How to improve English???

[atutor2001]

Gwen:

.....she seems to be catching on to the \"bug\" and surprised me by reading 100 pages of \"diary of a wimpy kid\" within a week, something which I never thought its within her level but because she said its such a funny book! I think she probably skip words now and then but oh well, at least she’s reading now….

:lol:

This is the myth I experienced when my kids were reading books after books everyday. I was so happy, secretly thinking that their English would be fine. I first got the rude shock when my eldest kid reached P6. Despite reading so many books, their grammar was bad. They could not develop their compositions properly and their comprehension was borderline.

I realised much later that they were reading the books only for the storyline. Nothing on sentence structure, art of story development, .... ,from the hundreds of books they had read, got into their head.

[Brenda10]

atutor2001:

Gwen:

.....she seems to be catching on to the \"bug\" and surprised me by reading 100 pages of \"diary of a wimpy kid\" within a week, something which I never thought its within her level but because she said its such a funny book! I think she probably skip words now and then but oh well, at least she’s reading now….

:lol:

This is the myth I experienced when my kids were reading books after books everyday. I was so happy, secretly thinking that their English would be fine. I first got the rude shock when my eldest kid reached P6. Despite reading so many books, their grammar was bad. They could not develop their compositions properly and their comprehension was borderline.

I realised much later that they were reading the books only for the storyline. Nothing on sentence structure, art of story development, .... ,from the hundreds of books they, had read got into their head.

Yes. I agree. :goodpost:

The regular practice in area like Grammar Cloze, Vocabulary Cloze, Synthesis and Transformation and Comprehension etc are important.

[jesschan]

Just to share my personal experience.


My DS1 started reading Geronimo’s books when he was in P1, then he went on to Zac Power, Beast Quest series etc… till he was in P3 when he started reading Tin Tin and some other comics. I didn’t stop him because I thought it was ok to read widely. However, after that he refused to read the books meant for the upper primary kids. He was still doing quite alright for English in P3 but I did not see much improvement in his vocabulary and creative writing.

In P4 this year, he asked me one day how he can improve his vocubulary and creative writing. So I advised him to read books meant for upper primary kids such as the Alex Rider series so that he will encounter more new words and create plots that are more interesting in his creative writing. At first, he was quite sceptical and he didn’t think he will be able to read such "thick" books. So I began reading the books myself and described parts of the plots to entice him to read them for himself. It really worked and he almost finished reading the entire Alex Rider series – all within 2 months. I am already seeing him making the effort to create more interesting plots in his creative writing. He is also greatly encouraged when his recent creative writing marks have improved.

I think it is quite a challenge for kids to move from big pictures/words books to simple fiction like Geronimo Stilton and Magic Treehouse to teens fiction like Alex Rider series, especially when they need to spend more time in school and in doing homework. It will certainly help if the parents can discuss the books with them during day to day conversation, especially for kids who do not like to do things alone.

[Sun_2010]

atutor2001:

Gwen:

.....she seems to be catching on to the \"bug\" and surprised me by reading 100 pages of \"diary of a wimpy kid\" within a week, something which I never thought its within her level but because she said its such a funny book! I think she probably skip words now and then but oh well, at least she’s reading now….

:lol:

This is the myth I experienced when my kids were reading books after books everyday. I was so happy, secretly thinking that their English would be fine. I first got the rude shock when my eldest kid reached P6. Despite reading so many books, their grammar was bad. They could not develop their compositions properly and their comprehension was borderline.

I realised much later that they were reading the books only for the storyline. Nothing on sentence structure, art of story development, .... ,from the hundreds of books they had read, got into their head.

True,
That is why it is important to get them to re-read them. The first time the thrill and suspense makes them race ahead, the second time they relish the story.

2nd thing is they need to read diverse variety of topics- current affairs, natural disasters, financial , sports , environment, tech, abt singapore, etc. etc to broaden their vocab.

So much so i have to restrict books- not more then one a week for my story book obessed DD so that she has compelled to read other stuff

[atutor2001]

jesschan:

Just to share my personal experience.


........

In P4 this year, he asked me one day how he can improve his vocubulary and creative writing. .................It really worked and he almost finished reading the entire Alex Rider series -- all within 2 months. I am already seeing him making the effort to create more interesting plots in his creative writing. He is also greatly encouraged when his recent creative writing marks have improved. .................

Hi jesschan

Congratulation! Your DS is very matured for his age to realise that there is more to reading than going after the story. Most importantly, he is motivated enough to read for the purpose of improving his English.

Reading is no longer that fun if we need to pay too much attention to the way the story is written - however kids with natural talent for language somehow managed to pick this up automatically. (only 1 out of my 3 kids has this ability) Till today, the other 2 are still reading just for the story. Their foundation in English grammar came from the hours of hard drilling during their preparation for PSLE.

However, I do notice that as they grow older, reading helps tremendously in improving their vocabulary. Sadly, their abilities to write good essays did not come from reading. It must still be taught the hard way. Reading didn't help much in this aspect.

[Garfield2882]

Hi parents,


When I received the P3 booklist, I realised our primary schools do not prescribe English textbooks anymore, initially I thought it was just P1 and P2.

When I sent my boy to check his English at enrichment centre, a comment made was that his vocabulary is limited.

Which makes me ponder how are the schools teaching in English lessons now?

In P1 and P2, I saw and sign on many worksheets my boy had completed in sch. And apart from spelling, I don’t see any printed materials getting the students to memorise various forms of verbs, grammar or sentence construct. My boy had used his exercise book to note down some words but those were hardly 10 pages in P1 and P2.

Is this how students learn English now? How are the students going to learn new words, vocab, grammar, sentence construct?

I am surprised, I did have to memorise them during my time and there were many. My boy can’t even say the past participle of common verbs correctly.

Please let me know other schools are like this as well.

Btw, after reading the old postings here, it has something to do with moe’s adoption of Stellar programm, I guess alot is up to the parents and maybe attend enrichment.

Reading helps if the kids cultivate interest and read the correct type of books, what if they don’t, they cannot learn a language? We still need them to do average if not to score in the subject.

Chinese mother tongue is, however, taught differently and is more structured.

[ChiefKiasu]

Garfield2882\" post_id=\"2125709\" time=\"1703683940\" user_id=\"188233:

...
When I received the P3 booklist, I realised our primary schools do not prescribe English textbooks anymore, initially I thought it was just P1 and P2.
...

Cannot be. I'm sure there are English textbooks. Otherwise, how would students learn English in class :?

[manorway]

There are no textbooks for English.


In every Stellar unit, there are pages on Vocabulary introducing new words and phrases and pages introducing Grammar step by step. The basics are taught in a structured manner, however the worksheets are not standardised across all schools. Many schools will also supplement with their own materials. Spelling lists are also not standardised.

If we leave learning/teaching entirely to school teachers and expect children to just learn what is taught in school, an attentive child who does his school work and homework will pass school exam easily and learn the basics required of the language. If the child is inquisitive, will seek clarifications when he does not understand, revises after school and reflect on his learning, he will do better. Better still, if he also likes to read and write after school time, he will do even better.

In reality, most kids are not like this (as described above), especially in lower Primary. Most do not remember everything they were taught and will not revise unless they have adults’ nudging and supervision at first.

Grammar and Vocab may be taught but in a class of 30, not everyone will learn them as effectively. Most kids need revision to a certain extent to reinforce learning.

[ChiefKiasu]

:yikes: My goodness. No textbooks for English? I still remember using these \"My Pals...\" books for my kids in Primary school. Guess they have changed greatly after Stellar was fully implemented in schools. I wonder how effective it is.

[zac's mum]

ChiefKiasu\" post_id=\"2125724\" time=\"1703725133\" user_id=\"3:

:yikes: My goodness. No textbooks for English? I still remember using these \"My Pals...\" books for my kids in Primary school. Guess they have changed greatly after Stellar was fully implemented in schools. I wonder how effective it is.

It is effective if the child picks up languages by absorption, reads voraciously and the family speaks the language fluently at home. School lessons will be fun because no drilling involved.

For all other cases, there is always: paying tuition centres for their shadow curriculum; as well as the plethora of assessment books at Popular covering Vocab drills, grammar drills, mock exam papers, everything the child needs to practise to “score well” in exams. Trust me, if these books were not needed or in low demand, you wouldn’t find them flooding the shelves year after year.