MOe announced Learning of English to Develop 21st Century

[janet88]

Daddy

Just confirms parent's fears that Primary schools don't teach the basics anymore... Kids who fall behind will need further tuitions/enrichments to catch up.

Preschool to Primary... Hope the new stat board addresses the missing gap.
:celebrate:

Just read this article in CNA news. It just confirmed one thing...tuition for my daughter...or else she will never be able to catch up. Something is wrong somewhere. I use another title to teach daughter her tenses, apostrophe, adjectives, adverbs etc. How can stellar program possibly be used for upper pri?

[beanbear]

I’m quite impressed with DS3’s (he’s in P1 this year) school approach to teaching so far. For grammar, DS is using About grammar (basic) by pearson - quite a comprehensive grammar guidebook. Usually the approach used by the teacher is they start with a story first, then they teach different grammar components from the story, and then they move into writing assignments, spelling, all based on the story they have read. Once they also had an excursion related to the story and then further expanded some activities from the excursion. So overall, I thought the approach to teaching English is well-scaffolded and structured and contextual. Is this called the Stellar approach? I don’t know if the school is using the stellar approach (I didn’t really ask or find out).


But when I compare DS3’s school with my other 2 kids school (Yes, my kids all go to different schools!!), I see a stark difference. Nevertheless, I’m still helping DS3 at home because grammar was so poorly taught to DS1 & DD2 that they are suffering at upper primary levels. I’m not taking any chances with DS3 so I make sure he knows his grammar and is taught grammar rules properly.

As for helping the children to develop critical thinking skills, well, I’m sceptical about the school’s ability to do that. Schools like to test at very high standards, yet, they may not prepare kids well for that. Can schools accept that there are multiple different answers for one question? Can schools tolerate multiple interpretations to an exam question and accept different ways of answering an exam question? If they are less uptight about having "the right answer" for exams, then I say we are moving in the direction of critical thinking. If the exam orientation is still very much, I want to see a particular type of answer with a particular phrasing, certain key words, etc, then are we promoting critical thinking among students?

[Scary]

janet_lee88:

Really ? That's a relief to hear that.

I am stressed out with my son now...don't want to hear any more shocking news. Thanks for updating.

Hi Janet,
Not streaming, but change exam focus. Kids taking PSLE 3 yrs down the road will be affected if not wrong. Check out the papers tomorrow. Heard it on the news just now.

[SAHM_TAN]

Melodies:

I'm Sorry, it should be very little grammar teaching and often insufficient!

SAHM_TAN:

[quote=\"Melodies\"]Just wanted to share that my girl's school use Stellar program since P1. I have reservation with this Stellar program and it is supposed to be very interactive and teach less but learn more. But they teach very little literally and very little grammar teaching but the exams tested them more than what she had learnt le! :frustrated:

Strange le, chen, how did you get the impression that Stellar is good program and gives teacher good teaching materials! :nailbite:

My dd1's school use Stellar. From the worksheets that she brought home, the teacher taught Eng grammar and punctuation rules. Though I do wonder how is STELLAR going to last till P6.

[/quote]She's only in P1, so far she's still able to handle papers from other schools. She does not have Eng enrichment. But I wonder how to use STELLAR beyond P2.

[phtthp]

Scary:

Not streaming, but change exam focus. Kids taking PSLE 3 yrs down the road will be affected if not wrong. Check out the papers tomorrow. Heard it on the news just now.

Singapore News, 3 September 2012

PSLE English Language paper to be tweaked for 2015 examination (in 3 years’ time)

SINGAPORE:
The English Language paper for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) will be tweaked for the cohort taking the national examination in 2015.

The changes will reflect the 2010 revision of the English Language syllabus, which will be implemented for Primary 4 students next year .

The Ministry of Education said the new syllabus has a sharper focus on 21st-century competencies, which includes critical thinking and communication skills.

for example:
in the oral examination –
students may not be asked to describe a picture, which is the current practice.
Instead, they may be asked for their personal opinion after being shown a visual stimulus, such as a poster or book cover.

The written papers will also include open-ended questions where students may then be asked to write a narrative from different perspectives.

source :-
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1223674/1/.html

[Chenonceau]

Melodies:

Just wanted to share that my girl's school use Stellar program since P1. I have reservation with this Stellar program and it is supposed to be very interactive and teach less but learn more. But they teach very little literally and very little grammar teaching but the exams tested them more than what she had learnt le! :frustrated:


Strange le, chen, how did you get the impression that Stellar is good program and gives teacher good teaching materials! :nailbite:

I have to cede my point to YOUR experience of Stellar, simply because I have never myself experienced it. I've browsed some MATERIALS and liked what I saw. Way better than those stupid textbooks my son has. Melodies, I am glad you are here to give your views... And confess I have less knowledge of Stellar than you.

Stellar needs to be taught a certain way, appeals to subconscious learning. This can make parents feel insecure. I am quite comfortable with these methods because they worked with both my kids.

But really... Since I haven't experienced the lesson delivery by schools, I should just shut up. Teeheehee!

[Chenonceau]

beanbear:

As for helping the children to develop critical thinking skills, well, I'm sceptical about the school's ability to do that. Schools like to test at very high standards, yet, they may not prepare kids well for that. Can schools accept that there are multiple different answers for one question? Can schools tolerate multiple interpretations to an exam question and accept different ways of answering an exam question? If they are less uptight about having \"the right answer\" for exams, then I say we are moving in the direction of critical thinking. If the exam orientation is still very much, I want to see a particular type of answer with a particular phrasing, certain key words, etc, then are we promoting critical thinking among students?

I so agree with this!

[corneyAmber]

janet_lee88:

Daddy

Just confirms parent's fears that Primary schools don't teach the basics anymore... Kids who fall behind will need further tuitions/enrichments to catch up.

Preschool to Primary... Hope the new stat board addresses the missing gap.
:celebrate:

Just read this article in CNA news. It just confirmed one thing...tuition for my daughter...or else she will never be able to catch up. Something is wrong somewhere. I use another title to teach daughter her tenses, apostrophe, adjectives, adverbs etc. How can stellar program possibly be used for upper pri?

All these are covered in the Stellar programme. The main difference in Stellar programme is that they make the children feel the appreciation and usage of language naturally instead of delivering it in the form of teaching rules and syntax of it like we did in the past and made the lessons dry.

[J and J]

I can’t deny the stellar is good foundation materials may be for pre-schooler or those without much explosure in English before. I agree it does not cover much in grammers or even simple sentense structure. My DD is under stellar while my DS did not. By comparing their progresses, my DS mastered his writing skill much better than my DD althought she started reading independently much earlier than her elder brother. Both have had no tuition at all. After being in Stellar program for 3 years, we have no choice but start to look for tuition for improving her writing skill. I read the stellar companion booklets for P3, the tasks covered quite comprehensive with composition task for each unit. However, most of the composition tasks were not used by the teacher. In the end, my DD only has composition once a month at most.

My concern is, are all English teachers ready for the new syllabus? Or will this be another push for parents to seek external assistance?

[phtthp]

Scary:

Hi Janet,

Not streaming, but change exam focus. Kids taking PSLE 3 yrs down the road will be affected if not wrong. Check out the papers tomorrow. Heard it on the news just now.

The new change / requirements to English syllabus is much tougher .... as open ended critical thinking skills are required, not so straight foward. There is no right or wrong answer, depends on how you substantiate / support what you write. Also require broader scope of thinking, ie. ability to think from different angles / perspective, before pen down your thoughts. The current practice - looking at a picture and describe, is a lot easier.