Comparing English Enrichment Programmes

[allcc6]

ccgoh:

I find that their teaching is not stagnant, they keep adjusting it as the students progress and now their compres focus more on inferential questions and they teach some technique called SIF to get the children to answer more precisely.

What does SIF refer to? How does it help in compre?

[ccgoh]

allcc6:

ccgoh:

I find that their teaching is not stagnant, they keep adjusting it as the students progress and now their compres focus more on inferential questions and they teach some technique called SIF to get the children to answer more precisely.

What does SIF refer to? How does it help in compre?

Hi allcc6,

I may not be fully accurate. However, from my understanding of what my son's teacher said, it stands for S-Specific, I-Infer, F-Fit into the question.

She said that comprehension is about precision and accuracy and many kids may get the rough idea of the answer but because their answer is not precise, they lose marks, so they use SIF to help get the children to see how their answers can be more accurate.

I will use my son's passage from last week to try to explain. There was a question that asked whether swimming was an option for the couple and why or why not. My son put down \"Swimming was not an option because Carlo was a competent swimmer but he lacked stamina...\" and he was marked partially wrong because he was not specific (the S in SIF). The teacher said he had to give the specific information. The answer was that swimming was not an option for Carlo and so the information needed to explain that was that he did not have stamina and the part about him being competent was not important.

She did say that there might be some teachers who are more lenient who would allow that but they wanted to get the children used to being specific.

As for inferring, she would get the students to imagine they are in that situation and get them to infer the answer. For example, there was a question that asked to explain in their own words what it meant to be picked off by a trigger happy soldier. She told the students to look at the key words, 'trigger' and 'happy' and from them infer that it means a soldier who likes to shoot, then to imagine they are soldiers who are trigger happy, what would that mean, what makes them different from normal soldiers who are not trigger happy. So from there, my son said he could infer that a trigger happy soldier is someone who shoots without thinking of the consequences because most soldiers would think of the consequences and that prevents them from shooting.

I hope this rambling answer helps. I may not have explained it very well, best to get input from your tas teacher.

[The Alternative Story]

awfullyKS:

Hi TAS,


May I know if you are going to do a Parents workshop for TAS parents again as I missed the last one. :sad:

Hi awfullyKS,

Yes we will arrange parents workshops for TAS parents. We might do one in
August. We will let the TAS parents know once we have fixed the timing.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Ba Ba:

Hi TAS


Is it possible for you to organize another English Workshop for TAS Parents?

I understand there is one for non-TAS parent on the coming 16July, is it full? Can I(TAS parent) register?

I think last time you did organize one for TAS parent, but I did not manage to sign up my son for your English lesson due to timing clashes. Recently I just manage to sign up my son for your English lesson but you are having English Workshop for non-TAS Parents.

May I know what is the different between the workshop for TAS parent & another for non-TAS parent?

Hi Ba Ba,

The difference is that the workshop for non-TAS parents is one
where the parents pay to attend but the workshop for TAS
parents is a free one as we want to help them to be able to
aid their children's learning at home.

TAS

[pingathot]

Hello

I think British Council not only enrichment but they follow MOE sys. I was there to have a check myself at the east. You will be shocked as the compositions written by P1 are very good. Though of course you will said that they will paste the best but I think all centres do that. But thinking of how many children can write like them? Their standard is high cos my friend’s son,P1 would like to join, but, after taking the entrance test, was told that it will be tough for him cos their class standard is very high and difficult for him to catch up. Overall, their teachers are all qualified! They also conduct how to teach to teachers. This shows that there is a certain standard. English is not a short time that you can see results. This also depends on your foundation. If they are not good, why I see PSLE students, O level students? Only to say that their fees is expensive, I think the most expensive in the market. No make-up class too. Approx a lesson costs more than $60. But I think it is worth it!

[SLWL]

Dear Parents


I am looking for group home tuition for English and Science in Yishun. Any recommendation? Thank you.

[Kissgurami]

FYI on this thread,


Grammar and Writing School only offers from P2 onwards

[sksk]

My boy will be P1 next year. He is currently with "I Can Read" but I feel this school is more suitable for pre-schoolers. I’m looking for others more suitable for primary school children. Not keen about Kumon. How about Morris Allen or Mindstretcher? Any other recommendation?

[bigsnoopy]

Yes DD also in I can read but heard from the reception not much people take the primary school program. So I am also thinking of switching to another enrichment next year but do not know which one.

[Youngish Mum]

Happy Mama:

mr_ding:

[quote=\"Happy Mama\"]British Council is a definite NO NO.

Is it really that bad?

IMHO, the class size is too large; between 22 to 25 students in a class and the syllabus is totally not related to MOE.[/quote]BC class size isn't that big. Max 16 for Kindergarten, max 18 for Primary or Sec