MOe announced Learning of English to Develop 21st Century
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PhoBIA:
I urge moe to review all their outcomes of the Stellar program by adding one variable(whether the kids are receiving tuition). It may be more reliable to draw a conclusion that Stellar is effective program for our kids only when the effect of tuition can be excluded.Quote from STELLAR website.
5. Why is the STELLAR programme only in selected schools ?
STELLAR was phased in at a deliberate pace as studies on teacher professional development have shown that teachers take up to 2 years to fully internalize and apply new pedagogies that they have been trained in. STELLAR aims to build a critical mass of teachers with the capacity to implement and sustain the new EL pedagogy, which will dovetail into the revised EL syllabus scheduled for implementation in 2010. In Phase 1, in 2006, 30 schools were invited to pilot the programme. For phase 2, in 2007, an additional 31 schools were selected and for 2008, another 32 schools have come on board. Since 2010, with the launch of the new EL Syllabus, STELLAR curriculum materials have been made available to all primary schools.
2 years is a long time.... :slapshead: our children are guinea pigs. :sad: -
looking4Tutor:
I believe that the new PSLE critical thinking question should be very easy. Some sample questions -
1. How to encourage more young Singaporeans to marry young and have more children?
2. How to foster better bonding between locals and new immigrants?
3. How to get A* PSLE without going for tuition nor parental supervision?
By the way those well connected tuition centres are ready to dish out solution for your children. Remember first to Tuition then to school. So don't worry too much.
True, easy questions. Yah... prob there'll be more tuition for the kids,
unless the teachers are really well-equipped to teach this. -
janet_lee88:
It seems the tuitors in tuition centres are much ready for the new syllabus. May be MOE should outsource the teaching job to these centres while their teachers go for training rather than leaving the kids with the relief teachers.
Before the new syllabus kicks in, all teachers should be sent for thorough training first. Hey, mid-upper primary English is very crucial.PhoBIA:
Wonders if MOE has already trained all teachers prior to this announcement.
Indeed very worrying for parents.
In addition, how teachers can be focused in handling these changes as they also have other subjects to teach like Maths and Sciences. May be MOE should start thinking to consider having English teacher focus teaching English only. -
Lilac66:
Easy qns har? I'm out of touch with primary school std.looking4Tutor:
I believe that the new PSLE critical thinking question should be very easy. Some sample questions -
1. How to encourage more young Singaporeans to marry young and have more children?
2. How to foster better bonding between locals and new immigrants?
3. How to get A* PSLE without going for tuition nor parental supervision?
By the way those well connected tuition centres are ready to dish out solution for your children. Remember first to Tuition then to school. So don't worry too much. True, easy questions. Yah... prob there'll be more tuition for the kids,
unless the teachers are really well-equipped to teach this. -
What's the difference between this method and using phonics to learn reading?
Should I start to get my kid to read up on the books in the link?:
http://www.stellarliteracy.sg/wbn/slot/u3245/Resources%20for%20parents/NLB_JOY%20OF%20READING%202_eportal.pdf
If can read means master English language? -
despmom99:
The Stellar resources are good but really depends on the skills of the teachers. My friend and I compared our kids' work. They are in different schools. I can see that her kid is more stretched in terms of learning. Sigh.
May I know if Stellar materials can be self-studied even if the Teacher is lousy? OR is it that if the Teacher is poor or gives out lesser materials, then the kids get less materials to learn from? Anyone with experience in STELLAR can let me know? I am writing a blogpost on this. -
The only question I can think of now : Why ? Why has to been my DS to be the guinea pig ! (P3 this year).
Are they going to start the new system from P4 next year to prepare for 2015 ? -
SAHM_TAN:
Easy qns har? I'm out of touch with primary school std.[/quote]Lilac66:
[quote=\"looking4Tutor\"]I believe that the new PSLE critical thinking question should be very easy. Some sample questions -
1. How to encourage more young Singaporeans to marry young and have more children?
2. How to foster better bonding between locals and new immigrants?
3. How to get A* PSLE without going for tuition nor parental supervision?
By the way those well connected tuition centres are ready to dish out solution for your children. Remember first to Tuition then to school. So don't worry too much. True, easy questions. Yah... prob there'll be more tuition for the kids,
unless the teachers are really well-equipped to teach this.
no scared, sarcasm intended, sarcasm intended...
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They are still teaching English right? So open ended questions, so long as the answers are delivered in properly structured sentences, grammatically correct and makes sense there should be marks awarded?
DD’s school is one of the pilot schools doing STELLAR. When DD started school I loved STELLAR. It made learning English interesting, it made her want to write and she looked forward to English everyday. They get to role play, create their own story with the characters in the story, think of what other possible scenarios to overcome whatever issues the characters are facing. Each story they do covers certain grammar objectives so they do cover what needs to be done with grammar. Like what Chen says the learning of Grammar could be done more on an intuitive level with STELLAR instead of the old school method of ‘today we are doing past tense’ and the intruction begins. With that I thought STELLAR was wonderful.
Then come DS, he is in a different school and they kind of adopt the STELLAR curriculum but somehow call it something different. The titles used are the same but alas, the delivery is far from what DD experienced. I see a lot of worksheets related to the story and a bit of drawing here and there but nothing else. DS learns the necessary but nothing beyond.
This lead me to think that STELLAR is as good as the teacher who is delivering the contents. And thinking further, well with the old curriculum it is the same, the lesson is as good as the teacher. What STELLAR has given is the ability for the teachers to do more than the nouns, and verbs and adverbs and the punctuations, etc. Someone asks how to teach critical thinking. Through the stories and by asking the children to come up with different endings, by doing activities like changing the roles of the characters and describing what would happen if duck became cow and cow became dog, etc. These kind of activities develop critical thinking.
Well that’s me. I have always felt that Singapore’s way of teaching English is too instructional. Too much focus on the technicalities of the language and too little emphasis on the application of the language. So much exercises done on grammar, vocab, synthesis, etc. But too little done on expressing, in the form of compo, reports, reflections. So at the end of the day, we have kids who know their tenses and what nought but are not confident in expressing their thoughts. -
Chenonceau:
DS has been taught under the Stellar Program since P! , and now is P2. My 2 cents from what I see thru his learning, and his work so far.
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.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:
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!
The main problem is as a parent we cant monitor the progress. We do not know the text that was used so we dont know what was taught and how much DC has absorbed - in short no control. And natuarally that can set off panic buttons.
Butit is good news for those who dont really interfere with school teaching. And that is not good for tutors either who need to see what the school has been doing. But of course for enrichment centres is a different story.
In fact havent we all been clamouring if TLL can give such advanced material and teaching, why cant MOE do it? Well Stellar would be a step in that direction. And the best part is that it does teaching without disecting English into specific individual parts. And rightly so.
It makes perfect sense to take a story and learn how different parts are used to, the necessity of it and beauty of it . Each story used focuses on different components of grammer, vocab, etc. When the work sheets are returned you can see the components learnt. Oral component is also weaved into this - reading, conversation, picture description . Yes they are different skills but the same language isnt it? This is learning English holistically.
I dont know if this is 21st century learning skills but this is how I learnt my languages. Albiet on my own. And that is how I help(ed) my kids too. So from me woo hoo, MOE - Way to Go. :rahrah:
No system is perfect , then again my child is not perfect either.
As always the a good recipe doesnt mean a delicious dish. It depends on the Chef (teacher) and the Main Ingredients ( students) and side Ingredients ( parents).
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