Secondary School Chinese

[Zeal mummy]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2058250\" time=\"1644560029\" user_id=\"162894:

The sponsorship is applicable to to local government Sec schools only.

Oh… sad… they should extend this to the Independent schools too… to be fair to all.

[MerlionInGermany]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2058083\" time=\"1644424344\" user_id=\"162894:

Good news for Sec school students. Hopefully they can take advantage and maximize the use of 逗号.

https://i.imgur.com/M3o7hXp.jpg\">

Where can i find this info?

[chenlaoshi]

MerlionInGermany\" post_id=\"2058353\" time=\"1644645879\" user_id=\"2964:

Where can i find this info?

The notification came via postage. I think for school subscription the information will probably be disseminated through school memo.

[2eclipse]

hi Chen laoshi, based on your experience, is it somewhat true that 80% - 90% of HCL students will get A1/ A2 in Sec 3 O-level 普华 exam? I heard many people say that distinction is almost guaranteed for HCL students.

[chenlaoshi]

2eclipse\" post_id=\"2058601\" time=\"1644844169\" user_id=\"185689:

hi Chen laoshi, based on your experience, is it somewhat true that 80% - 90% of HCL students will get A1/ A2 in Sec 3 O-level 普华 exam? I heard many people say that distinction is almost guaranteed for HCL students.

Hi 2eclipse,

It's definitely not just a straight forward case of HCL students taking O Level in Sec 3 and doing well

Basically, it depends on the student's foundation and command of language (for students from schools with learning environment that are richer in Chinese culture and language, then that figure you stated would mostly apply).

It is, however, true that students taking HCL generally find CL paper much easier because

- compo weightage is lower (/40)
- weightage of each question in cloze passage section is lower (CL 10 questions 1 mark each, HCL 5 questions, 2 marks each)
- more MCQ compre questions (CL 10 questions, HCL 3 questions)
- no editing section
- no summary writing

[phtthp]

2eclipse\" post_id=\"2058601\" time=\"1644844169\" user_id=\"185689:

hi Chen laoshi, based on your experience, is it somewhat true that 80% - 90% of HCL students will get A1/ A2 in Sec 3 O-level 普华 exam? I heard many people say that distinction is almost guaranteed for HCL students.

Of course not guaranteed any distinction (A1 or A2) !

If guaranteed,
why would there still exist some Secondary schools, that impose this condition such that -


If failed to acquire a minimum grade for O-level (Standard Chinese) set by our school, then these impacted HCL students are not allowed to proceed next to take O-level (Higher Chinese), in Sec 4. Instead, they will be asked to re-take their O-level \"bu-hua\", so as to improve their L1R5 points for \"bu-hua\".

[sushi88]

hello chenlaoshi, based on your experience of your pool of students whom you have taught every year, what is the percentage of local Singaporean students(parents are also true-bred and born Singaporeans) who can score A1 AND Distinction in their Oral for the ‘O’ level Chinese? I know A2 and Merit/Pass is quite common. Thank you.

[Zeal mummy]

How do we get a good gauge of their level of proficiency? I understand that in some schools, the kids don’t need to take Chinese Os… they take higher Chinese Os in year 4. Is it too late to find out only in year 3?

[chenlaoshi]

sushi88\" post_id=\"2058640\" time=\"1644889415\" user_id=\"100857:

hello chenlaoshi, based on your experience of your pool of students whom you have taught every year, what is the percentage of local Singaporean students(parents are also true-bred and born Singaporeans) who can score A1 AND Distinction in their Oral for the 'O' level Chinese? I know A2 and Merit/Pass is quite common. Thank you.

Hi sushi88,

My school teaching experience was in Pri sch so for Sec level students, my experiences are with my tutees.

Yeah, A1 & Distinction for Oral is harder to achieve unless the local student has conducive CL learning environment in sch and at home. The conversation component is the main obstacle:

https://i.imgur.com/42aCkEw.jpg\">

[chenlaoshi]

Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2058709\" time=\"1644923555\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2058709 time=1644923555 user_id=58173]
How do we get a good gauge of their level of proficiency? I understand that in some schools, the kids don’t need to take Chinese Os.. they take higher Chinese Os in year 4. Is it too late to find out only in year 3?[/quote]

Some ways to access includes gauging their ability to
- identify rhetorical approaches when reading passages
- understand underlying meaning behind figurative sentences
- communicate/express themselves fluently in topic discussions (email writing, discursive writing, oral conversation and Q20 & Q24 in Paper 2)

For those students from schools where they are not required to sit for O'Level CL exam in Sec 3, they can always get the 10 years series and practice on their own. In fact, some schools are already getting HCL students to start doing HCL 10 year series (the change in exam format for HCL came in 2014).