Comparing English Enrichment Programmes

[Monster Mummy]

Laughing:

Talking about ICR, I had very bad experience with them about 2 years ago. At the very 1st lesson for my 5 yrs old boy, the centre staff & teacher just insisted I leave him in their care but my boy was so frightened that he vomited! And you know what, the angmo immediately wanted me to bring him home and said that he was not ready. But she was the one who did the assessment and said that he was ready... :x


Anyway, I went back home and talked to my kid and accompanied him for the 1st 10 mins in the 2nd lesson. After that, he reluctantly joined the class for 2 years till last year Dec...

So currently where did your son enrol?

[tcdl]

jasmineong:

Yes, I do agree that reading books is the best way. If your child starts reading from a young age..he or she will have a headstart and they can do well especially in comprehension cloze and the vocabulary sections as well. The best thing is they will actually like to write and not do it because we are forcing them to.


But I find the right creative writing class can sharpen your child's writing skills and give them more strategies to tackle this area. So I spent some time really researching to find a good creative writing class so my child can really benefit. JMHO

Hi Jamine, So have you found a good writing class for your kid yet ? Any experience to share. My child in P3 now, totally no clue in structuring the writing. His comprehension (both English and Chineses) as bad. Big headache now. However, he does read a lot like Gernomino Stilton.

Thanks !

[cimman]

tamarind:

The only way to improve creative writing skills, is to read as many story books as possible. Otherwise no matter how many creative writing classes the child attend, it is not going to help.

I agree with you on the reading as many books as possible part. I too love reading when I was young and never had problems with my English. Chinese on the other hand was never a love for me.
Now my son has language problems. He is in P4 this year. He is in the last band for his English, failed in his Chinese. With him being weak in both English and Chinese, I am at a loss. There is just not enough time to brush up on both languages at the same time. As a result of weaknesses in English, his maths and science is affected as he can't understand the problem statements in Maths and can't express the answers in Science. There are just too many weak areas.
How much time does one allocate to reading on a daily basis ?

[tcdl]

cimman:

tamarind:

The only way to improve creative writing skills, is to read as many story books as possible. Otherwise no matter how many creative writing classes the child attend, it is not going to help.

I agree with you on the reading as many books as possible part. I too love reading when I was young and never had problems with my English. Chinese on the other hand was never a love for me.
Now my son has language problems. He is in P4 this year. He is in the last band for his English, failed in his Chinese. With him being weak in both English and Chinese, I am at a loss. There is just not enough time to brush up on both languages at the same time. As a result of weaknesses in English, his maths and science is affected as he can't understand the problem statements in Maths and can't express the answers in Science. There are just too many weak areas.
How much time does one allocate to reading on a daily basis ?

Hi Cinman,

Just to share ..... My boy reads every night before he goes to bed. About 10 ~ 15 minutes of reading. Also while he is doing his big business and in a car trip (though it's not very good).

Regards,

[Laughing]

Just as MMM, I have just sent my boy to LCentral this year. Their programme is aligned with MOE syllabus and hope that it will help my boy in his daily school work. :lol:

[cotton candy]

My girl cannot catch up with the rest at ICR... Its too diffcult for her..

[Laughing]

How do you know that? My kids usually don’t want to tell me what they have learned… Answer is "I can’t remember" and follow by "I don’t know" if probe further…

[Laughing]

Hi tdcl,


You are lucky that your boy reads before he goes to bed or doing his big business. I tried to encourage my boy to read but always end up I am the one who read and he listen… sigh… I have also tried using a chair as a "stage" for him to train on his show and tell. But he only did once and refuse to do it again. Maybe that storybook is too tough for him… Anyone has any tips to share?

[teh_oh]

tcdl:

jasmineong:

Yes, I do agree that reading books is the best way. If your child starts reading from a young age..he or she will have a headstart and they can do well especially in comprehension cloze and the vocabulary sections as well. The best thing is they will actually like to write and not do it because we are forcing them to.


But I find the right creative writing class can sharpen your child's writing skills and give them more strategies to tackle this area. So I spent some time really researching to find a good creative writing class so my child can really benefit. JMHO

Hi Jamine, So have you found a good writing class for your kid yet ? Any experience to share. My child in P3 now, totally no clue in structuring the writing. His comprehension (both English and Chineses) as bad. Big headache now. However, he does read a lot like Gernomino Stilton.

Thanks !

Hi tcdl,
Personally, I will suggest weaning off Geronimo Stilton's books by end of P2. The storyline is thin and is only suitable for very light reading. Time spent reading such books can be better used for other forms of reading. My child does not like to read fiction books, so I bring him to the library to pick non-fiction books; even so, he cannot finished those that he had borrowed simply because there are too much homework from school everyday.
Every alternate day, I try to get him to read a chinese short story before he sleeps. He only does his EL reading during the 10 minute morning reading session in school.
I have yet to find any suitable EL creative writing class for him, so now I am only helping him in developing story ideas by attempting school composition together; he did his share of writing while I did one piece of writing too to show him an alternative storyline.

[Joeyz18]

hi mummies, i do not know about TAS, which learning centre is this and any branch near bt timah/CCK? :?