How to improve english for P3

[lim7]

I would like to check which is the best method to improve my child (who is in P3) English? should I buy more assesement books on P3 or should I restart her from P1?? Anyone can give me some hints?

[MMM]

Probably you would like to first identify his area of weakness (eg. is it grammar, spelling, etc…) and then work on those problem areas first.

[Engtutor]

Hi lim7


What are the issues your child is having?
Paper 1 or 2? Oral Exam? All?

I would advise against \"starting from scratch\" with P1 materials unless your child is really struggling with P3 materials. In which case, how is his/her reading? Sometimes this fundamental skill is overlooked and it affects understanding in all subjects (except maybe the mother tongue).

If his/her reading is fine, does your child need practice answering grammar/vocab questions - it may help starting with a P2 book (as I presume your child has only just entered P3) and build their confidence before suggesting they try P3 level activity books.

It may be simply that your child requires a technique in approaching questions (both Paper 1 and Paper2) and a technique in the Oral Exam.
I always suggest a personal home tutor if your child is struggling with the basics, you can enrol in tuition centre classes if you feel your child can benefit from ideas and interaction with other children.
Let me know if I can help further.

[Rosmary]

Hi, Engtutor



My son is weak in composition, comprehension and vocabulary. Can you advise how to help him

[Engtutor]

Rosmary:

Hi, Engtutor



My son is weak in composition, comprehension and vocabulary. Can you advise how to help him

Hi Rosemary,

Without being able to assess your child face to face, it is difficult to say. The most obvious way to improve his comprehension and vocab is by encouraging him to read.
Not all children are bookworms but if he finds an author he likes, one that is easy to understand at first, and have him read 2 pages to you a day. Perhaps before he goes to bed? Question him about the vocab used, ask him about the story. He shouldn't begrudge reading so if he doesn't want to one day, don't force him or get angry.

Once he has got that as a base, there are various techniques as to how to answer comprehension questions easily and grammatically correctly (he may get the answer right but make careless errors in punctuation and grammar). Any tuition teacher can help him with this.
With regards to the composition, again this requires practice and a technique he feels comfortable with. Tutors can help with adding figurative language, paragraphing, organisation of ideas etc.

Does your son attend tuition already? If you feel he needs to the extra support, you could have a tutor come to your place.

Hope this helps!!

engtutor

[Trina]

Out of curiosity, is there a big jump in English syllabus from P2 to P3?


My DD’s school uses STELLAR and I have no clue what she is learning. Would be good to prepare her in advance.

[mrswongtuition]

Trina:

Out of curiosity, is there a big jump in English syllabus from P2 to P3?


My DD's school uses STELLAR and I have no clue what she is learning. Would be good to prepare her in advance.

Yes, there's quite a big jump from P2 to P3.

If you want to prepare her, start from basics again. You can get 'Primary English' from Popular. It covers all the different aspects of grammar systematically. Then you can get other books to supplement this. I normally use 'Conquer Grammar' because it's sorted out by the different topics, similar to Primary English. And it's mostly MCQ, so the child will not be 'scared off' with alot of tedious writing.

For vocab, you can try 'Practice Makes Perfect Vocabulary'. They have words, definitions and pictures, grouped by themes and they have practise exercises after each theme. For my students, I also use 'Conquer Vocabulary'. It's also sorted by themes and I'll get articles/stories on those themes for them to read before doing the questions.

Alot of reading is required and it's best to choose age appropriate books. Alot of children tend to pick books which are simple to read because it takes lesser effort to read. It's also a good habit to ask them to start their own vocab list (write down new words they encounter, then search dictionary).

[sakura_2009]

I recently attended the parents'-teachers meeting and the teacher also confirmed that there is a big jump from P2 to P3. I also understand that there will be another 'big' jump from P4 to P5


I'm also :? as to what is actually taught in the STELLAR program. My son sometimes brings back a list of 'high frequency' words and some short stories, presumably extracted from a big story book, and some work assignments, testing them on their grammer and vocab. However, I don't see a 'structured' program teaching them the basics/rules/fundamentals of grammar etc. My son is fundamentally weak in his basics since P1 and has not improved much now that he is in P3. His marks hovered from a high Band 2 (in P1) to the middle Band 2 (P2) to the current lower end of Band 2 I have been giving him assignment books (Grammer, Vocab etc) but it doesn't seem to help much, especially now since the 'standard' has gone higher...

Am I missing something here ?? :?:

[eel]

Hi, could anyone recommend good english home tutor who are familiar with current P3 syllabus and willing to teach in jurong area?

Also, anyone knows whether is Classroom English assessement book a good book?

[heyhoe]

Anyone has recommendation for small group tuition in the area of Punggol/Sengkang? Especially in the area of creative writing?