2018 PSLE Discussions & Strategies (Born in 2006)

[MerlionInGermany]

zac's mum:

sky minecrafter:

[quote]It's not true that SAP school doesn't have non-Chinese race. There are quite a lot of students with mixed-parentage or Eurasians in SAP schools.

Yes, every batch, I seem to see an Indian, Caucasian... child, studying Higher Chinese. In fact, my child's Indochinese classmate writes Chinese characters better than us.

我是指马来人还有印度泰米尔人。拥有特别辅助计划的学校没有这群人吧。[/quote]My kid’s SAP school has the above. They take HCL.

For the other point raised earlier...our top students are locals.

[hercules]

floppy:

It's not true that SAP school doesn't have non-Chinese race. There are quite a lot of students with mixed-parentage or Eurasians in SAP schools.

Also, don't 长他人志气，灭自己威风. The Chinese standard of some of our Singaporean Chinese kids in SAP schools can and will surprise you.

Not so much of 长他人志气，灭自己威风, but I would think of the local Chinese probably got the highest grade via tuition while the real 'Chinese Chinese' don't usually attend Chinese tuition. Exams as we know require 'technique' to score points (personally I didn't follow any 'patterns' in composition writing during my school days and would just write 'naturally' and so such 'naturally' might lose some points if the marker must die die follow a fixed pattern in marking).

In my recent survey, I gathered that it is not difficult to get an A for PSLE Chinese (even my son who is so weak in Chinese also managed an A via last minute 死背 and this gave me some 'hope' in coaching my grand niece to at least get a B) but not easy to get an A+ (I only know 1 A+ among about 12 kids). Also only one distinction (or A+) among them for HCL.

Also not easy to get an A for O level Chinese (I know of only 2 As) and only one distinction for HCL. Usually the grade is about B3 (these kids whom I know were mostly single digit L1R5 students).

So far all the kids (incl mine) whom I know can't hold a proper Mandarin conversation and have forgotten most of the Chinese characters after their uni (my daughter is still reading Chinese novels currently but she can't make it in her Mandarin speaking too coz so lacking in practice). I actually tested some of them Sec 2 text and they smiling sheepishly at me:


https://i.postimg.cc/zGVn1tGv/S2.jpg\">


That's the sad part about learning Chinese language in Singapore with most kids don't really appreciate the language itself though some managed to ace or 'star' it.

[phtthp]

zac's mum:

我是指马来人还有印度泰米尔人。拥有特别辅助计划的学校没有这群人吧。

have lah !

My kiddo's SAP school classmates are Indian children, Caucasian children studying both Normal Chinese and Higher Chinese, too.

Both parents are Indians

[sky minecrafter]

[quote]local Chinese probably got the highest grade via tuition while the real 'Chinese Chinese' don't usually attend Chinese tuition[/quote]
Facts as of Y2018: 1) A (lower primary) classmate (parents born in China) goes to 2 Chinese tuition/enrichment centres, on top of parental coaching at home 2) Another classmate (parents born in China) also goes to a Chinese tuition/enrichment centre

[normal_pace]

zac's mum:

If she is not from a SAP primary school, and she chooses a SAP secondary school, be prepared there may be some culture shock.


There are many reasons why some people choose SAP schools. Let me lay it out bluntly here:

- don’t want or don’t like to mix with non-Chinese races

- the school will incoporate a fair amount of Chinese cultural events & inculcation of traditional Chinese values in their morning assembly and other school events. Parents may like this intangible impartation which cannot be easily replicated or procured via paid external enrichment courses

- nowadays the kids all prefer to speak English with each other. Even those whose parents are from PRC or Taiwan, they may “hide” their origin by speaking Singlish quite fluently. But when it comes to HCL compos and Oral exams etc, their HCL language skills are far superior to 3rd-4th-5th generation Singaporean Chinese kids because their parents still converse in perfect Mandarin regularly at home with them. Bear in mind your child’s compo etc will be marked in comparison with their standard.

So...Is SAP school still attractive to you?

Yes, DD is from a SAP primary school. Having said that, we are open to consider non-SAP schools. On the points mentioned,
Nope, she doesn't have a tendency to refrain from mixing with non-Chinese races but we don't know how long that can last. If she heads for a SAP secondary school, then contact with non-Chinese races will be limited. I am not saying which is better. Perhaps you 'win' some, you 'lose' some. At the same time, we cannot be sure SAP schools are doing enough to ensure a certain standard of Chinese.
MOE's written guidelines for Chinese as a 3rd language require the students to speak reasonably well. Now, we would envisage that the requirements for HCl be higher than Chinese as a 3rd language, but I did not see this spelt out.
Also in many homes I know, Indians speak Tamil/ English, Malays speak Malay/ English and Chinese speak predominantly English (?)
Our experience is a language is spoken '80%' and written '20%' of the time. This seem to imply that if a student wants to keep his/ her HCl (or bilingualism) alive, he/ she has to make a conscious effort to speak the language. Else, it's just another checkbox to clear for exemption of the language after O levels.
Then there's the other hurdle to overcome - the school. Our current system places an emphasis on paper qualifications for Chinese teachers, even though their pronunciations can be way off the mark. Imagine Chinese teachers and enrichment teachers who cannot even get their pronunciations right, teaching classes day in day out.

[peasants]

hercules:

floppy:

It's not true that SAP school doesn't have non-Chinese race. There are quite a lot of students with mixed-parentage or Eurasians in SAP schools.

Also, don't 长他人志气，灭自己威风. The Chinese standard of some of our Singaporean Chinese kids in SAP schools can and will surprise you.

Not so much of 长他人志气，灭自己威风, but I would think of the local Chinese probably got the highest grade via tuition while the real 'Chinese Chinese' don't usually attend Chinese tuition. Exams as we know require 'technique' to score points (personally I didn't follow any 'patterns' in composition writing during my school days and would just write 'naturally' and so such 'naturally' might lose some points if the marker must die die follow a fixed pattern in marking).

In my recent survey, I gathered that it is not difficult to get an A for PSLE Chinese (even my son who is so weak in Chinese also managed an A via last minute 死背 and this gave me some 'hope' in coaching my grand niece to at least get a B) but not easy to get an A+ (I only know 1 A+ among about 12 kids). Also only one distinction (or A+) among them for HCL.

Also not easy to get an A for O level Chinese (I know of only 2 As) and only one distinction for HCL. Usually the grade is about B3 (these kids whom I know were mostly single digit L1R5 students).

So far all the kids (incl mine) whom I know can't hold a proper Mandarin conversation and have forgotten most of the Chinese characters after their uni (my daughter is still reading Chinese novels currently but she can't make it in her Mandarin speaking too coz so lacking in practice). I actually tested some of them Sec 2 text and they smiling sheepishly at me:


https://i.postimg.cc/zGVn1tGv/S2.jpg\">


That's the sad part about learning Chinese language in Singapore with most kids don't really appreciate the language itself though some managed to ace or 'star' it.

PSLE grading is going by across nation wide range. DD primary school top in Chinese is going by prelim RAW results. She is a local. Plus, I never believe in tuition for languages, especially at this internet age and popular book store.

[floppy]

hercules:

...
So far all the kids (incl mine) whom I know can't hold a proper Mandarin conversation and have forgotten most of the Chinese characters after their uni (my daughter is still reading Chinese novels currently but she can't make it in her Mandarin speaking too coz so lacking in practice). I actually tested some of them Sec 2 text and they smiling sheepishly at me:
...
https://i.postimg.cc/zGVn1tGv/S2.jpg\">
...
.

For the sec 2 text in Chapter 16, 杜牧的“清明” and 王之涣的“登鹤雀楼” should be familiar to quite a number of primary school students. Coincidentally, my kid is (trying) reading this:

https://i.postimg.cc/mD6b1Jjx/F804-CA5-A-7174-4-D46-8-F0-A-6-D09-E6-B76-DBD.jpg\">

Most of the poems are too cheem and difficult for her (P1) but the book is supposedly meant for age 7 to 12 (NLB says so; found under Children’s section).

As for Chinese language, it’s about sustaining an interest in both the language and the culture. Personal experience: my French, German and American ex-colleagues (note: plural, not singular) can converse in perfect 普通话, I don’t see what excuses we Chinese can have for ourselves.

[laughingcat]

sky minecrafter:

[quote]local Chinese probably got the highest grade via tuition while the real 'Chinese Chinese' don't usually attend Chinese tuition

Facts as of Y2018: 1) A (lower primary) classmate (parents born in China) goes to 2 Chinese tuition/enrichment centres, on top of parental coaching at home 2) Another classmate (parents born in China) also goes to a Chinese tuition/enrichment centre[/quote]have lah....I saw a few PRC children attending Wang and Jiang.

[melodyrain2]

sky minecrafter:

[quote]local Chinese probably got the highest grade via tuition while the real 'Chinese Chinese' don't usually attend Chinese tuition

Facts as of Y2018: 1) A (lower primary) classmate (parents born in China) goes to 2 Chinese tuition/enrichment centres, on top of parental coaching at home 2) Another classmate (parents born in China) also goes to a Chinese tuition/enrichment centre[/quote]Yup, many students with parents from China attend Chinese tuition. Either those centres we are familiar or those known in their own circles (centres set up by新移民 and attend mainly by 新移民)

[Estéema]

Parents of PRC kids typically make their way back to China for Chinese language tuition as they've a lot of good resources for their CL. For those alr sunk roots here, they'll depend on our local tuition centers just to meet our PSLE.


I used to hv a PRC family whose grandma was a teacher in Hebei. She had taught a few local kids & was dismayed that Spore kids hv very poor foundation to build on, unlike their kids who had at least gone through 5/6 years of PRC education & when theyvreturn to China, they just pick up fr there. Vaguely rmbr she gauged Spore kids mostly can only reach their primary beginners level when at our primary 3 level. So it's generally 3 years behind. Of course there are exceptions. One frd who hv Chinese educated parents who are caregivers at home & son consistently top in Chinese & earned his A+ for PSLE.

I'm exposed to some ASEAN scholars (Msians, PRC, Vista & Indonesians). Discovered that my kids can't compare with those Msians & Indonesian Chinese taking HCL in sec schools. Seems their Pri sch system requires them to cover all the basic Chinese literature readings. Yes, they do tuition back in Msia & Indonesia but heard for every hour of our 1-1 home tuition fees, it gets them a whole month's value of tuition at twice a week! That's abt S$40-50 a mth twice weekly!

However, they feel less competent in their English capabilities & feels the immense pressures when competing with our local kids.

However, our local kids fr diff non-Chinese bkgrd will perform just as well esp if the family starts them fr very young. I've known a few kids fr families with at least one parent of Indian descent apparently enjoy doing Chinese language & feels detached fr learning Tamil tho they speak the language.

Yet, I know of a naturalized Sporean family whose patriarch (former Indonesian) feels 2nd language hv no value & seek to reduce burdens for his 3 kids by 'paying' for medical reasons as exemption support. Only his youngest girl fought for chance to continue with her CL at SCGS & mum coached her. She did very well with her mother's support.

It's my believe that if we want our kids not to struggle in languages or any subjs, we will need to show support & provide resources to nurture their interests & abilities. If parents do not speak much of CL, peers in school relate more in English, then the environment is not conducive to nurture the love for CL. At least parents speak English & CL interchangeably or with grandparents, kids will hv a sustaining reason to perform better.