How to improve your child's English (P5 and P6) fast.

[Miss Raja]

Hi parents,

Over the years, there are some techniques i have devised as a tutor that can help to boost your child's english marks. I have collated these and turned them into a Creative Writing course and a Paper 2 Course and thought I should share some tips with parents so that they can understand my teaching style a bit more.

TODAY's Tip:

Instead of spending hours upon hours reading books (although this habit should be cultivated from a young age), your child can learn how to describe common scenes creatively and then adapt them to suit the story.

What do you mean ?

For example, a scene of waking up late can be used to start almost any story. Or the description of a person looking shocked can be used in any situation where a surprising or shocking event happens.

So where can you get such 'model starts'?

Of course you can find many assessment books on this. However, you don't want to use the same words as all the other students who use the same books.

My course helps ensure your child has his/her own unique set of scenes/ words/ phrases to stand out from the crowd.

If you like what you see here, you can pm me and I will give you more details about the course.

Also parents, please post excerpts of your child's work here and I will give feedback as to where problems are and how you can rectify them.

Cheers
Miss Raja

[Miss Raja]

Hi parents,


Here is the post for today.

TODAY's tip

Improve your child's grammar by teaching them the correct grammar rules. Compositions are marked based on impression. There are four types of students with respect to grammar:
1) Students who use varied grammar and sentence structure and thus impress the marker.
2) Students who use simple grammar and sentence structure and thus just meet the requirements.
3) Students who use simple grammar and sentence structure but make grammar mistakes and thus are one the borderline for language marks.
4) Students who make so many grammar mistakes that the story cannot be understood.

The good news is even if the student falls in the last section, they can be taught the rules and sentence structures to use in their paper 1 and so improvement can be made.

The course I have developed does diagnosis (testing to see what rules the child makes mistakes in) and then gives each student the grammar and language help he/she needs. Also, I teach students several 'impressive' higher level sentence structures to help them impress their markers in exams.

Just like yesterday, you can pm with queries or post here.

Hoping the post is helpful,
Miss Raja

[Miss Raja]

Hi parents, here's the post for today:


Yesterday, the parent of my p5 english student told me about how her son does not like to do assessment books and practice papers on his own and about how difficult and emotionally taxing it has become to get him to sit down and do any work other than homework.

This got me thinking about how learning language can be made fun for kids. So I started up a blog where I will be posting the activities I talk about below. psleengilsh.blogspot.com

TODAY's Tip

Vocabulary that is commonly tested in school papers can be done as crossword puzzles. You can use crossword puzzle making software freely available online or you can use the ones I post on the blog psleengilsh.blogspot.com

In the course that I teach, I aim to increase the vocabulary of students by teaching them to use the vocabulary I teach when speaking. This is a simple and effective way to get kids to learn vocabulary fast. For example, vocabulary taught in a lesson will be revisited in the next lesson as part of a presentation, wheel of fortune games, drama re-enactment or creative writing exercise. I also give students crossword puzzles to take home and try with words taught in class before.

Educational psychologists have proven that language is best learnt through use and enjoyable activities. In order to ensure that at the end of the day, we are always working towards doing better in exams, I use the latest and most common vocabulary words tested in PSLE.

For crossword puzzles of past year vocabulary (2005-2009), visit my site. To ensure that your child's vocabulary improves and fast, sign up for my course! pm me, post here or email me at [email protected]

Cheers
Miss Raja
psleengilsh.blogspot.sg

[Miss Raja]

Through my conversation with a mum on another forum post in kiasu parents, I have realised something about comprehension. Sometimes parents and students might think that there is no difference between the student's answer and the given answer. They are then surprised when the answer is not awarded all the marks.


TODAY's Tip

Why students don't get the full 2 marks when answering a question they think they know.

1) It is important to understand what the question is asking. For example is the question asking about what happened or is the question asking about why something has happened?

2) Sometimes there is more than one part in the passage where the answer can be taken. Sometimes the parts are not close together.

3)The sentence structure of the answer has so many grammatical mistakes that the answer cannot be understood.

[struggling]

Hi,


I have a DS at P6, taking PSLE soon, and his weakness is in composition. However, he has begged me not to send him for tuition....

So, I am wondering, could u give ME a few lessons instead?
I walked into a tuition centre to ask them this question recently, and they were aghast at the suggestion. But, I only want to know the PSLE format so I can guide him in comp.

My friend told me to just ask him to memorize various P6 model compositions, as there is apparently a specific format and regular questions. Is this true?

Please PM me if you are able to offer this. :xedfingers:

[Miss Raja]

I have had this problem with some kids before. So sad to see such you nd kids demoralised. Will pm you:-)

[Pinky Piglet]

Hi Ms Rajah


Is it true that there is a great jump from p4 to p5? :?:
In what way I can help to prepare my current p4 gal.

Thanks in advance

[sembgal]

Some tips for desperate parents who need to brush up their children’s English before PSLE.

Tip 1: Expose the child to interesting articles from Reader Digest. Get the child to read aloud to you and discuss with the child about the article.
Tip 2: Visit YouTube and watch interesting videos together and discuss about the videos.
Tip 3: Expose your child to interesting articles from Straits Times and discuss news articles.
Tip 4: Practise assessment books or test papers.
Never underestimate the child. A P6 child who has never passed English since P5, managed to get a B grade for Prelim English. It is possible if you keep encouraging the child.

[Ran1977]

For Vocabulary-is there a Must Know List of words the kids need to know?

Otherwise how will the kid know the meanings of all words on dictionary…

[sembgal]

http://www.preston.com.sg/en_grammar1.html


Study the P5 and P6 words in Preston Revised Primary English. Eg: Synonyms, Idioms, Antonyms, Phrasal verbs etc

Memorise and learn spelling of the words

Ran1977:

For Vocabulary-is there a Must Know List of words the kids need to know?
Otherwise how will the kid know the meanings of all words on dictionary...