2020 PSLE Discussions and Strategies(for those born in 2008)

[san20sg]

Estéema\" post_id=\"1965147\" time=\"1582774439\" user_id=\"66413:

If u hv the time to guide him with comprehension, it’s not difficult to help him improve with some basic techniques. But if he needs more marks to help him pull in grades, then you might wanna try Academia’s Mr Sherman Tseng. We went to him bcoz it was then difficult to teach/correct my chil’s weakness in Synthesis & Transformation & the complex way how the use of verb, bounce, adverbs, tenses, etc changes when one transform & synthesize sentences. My kids can’t consistently do well so I suspect sth is missing in my guidance to help them see abv the S&T requirements.

We went to him bcoz he explained & taught techniques in a very detail & simplified manner that our child grasps well. He was a former English HOD with Ai Tong & promotes as VP before his aged parents sudden medical needs called for his almost full-time attention. We don’t hv experience with other teachers in the centre, so cant comment.

You might try guiding your child for a while to give some personal attention. Even then, it is true that the Comprehension portion requires a suite of skills which requires one to hv read widely to hv the vocabulary to ustand some words used in passages, the style of different author’s writings in delivering meanings & messages, etc.

1. Get him to read a Comprehension passage once, highlighting any ‘difficult’ words.

2. Then get him to read all the questions once

3. Re-read the passage again & try do annotations & highlight or underline where he thinks the answers to each question lies.

4. I used to get my kids do this (& also with Chinese 理解问答 and when they stumble, ask them what they think the word cld mean or what author is saying).

5. For those str-fwd easy questions yr child is able to put his answers in, get him to write it str-away (as a practice with time mgt) as this will give him confidence to tackle the rest with remaining time.

6. Let him practice searching his dictionary (for Chinese, I insists my kids use the hardcopy dict as it ‘forces’ them to check the relevant strokes & thereby commit to memory. Towards middle of P6, we then grant the use of electronic dict).

7. Typically, you’ll get a question that requires the child to reflect on the action(s) of the protagonist or main character. Encourage yr child to sit back & chat with you his thots & viewpoints. You can then guide him where the passages points to the main idea towards a wholesome answers.

Takes practice. Hope abv helps.

I think Sherman has left Academia. Do you know where he is at now?

[Estéema]

san20sg\" post_id=\"2058773\" time=\"1644982361\" user_id=\"76391:

I think Sherman has left Academia. Do you know where he is at now?

He’s set up his own. Can’t rmbr, think LearningCove or sth at Bishan coz many students asking for his help. He was planning to do some online portals under same name LearningCove or sth similar so student who cld not afford expensive tuition centres can still access good teaching materials.

[tinker_bell]

san20sg\" post_id=\"2058773\" time=\"1644982361\" user_id=\"76391:

I think Sherman has left Academia. Do you know where he is at now?

You are referring to Sherman Tseng?

He left https://academia.com.sg/ in 2021 to set up his own English tuition centre.

Sherman's new English tuition centre at Bishan is called https://thelearningtrove.com/about-us/. Fees are quite reasonable at $900 for 12 lessons. I am not sure if The Learning Trove also specializes in GEP and High-ability students.

The Learning Trove
Block 503 Bishan Street 11
Unit 01-450
(https://thelearningtrove.com/)

[san20sg]

Thanks tinker_bell and Estéema! You all really know everything!!

[YvonneLow]

Hi…

i am keen to join Sherman’s class, parents with kids taught by him, is he really very effective in guiding the kids to improve?

[tinker_bell]

YvonneLow\" post_id=\"2066234\" time=\"1651641080\" user_id=\"48503:

Hi..
i am keen to join Sherman's class, parents with kids taught by him, is he really very effective in guiding the kids to improve?

You might want to check out this The Learning Trove discussion thread! The founder of Learning trove is Sherman Tseng, an ex HOD for english at Ai Tong school, and he also used to teach at Academia in sin ming.

https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=94&t=102068