Learning Chinese (Secondary)

[sharonkhoo]

No-one with tips?

[wonderm]

slmkhoo:

Asking for advice. My daughter is in sec 2 and we just got back from overseas. She is trying HCL, but it's basically her first experience learning Chinese in Singapore (she has learned some while we were overseas). What sort of things should she be doing? Eg. besides learning the textbook stuff, should she be doing assessment books and learning from other guides and books? The school doesn't seem to be giving much beyond the textbook and workbook, and no compo or compre yet. She has a lot on her plate with the catching-up she has to do for other subjects too, so what is the minimum she should be doing for HCL in order to pass? Can you recommend books or resources for her? Thanks!

It is not sufficient to learn from textbook for HCL from my DC's experience. My DS1 finished HCL O Level last year. From our experience, it is important to read Chinese to improve vocab and comprehension. Ask your DD to read Chinese newspapers if she can squeeze out time. The kind of vocab used in news articles is more relevant for HCL compo. My DS didn't really read Chinese on a daily basis but he tries to read whenever he could, more so during the holidays.

As for assessment books, it is not easy to find suitable ones unlike the case for PSLE. Before the O Level, DS practiced the past year HCL O Level papers. But the actual paper last year seem to be more difficult than past years' (they can bring home the question booklet). Just my observation. But don't need to be worried, there is always moderation. In any case, there is still a lot of time for your DD. All the best to her HCL journey!

[sharonkhoo]

Thanks! I’ll start getting some news articles for her. I see that there is a 手册 to accompany the textbook - is that useful? Are there good ‘model’ books for compo and compre? We are not sending her for tuition now as she really doesn’t have time, so I want to provide her with sufficient resources at home. She is fairly motivated and will use them if they are available. I don’t know if there are intensive sessions during the year-end vacation?

[wonderm]

slmkhoo:

Thanks! I'll start getting some news articles for her. I see that there is a 手册 to accompany the textbook - is that useful? Are there good 'model' books for compo and compre? We are not sending her for tuition now as she really doesn't have time, so I want to provide her with sufficient resources at home. She is fairly motivated and will use them if they are available. I don't know if there are intensive sessions during the year-end vacation?

I did buy the 手册 for him but he never touched them at all. His school tests were on \"unseen\" vocabs so he didn't feel the need to use them. If your DD can use 手册 to revise those vocab, I think it is good but may not be sufficient if she wants to score high. I flipped through some compo model books at Popular but didn't find any good ones. I let my boys attend HCL enrichment classes so they do some Chinese for at least 2 hours each week. Other than that, it is really hard to squeeze out time for Chinese, esp. when they enter Upper Sec.

[Thetrees123]

For CL or HCL in secondary level, student need to read a lot of article and write a lot of essay in order to score well. If not , they will struggle in O level.


As a tutor, i find out girl are doing much more better than boy in term of Chinese result during O level. This is because they are more willing to do reading and writing.

手册 and text books is far not enough for O level, they need to expose to newspaper, need to communicate in mandrain more often , etc

Most important, enjoy this subject instead of hate this subject, then she will able to make it.

Thanks for reading

[sharonkhoo]

Thanks for the tips. However, I am trying to be realistic here - she has only just returned to Singapore after spending most of her school life overseas, hasn’t done very much Chinese in the past, and has lots of other subjects to work on too. I’m not expecting her to ‘score high’ right now given that she has about 3 mths before the exams - a pass would be great! So I’m asking about how to get her to a pass. I know that reading a lot, getting plenty of exposure, speaking a lot etc is the way to score high, but what is the minimum to be sure of passing? Once she has cleared this year’s exams, we can work on more stuff before the next school year begins.

[Thetrees123]

First, learn 词语手册 , make sure know how to use(搭配)


second, learn comprehension technique . Go through 10 year series, learn how to answer questions in order to score full marks.

Third, if oral is tested, then buy oral assessment book to practise, don’t use old version because now oral using new format.

Thanks

[wonderm]

Thetrees123:

First, learn 词语手册 , make sure know how to use(搭配)


second, learn comprehension technique . Go through 10 year series, learn how to answer questions in order to score full marks.

Third, if oral is tested, then buy oral assessment book to practise, don't use old version because now oral using new format.

Thanks

Oral is not required for HCL O Level yet, right? Do you know starting which year it will be required for HCL O Level? Thanks.

[sharonkhoo]

Thetrees123:

First, learn 词语手册 , make sure know how to use(搭配)


second, learn comprehension technique . Go through 10 year series, learn how to answer questions in order to score full marks.

Third, if oral is tested, then buy oral assessment book to practise, don't use old version because now oral using new format.

Thanks

Thanks! Are there books which show how compre questions should be answered (and explain why)? What is the new oral format? I don't even know what the old one was.