[PSLE MT] PSLE less weightage in Chinese / Mother Tongue

[verykiasu2010]

ks2me:

It suddenly occurs to me....will there be a backlash to this change in policy that people will no longer crowd SAP schools especially the not-so-popular ones and they can close off? The advantage of going SAP school is also to give an edge to their children learning Chinese better in terms of immersion and have more choices of schools in secondary.


So if the emphasis on Chinese is no longer there.....would there not be an impact on the SAP Primary schools? If so, are the SAP principals against this too?

I am doubtful

SAP schools have come a long way and it is more than HCL.

For the well known SAP schools, it is very visibly a combination of their system, curriculum, PTA, alumni, HR management, teachers, etc all these that click and make them tick. Quite hard to replicate

[corneyAmber]

verykiasu2010:

I am doubtful


SAP schools have come a long way and it is more than HCL.

For the well known SAP schools, it is very visibly a combination of their system, curriculum, PTA, alumni, HR management, teachers, etc all these that click and make them tick. Quite hard to replicate

But if we have more and more potato parents, how do such schools survive? Demand and supply will kick in sometime...

[vlim]

ks2me:

But if we have more and more potato parents, how do such schools survive? Demand and supply will kick in sometime...

but I think otherwise, as I think parents get to know the importance of mastering Chinese Language (with this current system) so I think more and more parents will choose SAP school for their kids so that they will have a better chinese language foundation..

[verykiasu2010]

ks2me:

But if we have more and more potato parents, how do such schools survive? Demand and supply will kick in sometime...

then less competition for places in sap school, better for the lao bai xin. eventually, it will be those truly bilingual people who will have more opportunities open to them

look at some asean countries where they emphasise race & language supremacy ..... where are they ?

[corneyAmber]

I agree with you but I hope there are no backlashes…if they insist their way

[lego]

HyperKiasu:

No. I am Non-SAP school parents. I want a change, I am considering transfer my son to a SAP school.....

No, my child is not in a SAP school too and she's only taking normal chinese.
I just don't see how reducing the weightage of MTL in PSLE will be beneficial to our children in the long run.

[HyperKiasu]

lego:

No, my child is not in a SAP school too and she's only taking normal chinese.

I just don't see how reducing the weightage of MTL in PSLE will be beneficial to our children in the long run.

拭目以待, 哈哈.....

[corneyAmber]

vlim:

but I think otherwise, as I think parents get to know the importance of mastering Chinese Language (with this current system) so I think more and more parents will choose SAP school for their kids so that they will have a better chinese language foundation..

If we are talking about our generation and perhaps one more generation, then there may be no impact yet. Beyond that if they grow up in new system where MT is not an emphasis and they themselves have no ability to enforce that with their children, naturally it would cascade the effect down the generation. As it is now, I have been hearing people saying their mother tongue is English due to such parents they have. In future such parents would be even more...

Btw, I am not as optimistic as you also because I believe the competitive landscape in Singapore is real, everyone wants a pie in the academic race so in the end, the not-so-important subjects will be sidelined, like it or not. In fact if they emphasized on CCA, CCA may even precede learning Chinese.... *sigh* Majority will play the rules of the game to stay relevant.

[HyperKiasu]

BlackAngel:

It is a form of elitism by a small group of parents who has been pressurising the government. ......

wondering whether this is true..... :?

[sakura_2009]

tamarind:

My daughter also told me that she enjoys her Chinese lesson more than English and Maths. It is very important that the Chinese teacher knows the correct methods of teaching the language, and knows how to develop interest, rather than simply following the textbook. The primary school Chinese textbooks are very bad. Kids who do not have a good foundation in Chinese before entering primary school, will not be able to learn well from these textbooks.


MOE should focus on understanding what are the correct and effective methods of learning Chinese, rather than trying to lower the weightage of Chinese.

The best way to build a strong foundation in Chinese, is simply to read as many Chinese books as possible from a very young age. Many mommies have been reading English books to their kids since they were babies. If they have read the same amount of Chinese books to their kids, pointing to every word as they read, the kids will be equally good in Chinese too.

As for those people who keep complaining that Chinese is difficult, or that their brains are not hardwired to learn Chinese, they can always drop Chinese, like one parent wrote earlier.

I think that one way is to stop using the combined aggregate score as a cut off point for entering the top schools. Students will be given their exact scores in each subject. Schools can pick the type of students that they want, for example, some schools may take those who are very good in English and Maths, and ignore Chinese. Other schools may take those who are very good in languages, and ignore Maths. Something like the admission to the different courses in polytechnics. Chinese is not required for most courses, and maths is not important for some courses.

I totally agree that it is very important that the Chinese teacher knows the correct method, and knows how to develop interest in learning the language. My DS used to attend some Chinese enrichment courses where the native Chinese teachers teach all the kids 'one level' up, ie. for P1, they teach P2 stuff and for P2, they teach P3 stuff etc. They said S'pore standard is one level 'lower' as compared to their country and therefore it is good that they learn 'in advance'. But for kids who do not have a strong foundation during their kindy years, it is actually very tough to 'catch-up' with their kind of syllabus. It actually kills the interest rather than motivate them towards that language. Subsequently I realised that many tuition centres are doing the same...Even some schools have rather 'tough' standards from what I can see in their past exam qns. I'm definitely no expert in Chinese but I'm able to converse and even write in Chinese with my China and Taiwan colleagues without problems or miscommunication, isn't that sufficient? I'm personally not in favour of reducing the weightage, but rather, I hope something can be done to motivate the kids to want to do better in the language, rather then 'putting them off' by trying to level them with the standards of those from Chinese speaking countries...