The Alternative Story (TAS) - Discussion

[24hr-mum]

can anyone who has tried The alternative story for eng prog, share with me whether their child improved in terms of compre n compo, n eng results, and by how much?

[coolit]

Hi 24hrmum,


Yes I have, I have been with them for almost a year. At first only my older boy (p5) was with them, he took a while to improve. At first his comprehension improved by about 1-2 marks then nearly a year later, his comprehension has now improved by 4-5 marks. His composition was the top for his class this SA2 and from being average in class for composition to top, I felt the improvement was great. His recent composition he got 35 marks. My younger girl (P3) joined about half a year ago. Her overall English marks improved but not as drastic as the brother. I think it takes a while for the improvement to be seen so must be patient. But also a lot depends on the child, how fast he absorbs. I heard my daughter’s classmate in the tuition centre did well enough to qualify for GEP, he also toped his level for English for the first time but he is always near the top in the past just that this time he managed to get first according to the mum. He only joined TAS for about 2 months but I guess he is a very fast learner so he improves faster.

[24hr-mum]

thanks a lot coolit,


thot of signiing up the class nx year but the timing is either too late (fri nite) or eats into family day (sunday). so i needed some assurance to sacrifice my time, money n effort to bring my kids to the class.

currently my p2 girl only has compo class cos she is ok wif other components except compre. and for this sa2 for compo only 6.5/10 despite hving attended compo classes since p1. so i thot i shd switch. and perhaps switch to a all-in-1 type that covers compre. a pity TAS doesnt also compre oral.

her classmate who doesnt attend compo class at all can even get 6/10. so i think, aiyo, my efforts didnt make a difference leh.

[coolit]

Hi 24hrmum,


I think quite difficult for you to decide also. One day is your family time which I feel you should not sacrifice on and one is quite late for you. If she is doing well for the other components, then why don’t you just join a composition class? But I guess you have already done that in the present centre. Can you ask her present tutor why she is not improving? Sometimes, children need time to mature in their thought process.

[24hr-mum]

ya, my girl still babyish. in fact she is the youngest in class cos she is 1 jan bb. u know, moe allocates eg 2 jan 02 - 1 jan 03 as one cohort.


didnt cross my mind to ask the teacher cos for enrichment centres that have a lot of branches, teachers are just employees, no point asking.

my girl tends to write unnecessary stuff.
maybe it is just her. her need for time to mature.

will consider a switch anyway cos her compre also terok, just 3.5/10 tho i last minute drilled her 1 wk before exam. except for compre, she has perfect scores for the other components in sa2 paper.

[The Alternative Story]

Hi parents,


We are closed from today (24 Nov) to Saturday (27 Nov). We will get back
to you on your questions by either this weekend or by monday. Thank
you for your understanding.

You can email us but our phonelines would not be available from the
24 to 27 Nov 2010.

TAS

[pixiedust]

coolit :

Thanks for the feedback and congrats on your children’s improvement.
Your boy started with them at the begining of P5 then ?
Are your children with the Yisun branch ? How about the rest of the classmates/friends ? Also improved ? Do you feel who is the TAS teacher also made a difference ?

24hr-mum :
I attend the parents workshop. Just my2centsworth : For compo, the child must be strong in grammar and spelling (perfect or nearly perfect quoting the founder) already as TAS strategy is focused on improving marks for content. They focus on more varied sentences, building tension etc.

I hope we can have more feedback on TAS, whether +ve or -ve.

[24hr-mum]

i hope they can teach on how to write logically, correct story sequence, how to know whc is the emphasis of the story.

my girl is ok wif grammar vocab but tend to write unnecessarily

[KS_me]

The Alternative Story:

Hi KS_me,

We have confirmed a place, but we are waiting for HDB
to give the go-ahead as to whether the location we chose
can be converted from a residential use to a commercial use.

Hopefully, we can give you an answer by next week.

TAS

Do you have any new class for P3 creative writing in 2011?

[coolit]

pixiedust:

coolit :

Thanks for the feedback and congrats on your children's improvement.
Your boy started with them at the begining of P5 then ?
Are your children with the Yisun branch ? How about the rest of the classmates/friends ? Also improved ? Do you feel who is the TAS teacher also made a difference ?

24hr-mum :
I attend the parents workshop. Just my2centsworth : For compo, the child must be strong in grammar and spelling (perfect or nearly perfect quoting the founder) already as TAS strategy is focused on improving marks for content. They focus on more varied sentences, building tension etc.

I hope we can have more feedback on TAS, whether +ve or -ve.

Hi pixiedust,

Thanks Yes my boy started in the beginning of p5. He is with the Yishun branch. His classmates also did well. I am not sure about all of them but I know after every exam, the teacher will ask to see the exam paper and compare their results with their previous results and reward them when they improve.

My boy said quite a lot of them improve. One girl I know used to get 17 over 40 for composition, this time she got 29 over 40, the mum was overjoyed. As for teachers, my boy used to be with teacher may anne, then he changed class as we could not make it for that slot, he is now with teacher christine and both we find are very good. I think the teacher is important but so far we are very happy with the teachers there. They all seem very dedicated.