All About SAP Schools
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My kid would probably be in a SAP school next year. We come from an english speaking family… Would love to hear from other parents’ experiences with regards to their kids dealing with higher chinese…
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My boy transferrred from a heighbourhood school to a SAP school that is very rich in chinese culture, Hong wen school. That was becoz of our shift to Whampoa area recently. It wasnt easy for us (both mother and child) initially. My boy needed the han yu pin yin to help me read. For the first half of P2 at the school, i just had him practise n do some assessments , revised his work that was given by teacher and also do more reading with him. The chinese teacher advised me to get him to read chinese story books for at least 15 mins daily. It may sound easy but it wasnt …hahha sometimes i m so tired i simply forgotten abt it. The school has a class library of chinese story books that they loan to the kids…
Do both u n hubby speaks chinese at all? Do try to speak it more often , create the environment, else expose him as much as possible to chinese media… vcd, dvd and even chinese news.
We speak both chinese and english to my two boys. I m a primary school teacher , using English as the main medium to teach… it does pose a challenge at times.
I have decided to sublet my work out to a Chinese tutor… who is an ex teacher herself. So i can concentrate on his Maths n english…and continue to arouse his interest in Science which he will take next yr in P3.
We spend money to get chinese story books and materials for them becoz we believe children learn a lot thru story. There’s a bookstore in Bras Basah , Union bookstore which sells children’s books from china… at a reasonable price… they have a wonderful collection of books… teaching materials all from china. We bring them to book fairs , encourage them not only to read english but Chinese as well. -
yes, am interested to hear from others parents so that I may learn from the various experiences. We do not speak much english at home and I am trying to make an effort to use mandarin with my kid who is in K2 now. It is truly AN EFFORT. I hv signed her up for Berries and the teacher said that for a newcomer, she is actually above average. In terms of words recognition, she is passable. Her weakness is expressing herself in mandarin. A sentence in mandarin would consist of 1 or 2 words of english and her pronounciation is typical of someone who comes from an english speaking enviroment. And in terms of writing, well, let’s just say there is a lot to work on. I do not push her to do any writing as I think it is more important to encourage interest by reading and other exposure. I do read chinese books to her. And yes, I do feel the anxiety as I hv got only half a year left before she hits P.1.
Is it true that kids from SAP school can opt out of higher chinese at P.4 ? -
well, correction here - we do not speak much chinese at home…
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Which school are u particularly interested in? Even in SAP schools, standards of chinese varies. Hong Wen , Nanyang, Ai Tong and Tao Nan are those I know that have high standard for their chinese.
If i had understood it correctly, it’s at P5 that the kids can opt out of higher chinese. Advice from teacher : Just let the child take it as far as he can… unless u see him / her struggling, it’s probably time to pull him/ her out. It wouldnt be useful to pull him out after a yr of higher chinese… becoz i myself was tempted to. I thought abt it this way: what values am i teaching him, to give up after a short try? So i just continue to support him in any way i could : financial by getting tutor, emotional: when he feels the going is tough to encourage him. His chinese teacher actually told me he cried in school twice becoz he had to write faster n much more, teacher made them do BI JI, extra notes for the class. And most importantly to create the environment for him, borrow chinese books from library , buy too, get him to watch chinese news… even to get him to read chinese papers… -
My son is also in a SAP school... and we hardly speak Chinese at home. He was able to handle P1 and P2 quite well with Chinese tuition... but the cracks are starting to show in P3 where the acceleration starts. It gets pretty tough... at least to his Chinese-ignoramus daddy. The only thing we can do is to take it upon ourselves to send him to enrichment classes... they do help, but can get quite stressful for everyone. We have learnt our lesson and are starting our daughter young now for her Chinese \"immersion\". No choice. At least my Chinese is now better after going through P1 and P2 with my son
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yes, i kinda agree… U may be able to survive P1 and P2… But the higher the level, how well yr foundation had been is gonna show. Am looking at Aitong and hv been talking to parents whose kids had just graduated from there and apparently, hv not got very feedback with regards to the school…
Btw, how long is a principal expected to stay? Or allowed to stay? Many people I checked with says it is 5 years but I have seen principals who stayed longer than that… -
chief kiasu, where do U send yr kid for chinese enrichment? Mine (k2)is at Berries but was told it is good and yes, my kid thoroughly enjoys it. Was told that once U hit P 1, they may not be the best as they tend to be geared towards ‘fun fun’ and less academic… (well, whatever that means… ). I hv heard Jiang at Fu lu shou is really good. But it is not feasible for me…
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Hi all
Anybody can advise me whether to continue higher chinese?
My girl is in P5. Band 2 for normal chinese. She has 52 marks for SA1. It is not cheap at TienHsia (ie she is taking both the enrichment & writing). On one hand, seems no tuition cannot survice coz nowadays we know schs don’t really teach or even they teach, is not enough to tackle exams. On the other hand, she did equally bad for other subjects. I was thinking to withdraw from higher chinese enrichment from TienHsia and perhaps spend more time on Maths, but she is interested in Chinese. I don’t really believe in paying and paying for interest but no results.
Thank you -
Hi caroline3sg,
Score is not indicative, unless you know the average for the class. Is she above or below average ? Is she struggling with the subject or is it just because this paper was exceptionally tough ?
Are you just thinking of withdrawing her from higher chinese enrichment or from the school higher chinese class?
Some teachers actually prefer the kids to spend more time on Maths than HMT. For some non SAP schools, one of the criteria to do HMT in P5, is all subjects except Science, must be Band 1 in P4. Science must be Band 1 or 2. Of course, they are saying now that parents have a choice, but the school actually recommends if your child should do HMT in P5, based on the criteria set by the school.
So, if your child is struggling with Chinese, have no interest, then, probably no point to do HMT. If you get distinction for HMT, you get 3 points added to your PSLE aggregate, 2 for Merit and 1 for Pass. So some teachers seem to think that if you spend more time on Maths, you should get more than this 3 points.
But if your child is interested in, then, I think she should continue. Maybe just do 1 enrichment instead of 2.
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