Q&A - PSLE English

[chrisu]

Thank you ridcully. I'm rather worried for her PSLE English Picture Discussion and Converstion. Those are her weakess...


BTW she just finished her Prelim English Situational Writing/Compo and Listening Compre yesterday. Again the Situational Writing was given a piece of 15 lines paper only and the topic was about writing a food review for newsletter.

ridcully:

Hi chrisu

Just wanted to say best wishes and good luck to your daughter in the forthcoming oral exams this week.

R :salute:

[chrisu]

Hi pixiedust,


I've not seen how the booklet be like and whether in the booklet, how many pieces of writing paper is allocated to situtional writing and how many to compo. I believe only the school or MOE will be able to tell us. The principal told us what the school did for SA is the same as PSLE. That's why I'm worried if they are exactly the same.

pixiedust:

chrisu, perhaps for SA1 the school gave them 1 single piece of answer paper (why ? save $$$ ?!) but for PSLE, it should be in booklet form so the child should have plenty of space to write the text type in right format.

formal letter - yes, it is in the syllabus. My P5 just did in school. Teacher wants them to specify sender's address only, not optional but no recipient address. Originally, I told him to write both sender and recipient addresses but in the end we followed the school's format.

R, if you do send the queries and get any reply, share with us here. Thanks in advance !

[ridcully]

chrisu:

Thank you ridcully. I'm rather worried for her PSLE English Picture Discussion and Converstion. Those are her weakess...

Two pieces of advice for your daughter:


1. Before going in to meet the examiner, ask her to smile and imagine that it is simply going to be a chat with a favourite grandparent;
2. It is better to speak too much than too little.

All the best!
R

[P5G]

Please help.


66. I have a million dollars. I would donate half of it to the Nation Kidney Foundation.
If I had _______________.

Worksheet answer: If I had a million dollars, I would donate half of it to the National Kidney Foundation.

Is this answer acceptable? If I had had a million dollars, I would have donated half of it to the National Kidney Foundation.


TIA.

[sssdarlings]

ridcully:

chrisu:

Thank you ridcully. I'm rather worried for her PSLE English Picture Discussion and Converstion. Those are her weakess...

Two pieces of advice for your daughter:


1. Before going in to meet the examiner, ask her to smile and imagine that it is simply going to be a chat with a favourite grandparent;
2. It is better to speak too much than too little.

All the best!
R

:goodpost: Ridcully, thanks for these tips!

[ridcully]

P5G:

66. I have a million dollars. I would donate half of it to the Nation Kidney Foundation.

If I had _______________.

Worksheet answer: If I had a million dollars, I would donate half of it to the National Kidney Foundation.

Is this answer acceptable? If I had had a million dollars, I would have donated half of it to the National Kidney Foundation.

Both are grammatically correct within themselves: The worksheet answer is what is known as a second conditional; and your answer is known as a third conditional.

Based on the beginning 'If I had...\" I suspect they are after the second conditional, namely the worksheet answer. However, an examiner with heart would surely accept the third conditional so I say your answer is acceptable.

Rgds
R

[PiggyLalala]

ridcully:

chrisu:

The single piece of printed lines (only 15 lines) was given during my daughter's SA1, though that situational writing was report writing. The teacher made it very clear - only 1 piece will be given.

That doesn't sound right for the PSLE. Fifteen lines is way insufficient. The Composition Booklet is much more generous, although I do not have a copy of one and have not seen one for many years.

My son took PSLE last year. From what I know, for situational writing, you need not write too long, just make sure you have included all the pointers ( that is answer all the questions listed in the situational writing.) Also ensure that you have the correct format. Hence 15 lines should be sufficient for the situational writing. I have read my son's situational writing before. They are all quite short. My son usually spent only 10 mins, max 15 mins on this component. This is a very easy component to score according to the school teachers.

[PiggyLalala]

ridcully:

chrisu:

Thank you ridcully. I'm rather worried for her PSLE English Picture Discussion and Converstion. Those are her weakess...

Two pieces of advice for your daughter:


1. Before going in to meet the examiner, ask her to smile and imagine that it is simply going to be a chat with a favourite grandparent;
2. It is better to speak too much than too little.

All the best!
R

:goodpost: Good advice. Smile more and be confident. Just talk. Do not be too nervous if the examiner prompted you in the oral. Unlike chinese oral where prompting may mean you did not talk enough, it is not so in english oral according to my ds. ( that was last year; not too sure it is the same this year. )

All the best and best of luck. Hope it will be some easy pictures that your ds/dd has seen in the assessment books or somewhere.

[chrisu]

Thank you for the info. For other situational writing topic like email, report, speech, is fine with 15 lines. But when comes to letter writing, especially formal letter, with both sender and receiver address, already occupy at least 8 lines, and minus the dear, names, and yours sincerely, how many lines are left for writing?

PiggyLalala:

ridcully:

[quote=\"chrisu\"]The single piece of printed lines (only 15 lines) was given during my daughter's SA1, though that situational writing was report writing. The teacher made it very clear - only 1 piece will be given.

That doesn't sound right for the PSLE. Fifteen lines is way insufficient. The Composition Booklet is much more generous, although I do not have a copy of one and have not seen one for many years.

My son took PSLE last year. From what I know, for situational writing, you need not write too long, just make sure you have included all the pointers ( that is answer all the questions listed in the situational writing.) Also ensure that you have the correct format. Hence 15 lines should be sufficient for the situational writing. I have read my son's situational writing before. They are all quite short. My son usually spent only 10 mins, max 15 mins on this component. This is a very easy component to score according to the school teachers. :)[/quote]

[PiggyLalala]

chrisu:

Thank you for the info. For other situational writing topic like email, report, speech, is fine with 15 lines. But when comes to letter writing, especially formal letter, with both sender and receiver address, already occupy at least 8 lines, and minus the dear, names, and yours sincerely, how many lines are left for writing?

Maybe other parents with P6 child this year could comment on this.
I dont think i ever worried about the writing space in the situational writing before. What I remembered was my son situational writings were always very short. When I questioned him, he said he just need to ensure all the necessary points are in it. As he usually scored very well in this component, I really did not check further. Sorry, cant help you much. Maybe you can check with the school teachers.