2018 PSLE Discussions & Strategies (Born in 2006)

[Estéema]

lee_yl:

MrsKiasu:

[quote=\"laughingcat\"]

Guess what MKS.... I contemplated it after DC was offered HCL. But my DC's ex-school teacheradvice not to proceed. Thinking about it, my DC will never go SAP school. So I have decided to drop it.

I m not sure abt the school/teacher whether encoursge or not, I m neutral..dd is the one who wants it. The way I see, like treat both as (same) Chinese papers and in terms of marks of course hcl is lower than cl. I seldom print cl/hcl past year papers for her to do since she already has tuition..dont say revising tingxie..earlier of the year esp first qtr, I still see her recording own tingxie and replay to give herself tingxie..I offered my help she says no need. After that, back to usual self haiz.

leeyl, xiao dingdang arh? likely no.. actually I m not sure what comic books..eg the Bt Merah library is small right, so once there she will go to that section and say she is so happy to see so many comic books, those with continuation/episodes type..I saw her roping in the librarian to help her find also..the 32 books loan was the 2nd batch after exam..I was quite unhappy say after this loan no more borrowing le since everytime also comic books..how to learn eg proper sentence structure right.

@MKS,
Someone told me that reading comics is a good way to intro a child to reading. Esp for Chinese, can start from Xiao dingdang. BUT later on, it is true that comics cannot teach proper sentence structure.

@LC,
From your post, now I understand why your son’s school has this reputation of doing poorly in Chinese (or just my perception). Seems like it has something to do with the school culture. That teacher also not encouraging leh.

With the new AL Banding for your DS2, I hope your school can shift some focus to this area, or else, the school will have a majority of the 9 or 10 pointers! Scary leh, later neighborhood schools can do better than that.

P/S: Scoring 64% for Chinese alone already costs you AL6 points![/quote]Not true. I wldnt say the level of CL is low but with the CL team, I’m sure the std is continuously upkept midst the changes & transfers of teachers. But do consider, boys are typically not geared towards language but perform much better in Math & Sc comparatively. Over the years, and last year, the CL scores hit record for the school & progressive improvement over the years. Over 6 years, we had witnessed its progressive achievements.

However, we made a decision not to take up HCL on the basis of not adding burden of learning HCL during Pri Level and DC had been performing well in all other subj, owise our concern was DC might tire of learning the CL & ‘switch off’ / averse to the language. When he scored his A*, we were not only happy for him but gave him our blessings to take up HCL at sec level, as he’s more mature towards studies.

OT Discussion (but related strategies for KSP parents’ consideration if anyone interested to explore incl those parents who homeschool their kids), I’ve shared the efforts the sch had made over the years with improving results.

https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=4409&p=1887576#p1887576

[laughingcat]

Estee, indeed. The number of A-A* in PSLE Chinese always increased over the years, always better than the previous year after year. :rahrah: This year the A-A* % very close to some top CL school, the difference is like less than 4% (I have seen those slides as shared by some of my frz).

[Estéema]

laughingcat:

Estee, indeed. The number of A-A* in PSLE Chinese always increased over the years, always better than the previous year after year. :rahrah: This year the A-A* % very close to some top CL school, the difference is like less than 4% (I have seen those slides as shared by some of my frz).

Yay!!!

Boys can achieve under the hands of capable language teachers (do read my thread on how good educators inspire CL learning even tho they’re young boys).

@ LC You’re one admirable coach to your 2 boys. I wished I had met you earlier to learn yr fun strategies to get them to like the subj. well done! :udawoman:

[laughingcat]

@ estee, I don’t have much fun strategies leh. You know lah, boys are a different creature. For them, quickly complete the works assigned by parents then can proceed to play liao. They don’t care whether there are some wrong or even 1 wrong. Afterall kena "wrong" still scold. 1 wrong = careless also scold/nag. So might as well just complete the work can liao. Good thing about teaching boys, is when you scold them, they will not remember a thing thereafter.


@ MKS, maybe you can get your gals to read Chinese story books about gals or those emotional friendship/family books that can hook their interest.

[Estéema]

laughingcat:

estee, I don't have much fun strategies leh. You know lah, boys are a different creature. For them, quickly complete the works assigned by parents then can proceed to play liao. They don't care whether there are some wrong or even 1 wrong. Wrong still scold. So might as well just complete the work can liao.


@ MKS, maybe you can get your gals to read Chinese story books about gals or those emotional friendship/family books that can hook their interest.

LC,
You may claim no fun strategies, but u’re fun to be with!

I know what u mean. Esp boys whose brains are quick like speedy Gonzales! Played out by mine many many times. So, I’ve to learn to up my game as parent. So stressed s’times, but looking back now, it’s a ‘fun’ learning experience for me too.

Need to ustand our kids before we apply ourselves as parents. We all make diff decisions to guide our kids. I know some parents will think I’m not that wise not letting DC do HCL when his results possible. But I guess I let DC retreat abit for space as PSLE HCL will be quite daunting & looking at his character, s’times not whether they are smart/clever but need to watch their temperament & maturity. Not all lost, now more assured DC can handle better & on his own, so if all smooth, will do HCL only next 3 years.

[floppy]

lee_yl:

With the new AL Banding for your DS2, I hope your school can shift some focus to this area, or else, the school will have a majority of the 9 or 10 pointers! Scary leh, later neighborhood schools can do better than that.

P/S: Scoring 64% for Chinese alone already costs you AL6 points!

With the new AL banding, the strategy of over-scoring for 3 subjects to compensate for 1 weaker one may not work as well anymore.
3 AL1 + 1 AL4 = 7 points vs the possibility of 250s or higher for 3A* and 1B.

But hey, no stress :evil:

[laughingcat]

LKY1967, I know what you mean. The exemption of MTL is highly debatable, but experts say the Education Ministry keeps a tight rein on who can be granted the exception.


But are you sure on the % that you have shared? Coz from MOE perspective as quote "Between 2011 and last year, the proportion of pupils exempted from studying mother tongue has remained stable, at 3.5 per cent of each PSLE cohort, MOE said."

[MrsKiasu]

…

[lee_yl]

MrsKiasu:

laughingcat:

@ estee, I don't have much fun strategies leh. You know lah, boys are a different creature. For them, quickly complete the works assigned by parents then can proceed to play liao. They don't care whether there are some wrong or even 1 wrong. Afterall kena \"wrong\" still scold. 1 wrong = careless also scold/nag. So might as well just complete the work can liao. Good thing about teaching boys, is when you scold them, they will not remember a thing thereafter.


@ MKS, maybe you can get your gals to read Chinese story books about gals or those emotional friendship/family books that can hook their interest.

lc, you have any recommendations on the gals/emotional friendship/family books? Yesterday dd mentioned this author Yanghongying says she likes and that she has some of her books, should been bought at lower primary ba...I was like 'ding' maybe get her these kind of books to rekindle her interest in non comic books..yup, now that I recalled she read those many Roald Dahl chinese versions books during lower primary..

:yikes:
I am impressed! May I know how your DD1 get to know this author 杨红樱? Did your DD1's school intro this author to them or she happens to come across her books in the library?

My girl read one of her books in the 马小跳 series (compulsory reading by her Chinese teacher). Subsequently, DH went to the library to get her more of her books from the 笑猫日记 series like 从外星球来的孩子.

[aloralora]

I recommend books by Wu Meizhen 伍美珍. There are many of her books at the libraries. I believe they surround topics of girls, friendship, school, family.


Wu Meizhen, known as one of the most famous children's authors in China, has published over one hundred children's books.

MrsKiasu:

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