Secondary School Chinese

[sharonkhoo]

Sorry for posting this again - first posted under an "international school" thread.


Question on behalf of a friend:
Which is easier - HMT (O level), H1 MT (A level), or Language B MTL (IBDP) if taken as a private candidate?

Context: this family has kids in international school in Singapore, and they do French instead of MTL. They are Singaporeans and spent 4 years overseas. They are not sure if French (which the kids are studying now) will be accepted in lieu of MTL for local university application.

Another question: if they are in international school, how do they get approval from MOE to offer French as MTL-in-lieu for application to local university? Can an international school apply on their behalf or should they apply directly? It seems the universities need it to have MOE approval.

[phtthp]

The most difficult (challenging) is of course …

Higher Chinese (O level) subject, taken at the end of Secondary 4, assuming that his or her mother tongue is Chinese, not Malay, not Hindi.

What to do / How to approach
=========================


Between the other remaining two mentioned, suggest that

1) take a look at the most recent past 3 years’ National exam level Chinese papers content

And

2) also compare the MOE SYLLABUS requirements spelled out in detail, between these two.

The three of you -

you or your friend or your friend’s teenager child should be able to tell what’s the difference, between these two, after examing both steps (1 and 2) in detail.

3) finally, ask your friend’s child, which one is he or she more comfortable or more confident in, between these remaining two, since this kid is the one eventually going to sit for the National exam, not his parent.

If the kid cannot answer this question -

Just ask him (her) to attempt the most recent past 3 years of National exam paper content, from both the two different National exam, he (she, the student) will be able to get the answer.

Attempt more, go beyond more than past 3 years of recent National exam papers, to confirm his (her) confidence level. Get a Teacher in that language, to mark his (her) attempted past years’ papers

[chenlaoshi]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2011646\" time=\"1610302982\" user_id=\"162894:

Yup, definitely, that's the fundamental that has to be taken care of. Was just highlighting that unlike Pri level CL, relying on syllabus text alone will not be sufficient to do well for Sec level HCL.

(1) Read up in order to expand range of vocab, learn language expression as well as gain knowledge regarding issues/topics. Some materials to consider include:
https://yuyi.com.sg/collections/chinese-books-recommended-reading-list-for-sji-lower-secondary/products/9789814861694
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/keywords/dou-hao-0magazine (made compulsory by some schools)
Lower Sec: https://yuyi.com.sg/collections/magazines/products/10099301-2021
Upper Sec: https://yuyi.com.sg/collections/magazines/products/16734955-21

(2) Watch and listen - again, get to improve on language skills + gain knowledge. Especially useful in preparation for oral practice since HCL oral exam has a 口头报告 component where student need to watch, listen and take down notes during the preparation period. HCL oral video also includes \"people being interviewed\" at times. Programmes like 前线追踪 and 星期二特写 are informative and up to date - very useful for working on email writing, discursive writing and oral conversation.

If parents have the time to accompany their child in watching the programme, they can have some light hearted discussion too - family time + working on verbal skills.

A lot of the writing by upper Sec requires expression of views so being exposed to various topics is a big plus (pointers for content + saves time trying to squeeze out ideas/thoughts).

For example, I was covering the topic of 小贩文化/申遗 (Singapore's hawker culture added to Unesco list) a couple of weeks ago and used 前线追踪's 1 Jan 2021 issue which covered related content as useful additional/after lesson material for the students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zQrVkaPLKk&list=PLHjeeBYXV10cH1ThEzQsqZ7KqDrIHgA4Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvCUKGmxdE&list=PLHjeeBYXV10fE1RK_6lEyOL-EC_cyMVG9

(3) Holistic and all rounded approach in learning. Doing cloze passage doesn't mean you are practicing for cloze passage only, likewise for compre. Have https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=8835&start=600#p2002580 of how students can pick up skills/information useful for compo writing while practicing on compre. Have a notebook to jot down good descriptive phrases, proverbs and quotable quotes that you come across from passages in various exercises.

(This is not a sponsored post )

Besides《少年文摘》and 《青年文摘》, other magazines suitable for teenagers can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/yuyibook/posts/pfbid0ybuB42JpqdecVNfQqqAQutL68tyC32rpJ4BR3tgZ4C6T9dNHskhMkkKzyyYvGyfol
https://i.imgur.com/WmVVBpS.jpg\">

[sky minecrafter]

Dear chenlaoshi, do you provide the service whereby we can send you our (AY2024 Sec 1 HCL) compositions for you to critique? & would you accept contactless payments like PayNow? Thank you

[chenlaoshi]

sky minecrafter\" post_id=\"2124073\" time=\"1701320260\" user_id=\"130531:[quote=\"sky minecrafter\" post_id=2124073 time=1701320260 user_id=130531]
Dear chenlaoshi, do you provide the service whereby we can send you our (AY2024 Sec 1 HCL) compositions for you to critique? & would you accept contactless payments like PayNow? Thank you[/quote]

Hi sky,

Thanks for the enquiry. https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=102404&p=2124123#p2124123 my reply.

[sky minecrafter]

Thank you, chenlaoshi!!

[chenlaoshi]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2123729\" time=\"1701046187\" user_id=\"28674:

Sorry for posting this again - first posted under an \"international school\" thread.

Question on behalf of a friend:
Which is easier - HMT (O level), H1 MT (A level), or Language B MTL (IBDP) if taken as a private candidate?

slmkhoo,

Language B MTL (IBDP) would be the \"easiest\" to handle of the 3. Not having to deal with narrative, argumentative and expository texts is a huge plus, since functional and authentic texts are much more straight forward to comprehend and handle.
https://i.imgur.com/9EmbJkw.jpg\">

sky minecrafter\" post_id=\"2124127\" time=\"1701371565\" user_id=\"130531:[quote=\"sky minecrafter\" post_id=2124127 time=1701371565 user_id=130531]Thank you, chenlaoshi!![/quote]

[sharonkhoo]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2124148\" time=\"1701412099\" user_id=\"162894:

slmkhoo,

Language B MTL (IBDP) would be the \"easiest\" to handle of the 3. Not having to deal with narrative, argumentative and expository texts is a huge plus, since functional and authentic texts are much more straight forward to comprehend and handle.
https://i.imgur.com/9EmbJkw.jpg\">

Thanks! I thought this would be the case, but grateful for confirmation from an expert!

[Vamos]

Hi all! Can a returning Singaporean take up higher Chinese language in Sec 1? How can he/she let the school know? Also, what is Chinese language’B’ (indicated in the school booklist)? TIA

[phtthp]

Vamos\" post_id=\"2124969\" time=\"1702890147\" user_id=\"200806:

Hi all! Can a returning Singaporean take up higher Chinese language in Sec 1? How can he/she let the school know? Also, what is Chinese language’B’ (indicated in the school booklist)? TIA

must take some entrance test in Chinese first, administerd by the Secondary school.
Then,

they will mark the script and Chinese Head of Department will decide, what kind of Chinese your child can take