All About SAP Schools
-
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…
-
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. -
Lizawa
Thank you for your mail.
My issue is money must be well spent. I have no opportunity yet to speak to sch chinese teacher. Given 52 marks, I believe chinese teacher would advise to drop. Form teacher already advised to drop. When drop? now or year end. If yr end, then what difference if continue till P6. But she has interest. And given her overall 4 subjects, she won’t be able to get into NanHua Sec Sch. Maybe St. Margaret which only require normal chinese. In fact, all along I never wanted her to study higher chinese. It was because many TienHsia mummies want to switch at end of P4 and the enrichment teacher said she can make it. And she likes the TienHsia teacher.
Withdrawing from enrichment but continue higher chinese in sch –> waste time since have to stay back one afternoon.
Drop higher chinese in sch –> she doesn’t like normal chinese teacher. Form teacher said normal chinese teacher is changed.
Continue enrichment in higher chinese but take normal chinese in sch –> confusing, right?
Writing is a must. And if continue the enrichment, I have to pay for my son as well since both time slot is same. This Fri is first lesson of term 3. Got to decide by this week. -
Hi caroline3sg,
Did you show the enrichment teacher your daughter’s paper ? If she has initially thought that your daughter can make it for Higher Chinese, then, probably she can give you some insight as to why her marks is
not up to expectation.
By the way, don’t forget that from P4 - P5, there is really a big jump. Many children and parents will be quite shocked with the SA1 results. So, if your daughter has only done HMT for 1 semester, it could be too early to tell if she can cope or not.
I think doing HMT also helps in the child’s normal chinese. With more exposure to vocab and reading and more writing to do, should see improvement in Normal Chinese. Provided that your daughter is not struggling with the subject. -
Thank you Lizawa,
Yes, I have given a copy of the exam paper to TienHsia teacher before sch holiday. Haven’t got a chance to talk to her. I have also reminded my girl today to inform her higher chinese to call me.
Indeed, she maintained her normal chinese standard since P2. So in a way, higher chinese did help. She is just an average student and does things rather slowly. Of all subjects, she likes chinese best, so not struggling. TienHsia teacher said her ''inner motivation to push herself forward" is not strong and evident. If she fully develops it, she can achieve better results.
Thank you. -
caroline3sg:
Hi all
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.
Thank you
Hi caroline,
I am quite concerned when I see this statement.
Is this typical of all schools in Singapore now ? Or only the top schools ? -
tamarind
it is widespread phenomenum that generallly top schools teachers don't teach. They just quickly touch & go. They assumed many have attended tuition / enrichment outside. That's why you can read many news from the papers why tuition centres flourish......something wrong with education system.....publish PSLE questions.......
As for neighbourhood sch, I can't comment. But I have heard their papers are generally easier. Perhaps they teach basic. If this is the case, then the pupils might lose out during PSLE time. Even though neightbourhood produce bright students, it is not the sch's effort, but the individual and the tuition centre.
I always do not buy the idea that XXX neighbourhood sch produce top student with ??? points. They blow the issue big to draw attention. Rather, I look at the NUMBER of students with good results instead. -
Caroline,
I agree with you that it is the number of students with good results that count.
I am quite sad to hear about the way of teaching at top schools. I was previously from the top girl's school, 25 years ago. That time the teachers do teach, and the exam papers were set to reasonable standard.
I feel that whether it is the top school or neighbourhood school, it boils down to individual effort and the parents' attention. If we are lucky, we get good teachers, if not, we just have to depend on ourselves. -
Tamarind
It seems the current trend is that, not only examinations board, but also sch teachers set questions outside the box, stressing the kids and parents under the disguise of identifying the brightest cream of the crop. And more and more of this difficult questions appear. Even I do not know how to attempt unless some expert explain to me.
Just today, I saw one headnews, someone’s kids know to read menu at 3 yrs old.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login