Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary

[markfch]

Trapwithin:

Markfch's attena at work again .... hunting for top league again ....
Do need lah .. your ds already in top league.
Mine still learning how to read those chinese chapter books

Alamak, how come such an innocent remark can also tio suan?

Think I better clarify. Even though ds can sit still and read a Chinese novel on his own, there'll be many words that he does not know. It's not that he'll know all the words in those books.

janet_lee88:

Hi mark,
My son never reads CL story books. Even when watching channel 8 shows, he reads subtitles. Every sat, we will watch Monkey God and there are no Eng sub, so he qis forced to listen.

Actually one of my friends pick up Chinese because she was crazy over karaoke. How's that for motivation?

Another picks up Chinese reading i周刊 because he was chasing after those HK serials. And his Chinese is very powerful. Liddat also can .... :scratchhead:

[Jennifer]

markfch:

Another picks up Chinese reading i周刊 because he was chasing after those HK serials. And his Chinese is very powerful. Liddat also can .... :scratchhead:

Maybe these friends are not stupid to start with

Any form of exposure is better than none.

Everytime I overheard parents speaking English to their children, I feel like going up to them and tell them to use more Mandarin before the children cant understand a single Mandarin word.

[Mrsbongz]

Jennifer:

Maybe these friends are not stupid to start with

Any form of exposure is better than none.

Everytime I overheard parents speaking English to their children, I feel like going up to them and tell them to use more Mandarin before the children cant understand a single Mandarin word.

Wahahaha.. that will be me! but if I do not speak in English, I will have to translate everything I say, quite cham leh, no subtitles!! :shock: but I do agree that speaking in Chinese, n reading in chinese is the best way to improve the language.. too bad ds' english needs improving too.. So I am concentrating on the more crucial language first!! hahahaha:P

[Jennifer]

Mrsbongz:

Jennifer:

Maybe these friends are not stupid to start with

Any form of exposure is better than none.

Everytime I overheard parents speaking English to their children, I feel like going up to them and tell them to use more Mandarin before the children cant understand a single Mandarin word.

Wahahaha.. that will be me! but if I do not speak in English, I will have to translate everything I say, quite cham leh, no subtitles!! :shock: but I do agree that speaking in Chinese, n reading in chinese is the best way to improve the language.. too bad ds' english needs improving too.. So I am concentrating on the more crucial language first!! hahahaha:P

My humble recommendation wld be to persist in conversational Mandarin at home as there is no lack of conversational English elsewhere.

I was wrong to concentrate on English with my elder boy, neglecting Chinese. Anyway my spoken English is so-so only. I believe in the end, he learns better English (spoken & written) by reading story books than from me.

Learning from my mistake, I spoke to my 2nd child in both Mandarin & English, practically translating my daily conversations with him. Very tedious process. Before he was enrolled in pre-sch, he impressed many pple with his ability to speak Mandarin clearly. It was a diff story eversince he attended pre-sch - brainwashed by other children's \"I hate Chinese\". This attitude became worse when he attended P1. Now I speak Mandarin, he answers back in English. Only on rare occasions, he initiates a conversation mainly in Mandarin.

Translation is tedious & time consuming BUT really can see the improvement in our children.

Jia you.

[Mrsbongz]

Thanks Jennifer!

[drickymummy]

Chinese speaking environment v impt in learning Chinese… My boy grew up in such environment with both grandparents non-English speaking, n I used both languages with him …hence it keeps his Chinese on the scales still… Though his English in terms of reading and comprehension is way better then Chinese…

[janet88]

Hi mummies and daddies,

Did you read the forum article in ST about this parent who wrote about the irony of role reversal today ? MOE wants to instill character building when so many parents have gone back to school bcos of coaching kids in their studies. I’ve been scratching my head wondering what is going on in the mind of the newly minted minister. If the aim is to build character, does MOE have to drill the kids so badly ??

[drickymummy]

Agreed with u! They need to revamp the whole system! How to have time to build character when kids r pressured to get good results? Those Ang moh dun have to study so hard n yet they r the ones sitting on the top of those big companies…

[Teh-Tarik]

Hi just received PHPP letter on P1 orientation, any parents here have kids in Class P1-9 (House Colour: John)?

[markfch]

janet_lee88:

Hi mummies and daddies,

Did you read the forum article in ST about this parent who wrote about the irony of role reversal today ? MOE wants to instill character building when so many parents have gone back to school bcos of coaching kids in their studies. I've been scratching my head wondering what is going on in the mind of the newly minted minister. If the aim is to build character, does MOE have to drill the kids so badly ??

Aiyoh janet, Rome is not built in one day mah. The dimino effect will also need some time to get watered down. In a gigantic organisation like MOE, it may take many years before we see changes. Let's give our minister a chance.

Personally, I'm sceptical how successful this new initiative about being less academic focus will be. As your post stated, nowadays we even have parents going to the extent to attend lessons so that they can coach their kids. It doesn't get more competitive than this. Wait, maybe when someone sends the maid to attend lessons, then a new era of 'competitiveness' will ensue. :faint:

Teh-Tarik:

Hi just received PHPP letter on P1 orientation, any parents here have kids in Class P1-9 (House Colour: John)?

Isn't that exciting? I recalled I was thrilled to receive the orientation letter last year. But not so thrilled to receive the 'donation' letters subsequently, haha (joking only).