Secondary School Third Languages

[mathsparks]

hope ah boy dont see what luckystar has written.


Even if drop out eventually, the thing is they've learned a new language, time management, life is not a bed of roses etc. We shouldn't link everything to academic results.

[mathsparks]

Thanks insider. Yr girl’s Os are superb!!


My son is going into the program with eyes wide open. He knows he can quit anytime he wants and we’ll fully support his decision. We won’t turn around and say ‘so sayang’ why not do all the way. His mental health is more important.

[mathsparks]

I see. triple science :!:

[luckystar]

I am sorry for what I wrote, there must be a reason for you to opt 3rd lan, if you like it then do it, not to worry since you can drop it anytime.

[daisyt]

insider:

One more thing about 3rd lang.


When my daugher was choosing subjects at end of Sec 2, her teachers advised her against taking triple science coz if taking triple science, the total subjects will be 10 and a student will need MOE's approval to take 10 subjects (not sure true or not but told by teachers). Her teachers said if she wanted to take triple science, then better drop her Japanese so that the total subjects remain as 9.

Yap ! This is exactly my dd's concern, she is having in mind to choose triple Science and to drop French (provided she is good enough to choose triple Science). However at the meantime, she wants to take one more year of French.

[znzyzyzx]

daisyt:

insider:

One more thing about 3rd lang.


When my daugher was choosing subjects at end of Sec 2, her teachers advised her against taking triple science coz if taking triple science, the total subjects will be 10 and a student will need MOE's approval to take 10 subjects (not sure true or not but told by teachers). Her teachers said if she wanted to take triple science, then better drop her Japanese so that the total subjects remain as 9.

Yap ! This is exactly my dd's concern, she is having in mind to choose triple Science and to drop French (provided she is good enough to choose triple Science). However at the meantime, she wants to take one more year of French.

Daisy,

you mean for IP, also need to decide whether to take triple science , etc , by year 3 ?

[daisyt]

znzyzyzx:

Daisy,

you mean for IP, also need to decide whether to take triple science , etc , by year 3 ?

Yes. And in year 5, they will choose subjects again to take for A level (2 Science max). So she actually want to have a feel of all the Science in year 3 and 4 before she decides in year 5 which are the two Science to take.

[mathsparks]

luckystar:

I am sorry for what I wrote, there must be a reason for you to opt 3rd lan, if you like it then do it, not to worry since you can drop it anytime.

no need apologise. we're all here to share; so it's good to see parents with differing viewpoints. cheers!

[heutistmeintag]

luckystar:

I am sorry for what I wrote, there must be a reason for you to opt 3rd lan, if you like it then do it, not to worry since you can drop it anytime.

DUn worry, it's a good reminder. My DD wants to try out Jap as 3rd language and I told her the same thing - drop it when you cant cope but meanwhile enjoy the language and culture!

[dawnpingpong]

I am currently a secondary 1 student taking French ( Sec 2 next year!! YAY! ). From the results obtained by my friends and classmates, it seems like people score better in French and German as compared to Japanese, although Jap has the highest take-up rate. The median score for French and German for our sch is around 80, while the median for Jap is only about 60++. In any case, it is easier for anyone to take French or German as about 30% of the words are English words, or words that are very similar to English. Howver, Japanese is much harder ( in my opinion, sorry to those people that take Jap...), and there are a lot of misconceptions here and there, making it confusing sometimes. For example, study in Japanese is not 学习， but 努力 (or sth like that, my riend told me before, but I forgot already...), and it is in traditional chinese. That's how confusing it can get.


Also, the grammar for French is similar to English, which is Subject+ Verb+ Adjective ( or sth like that, you know what I mean...), unlike Japanese, where the verb is behind (if I am not wrong).

German has the least take up rate, and the class is also comparatively smaller. For French, the class size is about 30-40++. When I transfered class, there were only 2 person in a class, me and another boy. Quite scary, 1 teacher to 2 students. That was only the first lesson, though, and the class got bigger to about 25 students.

The take-up rates for the 3 foreign language
1st: Japanese
2nd: French
3rd: German

THE PACE OF THE LESSON IS QUITE FAST AND PAY FULL ATTENTION IN CLASS! For the first lesson, the teacher will already teach you the ways to greet people, the pronouns and the conjugation of 2 verbs.

You only take it once per week, for 3hr 15min, starting from around 3pm, depending which lesson you are taking. The classrooms are mostly not air-conditioned, however if you are lucky, you can get one of the few ones, in total about 5??

You do not have to pay anything for the lessons, but you have to buy the book, which cost around $100. Also, they now has the online learning portal, where they have exercises and notes. As the teachers do not give you any notes, you will have to print out yourself from online, which is also quite a massive number, about 2 ring files.

A piece of advice to those who are going to take 3rd lang :
listen attentively in class， do not sleep ( as some of my friends do...), take notes, be hardworking and print out every worksheet and test paper you can find ( not a lot), ask for more practices, revise when you get home!! And you will do well for it! Also, the 1st few lessons are the most important ones and make sure to revise!


Disclaimer: this is not an official guide and I might be biased towards French becaude I take it, but the information is mostly correct.