2019 PSLE Discussions and Strategies (Children born in 2007)
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Homework is one area that MOE should step in and provide some guidance and ensure it is consistent across all schools. So far, my daughter’s school is the only one that remains the most chilled. My P4 and P5 are able to complete their homework within an hour. On certain days, they can complete within 30 to 45 min. Sometimes there isn’t any at all. My take is school can dish out a little more. In comparison, I always hear from friends that children (from the elite schools) have no time for play/ swim or watch TV. It is already a huge relief if they can complete all their schoolwork before 10pm. Frequently, sleep is compromised because of hw and in this growing up age, having sufficient hours of sleep is very important.
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love1001:
Homework is one area that MOE should step in and provide some guidance and ensure it is consistent across all schools. So far, my daughter's school is the only one that remains the most chilled. My P4 and P5 are able to complete their homework within an hour. On certain days, they can complete within 30 to 45 min. Sometimes there isn't any at all. My take is school can dish out a little more. In comparison, I always hear from friends that children (from the elite schools) have no time for play/ swim or watch TV. It is already a huge relief if they can complete all their schoolwork before 10pm. Frequently, sleep is compromised because of hw and in this growing up age, having sufficient hours of sleep is very important.
My kid is in one of the \"elite\" schools in B.Timah and I personally don't think that's true, as in overload of homework in p4 & p5. I think it has been very reasonable most of the time and it can be completed within an hour or so. Yes, in p6 this goes up exponentially ... not sure if it's the same in other schools, whether they're labeled elite or not but I gather it's for preparation of psle.
In fact, what I notice is that many kids are overloaded not because of school homework but more from their other activities, e.g. Tuition & the accompanying tuition homework, academic and non-academic enrichments and activities. -
I think it depends on the teachers. Teachers who give a lot of homework tend to be new (they are not sure which optional homework to give up), disorganised (go into panic mode and starts throwing out homework), teachers who feel pressure to produce results etc. Also what feels like an acceptable amount of homework will be much more for a child struggling with certain components. 15 problem sums is a breeze if you know how to do them all. It is an entire afternoon of struggle if you don’t know how to do them.
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As the hokkien sayings - "要拼才会赢”. Most of my friends’ children, nieces and nephew are from SHHK schools and the amount of homework I heard from them as well as personally seeing my niece doing, is really no joke. This is especially so in that 2 SHHK schools in the East (top classes). These schools consistently produce excellent PSLE results year after year so it is probably equilvalent to the amount of effort put in. In turn, teachers continue to dish out more and more work since these exceptionally smart and efficient students are able to complete them regardless of the amount anyway.
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sembgal:
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/no-homework-full-day-school-curriculum-help-level-playing-field-nmp-chia
What NMP Chia proposed is actually already happening now currently in many primary schools, so his proposal is nothing new, doesn't solve any problem.
example
At Uppper primary (P5 /P6), many of our children are already currently experiencing full-day-school scenario, due to (so many compulsory P5 / P6 Eng/ Maths/ Science supplementary lessons taking place, plus Cca activities, or some compulsory SYF (sg youth festival) guzheng / violin ensemble / choir practice (eg), plus Higher Chinese or Higher Mother Tongue supplementary lessons or High ability enrichment lessons going on, plus some compulsory Values-in-action school activities like visit Old-Folks-home (eg), plus other type of meetings like Prefect meetings (eg), etc), all taking place after school dismissed 1.45 pm in the afternoon, from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm timeslot, everyday daily 5 days per week, from Monday to Friday. Since end around 4.30 pm, by the time they reach home, is around 5.30 pm, time for dinner around 6 pm. It is close of the day in the late evening, child fully exhausted. After that, still got to do school homework, assigned by their individual subject Teachers at school. What's more, have to learn & practise weekly tingxie, moxie.
Because of this, during weekday very hard to have weekday tuition, so what happen ?
In the end, the Frequently-encountered tuition subjects for P5 / P6 students, being English compo or Chinese zuowen (eg) : often get pushed to the weekend on Sat and Sun. Some even receive tuition in all 4 subjects arranged by their parents, including English & Chinese (Paper 2), plus Maths, plus Science, on weekend.
This is how a typical time-table schedule is like, noted for many Upper primary students around us, particularly in those highly popular primary schools, if u observe carefully : stressful, because during weekday, they are occupied daily by compulsory school activities (as mentioned above), and when come weekend, they are again occupied by many academic tuition plus for some, non-academic tuition as well like attend piano, ballet, Art, swimming, enrichment, etc.
When come to academic tuition centre, for Chinese : get double whopping work load of another 2nd round of tingxie, moxie, over and above the 1st round of weekly tingxie, moxie, that had been assigned by school.
Everyday (from Mon to Fri), school subject Teachers already assigned school homework.
When go tuition centre, students also get assigned extra set of homework. How can Sg primary school students not be stressful, facing double load of homework assigned ? Already have a heavy load of hw, on their plate. As if not enough on their plate, some even get dished out a 3rd load of homework, assigned by their own parents : ie. doing P5/P6 assessment books, bought from Popular bookstore island-wide branches. -
The way I read the article, what NMP Chia suggested is that the kids use the afternoons in school to complete their homework. Then any extra time can be spent on enriching activities. To help lower-income families (who cannot afford tuition or educated caregivers to supervise afternoon homework) level up. Otherwise the disparity in academic skills between the haves and have-nots will just keep widening.
Actually, homework should be meaningful & have a purpose. In an ideal world, each child should have access to an educated adult who can help explain to the child if there’s any gap in understanding the syllabus (or how to tackle the more difficult exam questions).
I strongly disagree with the extra tingxie and moxie being dished out by Chinese tuition centers, especially if they are weeks ahead of the school syllabus. I don’t find it effective for my child to retain new vocab. In fact, I even disagree with the MOE schools themselves having regular spelling and tingxie. The marks don’t even matter, do they? MOE kindergarten doesn’t hold spelling tests. Why should the MOE primary schools hold spelling tests? It is not in the syllabus. IMO it just takes away the time that the child and parent could be spending together building bonds + other meaningful learning vs memorizing pat phrases which aren’t even liked by the essay markers nowadays.
Our children need to have a more efficient use of their time. First we add tuition when they aren’t even doing badly in school. Then the tuition centers add extra tests, tingxie and homework (run on a separate syllabus ahead of the schools). This is not efficient or wise use of the child’s time at all. -
Hi, does anyone know of a CL tuition centre that offers Oral & Compre combination? I have been sourcing around but could not find any.
Almost all centers that I know of offer only Oral + Compo or purely paper II. Otherwise, the taxing 3-hour class that not many kids can stay focus throughout.
I wonder why no Oral & Compre combi as I am very sure the demand is there. As feedback by DD1 CL teacher, most students are very weak in these 2 area.
Tuition centers are not fast enough to pick up the needs? -
love1001:
I would think it is more because it is 'bo hua' to them to create such a class. By splitting the classes, can earn our money twice mah. Likewise, a few years ago when I was looking for a Chinese compo + compre class, I could only found one centre below that has this combination; however when I called them, I was told compo and compre is done on alternate week basis still.Hi, does anyone know of a CL tuition centre that offers Oral & Compre combination? I have been sourcing around but could not find any.
Almost all centers that I know of offer only Oral + Compo or purely paper II. Otherwise, the taxing 3-hour class that not many kids can stay focus throughout.
I wonder why no Oral & Compre combi as I am very sure the demand is there. As feedback by DD1 CL teacher, most students are very weak in these 2 area.
Tuition centers are not fast enough to pick up the needs?
http://ci.ntu.edu.sg/eng/Programme/tcep/Programmes/Pages/Programmes-Detailed.aspx?event=047eab30-6537-4654-8524-e21cbbc934be -
Is it good to send kds to motivational camps at p5 or p6? Is it beneficial ? Any recommendations? I heard about adam khoo camp . Any comments? Tks
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