All About Preparing For Primary One

[Kissgurami]

janet_lee88:

My daughter is in P1 this year. She still has problems adjusting.

Having remedial after school for Chinese, as her hanyu pinyin is weak.
My advice to parents who have kids going to P1 is to prepare the children for hanyu pinyin towards Term 3...however, do make sure they do not confuse with phonics. The other thing is to let them read books of their level.

They have remedial at P1..? The school told me about remedial but I thought it was for upper pri...

Yup, hanyu pinyin is kind of the focus for K2 classes in the childcare. so kind of enhancing it with enrichment.

[kohbee2.06303gmail.06303com]

I am of the opinion that we should let the kid learn to cope with lots of encouragement and some coaching if needed, as P1 is still very basic foundation. If we rushed in too early to prepare them all the time, they will become more "spoon-fed". If they have learnt all their hanyu pinyin, tenses etc. before P1, what are they going to learn in class? They will get bored and no interest in learning, seek attention in other forms, etc.


/quote]

Totally agree with you. My son attended Han Yu Pin Yin class that was conducted by the kindergarten chinese teacher as my husband and I does not speak much Mandarin at home. Other then this we did not sign him up for other classes. We just do lots of reading on different topics and activities that are of interest to him. Our preparation is more on teaching him to be more independent and what to expect in Primary School. It is better to cultivate a learning culture rather than hot housing the kid with too many enrichment class.

[Kissgurami]

Hmm, this would depend on the home culture and kids from my view...


my 2 DD loves their chinese enrichment class since at this age, they get sing, read and mingle with kids their age. It is a joy to actually see them come back and narrate their stories or sing their \"poems\"

Maths would be for DD1 since she has been asking if there is enrichment for Maths as well so she will be trying her 1st class tomorrow , will see if she enjoys it. DD1 loves learning and like to be ahead of her class if she can.

due to circumstances, they are taught to tidy their room, unpack/pack their bags, help with dinner table layout so right now, just guiding my girl on what to expect in P1. eg, no more childcare teacher, more students. let her purchase her own food when we are coffeeshops, to get a girl buddy when going to washrooms

just my thoughts :celebrate:

[zoan]

Anyone heard of Higher English for P1? Just want to know more details. Heard neighbours say that son’s classmate had been choosen to Higher English Class not very sure for the details.

[greenbean2011]

which primary school is yr neigbhour son in ?

[joyfulsally]

I don't think there is Higher English nowadays coz of MOE's initiative not to \"tax\" the kids at P1 and P2. Perhaps it's the school's way to stretch your child? Your child's English must be above average then. :congrats:

[phtthp]

got higher Chinese, no higher English, good lah! … lesser stress. No higher Maths, right ? just normal Chinese, normal English, normal Maths will do!

[tamarind]

JR:

Totally agree with you. My son attended Han Yu Pin Yin class that was conducted by the kindergarten chinese teacher as my husband and I does not speak much Mandarin at home. Other then this we did not sign him up for other classes. We just do lots of reading on different topics and activities that are of interest to him. Our preparation is more on teaching him to be more independent and what to expect in Primary School. It is better to cultivate a learning culture rather than hot housing the kid with too many enrichment class.

Parents should focus in teaching kids to be able to read independently in both English and Chinese before entering P1. If the child is able to read and understand long chapter books in both English and Chinese, then she basically does not have to spend time learning languages in P1 and P2.

For Chinese, teaching hanyu pinyin is not enough. Even if a child is very good in hanyu pinyin, if she cannot read Chinese books independently, she will suffer from P3 onwards when she has to write compositions. Remember that we are not only preparing our kids for P1, we are preparing them for the many years of learning ahead of them. The key is to make sure that they are very good in both languages, and the best time to learn is before 6 years old.

The only way for a child to be good in Chinese, is to read as many interesting story books as possible. Otherwise, the child will never be good in Chinese, even if she is very good in hanyu pinyin, or even if she has completed all the Chinese assessment books in Popular bookshop. Most parents have the misconception that hanyu pinyin will help in learning Chinese, in fact, hanyu pinyin can actually hinder learning, if we only let the child read books with hanyu pinyin.

[tamarind]

Just to clarify that it is not difficult to teach a child to read and understand long chapter books in both English and Chinese before the age of 7. It does not mean that we need to hothouse the kids. There are good resources that we can use, and we only need to spend a short time every day to teach the kids, provided we start from 3 years old. The age between 3 to 6 is the best time to learn languages. In fact, this is the best way to ensure that our kids enjoy their childhood.


Also, teaching a child to read well in both languages, is not only about preparing them for P1, or aiming for high marks. A child who is good in languages will be well equipped for life long learning. A child who can read well can also learn independently, and they can discover really fun and exciting worlds as they read.

[phtthp]

nowadays, P1 Maths are tricky. Require higher order thinking.


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