2018 PSLE Discussions & Strategies (Born in 2006)

[private]

Was at Academia 3 weeks ago to check out this tuition Centre for my p4.


Pros:
- Standard and materials very similar to TLL but tuition fee is only about 60% of what TLL is charging
- Qualified and experienced tutors and their profiles are published on its website (very few tuition centres do that, maybe turnover is too high or not so qualified tutors so better not share)

Cons:
- Class size is very huge, more than 15 students in the class
- classroom at ulu Thomson V Two basement is horrible. open concept and kids kaypo and keep looking outside when people walk past. very distracting! quite Jia lat! for girls, I am not even sure if it’s safe to go toilet on their own!
- does but show the number of students who got A*, unlike the CL tuition Centre also at Thomson V2 (level 1) that openly show photos and names of all students who obtained A*.

Admin is located at another building, Sin Ming Plaza, adjacent to Thomson V-Two. Though very small and cramp (I one fat man stand there already blocking the whole entrance), at least that 2-3 classrooms look more decent than the 1 at ulu Thomson V-Two!

While checking out the materials there, I overheard a mother reminding her son to show teacher his SA1 papers and asked teacher why before joining Academia, he could get at least 34-35 for compo but now after joining for almost a year, always get below 30?! Crazy lah, I would have confronted the tutor on my own, check where gone wrong. :slapshead: Why get the son to ask. The blackface Mum also said should have just stayed at “GIE”. Not sure what tuition place is that.

If compare between TLL and Academia, I will opt for TLL.

[Rainnie33]

Private,


Yes what u’ve mentioned is correct!
By expanding their classes, they shifted the upper primary class to the ulu Thomson V basement ! That place is horrible ! It is so troublesome to walk over from the Sin Ming Plaza to Thomson V and I find that it is very unfair for the upper primary to be shifted there.

Upon registration if we knew that the lesson will be conducted at the other building then I will never choose it in the first place.

Also, this tuition centre has been over rated in this forum.

[phtthp]

Private,


"GIE" mentioned by that black-faced mom means "Gifted in English". It is one of those enrichment classes, conducted at Learning Point tuition centre.

[private]

I see! I was wondering why parents are ok with that ulu Thomson v-two classroom. Didn’t know the other side of the story. The sight of that classroom put me off totally. It is suitable for beauty/ hair salon but definitely not a tuition class!

[Bochapmum3]

I believe for primary level, there are only 2 main teachers at Academia, who are also the owners, so good thing is you know the teacher won’t anyhow change. But overall if can get a good teacher at TLL, I would have preferred to stay on at TLL. But since the teacher at TLL was hopeless, I am giving Academia a try. I find that most of the work is self-marked? Hardly any red ink, all green corrections done by the child. Standard wise, I feel if even more challenging than TLL. But I do not think more challenging means better. Easy to set challenging questions, difficult part is teaching how to tackle them.


For TLL, really depends on the teacher. For the other subject at TLL, we are lucky to get a good teacher which I don’t have to keep track of whether worksheets are returned, corrections done etc etc… everything v systematic.

[Estéema]

phtthp:

Estéema:

Just read news fr Academia that they now do annotation skills. You can call & check out with them.

Thank you for info, Esteema.

Had just contacted Academia. They said they combined Composition (Paper 1) and Paper 2, together.

eg

Inside one month of 4 lessons, conducted on a weekly, regular basis: they alternate between Paper 1 (compo) and Paper 2. That means only 2 out of 4 lessons :
will be on Comprehension. This is far too little exposure, insufficient practice, on OE Compreh. I asked further, \"Do you then open class just on Paper 2 alone, without tagging any Composition part along ? \" The Officer-in-charge on the phone replied , \"No. Our English tuition always combine with Composition, Paper 1.\"

Once again, nevertheless, Thank you very much for kind info, Esteema. But Academia centre doesn't meet my need.

Hey phtthp,

Did you enquire for Sherman Tseng or speak with him directly?

DC did one year with W@W, so had horned writing skills very well.

2017 was a good year at Academia, tho class gradually grew big, Sherman Tseng was able to spot weakness of each child for whichever element of English he teaches & guide each child well.

I do not vouch for other teachers in the centre. I only go for Sherman Tseng for DC bcoz I attended his parent talk in 2016 & tried to get his class as I know he was ex-HOD of Ai Tong. After 1 year with Sherman Tseng & recommended neighbors, niece & DC's many peers, he had never disappointed as he coached them all very effectively. In fact, only in June, one KSP mum managed to register for DSA & Oral practice class & shared how her son enjoyed learning esp the video interview part as I had described earlier.

One mum (my PRC neighbor) was initially worried her girl wld not benefit coz there was usually no hmwk, but thankfully her DD enjoyed learning in ST's lessons & told her mum she learnt correct techniques & stood well ST's coaching on her weak areas. Now she's in NYGH with T-score 269 and A* for English. Btw, ST is effectively bilingual himself.

Didn't know they've added venue. I know two KSP mum hoping for Academia to start classes in the East but they've decided not to dilute their efforts & worried abt stds too. Wonder why they moved to Thomson V, when 华艺学院 is able to secure space a few steps away in same bldg. :?

Just some notes :-

1. Academia hv a curriculum writer who originally writes all TLL curriculum, so maybe the resemblance of materials but I know ST had been doing a lot of content input & is very nurturing to local writers.

2. Fees are much less than TLL definitely and in my contact with both partners (much less with Johaan Loh as I spoke to him only once) are more passionate about helping the young to learn the English craft, and they're not businessmen per se.

[Bochapmum3]

Hi Esteema


From your experience, are most compositions done in class or at home? I would have preferred if the work is completed in the class, but seems like they usually just start to write one or two paragraphs in class and the rest of the compo needs to be completed at home.

Does the teacher mark the work first, then kids do corrections? Or kids just do, then teacher go through the answers after they are done?

[love1001]

Rainnie3, phtthp, private and bochapmum3, thank you for sharing about Academia. In fact, I am also kind of keen to send my girls there. Esteema is very kind to share so much feedback but I feel I should not use her son as a benchmark. From the few post that I read, I gathered that her child is an extremely bright boy so for this group of students, no matter which tuition place they are enrolled in, they will still do exceedingly well.


At least now, I am able to get a more balance view from the other parents. I fully agree that if we are able to get good EL teachers at TLL, actually TLL English is good. Academia standard is very high. I saw the P4/P5 materials, the content and vocab is certainly as tough as TLL. Do our 12-year old really need to learn such challenging stuff to do well in PSLE?

If students were to mark their own work, how do teachers know about their weakness and if they are following well in class? This is one concern for me. On top of that, I prefer a single EL tuition place that can teach both paper 1 and 2 well. It will be too tiring for my girls to have separate 2hr tuition for compo. There are so many tuition places yet so tough to narrow down to a single place that can help upper primary students ace in all area.

[Bochapmum3]

love1001:

Rainnie3, phtthp, private and bochapmum3, thank you for sharing about Academia. In fact, I am also kind of keen to send my girls there. Esteema is very kind to share so much feedback but I feel I should not use her son as a benchmark. From the few post that I read, I gathered that her child is an extremely bright boy so for this group of students, no matter which tuition place they are enrolled in, they will still do exceedingly well.


At least now, I am able to get a more balance view from the other parents. I fully agree that if we are able to get good EL teachers at TLL, actually TLL English is good. Academia standard is very high. I saw the P4/P5 materials, the content and vocab is certainly as tough as TLL. Do our 12-year old really need to learn such challenging stuff to do well in PSLE?

If students were to mark their own work, how do teachers know about their weakness and if they are following well in class? This is one concern for me. On top of that, I prefer a single EL tuition place that can teach both paper 1 and 2 well. It will be too tiring for my girls to have separate 2hr tuition for compo. There are so many tuition places yet so tough to narrow down to a single place that can help upper primary students ace in all area.

I agree for those kids who are attentive, on auto mode, do markings and correction conscientiously, they will do well even if the teacher is not very on type. My DC is far from that and needs someone to hound over him to hand in homework, do corrections etc. For self-mark, honestly, I don’t know how accurate his own marking is. For handing in of tuition homework, sometimes the teacher of some centres (not necessarily referring to Academia) don’t chase and my DC also don’t hand in. I also feel paiseh if everytime needs to ask the teacher to remind him to hand in his HW.

[laughingcat]

Bochapmum3, can share what level is your DC? Because contrary to what I have heard and seen. Maybe different level different takes.


Would like to hear more if I were to consider for my younger DC.