Meet-The-Parents Session

[LOLMum]

haha, as i said in another thread, the opposite is happening to dd who is in sec 1.


when i went to the ptm and asked if dd needed tuition for some subjects (she is a bit weak in some subjects), the immediate reactions of the few teachers were a big "NO" and they looked so shock to hear me mentioned the "t" word. they suggested doing just 1 assessment book (for the whole year) and read/research a bit more.

for ds who is in p1, still a bit early i guess to encounter teachers telling us to get him tuition. just went to his ptm and teachers were like telling nearly all parents to let them enjoy school.

[fussyMummy]

Hi LOLMum,


Is that mean your kids also never go for any "t" before?

[LOLMum]

fussyMummy:

Hi LOLMum,


Is that mean your kids also never go for any \"t\" before?

of course not! :evil:

just like many others, was very kancheong when dd was in lower primary, assessment books (so many for 1 subjects) but started her a bit late in her chinese tuition (really regret it) and also english tuition were a must. had bad fights with her over all these and dh (even my parents and siblings) had to step in to contain the damage. so out with the many assessment books (only 1 for the whole year per subject) and only chinese (a must) and english (she enjoys it even now).

i am more relaxed now and even if she scored just 50 for chinese i am fine and when she came crying over her first failed test paper this year, surprisingly, i wasnt angry. but i do regret giving her so much pressure when she was younger and now she is very kancheong over her marks. it is my turn to tell her to relax and enjoy school.

dd will be the one to decide if she needs tution. but so far so good, only chinese and engllish (but she and ds are dropping the latter in sept).

and i am not pushing ds to excel , told him (and dd) to enjoy school. and ds is asking for science tuition cos' he is interested in it.

i prefer to let others teach them because i know i did a really bad job with dd and as i am helping ds with his school work now, i can tell that i am not really a suitable tutor.

i still feel sad about what i did to dd. though she had a great time in primary school, i think it would be more fun if i hadnt done what i did. i am thankful that my loved ones stepped in to prevent things from getting out of hand.

[mjl]

kwokwc:

To me, I think he still have 1 yr to prepare himself, why push the responsibility to tuition teachers? Towards the end, then he said, if not go for tuition, then we parents must teach ourselves. True that he did point out some weak points of ds but really can't stand he talk, seems like ds is hopeless case.

hi kwokwc,
My dd2 (P6) is in the same school. It's the same with her Chinese teacher - after CA1 she also recommended my dd2 (usually scores high 70s or low 80s for Chinese) to get a tuition teacher (her friend) who is very experienced. I just smiled. This particular Chinese teacher is actually a very good teacher who can teach very well, but I guess she felt that with 40 students in her hands, she cannot afford individual attention to the weaker ones. After SA1 I noticed that those who did worse than my dd2 for CA1 have improved considerably (from low 70s to low 80s) after having tuition by the recommended tutor.

I think at the end it boils down to our expectation for our kid. Like you, I am also satisfied with my dd2's results so I am not considering to send her for Chinese tuition.

[kwokwc]

Ds does have a aim of which secondary school he wants to go into. Not that I am angry with what the MT teacher has to say. Agree that he wants my son to perform better. However, I think that it is not so fast to tell me to send him for tuition. I know ds MT is not that good. In the past, his MT teachers will discuss with me how to work on each part of his weak point to help him score. But this round, just tell me to send him for tuition. :shock: :faint:


It is not that I am not willing, but I think he has not have much time to revise (due to his hectic schedule on all the competitions etc) and I have been quite busy and not pushing him as hard as before. To say the truth, given his hectic schedule with so many competitions, I think he has perform very well. He is still within top 10 in his school for the level.

[kwokwc]

mjl:

kwokwc:

To me, I think he still have 1 yr to prepare himself, why push the responsibility to tuition teachers? Towards the end, then he said, if not go for tuition, then we parents must teach ourselves. True that he did point out some weak points of ds but really can't stand he talk, seems like ds is hopeless case.

hi kwokwc,
My dd2 (P6) is in the same school. It's the same with her Chinese teacher - after CA1 she also recommended my dd2 (usually scores high 70s or low 80s for Chinese) to get a tuition teacher (her friend) who is very experienced. I just smiled. This particular Chinese teacher is actually a very good teacher who can teach very well, but I guess she felt that with 40 students in her hands, she cannot afford individual attention to the weaker ones. After SA1 I noticed that those who did worse than my dd2 for CA1 have improved considerably (from low 70s to low 80s) after having tuition by the recommended tutor.

I think at the end it boils down to our expectation for our kid. Like you, I am also satisfied with my dd2's results so I am not considering to send her for Chinese tuition.

Hi mjl, nice to hear from you again. Hmm, seems like the teachers there are really quite kiasu in a way. Maybe it is something good afterall. For ds, his grade actually improve from CA. I am happy bcos he is so active in other stuff like oversea learning journey, scrabble, science olympiad etc etc. Hardly got chance to see him already. I won't send him for tuition either. I am actually quite happy with his result knowing that he got so much work to do and so little time to do.

Ds's Mt teacher told the class that ds class is the worst batch that he has taught. I think that this might not be very good comment to the class. Can be quite sad and demoralising to the kids.

Like what some parents have said, should enjoy school life. I really find that our kids have no childhood already. If studying also so stressful, really quite poor thing. Like what my husband always tell my kids - as long as you did your best, we will not scold you.

So for my kids result, we only scold them for their careless mistake. So for ds Maths paper, we scolded him bcos he made a careless mistake, if not he would have got full mark. Then our parents 'stared' at us. Our reason, if not for careless, he would have done better, so this type of mistake must 'scold' then they will be more careful in the future. This is not only help in schoolwork, but also everything in whatever they do in the future.

[SAHM_TAN]

I’m just curious.


My kids are still in kindy, and I do send them for enrichment lessons, more to get them out of my hair for awhile.

This is one thing I do not understand, aren’t teachers suppose to teach and help weaker students to improve? I understand there are 40 students per class, but I think there’s something fundamentally wrong when teachers suggest to parents to send their kids for tuition.

I mean, it’s ok if parents wish to send their kids to tuition, it’s their choice. But for a teacher, whose profession is to teach, to suggest it, I just feel that it’s weird. I mean it’s their responsibility to ensure that their students understand the work.

Do the teachers expect the students to understand what it’s being taught immediately. If they don’t, then it’s off to tuition centre and not extra time with teachers? I know teachers are a busy lot but teaching is the basis for the profession.

[mjl]

kwokwc:

hi mjl, nice to hear from you again. Hmm, seems like the teachers there are really quite kiasu in a way. Maybe it is something good afterall. For ds, his grade actually improve from CA. I am happy bcos he is so active in other stuff like oversea learning journey, scrabble, science olympiad etc etc. Hardly got chance to see him already. I won't send him for tuition either. I am actually quite happy with his result knowing that he got so much work to do and so little time to do.

hi kwokwc, if you think P5 is busy with all the competitions, wait till your son goes to P6! There are many more Maths & Science competitions, as some schools are trying to attract students to apply DSA by exposing them to their schools.

When my dd2's Chinese teacher first raised the issue of tuition for my dd1 (same teacher) a few years ago, I was taken aback too. My thought then was: huh, how come teacher needed to outsource the work to tuition teacher rather than tried to help the children herself? But I have learnt to recognise that the teacher has seen potential in the kid and wants the kid to maximise her potential in the subject She can only do so much as her hands are full. Instead of sending her for Chinese tuition, I put in more effort to help my dd1 in her weak areas (which the teacher has identified) and eventually she got A* for MT and Distinction for HMT

kwokwc:

Ds's Mt teacher told the class that ds class is the worst batch that he has taught. I think that this might not be very good comment to the class. Can be quite sad and demoralising to the kids.

I agree it is not something very nice to say to the class, but I noticed many teachers like to use 激将法, maybe it is something that they feel will work based on their experience. For me, I will try to encourage my kids to just try their best and to prove the teachers wrong!

kwokwc:

So for my kids result, we only scold them for their careless mistake. So for ds Maths paper, we scolded him bcos he made a careless mistake, if not he would have got full mark.

I feel carelessness is something which is difficult to help. My dd2 is a very careless person, as compared to my other 2 kids. I have stopped scolding her for carelessness as I find the scolding doesn't help at all. I just asked her to keep checking (3 times, 4 times, re-read questions, check backwards) since she is able to finish her paper fast.

[kwokwc]

Hi mjl,


thanks. I think I will also work to help my son in his weaker subject too. For his 2 stronger subjects, I have no worry at all. in fact, he knows quite a lot more than me.

What sahm_tan said does has a point. Pushing the responsibility to tuition is not a good way. To me, I find that the teacher is not finding out more about the child first. Maybe the teacher do find that my son has the potential, but should be talking to me and how to help me, and if I really can't help, then suggest getting a tutor for my son.

Not sure if it is also bcos just before I talk to ds MT teacher, he was scolding the previous kid so so loud that he has not calm down yet, so can't really talk to me in the correct tone. I think he is so angry with the previous student and he scold until the whole hall can hear him.

[janet88]

tracyanton:

华文补习招生通知

Chinese Tutor
29 Jun—08Nov(18weeks)

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