Kheng Cheng

[Kopitiam]

Happy Lunar New Year to all! Many thanks for the replies and information. Sorry, i only managed to check the thread now. All along, I thought Kheng Cheng doesn’t offer higher mother tongue (HMT). Though i may not ultimately let my son study HMT, may I just confirm that the kids at Kheng Cheng can have the option to take HMT in P5, if they are good? Thanks.

[ilovelaksa]

Kopitiam:

Happy Lunar New Year to all! Many thanks for the replies and information. Sorry, i only managed to check the thread now. All along, I thought Kheng Cheng doesn't offer higher mother tongue (HMT). Though i may not ultimately let my son study HMT, may I just confirm that the kids at Kheng Cheng can have the option to take HMT in P5, if they are good? Thanks.

The kids used to hv HMT textbks but they stop this practice around 2010/2011 (I cant remember). Now all the kids use MT texts fm P1-P4. If you do well in P4, you are offered HMT in P5. Also if you do v v well in MT at P4 and reasonably well in other subjs, you can appeal to do HMT in P5.
I wld not recommend HMT if yr child is an average student in other subjs. The wkload for HMT is extremely heavy, even more than EMS. And it is not true that the HMT students do better in MT than non-HMT students.
My eldest is an above-average student in all subjs at P4. His English AND Chinese really suffered when he did HMT in P5. In fact, he got way higher results in HMT than MT. So I decided to opt out of HMT in P6. After that, his EL and MT began improving and he did well enough to offer HMT in sec school.

[phtthp]

Hi Ilovelaksa,


you mentioned above that the workload for HMT is extremely heavy, even more so than EMS.

In your opinion : which aspect of HMT is heavy or time-consuming ?
Is it HMT Paper 1 (zuowen), or HMT (Paper 2), or other part(s), that is heavy going ?

Much appreciate sharing of your personal experience & thoughts, with us here. Thanks, a lot.

[HAPPIVIEN]

Hi, Anyone from KC, coluld tell me that will there be lots of outing activities during P1-P3?

[ilovelaksa]

phtthp:

Hi Ilovelaksa,


you mentioned above that the workload for HMT is extremely heavy, even more so than EMS.

In your opinion : which aspect of HMT is heavy or time-consuming ?
Is it HMT Paper 1 (zuowen), or HMT (Paper 2), or other part(s), that is heavy going ?

Much appreciate sharing of your personal experience & thoughts, with us here. Thanks, a lot.

I think the most heavy aspect of HMT is composition. But it really depends on the teacher.
My dd2 had a very demanding HMT teacher who req the class to write at least 4 pages for every essay. She will routinely make her rewrite her essay if she does not meet that standard. There are students in the class writing 6-8 pages! I thought it was ridiculous cuz my older girl who does HMT in sec 3 then does not even write that much. Plus, how are they going to complete their essays during exams?!
My dd1's P6 HMT teacher was less stringent. Dd1 usu write 2.5 pages, BUT she gets loaded with 20 comprehension passages to do 2 days before PSLE! HMT has way way more vocabulary and compre exercises than MT.
My ds1 had by far the worst technique of teaching HMT. She made the class memorise ENTIRE essays! Obviously, it killed all of ds1's interest in learning Chinese. It was no surprise his MT and HMT's results plummeted in P5.
So far, I wld say this school teaches Higher Chinese by pure memory work and extreme drills. Although it is relatively easy to do Higher Chinese here, I wld not recommend if your child is weak in the other subjects to do HMT. Many Kheng Cheng students who did not do HMT scored very very well in the PSLE, in fact even better than the ones who did. Parents I know make their kids do HMT thinking it will help their children in MT, this is not true. It created alot of stress for the children.
Initially, I did not think it wld be difficult to cope with HMT as my children had scored 95, 96 and 98 for P1-P4 Chinese and also pretty capable in the other subjects. Seeing how they struggled, I will not opt HMT for my youngest, even though he is also in the same ability range as his older siblings.

[ilovelaksa]

HAPPIVIEN:

Hi, Anyone from KC, coluld tell me that will there be lots of outing activities during P1-P3?

Outings are generally not so often for those in P1-P2. But they hv many hands-on activities in school if I recall. There's more outings for those in the intermediate and P5 levels. Generally, KCS has a happy learning environment in P1-P5.
P6 is the hot-housing year, very stressful for all P6ers and especially the teachers. After so many years, I can say KCS has a very very good Maths and Science programme. Their Science papers are pretty rigorous.

[Abraham Ho]

Kopitiam:

Hi i am considering whether to register my child this year for P1 at Kheng Cheng. Can I know more information about the school - i know some good schools place emphasis on the top few classes in P5 and P6 only by assigning good teachers there. The rest are very much left on their own. On the other hand, i read in an earlier post from a parent of P1 child here that the homework is 'too basic' but that was few years back. Can parents with children at kheng cheng share more of how things are now? Is there an open house? Many thanks in advance.

Hello Kopitiam,

I was initially helping out at a student care near Kheng Cheng and we have 2 P1 students there. They seem to be doing fine. Just the other day I was testing a random student his multiplication timetable and the two P1 Kheng Cheng students were able to tell me the 7 x 8 very quickly.

However, based on the new MOE's direction, P1 and P2 are in the midst of adopting a holistic education:

1. They want to bring the joy back in learning
2. They want children to develop skills like critical thinking and deeper learning - hence the homework
3. many other changes that can be found on their moe website : https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/speeches/moe-fy-2017-committee-of-supply-debate-speech-by-minister-of-education-schools-ng-chee-meng

There is an open house for Kheng Cheng this June 3 from 830am if you are keen.

However, it sounds like you have a concern about basic homework. Any reason for that?


Cheers!

[love1001]

ilovelaksa:

There are students in the class writing 6-8 pages! I thought it was ridiculous cuz my older girl who does HMT in sec 3 then does not even write that much. Plus, how are they going to complete their essays during exams?!

Hi ilovelaksa, do you mean writing 6-8 sides or 6-8 pages? IMO, 6-8 pages is excessively long and may not be good either. An interesting story may turn boring and too long-winded... too torturing for the markers. My daughters' tutor say 3-6 sides is a reasonable length for PSLE.

[StressedBAY]

Dear parents,


Sorry to disturb, I stay in a 5 room flat at Toa Payoh Lor 7 (within 1km) of pei Chun. Looking to sell my unit, for parents interested in a house near Pei Chun, feel free to contact me at [email protected]

Thanks :lovesite:

[felicious47]

Hi, is Kheng Cheng a 1 session school?