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

[Pen88n]

CJS:

Zhen shi qi shi wo !


My two older children suffered and struggled in their CL because we have an English speaking environment at home. To avoid this heartache during PSLE, we speak Mandarin to our youngest child since young so that we can avoid the problems we have with her older siblings. In fact, she is so much stronger in the CL subject than her other subjects because her EL is weaker due to home environment now. And now, government says to lower weightage. :x :stupid:

MOE will change policy as and when they \"feel the need\". I think as parents we need to feedback on the policy objectively. Having said that, if MOE still insist in having a lower weightage for Chinese in PSLE, it will still be implemented amidst all the objections.

However, we as parents should take a long term view of education, and not be so short term as to see learning Chinese (or any subjects for that matter) as only to satisfy PSLE, \"O\" or \"A\" Level. Education is preparing the kids for the future world, not just to pass / excel in exams. It's good if they can excel, but if you look long term and not be too tied down by the marks, your kids will benefit from the bilingual exposure you have provided.

Some parents will be too concerned about MOE's direction and do all things to \"strategise\" / \"maximise\" the kid's score for PSLE / major exams. By doing so, they are putting their kids at a disadvantage in the future world of tomorrow where competition is global and not only tied to the cohort of the year. Regardless of MOE's policy, the ultimate education your kid will receive will also be dependent on your own emphasis.

[Trina]

daisyt:

sunflower:

Actually, learning Chinese is not very difficult, provided we're immersed in the environment that requires us to use Chinese daily. Unfortunately, with the high standards of English that are required of us, and the fact that we don't really need to use the language constantly in our daily life, most placed emphasis on English and neglected Chinese, thus resulting in the deterioration of Chinese standards in our children.

Agree. Morever, we are not in a pure ang mo environment. In Singapore, we have many Chinese radio stations, many Chinese programes, many easy assessable Chinese books, many peoples around us speak Mandarin. Even an eye specialist I know of, starts to speak Mandarin with me.

If one read an English story book a week, is he reading a Chinese story book a week too? If one watch 2 hours of English programes on TV or in cinema, is he doing the same to Chinese? If one study English literature, is he doing the same to Chinese literature? If one is reading English newspaper daily, is he doing the same on Chinese newspaper? If one converse English at home every day, did he every think of converse in full Mandarin the following day? Its a matter of how much effort is put in.

Someone told me, I don't know how true is it. Since young, our PM had to read Malay newspaper aloud to his dad everyday.

I am in total agreement with daisyt. Have been following this discussion thread for sometime now and seems to me that most arguments for lowering the Chinese weightage is to ease the children's struggle with Chinese so that they can focus more on the other subjects or not to \"kill\" their interest in Chinese. I would have thought that lowering weightage = less emphasis on Chinese which in turn = less interest in Chinese and even more of a struggle in secondary school.

My personal thoughts is that we should try to address the root of the problem rather than take the easy way out. Like many parents had pointed out, if children are given more exposure to Chinese when young, it is more likely for them to like the language and more receptive to the teaching. I feel that the government can help foster the right environment by taking certain measures e.g. producing more quality children programmes in Chinese, help bring in more Chinese storybooks and conduct family activities in Chinese. Don't you feel that it is not easy to find good quality Chinese DVDs and story books for the kids? English comes naturally to most kids as the cartoons, books, comics etc are usually in English. We need more materials to cultivate the interest in Chinese language.

Like most families, we also speak mostly English at home and my DD declared that she was not Chinese at age 3. We then took pains to expose her to Chinese language by speaking it frequently, sourced diligently for good and interersting Chinese story books and switched to watching Mandarin shows. Thankfully our efforts paid off and she is now very comfortable and fluent in the language. There was one incident where I suggested to a angmo pai colleague that she should let her kid watch Korean shows (dubbed in Mandarin) for the language exposure and she was aghasted at letting her kid watch such \"crappy\" show. I was like :stupid:

Last thing, how come nobody complain that English is tough? Even at P1, kids are supposed to use words like \"petrified\" and \"overcast\" on top of having a knowledge of idioms. This is definitely way above what we did when we were in school but nobody ever suggested lowering the weightage/standard. ......

[sakura_2009]

Trina:

daisyt:

[quote=\"sunflower\"]Actually, learning Chinese is not very difficult, provided we're immersed in the environment that requires us to use Chinese daily. Unfortunately, with the high standards of English that are required of us, and the fact that we don't really need to use the language constantly in our daily life, most placed emphasis on English and neglected Chinese, thus resulting in the deterioration of Chinese standards in our children.

Agree. Morever, we are not in a pure ang mo environment. In Singapore, we have many Chinese radio stations, many Chinese programes, many easy assessable Chinese books, many peoples around us speak Mandarin. Even an eye specialist I know of, starts to speak Mandarin with me.

If one read an English story book a week, is he reading a Chinese story book a week too? If one watch 2 hours of English programes on TV or in cinema, is he doing the same to Chinese? If one study English literature, is he doing the same to Chinese literature? If one is reading English newspaper daily, is he doing the same on Chinese newspaper? If one converse English at home every day, did he every think of converse in full Mandarin the following day? Its a matter of how much effort is put in.

Someone told me, I don't know how true is it. Since young, our PM had to read Malay newspaper aloud to his dad everyday.

I am in total agreement with daisyt. Have been following this discussion thread for sometime now and seems to me that most arguments for lowering the Chinese weightage is to ease the children's struggle with Chinese so that they can focus more on the other subjects or not to \"kill\" their interest in Chinese. I would have thought that lowering weightage = less emphasis on Chinese which in turn = less interest in Chinese and even more of a struggle in secondary school.

My personal thoughts is that we should try to address the root of the problem rather than take the easy way out. Like many parents had pointed out, if children are given more exposure to Chinese when young, it is more likely for them to like the language and more receptive to the teaching. I feel that the government can help foster the right environment by taking certain measures e.g. producing more quality children programmes in Chinese, help bring in more Chinese storybooks and conduct family activities in Chinese. Don't you feel that it is not easy to find good quality Chinese DVDs and story books for the kids? English comes naturally to most kids as the cartoons, books, comics etc are usually in English. We need more materials to cultivate the interest in Chinese language.

Like most families, we also speak mostly English at home and my DD declared that she was not Chinese at age 3. We then took pains to expose her to Chinese language by speaking it frequently, sourced diligently for good and interersting Chinese story books and switched to watching Mandarin shows. Thankfully our efforts paid off and she is now very comfortable and fluent in the language. There was one incident where I suggested to a angmo pai colleague that she should let her kid watch Korean shows (dubbed in Mandarin) for the language exposure and she was aghasted at letting her kid watch such \"crappy\" show. I was like :stupid:

Last thing, how come nobody complain that English is tough? Even at P1, kids are supposed to use words like \"petrified\" and \"overcast\" on top of having a knowledge of idioms. This is definitely way above what we did when we were in school but nobody ever suggested lowering the weightage/standard. ......[/quote]Think cannot lower the standard of English...you need English too for Maths and Science...and if you have seen the way the questions are phrased for Maths and Science, you will understand why English has to be taught at a much 'higher' level than yester-years....

[jedamum]

Pen88n:

Some parents will be too concerned about MOE's direction and do all things to \"strategise\" / \"maximise\" the kid's score for PSLE / major exams.

i also tend to agree that this intention is already somewhat cast in stone. for the least, i hope that MOE can give a lead time for change (eg 3 to 5 yrs), so that those who opt to 're-strategise' their kids' score for PSLE have the time to do so (eg, those not good in MT can then opt out of MT tuition and spendmore time on E/M/S enrichment, or those strong in MT, can now opt to focus more on E/M/S which has higher weightage).
now i wonder how MT teachers will have the motivation to make class more interesting now that the weightage has been reduced; to put in more effort to make it more interesting, yet give less credit/emphasis on the subject? how to feel motivated to teach?

[rains]

ksi:

Rains, I have to disagree here in an amicable way.

They are indeed different indeed, yester-years kids and now. Now, better nutrition, better-educated parents, different environment (I hesitated on using better when I think of the Earth issues), better learning facilities, better affluence...... in fact the better list goes on....

BUT also because of all the BETTERS there is only ONE thing I don't think they are better and that accounts for a LARGE part of learning, TIME! :lol:

Thanks for the amicable disagreement.

I used to think that children nowadays have better educated parents until I become in touch with the reality when I went into the education field. There are many schools with parents who are not educated, or minimally educated and kids receive nil support at home. They don't even go to kindergartens and only start their real education at P1. So these kids really have zero knowledge at P1. It's very tempting to say that these are the minority, but they really are not. These kids are destined to go Normal stream at secondary schools, and usually, these kids are better at their MT, so now, they are further disadvantaged.

I was thinking about the 'roots' that you people are talking about. And I was wondering what 'roots' you're talking about.

We used to have Chinese-medium schools until the gahmen decided to phase them out, to be more English-focused.

Singapore had an edge over her neighbours becos of the proficiency in English. She was able to progress thus far, also becos of English. And English is the main communication language becos of the diverse population. Isn't these part of your roots?

If you're talking about Chinese roots, how many of us really come from China? I used to be stupidly proud of my Chinese 'roots', until I had first-hand experiences with the real mainland Chinese. They half-coned, half-frightened me into parting with a $10 note and still had the cheek to ask,\"这么少啊？\" I was flabbergasted and disillusioned about how ugly 'real' Chinese were.

From then on, I stopped using the word 'roots' becos my roots are found in Singapore, not in China, even though my grandparents are from China.

[corneyAmber]

rains:

I used to think that children nowadays have better educated parents until I become in touch with the reality when I went into the education field. There are many schools with parents who are not educated, or minimally educated and kids receive nil support at home. They don't even go to kindergartens and only start their real education at P1. So these kids really have zero knowledge at P1. It's very tempting to say that these are the minority, but they really are not. These kids are destined to go Normal stream at secondary schools, and usually, these kids are better at their MT, so now, they are further disadvantaged..

Good point, if they are the majority, why is the move taken to benefit the minority? I daresay my child belongs to the minority category because her English is even more powerful than mine at the same age. :lol: I am certain my child will stand to benefit from this change if it happens, but my learning journey tells me that this is a big mistake, a gravely major mistake.

[vlim]

jedamum:

Pen88n:

Some parents will be too concerned about MOE's direction and do all things to \"strategise\" / \"maximise\" the kid's score for PSLE / major exams.

i also tend to agree that this intention is already somewhat cast in stone. for the least, i hope that MOE can give a lead time for change (eg 3 to 5 yrs), so that those who opt to 're-strategise' their kids' score for PSLE have the time to do so (eg, those not good in MT can then opt out of MT tuition and spendmore time on E/M/S enrichment, or those strong in MT, can now opt to focus more on E/M/S which has higher weightage).
now i wonder how MT teachers will have the motivation to make class more interesting now that the weightage has been reduced; to put in more effort to make it more interesting, yet give less credit/emphasis on the subject? how to feel motivated to teach?

but though the weightage reduce but every marks still count right???...so kids still have to put in effort to learn the subject...if the kid don't put in effort he/she will still loose out to those who put in effort to learn the subject .... so at the end of it those who is good in mt still will benefit right :?

[Donkey Kong]

The real test comes when you work... :idea:


Remember donkey years back, boss gave us a stack of contract doc. in chinese and asked us to produce one in english the next day.

Many of us had problems. I have been reading chinese daily, so no problem for me. But, I kenna blanket party..... :stupid:

Chinese good also got problem? :x

[corneyAmber]

rains:

I was thinking about the 'roots' that you people are talking about. And I was wondering what 'roots' you're talking about.

We used to have Chinese-medium schools until the gahmen decided to phase them out, to be more English-focused.

Singapore had an edge over her neighbours becos of the proficiency in English. She was able to progress thus far, also becos of English. And English is the main communication language becos of the diverse population. Isn't these part of your roots?

If you're talking about Chinese roots, how many of us really come from China? I used to be stupidly proud of my Chinese 'roots', until I had first-hand experiences with the real mainland Chinese. They half-coned, half-frightened me into parting with a $10 note and still had the cheek to ask,\"这么少啊？\" I was flabbergasted and disillusioned about how ugly 'real' Chinese were.

From then on, I stopped using the word 'roots' becos my roots are found in Singapore, not in China, even though my grandparents are from China.

As for roots, just like we should never judge Jesus based on Christians' behaviour, I will not judge our Chinese heritage based on some uncouth mainland Chinese' behaviour. People are people, not infallible unfortunately.

[vlim]

Donkey Kong:

The real test comes when you work... :idea:


Remember donkey years back, boss gave us a stack of contract doc. in chinese and asked us to produce one in english the next day.

Many of us had problems. I have been reading chinese daily, so no problem for me. But, I kenna blanket party..... :stupid:

Chinese good also got problem? :x

this reminds me of something which my brother told me. During a dinner with his colleagues, he told them that he eat prawn heads (of course the body he also eat la)...so end up his colleagues past him all the prawn heads to eat but not the body :stupid: :stupid: :stupid: