Frequently Asked Questions

Families should apply to playgroup at least two months in advance of attending. Prior to coming they can adjust the child’s nap and meal times to fit the time of their class in order to keep their routines consistent and get the best out of their experience.

Nursery is a special level in that it is rolling enrollment, meaning children can join from whenthey turn two years of age, regardless of when their birth month falls. For our playgroupchildren, they will be given special admission to join into class from when they turn of age and can move directly from playgroup into the Nursery program. They can do this directly after their second birthday. For children not in our playgroup, they should enroll during our admission periods online and schedule an observation with our teachers.

For our nursery children, they will be given special acceptance to join into kindergarten class. They can do this directly online during our new school’s year admission period, which is typically at the beginning of September the year prior, provided they are at least 2 years and eight month old by the start of school year.  For children not in our nursery, they should enroll during our admission periods online during the month of Sep / Oct the year prior to beginning of the school’s year and schedule an observation with our teachers.

Yes you will have priority to get into the program. During your time in playgroup, our teachers have been keeping observations on your child’s progress, which will be used in place of any kind of interview or observation to let us know exactly where your child is developmentally, what kind of learner they are, and what their interests are.

For Infant and TAG classes, the maximum number of children is 10 and there are always 2 teachers in the classroom to maintain a maximum of 5:1 student to teacher ratio. The language teacher is responsible for teaching the curriculum and the classroom teacher assists the language teacher as needed.

For NSY & K 1-3, the maximum number of children varies depending on the classroom size and school, but even in the largest classrooms, Tutor Time will maintain no more than an 9:1 student to teacher ratio.

We are truly an international school. Our family backgrounds vary greatly, with over 30% coming from overseas and roughly 70% local and Mainland families. While we value diversity, all enrollments are still on a first-come-first-serve basis. Each specific class make-up varies simply depending on scheduling.

• Children study ALL of the key subjects, in both languages; Science, Math, Literacy, Geography, Art, Physical Education and more, which is great preparation for all the subjects they will learn at primary school.
• Our curriculum is from America and follows in line with American Common Core objectives, but it’s not specific for American schools. We’ve taken the best components and tailored the rest to prepare your children for a variety of primary schools, including international/local or English stream/ Chinese stream.
• Our curriculum also emphasizes both IQ and EQ development and we have a special program dedicated to SEL.

Our curriculum is designed to prepare your child for both the international and local school primary stream. By developing a strong foundation in literacy, math, social skills, and school readiness skills, your child will be ready for any primary school. As we focus on the whole child and build lots of independence in our children, our students tend to develop strong growth mindsets that prepare them for any future challenge.

Different parents have different primary school preferences based on number of factors such as desired language of instruction, location, rank, and so on. Our objective is to assist our parents and students in getting into their number 1 choice. Based on our data from the last 5 years, around 75% of our students go to International schools and roughly 25% study at a local school. You can find these statistics located in all of our campuses and our website. https://www.tutortime.com.hk/school-placement/

Our curriculum is facilitated through complete immersive environments in each language, meaning that your child will learn in classrooms where the language being taught are the only one being used. Our teachers will facilitate lessons as though the children are native speakers and use proper speaking pace when instructing in order to allow for our children to have fluency in both receptive and productive skills. Your child spend half of their learning time in English and half in Mandarin. For our half day students, this means you will have 1.5 hours of English daily and 1.5 hours of Mandarin. For full day students, the time is doubled. The curriculum is designed so that the target language in each language follows a different topic and includes a different set of vocabulary in order to strengthen skills in each language without confusing the students. It will also allow for review of previous concepts in other languages to be done later on in the alternate language, further strengthening these concepts. Your classroom teacher will be with your child the entire school day and will only use the language being taught. Their main focus is to observe your child in both languages and see if there are any discrepancies or anything the teachers can do to support your child’s growth.

Our LifeSmart curriculum focuses on developing the whole child, ensuring a balance between traditional academics and important traits like creativity, critical thinking, and health. Through identifying each child’s unique ‘smarts’, our curriculum ensures that your child will be well-equipped to tackle any primary school program, whether that is at local schools or international schools, which mostly use IB.

Regardless of which school type your child goes to, there will always be a period of adjustment. A new school means new environment, new friends, new teachers, and a new schedule, which will undoubtedly have an effect on your child. Tutor Time students will have the skills and knowledge to be successful in any type of primary school, but they will still need a lot of support when entering a new environment. The best way to help them transition is to get them used to the routine they will experience in their local school.

Tutor Time was one of the first fully immersive bilingual English and Mandarin schools in Hong Kong. Learning languages in addition to Cantonese is not only beneficial for being a globalized individual, it also spurs early brain development. We believe in preparing children for their future in primary schools and beyond. Through teaching Mandarin and English, your child will be able to achieve the skills necessary to be successful in the interview process and have the necessary oral, literacy, cognitive, and social-emotional skills to feel confident. Furthermore, living in Hong Kong, your child will likely be exposed to Cantonese in their day-to-day life.

It is very important to establish a dominant language and use it at home as the primary means of communication. This language will depend on your family and your plans for your child. For example, if you plan to move to Canada in two years, you might choose English to be your child’s dominant language, but if you plan to remain in Hong Kong permanently, you may choose Cantonese. The main important thing to consider is keeping a dominant language at home and then when teaching secondary languages, doing them in an immersive way, such as dedicating some time for each language throughout the week.

As we use immersion, our children will usually communicate in the language being taught. As our teachers are always engaging with them, even during play, they will use the language they know the teacher will understand. For Nursery children, who are still developing the skills to orally communicate, they will use nonverbal cues and often begin to use short responses in the language being taught in class. With their peers, at this age children are still in what we call the egotistical stage of development are are still learning appropriate interactions and often will use non verbal communication together when beginning to interact. They may try to use their dominant languages first, but will be encouraged by teachers to use the language of the class.

This is very common and not a problem. The teachers will encourage your child to use the language being taught and we have our classroom teachers who can speak English, Mandarin and Cantonese so they can help to explain to any guardians who do not understand the instructions so they can participate with your baby.

At this age children are like sponges for information. They will absorb a lot just from being in the environment. Reception skills will also develop before productive skills, so you may notice your child responding correctly without using any Chinese. For example, your Mandarin teacher might tell the children to stand up and your child does so before the teacher visually demonstrates, or they might point out the correct color when asked even though they cannot yet say the correct Mandarin word. Your teachers would happily help point you to resources for use at home as well in order to review anything from class as we are always happy to support our families.

The Language Teacher is dedicated to creating and executing the lesson in either English or Mandarin. They are responsible for observation during small group time and guiding the students’ growth.

The Classroom Teacher is a certified Child Care Worker and Qualified Kindergarten Teacher. She will be responsible for the well-being of the children, communication with the parents, classroom safety, and assist the language teacher as needed.

The Classroom Assistant is responsible for teaching life skills. They will be in charge of teaching important skill such as toilet training, dressing oneself, and building independence. They make sure the children wash their hands with soap and follows proper methods, changes diapers, helps teach toilet training, and keeps the classroom sanitized and clean.

All of our teachers hold a bachelor’s degree and have previous teaching experience with young children. They all receive extensive in-house training from our Tutor Time Curriculum Team prior to teaching your children and are continually monitored throughout the year by our team. All of our Language Teachers (English and Mandarin) are native speakers and all of our Classroom Teachers are certified Child Care Workers and Kindergarten Teachers in Hong Kong. All Class Teachers are trilingual so that they can communicate with any guardian in Cantonese, Mandarin, or English.

We teach Traditional Mandarin, and all of our Mandarin teachers are native speakers.

• Variety when playing – alternate daily from inside to outside.
• Children learn to ride tricycles and use trampoline – gross motor skills
• A park isn’t safe for young children as ages are mixed. We do not have mixed aged playtime.
• Public playgrounds are not sanitized daily to ensure safety. Our playgrounds are sanitized after each session.
• The sun provides important vitamins and fresh air and free play reduces stress level.
• Children that participate in unstructured outdoor play are more likely to explore new areas and participate in imaginative play
• Unstructured outdoor playhelps kids learn to take turns, share and develop other positive behavioural skills

The most recent research shows that children exposed to multiple languages before 2 years of age have more neural activity and display better executive functions than children in single language environments. As an international school we have students with a variety of mother tongues that are already learning 3 or 4 languages, while being able to communicate clearly with others.

Don’t worry! One of the main goals of the Language Teachers is to be engaging and exciting to draw the child’s attention to the lesson. However, we will never force a child to sit at any activity. If the child really does not want to sit in the circle, they can go to the tables or walk behind the circle if needed. Children are very smart and can still be listening to the teacher while doing something else. The pace of circle time is quick, which is age-appropriate, so you might be surprised by your child’s ability to sit with their classmates.

The items required for children's first day at school are fairly straightforward-inside shoes, a water bottle, a spare change of clean clothes, diapers, wetwipes and any other items required for toileting. All children are provided with a cubby drawer so that all these items may be kept inside the classroom.

As children start their Tutor Time journey, we understand that it takes time for children to adjust to independent learning for the first time. Our teachers are committed to making this period as easy and comfortable a transition as possible for both students and parents. Teachers will be in frequent contact with families to keep them up to date with their child's progress, so that they can continue to provide support at home as necessary.

A. be potty trained
— Children are not required to be toilet trained before starting at Tutor Time. All unaccompanied classes include a direct access to the toilet and Classroom Assistant, who have the responsibility to assist children in the toilet regardless of their ability- from changing diapers if required, to just helping them to wash hands. In practice, toilet training is a natural process that occurs organically as the children progress through the class. Teachers and parents will remain in frequent contact concerning the readiness and toilet training progress of each student.

B. be able to sit / stand / walk
— Children do not need to sit, stand or walk before joining the class. There is
always a guardian in the class to support the child and help them move around the activities. All the classes and activities on offer are age-appropriate and the children in the class will be of similar ability. We usually find that the younger children in the class learn these skill much faster through observation and imitation of the older children and their abilities.

C. speak Mandarin and / or speak English
— All Tutor Time classes are bilingual in English and Mandarin, but our students come from a multitude of language backgrounds. Our curriculum and program aims to support children regardless of their initial ability levels.