The Alternative Story (TAS) - Discussion

[Laurenwkids]

I don’t advice attending two centres for the same subject too. Better to take a good look at the materials. Sometimes, quite hard to just go on one lesson and even what the child says, I find my children tend to like fun lessons but I am going for lessons that help them to improve which may not necessarily be fun for them.


For chinese they improved a lot under a super strict tutor they did not like but I stuck to her as she can really teach and get them to pay attention!

[Laurenwkids]

sean wife:

Hi,


Trying to compare between TAS K2 class and LCentral PFS(Preparation for School) class….

Does TAS K2 class have equal exposure to Grammer, Comprehension, Vocabulary, Rearranging words etc or is it very much skewed towards Creative writing (i.e. memorization of creative phrases etc)? Does TAS class have standard workbooks/materials available for parents to take a look first?

Thanks!

You can ask to look at their materials, they do not have workbooks but they have worksheets which they give out every week. You can request to look at them.

[sean wife]

Laurenkids, thanks for sharing…


Hi,

I understand that TAS requires the child to memorise composition phrases. Can anyone how long a typical compo they need to memorize for homework say at K2/P1 level? What are the other homework that needs to be completed at home? Just like to have a gauge on how heavy the homework load is and gauge if my child is able to take it without stressing out ME….especially the memorization part…how do you usually practice with the child? Write it out everyday?
Thanks!

[phtthp]

reply from TAS, on K2 / P1 curriculum:-


http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7586&start=1020

[queenie44]

starrry:

Thanks to queenie44 & hquek for your advises.


I had tried both LCentral & TAS trial classes, my child prefers LCentral but I find that TAS seems to touch more on creative writing.

Maybe I should follow my child's preference?

Of course follow child preference would be good. There must be some balance when I say that... I seen some parents always asking their children whether they wanna go, whether this and that... We are called parents because we have the responsibility to decide certain things for them... not always heeding them.

[hquek]

Agree. but parents bear in mind the child’s preference, if a child totally hates the class, what’s he going to get out of it? The child is the one attending class leh.


If my kid told me he dun like becos it’s hard work, i’ll probably counsel him. but if he tells me that he dun like becos there are bullies in there, or the teacher does not teach well, then I’ll consider strongly to pull him out. no point scarring him or wasting my money.

Eg, I sent my son to maths enrichment. First lesson he was super reluctant. But we agreed to try for a term. After that first lesson, he was okay and now he won’t want to stop becos he’s realised that it is helping him.

[sean wife]

Hi hquek,


Can you share more about the memorisation of compo phrases especially for young kids like K2/P1? Is it a lot of work to be done at home each week before the next lesson? Any tips how to make it more fun and less stressful for the kids? Is there also spelling every week?

Thanks!

[hquek]

Hi Sean wife, DS is a bit odd becos he is actually doing above his level, he started doing P2/3 work last year. So far these days he only has bits of compo to memorise and some spelling. He usually learn the night before becos we don’t enforce. Luckily he is able to get correct usually (still got mistakes at times). Also it seems that for compo, they may not require verbatim, once he just whack in something for the dictation, teacher still marked him correct (after this posting, dunno if they will enforce). We were wondering if it is becos the basic idea is there and sentence structures are ok.


No other homework. It is really quite relax for him.

[sean wife]

hquek:

Hi Sean wife, DS is a bit odd becos he is actually doing above his level, he started doing P2/3 work last year. So far these days he only has bits of compo to memorise and some spelling. He usually learn the night before becos we don't enforce. Luckily he is able to get correct usually (still got mistakes at times). Also it seems that for compo, they may not require verbatim, once he just whack in something for the dictation, teacher still marked him correct (after this posting, dunno if they will enforce). We were wondering if it is becos the basic idea is there and sentence structures are ok.


No other homework. It is really quite relax for him.

Thanks for sharing..he's such a smart boy.

[hquek]

If you saw his last cloze passage results, you won’t say that. But no worries, I don’t want him to be too complacent, so that was a good peg puller; that said, I do also watch if he is getting demoralized.