2019 PSLE Discussions and Strategies (Children born in 2007)

[bluepencil]

My father could barely speak Chinese. My mom could speak Chinese but broken chinese. My chinese was poor in such an environment. And now the cycle continues to my girl. I guess I was not kiasu enough to send my girl for more tuition. She actually went for group tuition, but she did not improve. Now I am getting private tutor. I wonder if once a week is enough. Cos language is like an iceberg. It is not learnt quickly like say math - percentage for example. I guess what I want to say is that our kids can really struggle if the environment is not ideal for learning a language. In the end it is just learning for marks…

[Estéema]

For kids who need help with English main paper, please prepare your kids early. Language skills need time to master.


Academia has been strong in preparing students for main paper & very strong with Oral & DSA prep. Just rec'd their latest info (I don't suggest those doing this year's PSLE to attend as it'll surely put too much expectations & stress on yr child being so close to exams).

I just recall that Mr Sherman Tseng used to instruct us parents they're more keen to counsel & motivate kids abt what they want to achieve in life & how learning the English language well & speaking well in oral will help them in life rather than us parents look at grades as guide. I believe he's looking to spur the child & sparkle their interests to put in effort in their learning with a purpose rather then mopping in/out tuition. Happened for my child who initially hv not gel in as he joined in late in Aug of P5 when the P6s were prep ard this time of year. He didn't want to continue his lesson but we survived thro past Oct & he started enjoying learning with Sherman & his P6 CA1 scored showed immediate improvement (I still use sch grades coz I can't teach S&T well).

Hope parents help kids to persevere once they find a good educator & not give up too soon. But of course if it cuts into loosing interests bcoz no chemistry with teacher after a couple of months, then listen to your child. Make informed changes.

https://mailchi.mp/085613933c99/examination-preparation-our-way?e=bd3ebc1070

For English Composition, we found Writers@Work hv good methodologies. But maybe other parents hv better learning centres to recommend.

Hope kids going into P6 year in 2019 prepare well ahead.

[chenlaoshi]

bluepencil:

phtthp:

Hi chenlaoshi,


Thank you so much for your generosity, in sharing the intricate technique (as well as other exam information), in this forum.
Very much appreciated !

Would you by any chance during this year-end 2018 (November / December) school holiday : conducting any crash course for 2018 P5 students, in Chinese (Oral video answering format / Comprehension answering technqiue), for both Normal Chinese & Higher Chinese ?

Once again, Thank you, very much

This thread is very useful for down and out parents like me.
My girl is struggling with chinese comprehension. The teacher marks so strictly that almost every question is deduct marks for wrong copying (which I don't know how to ask her to improve as she is weak in chinese and flipping up and down between passage and questions, she loses focus and copy wrongly). Or if not it is no marks as the question is those opinion type ones which require strong chinese ability (and she has a lot of weak sentences construction - by the way I find that these days schools do not do as much sentence construction 造句 too, hence my girl is weaker than ever).
May I know if anyone is like me, how to improve??? where do we start? will doing more compre exercises work but what if the exam compre is a topic that my girl can't understand well?
These days the chinese comprehension passage is not too difficult. But the question requires so much thinking, reasoning, opinion, it's like the comprehension questions are out to catch you.
As you know many of us even parents have weak Chinese, why does the standard become so hard. my girl actually loved Chinese - she loves the school textbook stories sooooo much for example. I must admit that we do not read as much chinese story books as I myself happen to be stronger in English. But nowadays she says she hates Chinese, because every day is lots of red marks on the compre paper, compo paper. She certainly is a case of chinese interest killed by academics.

I will be if anyone can point us to any chinese compre tips. I have read 20 pages of this forum but have not found any yet. Thanks in advance

Hi bluepencil,

Feel free to drop me a pm with your contact for a quick chat / general assessment of your daughter's learning (no strings attached) so as to advise accordingly & appropriately.

[ammonite]

To be honest, though my ds2’ chinese is not great and dh and ds1 don’t speak chinese, i never felt i could blame it on the environment because there are indian students who do really well in chinese with weekly tuition, religiously revising and using e-resources. Besides, the same environment meant that english is a breeze for him.

[ammonite]

Chenlaoshi’s sharing is very good. Thank you, laoshi!

[phtthp]

last week, in some schools : 2018 P5 SA2 Oral (English / Mother Tongue) and Composition (zuowen) Paper 1 … already started

[sembgal]

phtthp:

last week, in some schools : 2018 P5 SA2 Oral (English / Mother Tongue) and Composition (zuowen) Paper 1 ... already started

Can you share the topics ?

[Dino]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/exams-assessments-mid-year-fewer-primary-secondary-schools-10767370


no mid year exams for sec 1 next year

[sweetbaby]

https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/-learn-for-life---preparing-our-students-to-excel-beyond-exam-results


Please refer to this link for more information on changes in Sg education landscape.

[phtthp]

Dino:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/exams-assessments-mid-year-fewer-primary-secondary-schools-10767370

a very Bad move, indeed !

for Psle : actually, P5 is the more crucial year.
P6 : just leave a few remaining Topics to cover, to teach. The rest of P6 are merely a revision of P5 + whatever
balance of P6 Topics, left un-covered.

Imagine now do away with P5 (CA1, SA1), as suggested by above report statement, published. So, now left with only P5 SA2 (2020 onwards), for current 2018 P3 students, born 2009, ie. the Pioneer batch of 2021 PSLE AL implementation students.

Without sitting for 2020 P5 (CA1 / SA1), since said do away with SA1 (mid-year exam) : P5 (parents students ) can get a rude shock, from their 2020 P5 SA2 results !

Furthermore, students depend on P5 SA2 results to apply for DSA in P6, to Secondary schools. Foolish to remove P5 SA1 exam ! Imagine if one do badly at P5 SA2, how to apply DSA ? You want to apply, also feel \"paiseh\", to submit lousy results to Secondary schools

If OYK want to remove P3 mid-year SA1 exam, it is perfectly all right to remove, because P3 : No (Zero) impact to DSA application, as

a)

P3 is still very far away from (P5 / P6), Upper primary, in terms of time-frame, and

b)

there is No streaming, at end of P3.
Students in (P3 & P4) remain inside the same class, until End of P4, where there is streaming to new P5 classes & choosing new subject combination. eg : streamed to those P5 classes, that offer Higher Chinese, vs. get streamed to Normal Chinese classes.

However, one really should not touch P5, as P5 is an even more important year ! Not advisable

should have consulted all P5 parents in schools for their opinion first, before announcing the move : is this really what we want ?

After all, who is sitting for PSLE ?
is the P6 students, themselves !
And, who are behind the scene, constantly providing silent moral support, & encouragement to the P6 students ? Is the parents, themselves ! Thus, ought to seek their opinion first

Do away with P3 SA1 (mid-year) or Sec 1 SA1 or Sec 3 SA1 : Fine, no objection !
Why ? Reason ?
Because (P3, Sec 1, Sec 3) : no streaming involved, so no (zero) impact.

But, Please do Not touch P5 (CA1 and SA1). There is a saying, \"Do not put all your eggs (investment), into one basket. Risky, in case you get burnt ! Should diversify into stocks (shares), bonds, etc. \"

example

say, a student did well in P5 SA1, but done badly at P5 SA2 : at least the P5 SA1 results can help to \"pull up\" (rescue) the overall P5 year-end results, right ?

Now, MOE new announcement : has put everything into one basket, \"the P5 SA2 results basket\"