Secondary School Chinese

[chenlaoshi]

xueyan\" post_id=\"2023393\" time=\"1620610944\" user_id=\"6643:

Hi

May I know for year end Sec 1, there will be all papers tested ie Listening compre, Oral, Compo and Written?

For Oral, what are the possible topics to discuss? Is it watch video and answer questions?

For Compo, is it writing email and compo? For compo writing, it is on a certain topic?

Thank you

Hi xueyan,

I presume you are referring to CL? It varies across schools. Normally, the full O'Level format (respective papers as well as the sections in them) will only be tested from Sec 2 SA2 onwards. For example (note the differences in sections between the two EOY Paper 2):

https://i.ibb.co/kDHbGqZ/sec1paper2.jpg\">

There should be some form of information on the tested scope and components from the teachers a couple of weeks prior to the EOY exams - it may be printed notification, soft copy in school portal or written on whiteboard for students to take down themselves. For example:

https://i.ibb.co/HFXBB62/compassvale-noti.jpg\">

If Oral is tested, then yes, it's video format, similar to PSLE's. The topic may cover moral values and social issues. You can https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=11035&hilit=topics&start=260#p2016548 for a better idea.

For compo writing, it will be narrative style - instead of 4 different types of questions (discursive, narrative, news review etc.), students would normally be given a couple of narrative questions to choose from. For example:
https://i.ibb.co/dLd0zrd/compassvale-compo.jpg\">

Lastly for email writing, yes, it will involve the discussion of a topic (brought out by the \"friend\" who wrote \"you\" the email).

[phtthp]

xueyan\" post_id=\"2023393\" time=\"1620610944\" user_id=\"6643:

Hi

May I know for year end Sec 1, there will be all papers tested ie Listening compre, Oral, Compo and Written?

For Oral, what are the possible topics to discuss? Is it watch video and answer questions?

For Compo, is it writing email and compo? For compo writing, it is on a certain topic?

Thank you

For this,

best to check with your son's own Secondary school, because
different schools can test different components, at Sec 1 year-end exam.
Eg.
Some schools include testing Chinese Oral (\"kou shi\") in video format, while other schools exclude Oral.


Then, what is
compulsory, at year end (Sec 1) exam ?


1) Paper 1 is compulsory -

a) personal email (20 marks)

b) zuo wen (40 marks)
Choose 1 out of choices given, to write zuowen.

Situational Narrative essay or \"qin jing zuowen\"


2) Paper 2, also compulsory, test -

a) yu wen ying yong section,


b) zhong he tian kong (cloze passage : can be tough / tricky / challenging ),


c) li jie wen da (Comprehension)


d) some schools also test \"tian xie han zi\" and \"zao ju\"

=============================


For Sec 2 students -

schools will start teaching \"yi lun wen\", in Semester 1. Some start teaching earlier in Sec 2 Term 1, while others start a bit later in Sec 2 Term 2.


Again,
at Sec 2 Mid-year exam (May), testing Chinese Oral is optional.


Example

In this year 2021,

St Anthony Cannosian Girls' Secondary, Yes, testing Chinese Oral is included, in their mid-year May exam. However, in some other schools, e.g. some CHIJ schools, Chinese Oral is Excluded.

may refer SAC Secondary exam timetable

https://stanthonyscanossiansec.moe.edu.sg/information-on-national-examinations-and-school-matters/


However,
since \"yi lun wen\" has already been taught in Sec 2 Semester 1, therefore, students are given a choice, to choose -

to write
\"qin jing\" zuowen or

to write
\" yi lun wen\".

Writing \"yi lun wen\" need maturity of thoughts, before penning down their thoughts onto paper. Some students excel in this. Others find it a struggle. Need to read widely !

In my kid's school,
for Sec 2 (May 2021) mid year exam -

1) Paper 1 test -
a) personal email (20 marks)

b) choose 1 out of 3 questions (60 marks)

Choose between \"qin jing\" zuowen or \"yi lun wen\"

60 marks for zuowen, is a lot, heavy !

If students write wrong Chinese characters in zuowen, they call it \"xie cuo bie zi\", laoshi marking will deduct marks !

For zuowen, be careful. Don't write out of point (\"li ti\")



2) Paper 2 test -

a) vocabulary (yu wen ying yong)

b) cloze passage (duan wen tian kong)

c) Comprehension type I

d) Comprehension type II


(did not test Chinese Oral, kou shi)

[xueyan]

Thank you very much chenlaoshi and phtthp. Very much appreciated

[phtthp]

xueyan\" post_id=\"2023577\" time=\"1620706429\" user_id=\"6643:

Thank you very much chenlaoshi and phtthp. Very much appreciated

For Lower Secondary (1 and 2) -


1)

Chinese Oral topics -

Try to get your Sec 1 son to approach his school's class laoshi or Chinese HOD,
find out

what were the past year Oral topics that came out, in his own school.


Sometimes, different Secondary schools emphasized different Oral theme(s), in their respective schools.


2)

for Chinese sample Zuowen exam topics, can google.

Some schools' past year exam Lower Secondary Chinese papers can be downloaded freely.

When you open up the Chinese exam document, some schools do provide their Paper 1 both \" shi yong wen (email) \" and zuo wen topics :

be it \"qin jing \" Narrative zuowen or \" yi lun wen\" argumentative topics. From there, it provide a starting point what to expect or to look out for, in zuowen topics.

\"Yi lun wen\" start in Sec 2

[xn_mummy]

Hi parents


can i seek your advice for O level chinese
For paper1,
https://postimg.cc/WDGFHw7x
<extracted from earlier post>
Q1. May i know what types of questions is for Q3 to Q5 ?
As in which one is Narrative or Expository or Argumentative or Situational?
Q2. Given the child chinese is weak, only C6. which one/two will you recommend for the child to focus on ?

<Extracted posting by Chenlaoshi (thank you teacher chen)>
The main difference between 说明文 and 议论文
议论文 ( Argumentative ) => you get to agree/disagree with the point stated in the question and/or get to express our personal thoughts and opinions, i.e. 论点 (to be backed up using 论证手法、论据 and 论证）.
Need to be familiar with the theme of the topic, am i correct ?
说明文 (not sure is classified as what type in englist) => you simply have to analyze and explain the stated view/stand with 说明手法 - you \"can't\" disagree with it and would need to be relevant knowledge about the topic so that your 说明手法 are legit and convincing.
Thus 议论文 will usually be the easier of the 2 (factors such as topic covered in the question and whether students has prior knowledge and/or experience writing about the topic would obviously play a part though).

thank you

regards
Lim

[phtthp]

chen lao shi:

For paper1,
https://postimg.cc/WDGFHw7x

Hi chen laoshi,

above 3 sample questions are your reply (response) to xue yan's earlier qn posed.


These 3 sample qns as an Example you provided are all Sec 1 Narrative descriptive (Personal Encounter / personal Experience) type asked, because xue yan's boy is only Sec 1.
He just completed 2020 Psle Chinese 5 months ago. Besides, \" Yi lun wen\" is only taught in Sec 2, not Sec 1.

In O-level Chinese paper, type 3 is often these Personal encounter / experienced type of qns asked.

Have there been changes in O-level Paper

type 4 \"Debate style \" qns (\"yan jiang ci zuowen\") or in type 5 \"cai liao news statistics provided style\", set by SEAB ?

[chenlaoshi]

xn_mummy\" post_id=\"2023677\" time=\"1620788868\" user_id=\"137029:

Hi parents

can i seek your advice for O level chinese
For paper1,
https://postimg.cc/WDGFHw7x
<extracted from earlier post>
Q1. May i know what types of questions is for Q3 to Q5 ?
As in which one is Narrative or Expository or Argumentative or Situational?
Q2. Given the child chinese is weak, only C6. which one/two will you recommend for the child to focus on ?

<Extracted posting by Chenlaoshi (thank you teacher chen)>
The main difference between 说明文 and 议论文
议论文 ( Argumentative ) => you get to agree/disagree with the point stated in the question and/or get to express our personal thoughts and opinions, i.e. 论点 (to be backed up using 论证手法、论据 and 论证）.
Need to be familiar with the theme of the topic, am i correct ?
说明文 (not sure is classified as what type in englist) => you simply have to analyze and explain the stated view/stand with 说明手法 - you \"can't\" disagree with it and would need to be relevant knowledge about the topic so that your 说明手法 are legit and convincing.
Thus 议论文 will usually be the easier of the 2 (factors such as topic covered in the question and whether students has prior knowledge and/or experience writing about the topic would obviously play a part though).

thank you

regards
Lim

Hi xn_mummy,

The example I posted in earlier post was from Sec 1 CL Paper 1, thus all 3 options were 情境作文.

Here are 2 examples of the questions in O Level CL Paper 1:

https://i.ibb.co/HDB0kLK/MY18.jpg\">https://i.ibb.co/GFq1S59/EOY19.jpg\">

Q3 - 情境作文
Q4 - 议论文
Q5 - 材料作文

情境作文
--> Can't only rely on memorizing good descriptive phrases if you want to score well. Would need to apply various types of rhetoric approaches (描写手法 & 修辞写法)
- 描写手法： 心理描写、肖像描写、行动描写、语言描写
- 修辞写法：比喻、排比、拟人

--> Need to be able to identify the requirements and plot accordingly. Overlooking/ not being able to portray any stated requirement will affect scoring for content.
- E.g. 1st image's Q3:
(a) 一向觉得自己的行为表现非常好，也很有自信
(b) 意识到自己的不足
(c) 决定要做出改变
(d) 事情的经过
(e) 事情发生时周围人们的反应

议论文
--> Have to make sure your stand (论点) is correct and clear in the first place (by taking note of any key words in the question that may swing ).
- E.g. 2nd image's Q4:
\"利大于弊\" (advantages outweigh the disadvantages)
- another e.g. \"... ... 金钱是万能的。你同意吗？\":
\"万能\" would be the key word

--> Need to have solid/logical and authentic 论据
- to excel and be convincing, shouldn't only rely on theoretical ones (道理论据) but factual ones (事实论据) too, which means remembering quotes/proverbs and reading up on related news/incidents

--> 论证 should be powerful/clear and try to apply a variety of 论证方法 if possible

材料作文
--> Involves deeper analysis of the topic/issue (usually cause and effect & solutions)

--> 3 main types
(a) 观点类: news mention about certain policy/measure that have been or will be implemented by government/organizations.

(b) 举措类: news mention about certain policy/measure that may be implemented (suggested/planned but not confirmed) by government/organizations.

(c) 现象类: news mention about certain trend that is prevalent in the society/country/world (Q5 in both images belong to this type)

For (a) and (b) , students will have to state their views (agree/disagree; support or not; good or bad), explain the reasons/advantages/disadvantages of the implementation or cause and consequences of the trend; ways to improve upon the implementation or trend; things to take note of during implementation etc.

Yes, usually 议论文 is \"easier\" than 材料作文 because the topic involved are more \"general\" (i.e. commonsensical; definitive yes/no) unlike 材料作文, which will be much more targeted - from the examples, one on 网络陷阱 (so student will have to identify the various types of pitfalls before offering solutions) and another on 校园霸凌 (baring in mind to link the increased cases to 网络科技的普及). Also, the types of passages the students encounter in Comprehension are usually 议论文 and 说明文 so if their exposure to and understanding of how to go about with 议论文 would have been built over time.

[chenlaoshi]

phtthp\" post_id=\"2023688\" time=\"1620793078\" user_id=\"35251:

For paper1,
https://postimg.cc/WDGFHw7x

Hi chen laoshi,

above 3 sample questions are your reply (response) to xue yan's earlier qn posed.


These 3 sample qns as an Example you provided are all Sec 1 Narrative descriptive (Personal Encounter / personal Experience) type asked, because xue yan's boy is only Sec 1.
He just completed 2020 Psle Chinese 5 months ago. Besides, \" Yi lun wen\" is only taught in Sec 2, not Sec 1.

In O-level Chinese paper, type 3 is often these Personal encounter / experienced type of qns asked.

Have there been changes in O-level Paper

type 4 \"Debate style \" qns (\"yan jiang ci zuowen\") or in type 5 \"cai liao news statistics provided style\", set by SEAB ?[/quote]Yes, phtthp, thanks for highlighting. The example I posted in earlier post was from Sec 1 CL Paper 1, thus all 3 options were 情境作文.

Nope, for HCL, since the change in format (to include 博客和帖文 in Paper 1 实用文 component), the types of compo question have remain the same (情境作文、议论文、演讲词、材料作文).

[xueyan]

Ds just checked with his Chinese teacher and there is oral and listening compre for Sec 1 WA4.


Can someone recommend some books for oral and listening compre.

Thank you.

[sembgal]

phtthp\" post_id=\"2003169\" time=\"1605835450\" user_id=\"35251:

raisintan\" post_id=\"1831501\" time=\"1517316561\" user_id=\"1094:

Understand that in my DD's school, pupils can only continue HCL in Sec 4 if they score A1 or A2 in Sec 3 O' Level CL.

Is this the same practice for other schools?

Not all Secondary schools


only certain SAP schools imposed such criteria :



minimum, must score at least a B3 in O-level (bu-hwa), then can proceed to take O-level (gao hua) the immediate following year

For P6 students who have just finished Psle, can check with the school first whether got impose such criteria, before listing it down as one of your 6 choices. You may clarify with the Secondary school Chinese HOD first. If u don't feel comfortable with such school criteria imposed upon, then avoid such school,
that is,
don't select it as one of you 6 choices. You have the choice (freedom) to select & decide for yourself

Minimum B3 ? The latest that I heard was minimum A2