Comparing English Enrichment Programmes

[jerina]

Hi Joe


Can PM me the tutor contact pls?
[quote]
May I have the contact too?

Thanks[/quote]

[ppnqq]

Hi Joe,


Is she coaching only at Holland? Does she travel to the tutee’s place for 1-1 tuition? Btw, you mentioned that you’ll be sharing her contact but you only posted about her but left out her contact.

Mind sharing over here pls? TIA.

[looneytunezz]

Hi parents,


I have yet to send my youngest for any of these centres so far my youngest has pte tuition but it is not really working out. I am thinking of either one of

these centres. Anyone has experience in these centres? Can kindly provide

some feedback? Thank you in advance.

Mum of looneytunezz

[aaaaaa]

Hi ccgoh,


Which branch did your kids go and which level are they in? Btw, did they go for the combined eng class or just the creative writing class?

I am thinking of helping my girl on her creative writing but considering if i should focus on that CW class or otherwise. As i like to know if howm much does the English class focus on CW and whether if it is sufficent for her.

Thanks

[ccgoh]

Hi aaaaaa,


My children are at AMK. One is P4 and another is K2. The K2 is in their P1 class as they have gauged her as High ability. The P4 one is with P5s as he also seems high ability.

They do 1 hour of writing every week. I find it sufficient, 2 hours of writing to me seems too long.

The class I signed up for is $388 for 1 term (10 lessons)

[24hr-mum]

hi ccgoh


how long hv ur kids been wif them?

my child was wif mindstretcher writer toolbox for compo only. its quite ok cos the vocab is great. but i thinkg of switchg to tas cos my girl still get only 6.5/10 last yr for compo.

but i also hesitate whr to stop mindstretcher cos i scared tas write compo only once in a mth (right), scared not enuf, whereas mindstretcher is weekly writing.

what do u think?

[ccgoh]

Hi 24-hr mum,


My oldest been with them for about half a year and youngest just joined this year.

They do compo every week but every week is write a short paragraph or develop a certain part of composition. About once a month, they will write out whole compo. Once in about 2-3 months, they will test the child on several different compos-at least for the P4 level that my oldest attended last year. I find that when they go through one theme- eg: fire, drowning etc, it is very thorough and the child will know how to do most questions on that theme. So for example, if they do fire, they will have fire at home, fire in shopping centre etc.

I think if you feel that your child needs pure creative writing, why not stick with mindstretcher? Did you find out why your child got 6.5? Which part of the writing was not good? Can you child write better (from your opinion) after attending mindstretcher? If so, then maybe the 6.5 marks was a one time thing?

[24hr-mum]

hi ccgoh


since p1, i hv sent my girl for compo at diff plcs - Joyhouse, Success Learning, then i found mindstretcher at p2.

both joyhse n succses is the typical class- every week write compo wf a few helping words. quite run of the mill.

mindstretcher’s is same methodology ie write compo weekly but their vocab is very powerful. got spelling too. provided the teacher does explain the meanings.

only minus is hv to copy the model compo and do 2nd draft ev wk. its quite a chore when they go to p3. quite a lot of hmwk and i dont see value in the copying. most kids like mine will just copy blindly. i only believe copying out certain phrases, not the entire copy.

i also begin to wonder whr such class is gd for me girl cos she may be just going thru the motion but the thinking is still lacking…
becos they dont categorise phrases by scenarios or eg types eg how to describe feelgs, how to describe actions, etc but its most theme based, my child may not remember the phrases or recall them easily when the exam scenario is different from wat she had learnt. know wat i mean?

re her last yr compo, the teacher commented she teds to write unnecesarily content, or long dialogue that is not interesting, tho the vocab is better than average.

its the same for chinese - where do u kids go for chinese? i m thinkg of tryg han lang cos they teach the writing techniques first for 1 term, and teach how to rewrite parts of a compo, not straightaway write entire compo…but i also worried if dont practise entire compo regularly, enuf or not …my dilemma on the mthdology…

[aaaaaa]

Thanks ccgoh


Btw, were your kids tested on the composition part of English when they sat for the evaluation test at TAS to test their abilities?

[pixiedust]

ccgoh, thank you for the detailed feedback.

To clarify, for each 2hrs lesson : 1hr is on writing and the other 1hr is drilling grammar rules ?