The Alternative Story (TAS) - Discussion

[24hr-mum]

my girl tried the trial and like the class.

so will switch in feb/mar after they shift to amk

she cant tell me why she like. she just say she like the teacher christine.

i using LG GT505. can surf net via wifi.
dont need data plan

[buds]

My current handphone was the one my hubs

bought for me... the LG Renoir.

My main interest in a phone is high megapixels
& user-friendly camera/video and sms functions.
I bring my children out to fun places spontaneously.
I do not have to tell them in advance that we're going
somewhere cool or anything, when i feel like it. So i like
having a phone handy for taking videos and pictures as &
when i need to. The phone should also preferably have external
memory options cos i store a lotta multimedia stuff inside, to which
hubs says, \"Wuuaaah, so many arh!\"

I'd probably only arrange for a trial after confinement bah..
By then, they'd be at AMK. Do parents get to sit in during trial?

Which subject did you sign up for your DD, 24hr-mum?

Anyone has any feedback on Teacher Christine since she'd be @ the
AMK branch?

In my opinion, true educators are not just one with knowledge, but one
with the patience & passion to apply that knowledge they have... with the
children/students to enable them to achieve their highest potential... to encourage and build on their strengths & confidence.

It's tricky cause each child that comes into the centre are of different
capabilities and different level of abilities and possess varied learning
styles. How we get them out of that shell, to think out of the box and
to be able to apply what they learnt independently is how i find that
an educator is successful in imparting that knowledge.

This will ensure the children will be able to manage independently without
having the teachers to always hawk over them to check... to do this... to
do that... to instill in them the need to auto-run. Without supervision. :please:

[24hr-mum]

mine went for fri 730pm class, p3-p4 english.

my girl is p3 nx year but teacher christine recomm she join this p3-p4 class cos my girl can cope well.

so far she seems ok. able to answer all my questions confidently.

but the fees are 388/term (i think is 10 wks, forgot to ask)
a bit more ex than mindstretcher whc my girl is at now.

[jojo]

Hi paging for Yishun parents


would you able to share how do you child do after with the centre for mths?? Be it +ve or -ve comment, just want to hear your view :love:

Thank you :please:

[jedamum]

buds:

In my opinion, true educators are not just one with knowledge, but one
with the patience & passion to apply that knowledge they have... with the
children/students to enable them to achieve their highest potential... to encourage and build on their strengths & confidence.

It's tricky cause each child that comes into the centre are of different
capabilities and different level of abilities and possess varied learning
styles. How we get them out of that shell, to think out of the box and
to be able to apply what they learnt independently is how i find that
an educator is successful in imparting that knowledge.

This will ensure the children will be able to manage independently without
having the teachers to always hawk over them to check... to do this... to
do that... to instill in them the need to auto-run. Without supervision. :please:

Agree.
Good educators should not inhibit the curious nature of children. Even if the children raised questions at an inappropriate time, good educators should know how to teach these children when to seek clarifications at the appropriate time, without penalizing them. My boy's sch's P1 FT had taken the time to teach him the need to raise his hands to asked Q (she told me about his vocal nature). He loves her to bits and naturally was motivated to 'work for her' for the past 2 yrs under her teaching.
Buds, my ds2 likes you too leh. So when you giving free workshops?
Are we off topic as usual?

[sunshinelove]

jojo:

Hi paging for Yishun parents


would you able to share how do you child do after with the centre for mths?? Be it +ve or -ve comment, just want to hear your view :love:

Thank you :please:

Hi,

I have not sent my kids to their Yishun branch yet, I signed up for them for next year as they will be moving to AMK, more convenient for me.

However, my colleague's 2 kids has been with their Yishun branch for about 9-10 months. The older one was there for Maths and English, the younger one for English.

Her older girl is not from the best class in school, and her grades were pretty average - more Bs than As. At first, she did not see much improvement, then about half a year later, she saw her Maths get an A, then her English composition started to improve to high 30s over 40.

For her prelims, she got As for Maths and English and then for her PSLE, she also got As and her mother said her PSLE aggregate was higher than what was expected and higher than some of the girls in the best class who always did better than her girl. Her aggregate was pulled down still by her Chinese but she knew that it must be the English and Maths getting high As that helped her daughter to achieve her score of 239, not very high, but one that is much higher than what she expected.

Her younger girl also improved for her English in SA2.

What my colleague is very happy with TAS is that they go above what is required, when she shared with the teacher how she was concerned about her older girl's marks, they recommended assessment books and good school papers to my colleague for her to try them at home. They also showed genuine concern, she says she always feels that they really care about her children and do not seem to just do a job.

She also mentioned that her older girl gained a lot of confidence in trying out difficult maths qns after being with TAS for a few months, and her girl shared that the teacher would always tell her that nothing was impossible, and kept encouraging her.

I think every centre would have good and bad..TAS uses stars to encourage the kids, they get stars when they do well in class and they get to exchange these for prizes at the end of a few months and I know my colleague's younger girl is motivated by that but she also said she heard a mother complain to the teacher about the stars before asking the teacher why she took away her son's stars for misbehaving, the mother was upset because she said it demoralized her son and her son was quite sensitive.

So I think every centre would have things that work for your child and things that don't, its just whether overall it works for you and your child or not.

I have always recommended TAS even though my kids are not there because I went for a holiday programme last year with my kids, i attended their parents workshop and just this week, my kids went for their spelling bee and throughout all this, I see teachers who are committed, love what they are doing and they go all out to make the lesson interesting. Most of all, they seem to have this X factor- this genuine care for the children and enthusiasm for teaching which is something educators are supposed to have but sadly very few actually do possess.

That is why i recommended them to my colleague and some other friends although I have yet to join them for their regular classes.

[jasmineong]

Agree with sunshinelove’s assessment of TAS…I really like it and the teachers…only a few things I feel can be better…the Yishun branch is quite cramped and the reception area is very small but they are moving to AMK so should be better. And for their compositions, they mark everyone but they tend to mark by impression, that means they will mark more for vocabulary and content, for grammar, they will mark but if the mistakes are not that obvious, they don’t really take note of it as they say they mark more on overall so as parents, we would need to go through with our kids at home too but I find their compo teaching very good so to me…its ok lah…I think its good they can mark every compo, compre and synthesis. For MCQ, it is marked by kids as teachers go through the answers in class. And I can see improvement in the way my child tackles his compo now and he seems to like to write and he uses the techniques taught at TAS. For me, it is quite a big deal he can do that on his own so overall am very happy with TAS.

[wywy2]

Hi sunshinelove,


Where did you go for the spelling bee? Is it the one held at Singapore Post? I wanted to bring my child but it is quite far, do you know if they have it anywhere else?

[jojo]

That is why i recommended them to my colleague and some other friends although I have yet to join them for their regular classes.[/quote]


thkq sunshinelove & jasmineong for your reply :imcool:

It gave me more insight of the ctr. but i didnt know their math is so strong too.... too bad not all centre has math class.

we have an option to put my kid in learning point, learning lab or tas but dont know which is the best:(. will you able to share your view

[24hr-mum]

i only tried learning point when my girl was just p1. just for a term. not sure if its gd enuf but i didnt continue cos i find they dont hv notes, not much wksheet. is basically rather unstructured to me.

maybe the teaching was more oral n listening rather than doing type.

hi sunshinelove,
the elder girl who joined TAS, did she join when she was already p6?