Real reason behind Singapore’s obsession with tuition
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[quote=\"Melodies\"]Oh dear, I am hokkien too but only speak to my hubby when we don't want my girl to hear our conservation and hokkien has become a secret code between myself and my hubby! My girl does not understand Hokkien at all!
I thought that there will b no more people who can speak hokkien in 30 yrs!
GOSH! If It does happen, I'm guilty for that! My initial intention is not to burden my girl for learning additional language (Hokkien is dialect but it is totally different from Mandarin) and can't master well for English and Mandarin. :sad:
No lah, Melodies, don't think of it as a burden to learn another language, even if it is a dialect. It's fun! You will be giving your kids the gift of entering into another world, one that is different from the English-speaking world that most of us are familiar with. I've learnt a lot from my conversations with the aunties and uncles at the playgrounds.
Kids are very smart. They pick up very fast and learn to put the info into separate compartments in their brains, so I think the brains grow even more to accommodate the new info. Purely my conjecture, k? No scientific evidence whatsoever to back up my comment.
And I was a late learner of Hokkien myself. My parents thought I was too stupid to speak 3 languages. *pout* When I was older (around twelve), I actively listened, learned and spoke. In a while, I became fairly fluent. Of course, my Hokkien is only good for buying fish at the market, talking about tv shows and griping about family- cos that's what my teachers (the aunties and uncles) talked about most of the time! -
Melodies:
My two big boys are 8 and 6. Yup, understand most things and speak some. Boy No.2 can crack some Hokkien jokes he made up himself. Something about 'bi sai' (competition in Mandarin) and 'Pee Sai' (er, nose dirt in Hokkien). Quite lame, but must laud the effort mah.Hi Hokkiengirl,
How old are the 2 older one? can understand Hokkien and speak some Hokkiean too. It is very uncommon nowadays.hokkiengirl:
Dear me... what did the Apple do to him?
Ha ha probably escape from his grasp. My kid is a foodie.
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hokkiengirl:
Hey, can I join? I'd like my boy to learn dialects but he does not seen to like it leh..... ... :sad:jtoh:
Hokkiengirl, do you teach your children hokkien?
Of course! All 3 can understand very well and speak somewhat. The baby (almost two) has Hokkien dreams! He had a nightmare one night and in his semi-conscious state, muttered, 'Peng Ko! Peng Ko!' (that's 'apple' in my mother tongue)
He doesn't say 'yes' or 'no'. He says 'ai' or 'mai'. I think it's so cute!!! Gush, gush.
I'm sure I'm not alone in doing this. I'm sure there are tons of families out there who still speak to their kids in dialects. Anybody else care to share? -
Imami:
My apology should be 1990s when my eldest kid was in Pr school. In terms of raw scores, a T-score of 200 actually looks quite good, which will be an average of about 70 marks per subject. (That is based on feedback of PSLE results in 2010.)atutor2001:
Fortune telling my foot. I have been following the PSLE scene since the 1900s.
Hi atutor2001, can you please tell us again - since when have you been following the PSLE scene?
Your earlier post - An average kid (quite hardworking) without tuition or supplementary exercises from parents will be very lucky to get 220 in PSLE, generally will be less than 210. Any normal playful kid without tuition or supplementary exercises from parents is guaranteed 200 and below. Relevant extra work is definitely needed to achieve 240 and above. Perhaps tutors know better in what is relevant. My figures are from \"thin air\".
The scores seem very low. As a parent, by reading the above para, it makes me think this way - to get beyond 220, my child need tuition or additional help.
Many parents are unaware of the conversion and the national averages, feeling quite comfortable when their kids are getting 65 to 70 marks for each subject, not knowing that when converted to T-score, that could or rather usually would be less than 200 points. -
verykiasu2010:
I didn't know that your mathematical understanding is so limited. I have written all the workings on how the PSLE results were used for the computation of the estimates and you again said there is no basis. Oh I forgot, it is just another art that civil servants are good at - at blur and deny to the end. They will then go on to side track, bring in unrelated topics like schools using prelim results ... which was never in our discussion. You are good man.
oh yeah, thanks for bringing it up. And if you think you your estimates are good, so be it, but please don't mislead other parents. Your estimates may be close but without basis. That is just your thoughts on it.
For a long time, I refused to acknowledge that we are given a few cohort's raw scores of the prelim (without names) for a number of years and these were tiredlessly worked into the t-score formula and the school database (not MOE database) and the prelim t-scores were compared with the kids' actual t-score after PSLE, and the school could say with confidence at every Pri 6 briefing that every year, their actual is better than prelim by between 5 to 70 points. The numbers I quote on the school are based on actual data. -
hokkiengirl:
Haha.. My DD can understand and speak teochew and hokkien - though not fluently but good enough to communicate with my parents and elderly relatives. My mum used to tease her when she was a toddler by asking,\" Li si teochew nang, ka si hokkien nang?\" [ Are you teochew or hokkien ?] and she replied,\"cham cham.\" [rojak, mixed]jtoh:
Hokkiengirl, do you teach your children hokkien?
Of course! All 3 can understand very well and speak somewhat. The baby (almost two) has Hokkien dreams! He had a nightmare one night and in his semi-conscious state, muttered, 'Peng Ko! Peng Ko!' (that's 'apple' in my mother tongue)
He doesn't say 'yes' or 'no'. He says 'ai' or 'mai'. I think it's so cute!!! Gush, gush.
I'm sure I'm not alone in doing this. I'm sure there are tons of families out there who still speak to their kids in dialects. Anybody else care to share?
Anything she is not sure of, she likes to reply ,\" wa em zai\" (yes, even now
)
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Melodies, I have posted you a PM.
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Hi,
Got it! Thanks!
Regards,optimistforum:
Melodies, I have posted you a PM.
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BeContented:
Our education system now is full of \"holes\" (\"gaps\") which are getting bigger, we as parents have to constantly warn our kids about the holes and build bridges across the holes so that our kids can progress. Many less privileged families don't even know about these \"new\" holes and their kids will just fall right into the holes and never can achieve their full potentials. We are all concerned parents here to discuss of ways to fill out these unnecessary holes and to prevent them to become one such big hole that our entire next generation all falls into it. Pardon me for this \"hole\" theory !
Maybe I funtion a little differently. I try to tell/show my kids the holes & tell them
\"You decide whether u want to drop into that hole or leap over it. Dun say I never tell u got hole there ah. Got 'eyes' cannot see, then too bad.
If u fall, I will be sad & cry for you. But u will cry louder cos' it will be YOUR life that will be affected more in long term.\"
But importantly, must also tell them if they tried their best but still fall, it's ok. We look for help Loh. -
I like your hole analogy! it is very true. One of the hole is Schools are no longer doing much teachings nowadays and we have to fill up the gap by subscribing tuition for them to learn and they just go to school for enrichment classes and revision purpose :yikes: :siao: :sad:
In her class, I can't find any pupil who has not attended tuition class.
So far, I only can find a few pupils who just have 1 tuition class.cherryc:
Our education system now is full of \"holes\" (\"gaps\") which are getting bigger, we as parents have to constantly warn our kids about the holes and build bridges across the holes so that our kids can progress. Many less privileged families don't even know about these \"new\" holes and their kids will just fall right into the holes and never can achieve their full potentials. We are all concerned parents here to discuss of ways to fill out these unnecessary holes and to prevent them to become one such big hole that our entire next generation all falls into it. Pardon me for this \"hole\" theory !BeContented:
Maybe I funtion a little differently. I try to tell/show my kids the holes & tell them
\"You decide whether u want to drop into that hole or leap over it. Dun say I never tell u got hole there ah. Got 'eyes' cannot see, then too bad.
If u fall, I will be sad & cry for you. But u will cry louder cos' it will be YOUR life that will be affected more in long term.\"
But importantly, must also tell them if they tried their best but still fall, it's ok. We look for help Loh.
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