Secondary School Chinese

[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).

[sushi88]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2058727\" time=\"1644935117\" user_id=\"162894:

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:

Thank you chenlaoshi. So among your tutees, what is the hit rate of a perfect score just out of curiosity?

[Zeal mummy]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2058731\" time=\"1644935579\" user_id=\"162894:

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).

Do you mean that we should get them to do a comprehension piece? So we can assess them from their understanding and if they can answer the questions?

In which year should they start practicing on the TYS? Is Year 2 too early? Do you think there will be more changes since the last change was in 2014?

[chenlaoshi]

sushi88\" post_id=\"2058767\" time=\"1644976966\" user_id=\"100857:

Thank you chenlaoshi. So among your tutees, what is the hit rate of a perfect score just out of curiosity?

For CL, it's around 3 in 10. For HCL, it's 2 in 10.

Other the more common \"A2 and Merit/Pass\" result combination you mentioned, like https://sandaochinese.com/results/?_sft_level=secondary-4, there are also quite frequent cases where students achieve A2 in written paper but Distinction in Oral (mostly pulled down by language and expression in paper 1).

[chenlaoshi]

Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2058895\" time=\"1645030316\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2058895 time=1645030316 user_id=58173]
Do you mean that we should get them to do a comprehension piece? So we can assess them from their understanding and if they can answer the questions?

In which year should they start practicing on the TYS? Is Year 2 too early? Do you think there will be more changes since the last change was in 2014?[/quote]

Yeah. How in depth their answers are and how comfortable they are in expressing themselves.

There won't be a change in exam format for the forseeable future. Syllabus wise, this year's Year 2 students are the first batch using the new syllabus. However, syllabus doesn't really matter as much in O'Level as compared to PSLE as the examinable scope is much wider (i.e. goes beyond syllabus text).

If time is not an issue, I would suggest practicing
- CL 10 year series (cloze passage component and OE compre) for Year 2
- HCL 10 year series from Year 3 onwards

[sushi88]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2058922\" time=\"1645072898\" user_id=\"162894:

For CL, it's around 3 in 10. For HCL, it's 2 in 10.

Other the more common \"A2 and Merit/Pass\" result combination you mentioned, like https://sandaochinese.com/results/?_sft_level=secondary-4, there are also quite frequent cases where students achieve A2 in written paper but Distinction in Oral (mostly pulled down by language and expression in paper 1).

To be frank, I have heard of A2 and merit/pass for Oral and A1 merit/pass for Oral for the local Singaporean kids(parents also purely local) but not the perfect score. However, the perfect scores are currently limited to the kids from China or kids born here but one or both parents are from China or kids from Taiwan from the circle of friends I know. So it's good to know that your tutees hit rate is 2-3 in 10.

So I think our Chinese standards is really quite high and it's not a bad thing. I do not think we should design exams just for the kids to ace them but it should be according to what is required in the global marketplace for them to be effective.

[phtthp]

For JC students taking Chinese exam, because they did not clear Sec 4 Higher Chinese,


is it closer to Sec 4 (Standard Chinese or Higher Chinese) standard, easier or harder ?

[Zeal mummy]

phtthp\" post_id=\"2058951\" time=\"1645081908\" user_id=\"35251:

For JC students taking Chinese exam, because they did not clear Sec 4 Higher Chinese,

is it closer to Sec 4 (Standard Chinese or Higher Chinese) standard, easier or harder ?

I have heard that the JC AO-level Chinese, is the same standard as the O-levels HCL, although some students think it’s slightly easier.

[Zeal mummy]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2058924\" time=\"1645073216\" user_id=\"162894:

Yeah. How in depth their answers are and how comfortable they are in expressing themselves.

There won't be a change in exam format for the forseeable future. Syllabus wise, this year's Year 2 students are the first batch using the new syllabus. However, syllabus doesn't really matter as much in O'Level as compared to PSLE as the examinable scope is much wider (i.e. goes beyond syllabus text).

If time is not an issue, I would suggest practicing
- CL 10 year series (cloze passage component and OE compre) for Year 2
- HCL 10 year series from Year 3 onwards

Yes they are the batch doing the new syllabus. So I was wondering if the Os will also be updated accordingly..?

Thank you for the advice!