém

Năm 2018 học sinh duy nhất được nhận vào Stanford trong kỳ REA tại Trung Quốc là một học sinh học tại nhà (homeschooling) ở thành phố Hắc Long Giang (Hei Long Jiang).

Điểm số cao có thể giúp 1 ứng cử viên đạt điểm cao giống hàng trăm hàng ngàn học sinh khác.

Trải nghiệm sống và hoạt động ngoại khóa, cả phần cứng (số liệu thành tích) và mềm (nội dung bài luận) có thể giúp 1 ứng cử viên trở nên khác biệt so với hàng chục ngàn học sinh khác.

Về quảng cáo thành tích của các trung tâm luyện thi, có mấy chỉ số (metrics) tôi nghĩ rất hữu dụng để phụ huynh dùng để đánh giá trung tâm:
a. Số điểm tăng trung bình sau mỗi tiết học (chú ý mức điểm khởi đầu càng thấp thì tốc độ tăng càng nhanh)
b. Tỷ lệ học sinh đạt điểm cao sau một thời lượng tiết học tại trung tâm, vd tỷ lệ học sinh trên toàn bộ số học sinh luyện thi SAT đạt 1450 SAT (mức điểm cạnh tranh cho top 30 đối với học sinh quốc tế nói chung) sau 50 tiết

Các chỉ số trên mang tính phổ quát, ít chịu ảnh hưởng của dữ liệu cực đoan (outlier data points), và phản ánh chính xác hơn chất lượng của một trung tâm.

VD a: giả sử như trong quảng cáo của công ty A, 7 học sinh đạt điểm SAT trên 1550 trên 1000 học sinh (0.7/100) còn trung tâm B có 5 học sinh SAT 1550+ trên 100 học sinh. (5/100)
--> rõ ràng trung tâm B chất lượng tốt hơn

VD b: giả sử như trong quảng cáo của công ty A, các học sinh đạt điểm SAT trên 1550 sau hơn 250 tiết học trong 3 năm học với xuất phát điểm là 1300, tốc độ tăng điểm là 1 điểm/tiết học.
Còn ở công ty B, các học sinh đạt điểm SAT là 1500 sau 100 tiết học trong 1 năm với xuất phát điểm là 1300, tốc độ tăng điểm sẽ là 2 điểm/tiết học
--> rõ ràng trung tâm B chất lượng tốt hơn

Mặc dù các trung tâm gần như luôn luôn có dữ liệu thô để xử lý và cung cấp những thứ trên, nhưng nếu phụ huynh có hỏi đến thì thường các trung tâm có lịch sử, chất lượng, và bộ phận nghiên cứu/marketing (R&D/marketing) chuyên nghiệp mới cung cấp.


Mục lục các bài viết trong chủ đề này: https://www.otofun.net/threads/chia-se-kinh-nghiem-du-hoc-my-vui-long-mien-thao-luan-chinh-tri-va-nuoc-khac.1640096/

 

[Joker Tiger]

Thớt hay, em còm chống trôi

 

[Uchihakula]

Dạo này tôi đang bận nộp đơn vào các chương trình cao học nên chắc phải đợi đến đầu tháng 1 mới viết thêm bài mới, dự tính là về 3 chủ đề sau:

1. Viết luận văn cho hồ sơ (Application essays). Cái này thì tôi đã biên soạn và dạy cả mấy giáo trình và tuyển tập nên nội dung khá nhiều.

2. Quan hệ với giáo viên và chuẩn bị thư giới thiệu (Recommendation letters)

3. Chương trình hè (summer programs): Phân loại và cấp độ ; chuẩn bị hồ sơ đăng ký; lưu ý các việc cần làm ở chương trình hè.

Cụ mợ nào có câu hỏi gì về việc chuẩn bị cho F1 đi học ở Mỹ hoặc có đề xuất gì về chủ đề muốn tìm hiểu thêm thì cứ đăng bài nêu ở đây. Tôi sẽ cố gắng trả lời trong thời gian sớm nhất.

 

[McCord]

Dạo này tôi đang bận nộp đơn vào các chương trình cao học nên chắc phải đợi đến đầu tháng 1 mới viết thêm bài mới, dự tính là về 3 chủ đề sau:

1. Viết luận văn cho hồ sơ (Application essays). Cái này thì tôi đã biên soạn và dạy cả mấy giáo trình và tuyển tập nên nội dung khá nhiều.

2. Quan hệ với giáo viên và chuẩn bị thư giới thiệu (Recommendation letters)

3. Chương trình hè (summer programs): Phân loại và cấp độ ; chuẩn bị hồ sơ đăng ký; lưu ý các việc cần làm ở chương trình hè.

Cụ mợ nào có câu hỏi gì về việc chuẩn bị cho F1 đi học ở Mỹ hoặc có đề xuất gì về chủ đề muốn tìm hiểu thêm thì cứ đăng bài nêu ở đây. Tôi sẽ cố gắng trả lời trong thời gian sớm nhất.

Tuyệt vời quá cụ ơi. Em lót dép hóng bài của cụ. Cụ cứ tập trung vào việc dăng ký học đi ah. Chúc cụ đạt được nguyện vọng.

 

[KoThich]

Cụ chủ có thể share một thư giới thiệu của giáo viên đc ko ạ. Thank cụ

 

[pen]

Thông tin bổ ích. Cảm ơn nhiều.

 

[hai.tranhr]

Thớt quá chất lượng, Cảm ơn Cụ chủ.

 

[Uchihakula]

17. Ví dụ - 3 thư giới thiệu của giáo viên

Cụ chủ có thể share một thư giới thiệu của giáo viên đc ko ạ. Thank cụ

Dưới đây là ba ví dụ thực tế của học sinh của tôi

1. Học sinh Thành Đô, chuyên nghành Kỹ Sư Cơ Khí, được nhận vào University of Pennsylvania (US News National University #6) năm 2015

Dear Admission Counselor,

I am [XXX], the headmaster of [XXX]. I am writing to give an updated evaluation of Miss [XXX] after her first semester of Senior Year.

Besides maintaining her top rank in class of 2016, she impressed me especially with her groundbreaking efforts to organize the first [XXX] this January. As the initiator and organizer, she proposed to introduce the idea of “maker” - someone who turns ideas into reality - to middle (secondary) school in December 2015, after having negotiated with heads of the Intel Chengdu Maker Center and understood how middle school students can take advantage of opportunities to work on independent creative designs.

On January 10th, she organized the first maker thematic lecture at our school, which attracted more than 30 students of all ages with strong interest in science. The first trial strengthened her confidence to popularize the idea of “maker”, and she promptly got in touch with other six major middle schools and convinced ten teams to join in the first Chengdu Middle School Maker Design Contest on January 23rd. This contest focused on encouraging students to design a small device that can make daily life more convenient and was well received by participants, judges, parents, and even attracted reporters from Chengdu TV Station and West China City Daily.

Now, more than seven middle schools in Chengdu have expressed their intention to promote maker activities and our school has decided to give [XXX] full support. Under her leadership, I believe our students will be given more chances to utilize their innovative minds to make life better. Her contribution to our school fully testifies her leadership and creativity. Therefore, here I recommend Miss [XXX] without any reservation and wish that your admission committee would give favorable consideration for her application.

Sincerely yours,

[XXX]



2. Học sinh Thâm Quyến, chuyên nghành Lịch Sử / Triết Học, được nhận vào Carleton College (US News LAC #7) năm 2016

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is [XXX], Director of Faculty of the International Department of [XXX] in Shenzhen, China. Having known him for almost three years both professionally as his English writing class teacher and personally, I take it as an honor to recommend [XXX] to your prestigious undergraduate program.

I usually expand class content to cover society, history, economy, etc. to help students learn more and beyond writing skills. Yet through eye contact, I can tell most do not pay attention if it is not strictly SAT-related materials. [XXX] is the exception. He asked questions, shared ideas, and approached me after class for further discussion. Further, I was impressed by his ability to leverage our political discussion into writing assignments. For instance, for the prompt “Is talking the most effective way to solve problems?”, he talked about Winston Churchill’s decision to not negotiate with the Nazi but immediately commence Dunkirk Evacuation. We did talk about World War 2 a few days back but I never mentioned details like Churchill’s conversation with his cabinet members or the mindset portrayed in his autobiography. Additionally, in a conversation outside of class, he brought our discussion to the causes of the sub-prime crisis and the mechanism of financial derivatives. Who could have thought that a Chinese student his age could be so knowledgeable about American economy?! Not surprisingly, every discussion between us furthered both sides’ understanding of the topic at hand.

[XXX]’s initiative to do research and good use of sound arguments and logical flow instead of flowery language or circuitous logic helped placed him in number 1 position in my class. I often shared his profound but approachable essays with other students as good examples.

I am proud to have [XXX] in my teaching career and never doubt his potential, neither now nor later in university.


[XXX]

Director of Faculty, [XXX]



3. Học sinh Tây An, chuyên nghành Toán / Thống Kê, được nhận vào Duke University (US News National University #10) năm 2018

Dear Admission Committee,

As [XXX]’s research supervisor for more than one year, it is my honors to recommend [XXX] for her application to your university’s undergraduate program. Her talent and potential in Mathematics and Statistics make her the most outstanding high school student I have ever seen. From my perspective, she may be one of the most promising candidates for your school this year.

Last year, the Principal of the international curriculum of [XXX], recommended [XXX] to participate in a joint program between our university and their school. For this, she got the chance to regularly come to our school on the weekends to learn college-level Mathematics and Statistics. She joined one of my seminars with other college students, where she learned what no other high school students normally would, such as time series models, investment portfolio allocation, and R language. As the youngest person there, [XXX]’s foundation was not as good as other college-age participants. However, she managed to keep up with them by actively asking me questions, discussing with the other members, and searching for information online at home. She told me that sometimes she felt exhausted because she had to devote a lot of time and energy to understand our materials. Yet, she also claimed to enjoy the challenge and wanted to explore more. So, there she is, still attending my seminar and staying strong. That’s grit!

[XXX]’s perseverance and efforts impressed a lot, so I involved her in the writing of the paper Maslow Portfolio Selection for Individuals with Low Financial Sustainability, which was later published in the international journal Sustainability (SCI and SSCI indexed). Among her many excellent qualities that I saw during the writing process, her strong interest and meticulousness in dealing with scientific problems got my greatest attention. For instance, in our project (the framework of the Maslow portfolio selection model), she could take care of her assigned jobs effectively, such as collecting data from numerous sources and doing statistical analysis on R, and could also work with other team members concordantly. Thus, I considered her as a cooperator rather than a student helper.

Additionally, I also enjoyed conversing with her. She has a lot of thoughts and ideas. During our break time, she liked to talk with me about social issues, such as the current environmental conditions in our country. She told me that she would utilize her knowledge in Statistics to help analyze and solve environmental problems in the future.

Above all, I strongly recommend [XXX] to your school. She will not only help expand the frontier of knowledge in her research field but also explore new research directions. As long as you give her a chance, I believe that she will become one of your most promising students in the near future. Please feel free to contact me if there is anything I can provide to support your admission decision.

Sincerely yours,

[XXX]


Mục lục các bài viết trong chủ đề này: https://www.otofun.net/threads/chia-se-kinh-nghiem-du-hoc-my-vui-long-mien-thao-luan-chinh-tri-va-nuoc-khac.1640096/

 

[KoThich]

Hay quá, bài số 1, 3 về kỹ thuật nên em đọc thấy thuyết phục hơn ạ

 

[Bongbond0812]

E đặt gạch cái rồi ngâm cứu ạ

 

[pen]

Xin cụ Uchihakula tư vấn giúp là các bạn nhỏ hiện đang học cuối cấp 1 muốn du học Mỹ (cuối cấp 3 hoặc đại học) thì cần chuẩn bị sớm những gì và định hướng thế nào. Chân thành cảm ơn cụ.

 

[Uchihakula]

18. Series 6 bài về chuẩn bị cho con cái từ lớp 1 để vào được các trường đại học top 10 của Mỹ

Xin cụ Uchihakula tư vấn giúp là các bạn nhỏ hiện đang học cuối cấp 1 muốn du học Mỹ (cuối cấp 3 hoặc đại học) thì cần chuẩn bị sớm những gì và định hướng thế nào. Chân thành cảm ơn cụ.

Cụ đọc tiếng Anh có khó khăn nhiều không? Để trả lời cho câu hỏi trên, tôi đã viết 6 bài, mỗi bài hai lớp từ 1-12, bằng tiếng Anh về những việc cần làm trong mỗi thời kỳ (nội dung trong khuôn khổ nước Trung Quốc nên dùng nhiều ví dụ liên quan đến nước này nhưng đại ý và phương pháp vẫn có thể áp dụng cho mọi nơi). Mấy bài này đều có hình minh họa nhưng tôi chỉ đăng lên đây nội dung chữ.

Vì nội dung dài và hiện nay tôi đang bận nên chưa có thời gian dịch. Khoản giữa tháng 1 mới có thời gian dịch, cụ có thể quay lại sau để xem bản dịch tiếng Việt của tôi. Tạm thời, cụ có thể dùng Google translate dịch sơ lược để đọc trước.

Bài 1: How I would get my kid into Top 10 US universities in 12 years (Part 1)

A. The conversation that started it all
Recently I had a chance to talk with three parents about their dreams to send their kids to top US colleges, preferably with major or even full financial aid. I was initially astounded to learn that their kids were only three, six, and ten years old.

But as our conversation continued, I came to understand their premature anxiety and appreciate their enlightened vision. They helped me realize that what American parents took for granted in the upbringing of their children, which would later play critical role in helping the kids get ready for college application and college life, were usually missing in traditional Chinese parenting and schooling. Without early intervention, since primary school or even earlier, it would be tough to modify mindset or remove bad habits later in high school.

In the second half of our conversation, the three parents shared their thoughts on tasks needed to do in what would be considered super early preparation, from morality education and academic performance supervision to personalized interest and activity development. After the long conversation, they then asked me this question: “So Anderson, if you have a kid in grade 1 in China, what would you do to help him succeed in college application and life later?”

Challenging question, isn’t it? My answer took a long time and incorporated a lot of ideas those parents had shared and my own experience with long-term mentoring students for college application. Here, in part 1 of this 6-part series, I’d like to brief about my first 2-year approach to this hypothetical grade 1 kid.

B. The first 2-year approach:

He is still just a little boy now, 6- or 7-years-old, so I should be gentle and lax, right? No, no, no.

According to the world famous developmental psychologist, Erik Erikson, the fourth stage of psychosocial development – Competence vs Inferiority – occurs between age five and twelve. So, grade 1 is right at the beginning of this stage, where children start learning a lot of new skills and knowledge fundamental to their future, like arithmetic, language, or athletic. Without guidance to explore and encouragement to excel, kids start feeling inferior to friends around him and self-doubting his abilities.

It is important to make two remarks: (1) I wrote “guidance to explore” before “encouragement to excel” and (2) “to excel” does not mean to get good grade.

Have you ever felt frustrated as parents when your kid came home complaining that he didn’t want to go to school anymore because it was so boring? Or that he hated his math teacher who kept blabbering non-sense about the “useless” multiplication table, fraction, and percentage? Perhaps the teachers did not do their job teaching the application of the subjects they taught. Or perhaps you did not do your job as parents given you have way more time talking with your kids?!

To avoid this problem, this is how I would use the first two years to guide my kid to explore, so that each day they go to school is an exciting step closer to identifying their unique interests and strengths

Grade 1: During dinner every night, I would ask my kid about his day at school and especially about what he has learned, not how he did during class and in tests. Then regardless of whether the teacher has explained the application or significance of his classes or not, I would explain it again in my own way, especially for the usually “dry” classes like math. For example, if it is about multiplication then I would talk about how he can do chore around the house for money: watering flower pots one day for 10 RMB stipend or doing for a month for 200 RMB. Without learning multiplication well, the kid would mistake the first offer to be worse than the second offer. Realizing the significance of new concepts they learn at school will encourage them to develop deeper interest.

Why is this important for college application? Without knowing why they study something, G12 students would have a hard time writing genuine application essays about their academic interest and interest development plan in college.

Grade 2: Since my kid can recognize more Chinese characters, now it is a good time to form reading habit, not just to expand the mind in general, but also offer him exposure to subject outside of school curriculum, for example archaeology, photography, or product design. Yet, in this era of constant entertainments and distractions, it is increasingly challenging to motivate a kid to sit down in one place for half an hour to read through 30 pages full of words that do not jump around colorfully or make crazy-sounding noises.

So, what’s the solution? I once learned from a Korean parent living in the US two secrets she used to motivate her kid to read books since primary school, which later helped him get into MIT. First, she took her 6-year old kid to a friend’s home, very big house in a very rich community. When the kid asked his mom’s friend how he got a nice car and a nice house, the friend said he had read a lot of books since young and got into MIT later. The revelation shocked the kid and helped him established a long goal to succeed like the friend of his mom. Nevertheless, for a 6-year old kid, rewards like house and car and acceptance to a prestigious university were all so far away. So, the mom used another method for the short-term motivation: reading every page of book would earn him 50 cents.

Applying these two pieces of wisdom to my own kid, I would show him what the lives of top 10 US college graduates look like to inspire him for long term, and then use some minor financial incentives for short term, all so that the kid can explore more area and practice joyful discipline on his own. As Blaise Pascal once said, “All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

One more note about reading books, for children in this easily impressionable stage, it’s highly recommended that parents only introduce books that they have read to their kid to prevent undesirable content and also discuss the book together with the kid to build up the ability to summarize content, to express one’s idea, and to think critically.

Mục lục các bài viết trong chủ đề này: https://www.otofun.net/threads/chia-se-kinh-nghiem-du-hoc-my-vui-long-mien-thao-luan-chinh-tri-va-nuoc-khac.1640096/

 

[Uchihakula]

Đây là bài viết của tôi. Vì nội dung dài và hiện nay tôi đang bận nên chưa có thời gian dịch. Khoản giữa tháng 1 mới có thời gian dịch, cụ có thể quay lại sau để xem bản dịch tiếng Việt của tôi. Tạm thời, CCCM có thể dùng Google translate dịch sơ lược để đọc trước.

Bài 2: How I would get my kid into Top 10 US universities in 12 years (Part 2: grades 3 & 4)

I am glad to be back and continue sharing my plan to help my kid getting into top 10 universities in the future. After last week’s article (19/1/2018), some readers have sent feedback and questions to me, the most notable one was “Is it that simple, just focus on teaching your child one thing every year and he will get into a top 10 university?”

Of course, it is.

The two lessons I have highlighted – looking for the purpose of each learning experience and reading books – are two of the most critical skills that I will discuss in this series.

And of course, it is not.

When you are not focusing on teaching your kid to realize why he needs to learn counting or encouraging him to read just 10 more pages of that young adult fiction, your every words and actions are still observed and mimicked by your kid – very impressive lessons because they come from someone your kid trusts and repeat often.


Constantly nagging to your husband about how your boss sucks? Don’t be surprised when your kid come home and complain about his teacher is unfair despite his efforts to understand the subject and prepare at home.

Whereas, taking time after work to read books or learn something new on online class on your own when your kid is reading his book can strengthen the lesson you just taught your kid.



The reason I single out 1 lesson per year is to help other parents like me to focus their attention on the fundamental lesson at the right time. Trying to teach kids a dozen things at the same time is stressful to them and to the teachers/parents as well.

Now, let’s talk about Grade 3 and Grade 4



Grade 3: try as many things as possible

Working on advising hundreds of students in the past 12 years, I have seen many applicant profiles, many activity lists, and their admission results. What stood out to me, and confirmed by former Dartmouth admission officer Michele A. Hernández in her book “A is for Admission” and by former Stanford admission officer Robin Mamlet in her book “College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, Step by Step”, was that more common interests and achievements led to worse results.


How many of your friends send their kids to either Piano, Violin, Chinese Calligraphy, Math, or Programming class? I dare to say 99%. Not just in China but also in the US, admission officers until today still lament over perfect academic, holistic interest, and strong Violin or Piano skill application of Chinese or Chinese-American students. It is too common, even with 1500+ SAT and 4.0+ SAT.


With hundreds of thousands of kids attending similar subject training camps, they cannot distinguish themselves by interest alone, so performance is now the differentiator. The harsh reality is that after 10 years of learning and practice, your kid can talk about his interest in a very powerful way and land a top 10 offer only if he earns 1st prize among 100,000 students nationwide. Without that prize, your dedication earns you nothing because there are lots of students just like you. Why should top colleges accept you?

How would I approach this?

Encourage your kid to try as many things as possible.


This has three benefits: (1) allowing your kid to develop interest in something different, nuanced, or specialized (for example, nuclear physics instead of physics or biomimetics instead of biology); (2) helping your kid choose major and career later; (3) open up your own mind as a parent.

On point (1), I have seen a student who was strong in all areas and, of course, loved playing violin. Nevertheless, he was advised to NOT follow the “show your skills and love for violin” but instead to show his experience and reflections when he made himself a violin in a manual workshop

On point (2), in many cases, kids only exposed to the Piano, Violin, Chinese Calligraphy, Math, or Programming classes traditionally chosen by Chinese parents have no interest in these subjects but instead in something more archaic like Golf, Flute, Archaeology, Architecture, or Marine Biology.


For point (3), as you accompany your kid on trips to explore European museums and Japanese architecture, in class for 3D printing and cooking, or to read magazine on fashion design and hospitality, your kids’ minds will be open to new areas while many of your own misconceptions and biases would fade away. This way, when your kid chooses a certain major or career in the future, you would be more likely to support it.

One of my past student who got into Cornell and USC had the blessing of her parents and was allowed to learn anything she wished. She abandoned earlier Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in middle school to follow the call of rock music, digital design, and modern arts, which helped her build an amazing art product portfolio for college application. She is now studying at USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy, an USC school dedicated to Arts, Technology, and Business Innovation. She also talked about her journey growing from the old rules-limited art to the free self-defined art in her personal statement. Good thing her parents did not force her to learn piano and math!


Grade 4: be dedicated to each endeavor

I hope I do not sounds self-contradictory, first talking about exposing my kids to all kinds of things for grade 3 and now about being dedicated to each endeavor in grade 4. Without that much needed serious dedication, your kid would end up knowing a little bit about all area but excelling at nothing.


I would take the following measures to ensure my kid work hard in area I encourage him to explore:

1. Allow simultaneous pursuit of at most 3 subjects

In college, triple major is the upper limit, so it is highly unlikely that your 9 years old kid can pursue 4 subjects attentively at the same time. He also has other school works, unlike college students who most often just take course in their 1-3 majors.

These subjects I mean here can be anything traditionally academic like Math, Physics, History, etc. or extracurricular like Flute, Piano, Basketball, etc.


2. Set 2-month minimum limit for each subject

2 months are about the length of a summer vacation and also length of many well-structured courses, online or offline, that are aimed at kid.

2 months are also likely to offer kids a clearer idea of what learning a subject is really about. Indeed, painting may seem fun in the first 2 or 3 classes but mixing color carefully and drawing a more detailed portrait may not be loved by kids. On the other hand, playing violin may seem hard in the first one or two months of class with a lot of finger-placing rules and music notes reading instructions but the beautiful melodies kids can enjoy playing later may change their minds.


So, don’t let the kids give up too early on anything.



3. Provide encouraging but honest feedback

Beside the carrot-and-stick (reward-and-punishment) approach, encouragement from parents can also help kids stay motivated. It may be simply an honest praise every week, “Good job! I like how you play Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars on your violin. There is room for improvement, but so far so good!” Or, it can be a story you share weekly with your kid about someone who persevered and succeeded, that the kid respected thanks to the books he read, like Helen Keller or the Wright brothers. But please don’t use the kid next door because that is now a comparison that induces insecurity and dissatisfaction in your kid’s mind.



In brief, the formula to nurture dedication to your kid at this early exploratory stage is:

3 simultaneous pursuits + 2 months minimum on each pursuit + 1 praise or encouraging story every week, or as simple as 3-2-1. Stay persistent yourself on this long road of preparing your kid for college application later. Persistence pays off, for kids and their parents.

Mục lục các bài viết trong chủ đề này: https://www.otofun.net/threads/chia-se-kinh-nghiem-du-hoc-my-vui-long-mien-thao-luan-chinh-tri-va-nuoc-khac.1640096/

 

[Uchihakula]

Đây là bài viết của tôi. Vì nội dung dài và hiện nay tôi đang bận nên chưa có thời gian dịch. Khoản giữa tháng 1 mới có thời gian dịch, cụ có thể quay lại sau để xem bản dịch tiếng Việt của tôi. Tạm thời, CCCM có thể dùng Google translate dịch sơ lược để đọc trước.

Bài 3: How I would get my kid into Top 10 US universities in 12 years (Part 3: grades 5 & 6)

Just browse an e-commerce website, and you can have Kobe beef from Japan, New York City’s thin crust pizza from the US, and Perigord foie gras from France delivered to your kid’s dinner table here in Beijing, China. Yet, what about the Japanese’s appreciation for the gentle growing of tree (bonsai) and tea making process (tea arts)? What about the fast-paced international entrepreneurship and metropolitan artistic mindset of New York? And finally, the mix of traditional Christian heritage and chic fashion-driven life in Paris?

How would any kid or adult experiences, digests, and integrates any of those regional distinctions and unique perspectives into their way of life and work with world citizens in the future without packing up and heading to other country for a visit? Even from ancient time, smart people like Zhuge Liang in China or Aristotle in Greece had to visit various places to become wise.

I realize this inevitable future, that my kid will one day meets, works, or even gets married with people displaying different skin colors, speaking different languages, and treating what people from my country consider weird normal. Thus, for grades 5 and 6, as my kid now knows how to behave himself and is well equipped with theoretical languages learned from classes and books, it is time to take him on more adventurous endeavors.

Keep in mind, though, that kids learning passively with their eyes and ears, especially in short term, may not learn as much as those learning actively with hands and mouth. I’ll explain what this means promptly.

Grade 5: Go on a trip outside of China

Let’s pick the US as the first country to take your kid to visit, as many Chinese parents I know, either living in China or the US, take their primary school-age kids to visit several top-tier universities nearby or Ivy Leagues to inspire them to aspire for these pinnacles of US higher education.

There are many learning opportunities for your kid even before the campus visit to Stanford or Harvard starts, though.

Who will pack clothes for your kid? Mom?

Who will book airplane ticket for your family? Dad?

Who will look up destination to visit and thing to do during the trip? Mom again?

No, no, and no. At least not totally.

Ask your kid what he want to wear, show him what kids his age wear in the US during the visit season, then ask him to search put similar clothes into Taobao shopping cart (probably a good time to introduce him to the Taobao world if you have not already) if he does not have such clothes. If he does, ask him to put clothes and other necessary items for the trip into his luggage in an orderly way. Trust him to do it, but check that he does it seriously.

For airplane ticket, first show him a few Chinese booking platforms (Ctrip, Qunar) and American ones (Skyscanner, Expedia) to help familiarize himself with the concept of price deal, promotion, airport codes, foreign exchange ratio, etc. Then walk through the entire booking and paying process with him by your side. It may take you double the amount of time doing the booking with this little buddy with millions of questions by your side, but it is critical to introduce him to these tools and processes and most importantly to gradually build up his independence.

For visit destination and things to do, ask for his inputs and include them into your trip plan, or else you will never hear the end of it months after the trip has already ended. Show him how to search for 攻略 on Ctrip, Baidu, or Bing now or even earlier since internet information search skill is one of the most important skills anyone in the Internet Age can have. This is also a great opportunity to introduce your kids to the famous USNews Ranking of US colleges. And do some research about the ranking so that you can be ready to answer his questions: “What’s the difference between #1 and #5 or #50 or #500?”

After he has finished his 攻略 research and provided his input, discuss with him about it, make him elaborate on the details and defend his plan, and be ready to make a few consessions if he is logical even if you do not like it. For example, if he prefers visiting MIT instead of Harvard because there is not much difference between USNews #1 and #5 (maybe, depending on your reseach and explanation to him) and because the robots and robotic labs at MIT are super cool, let him have that or compromise by visiting both.

By the way, don’t just visit college campus, go on for a walk in NYC’s Central Park or camp over night to do stargazing in Yosemite National Park. Associating pleasant experience with somewhat less pleasant campus visit in your kid’s first ever trip oversea is a good way to make him wish to do more trip oversea later in his life, as early as next year, grade 6.


Grade 6: Go on a research trip in China

The recreational, inspirational, and observational trip to the US is only the beginning. As my kid grows bigger and more mature, emotionally and intellectually, I would introduce a few more challenging tasks to him.

Think back about trip in the US, your kid most likely just looked at buildings and people on campus while listening inattentively to the tour guide’s tedious speech about Harvard’s history or your own blabbering about Ivy League’s reputation in China and about how it would help him get a nice job later. It was purely observational.

To move beyond an observational trip, here are three things your kid should consider doing:

- Prepare a research plan: remember the packing, booking, and planning you worked with your kid in grade 5? Grade 6 is the time to push it one level higher and give him a chance to put all the planning on to a trip plan in a word doc, including everything from date and location to transportation, accommodation, budget, things to do. Now add a topic that he wants to learn more about, for example lifestyle of old people in Shanghai or adaptation of 1st or 2nd generation immigrants to immigrant centers like Zhuhai or Shenzhen into the travel plan along with tasks to enquire about this topic and you get a research plan.

- Talk with the locals: not you talking, but your kid. Task him with the duty to talk with at least 5 or so locals to ask their opinions about a local tourist hot spot, local specialty dishes, their lives nowadays, or specifically about his topic of interest. For some kids, speaking with strangers is terrifying, so you may need to guide him to do research topic for which he can communicate with more kids-friendly targets, such as other kids.

- Take pictures and write down observations: memory fades but photos and writings stay (unless they get lost when you break your computer without backup). Give the camera to your kid so he can capture moments of artistic, cultural, or humanistic beauty during his trip. It would be ideal that he writes down his thoughts about the pictures he took throughout the day at the end of the day, not the end of the trip. It can be one or two lines behind each picture; it can also be a paragraph for dozens of pictures taken at an area and another paragraph for pictures at another area. Such writing exercise, even in Chinese, does not feel like exercise but it still gradually builds up your kid’s ability to express his thoughts and the scenes he’s seen – such “showing” writing, as he will learn later, greatly benefits his college application essay writing.


We’ve had three articles to cover 6 years of primary school and 6 major tasks/skills that kids this age can do get a much much better chance at US Top 10 universities. Let’s keep them in minds and share with your friends, other parents who also have such ambition.

Grade 1: teach your kid the meaning of learning

Grade 2: motivate your kid to read

Grade 3: take a dip at every subject

Grade 4: develop early mastery

Grade 5: go on a trip outside of China

Grade 6: go on a research trip in China

Mục lục các bài viết trong chủ đề này: https://www.otofun.net/threads/chia-se-kinh-nghiem-du-hoc-my-vui-long-mien-thao-luan-chinh-tri-va-nuoc-khac.1640096/