De La Salle

[buds]

Anna dear.. those are your preggie hormones talkin'.. :snuggles:


You are actually in fact on the upper edge being an
ex-primary school teacher and all. You are more
aware and versed in the requirements of the industry
as compared to other parents here...

SA1 is the 1st exam in your child's life which does not
necessarily say that he's not giving his best or that IS
a show of his actual potential.. you should already know
by now that it is a gauge that parents usually seek or
wish to know where their children stand in context of
understanding and application of what has been taught
and also a gauge of the school's general standard. With
this SA1 results, you can now have a feel of how DLS's
papers are roughly being set.. and perhaps u can use
the hols to work the kinks out on his weak areas and
also build up more on his strengths.

If there is another PTC before the school hols to discuss
with teachers based on the exam results, trash out your
doubts honestly with the teachers. Do take the time to
ask how you (as the parent) can help complement the
school's method of teaching... come to a concensus that
all you reali want is 2 ensure the joint effort & partnership
btwn the school & the parents will help your child grow in
character and also improve in the academic areas as well.

Take care, Anna.. your child needs your encouragement 2
move forward. It will take some work but i'm sure you can
work things out. I suggest you get hubby to help out with
the kiddies too yah.. mebbe you're tired and feeling over-
worked hence the stress is getting to you.

My heart's with you.. Anna. :hugs:
You're not alone here okie?

Please...take care. :love:

[Anna Ng]

Thanks for your advice. My son is not affected by the exam result at all and I did not scold him (just nag nag nag). As mentioned, I still yet to see the math paper yet, so not sure where the problems come from. I really would like to seek help how to teach him. Everyday, I got spend time for him to go through the homework and extra assessments. Before the exam I also let him practices some top school exam papers & let him use to the exam style, but the result show no use at all. I already put my best effort to him either soft or hard approach. I cannot imagine what will go on for the upper primary.

Yes, with KSP, i know i not alone.

[xxjustakidxx]

Anna Ng:

Thanks for your advice. My son is not affected by the exam result at all and I did not scold him (just nag nag nag). As mentioned, I still yet to see the math paper yet, so not sure where the problems come from. I really would like to seek help how to teach him. Everyday, I got spend time for him to go through the homework and extra assessments. Before the exam I also let him practices some top school exam papers & let him use to the exam style, but the result show no use at all. I already put my best effort to him either soft or hard approach. I cannot imagine what will go on for the upper primary.

Yes, with KSP, i know i not alone.

Relax! (I wasn't from de la salle, but I'm rather concerned)
I'm a sec 1 pupil from HCI, and I failed my P1 and P2 exams. ALL of them, with the exception of chinese. I, too, did top school exam papers, but that didn't help me at all - I didn't even understand the questions. Then, I gave up, and I started to build on my English, time passed by, and I started topping my school all along. So relax, there's nothing wrong. De la salle's a GOOD school.

[Anna Ng]

Dear xxjustakidxx:


You really cheer me up. I wish my son has a same attitude like you.
Yup, i also awared that to build on english is important. I will start to do it and believe it works. Life must go on, i will start to build up his foundation and believe that he will catch up soon. I must change my attitude too, run too fast does not mean good to the kid.

I wish you all the best.

[buds]

Anna Ng:

Thanks for your advice. My son is not affected by the exam result at all and I did not scold him (just nag nag nag).

:hugs: Most children at this age may not truly understand the effect of
exams or its importance. My DD2 still thinks some of them are normal
worksheets. All mommies nag don't we? :lol:

Anna Ng:

As mentioned, I still yet to see the math paper yet, so not sure where the problems come from. I really would like to seek help how to teach him.

Guess the initial news of him not doing well broke your spirit and
your heart too, what more after a tiring day at work to boot.

Anna Ng:

Everyday, I got spend time for him to go through the homework and extra assessments. Before the exam I also let him practices some top school exam papers & let him use to the exam style, but the result show no use at all. I already put my best effort to him either soft or hard approach.

All children are built differently. That said, i know not all children can take
those top school exam papers.. cos it is too difficult for them.

One girl i know simply guess her way through each time her mom gives her
one to do each day, topped up by what the student care gets her to do.
She feels very stressed that she always gets 20 - 30 marks for the papers.
She began to lose confidence and just wants to give up. Her mom took her
out of student care, donated the top school papers she still had left and
bought her simpler ones... manageable ones (she reckons) from popular
bookshop that she thought may not be too hard for her girl to do. Still exam
format. Still use same time frame for exam sitting. Still gets work done. But
the girl slowly picked up the idea..

She can now do exam papers from top schools given by her tutor with less
feelings of stress and the feeling that she will fail again. While she is no top
student in the class.. she has stopped failing and have gotten a few awards
for best improvement. Her mom is really happy with the effort she put in and
the effort she made to understand her daughter's strengths weaknesses and
what can make her tick. Her mom had to sacrifice working less hours with
pay cut to ensure her daughter does not get lost in the paper chase. So far
it had been worth the cut. Her daughter will undergo PSLE next year.. her
mom began to understand & lower her expectations cos she saw no matter
how hard her girl tried, she is always at mediocre standard... and her girl did
reali try. She is happy as long as the girl is happy and not put off by school,
class work and exams. She is willing to accept that her daughter is never
going to be a Band 1 kid. But just recently we heard she managed a Band 1
for Maths. Late bloomer maybe? But we know her mom's effort to truly
understand her girl's real potential has shown results. Different children work
differently.. :snuggles:

Anna Ng:

I cannot imagine what will go on for the upper primary.

Dun worry unduly of intangible things, like you said.. work on the foundation
first. Then see how he picks up from there. We always worry about a child's
future but sometimes we forget to see him as a child..... our child..... today.

Anna Ng:

Yes, with KSP, i know i not alone.

Good.. :hugs: All of us in KSP oso know that Maths papers aren't like what
it used to be. The Maths papers now are also language test papers.. twist
her twist there.. twist everywhere.

Hope you are feeling much better today, Anna.

[Anna Ng]

I feel much better now. As mentioned, my son did not affected by the exam result at all, his happy face and a kiss from him has cheered me up.

Anyway, I still need to find out why he did badly for this exam. All along he can handle the top school exam papers and also the mock exam given before the actual exam date.

Dear Buds: Really appreciated your posting.

[buds]

Good to know you are feeling better Anna.


Wah your boy can do top schools papers
very well.. :salute: Honestly, mine can oni
manage few. Can get pretty discouraging
really if she really cannot do. P1 still can..
but P3 now.. a bit challenging. Plus i do
find that some top sch papers do not
really complement her own school's way
of testing. So for me, sometimes no point
if can or cannot do other schools' papers..
But that's just me. Important is foundation
and first ensure that she can understand
what has been learnt in school & be able
to apply it to handle her own school's paper.
Having said that; in P1 & P2.. DD1 was still
quite ok with the top sch papers. Only now
P3, need to go easy a bit on her.. Anyway,
i'm just sharing la.. different parents will hv
different expectations for their children.. &
so for mine, i'm happy she still enjoys going
to school. Only thing is, i wished she had a
better teacher this year la.. instead of this
lousy bo chap prehistoric rote style highly
uninspiring one that has been assigned to
the class this year.

We have to re-teach everything!

[Anna Ng]

Yes, he can handle the top school exam papers - math and this is why i so puzzled how come he did badly in his SA1. I’ve wrote to his teacher and being told that the paper will only be return this week. So, just wait and see what are the problems. I suspect he did not show the working (what he normally lazy to do so). Meanwhile, i think i will slow down a bit and have to make sure he understands the concept and also good advice from xxjustakidxx, to build up his english foundation. This is more headache, as we are not from english speaking family. (again, the english teacher commented that my son got no problem in English and she not even aware that he not from english speaking family, i hope i won be cheated AGAIN) Any ideas how to deal with this?

[mvelle09]

Hi Anna,


Understand your feeling as my dd didn’t do well in MT and Shocked me as well. But nvm it is only thru the exams I got to understand her level & weakness. I will put in more efforts in building up her basic foundation for MT. Actually maths can practise, MT dun know how to practise leh?? No choice, just have to do it !!!

Just to share, when my dd works on her maths worksheets or h/w. i normally leave it to her 100%. When she hits problem, she will approachs me then we will work together to make her understand the concepts. After she has understand the concept of that problem, I will create another 3-5 questions with the similiar concept to confirm her undestanding. I feel that they may not be able to think properly if we are there to distract them and you can’t really gauge whether they truely understand the concepts if you are helping them. So far, it works quite well for me. :!: :!:

[Anna Ng]

Dear mvelle 09: Thanks for your sharing. I am using a different approach. Normally I will sit beside him, if leave him alone, he will forever cannot finish the work as he is very playful and cannot focus furthermore the sister will tend to disturb him as well. Appreciated your sharing, I will try this way and maybe this is a good way for him.