Which preschool to choose?

My bilingual son is 5 and has been going to a Japanese kindergarten has a basic 1 hour per week English program. My son is an outgoing child who misbehaves and takes the whole lunch period to do lunch. We want to choose between two preschools- preschools are bit like childcare with full days independent of the time of year. Both schools do my son's grade all in English. For all schools (and English lessons), my son says he wants to go there everyday. Both teachers for my son are native English speakers with young children. Neither school has a playground, students might walk to a local park a couple of times a week. My son doesn't use the inground playground at lunch time rather he does craft - (Honolulu (H)) H is one station away. H is cheaper with no entrance or annual fees. H has only one English teacher with 16 students in the combined 5/6 year old class. My son slightly likes the teacher better. It is very free form with the kids just talking with the teacher and worksheets. In the trial lesson, there was one other student who talked a lot but she is graduating so my son will most likely be the top communicative student. H has a elementary program with the same teacher as the primary with all grades at once. There is Japanese assistant and principal as well- the entire school's staff. The room is a little stinky attached to a solitary toilet. H has classes only 4 days a week. H has a 2 hour Saturday program with one other child (at the moment) who didn't speak much. H is 10 minutes away by bicycle. (Sea (S) )S is two stations away. It has teachers for each grade. S has a five day program. S is very structured and children have to raise their hands to speak. My wife had a negative experience with a Saturday program teacher who a bit physical (only seen on a monitor) with my son - the teacher is only Saturdays. S has a good elementary school program whereby you can go 3pm-7pm five days a week with separate teachers for different levels- you do have to have graduated from the school to use it. S is 25 minutes away by bicycle. My wife (with my son) would have to use the train to get to S when it is raining or after my son goes to a public elementary school. S has a modernish building and refurbished third floor.

The level of English at Honolulu near graduation was at 6th grade elementary on the worksheets e.g. what is the main point of this paragraph, is this a noun, so the teacher was extensively teaching English but the children didn't speak much at breaks. S rather teaches singing and dancing and craft in English rather than teaching English directly so much and their children talk a lot in English in break time. S's structure is they have a time for activities and classroom control. H apparently talks in class if children misbehave (like non-violent misbehave).

Which school would you choose?

It is up to you. or up to your child.
Strangers remark in this Forum will not the best option.

What ever you post wouldn't be making my decision only influencing it. We are going off the little info we can get.

Hi!
I am not Japanese and my kid didn't go to Bilingual Preschool, but I know what I looked for in a pre-school for my child, which might still be applicable.

I'd look at teacher turnover rates. How long do both schools keep their teachers. A school with high turnover rate is a school with issues.

I'd also think about what you are trying to accomplish with pre-school. What are your specific goals for your child. Are you going to use the program S offers post pre-school, would you use H post pre-school. Will you use neither? Is your child going to a regular Japanese elementary school where they will need to fit within its boundaries eventually?

Are you saying at the end of Pre-School the kids were reading paragraphs in English and could answer questions on the subject of the paragraph or at the end of the H's Elementary program. It's a bit unclear. If you mean the former, that's pretty impressive, my child couldn't even read in Preschool, and we only speak English. If you're saying at the end of 6th grade the work sheets said they were 6th grade English worksheets and involved reading comprehension, I'd have to actually see the worksheet to see if it was "6th grade." The elementary schools my child has attended are less than stellar but they've all been testing reading comprehension since 2nd grade. Teaching kids to diagram sentences is just not done anymore it feels like. I still haven't decided if it is a loss.

Most Bilingual homes and bilingual programs I know of really push learning to speak and understand spoken languages.

Good luck!

"Are you saying at the end of Pre-School the kids were reading paragraphs in English and could answer questions on the subject of the paragraph or at the end of the H's Elementary program. It's a bit unclear. If you mean the former, that's pretty impressive, my child couldn't even read in Preschool, and we only speak English. If you're saying at the end of 6th grade the work sheets said they were 6th grade English worksheets and involved reading comprehension, I'd have to actually see the worksheet to see if it was "6th grade." The elementary schools my child has attended are less than stellar but they've all been testing reading comprehension since 2nd grade. Teaching kids to diagram sentences is just not done anymore it feels like. I still haven't decided if it is a loss."

Both schools have low turnover.

It was at the end of the H's preschool's program that children were able to read a paragraph and say what was the main point- it was one of the sentences- or guess what happens next.

Being able to do reading comprehension is barely at 6th grade for any elementary school that I have taught in Japan.