MP echoes calls for PSLE to be scrapped

[SAHM_TAN]

beanbear:

pirate:

[quote=\"beanbear\"]One critical skill eg in English comprehension is mining for meaning.

Can some kind soul explain to a clueless person like me what is mining for meaning? Is it similar to 有边读边 没边乱仙 ? :scratchhead:

Let me attempt based on what I do with my ds. I get ds to inquire the meanings at word level, sentence level and at paragraph level. Then there r things which needs to b inferred eg relationships between characters being mentioned in the story. Inferring events that r being talked about, what r the characters talking about. For eg if the passage mentions The Beatles and my ds does not belong to that era to know Beatles refer to a male band, he needs to find clues elsewhere in the passage to see if he can infer that they r a group of singers.[/quote]Do you encounter cases whereby comprehension of passage is dependent on General knowledge? Thanks

[beanbear]

SAHM_TAN:

Do you encounter cases whereby comprehension of passage is dependent on General knowledge? Thanks

So far, in most passages I've encountered in school exam papers do not require you to have an wide general knowledge but it helps for you to fully appreciate what the passage is talking about. Once DS did a passage on Alfred Nobel and he didn't know who he was but the passage gave information about how the prize came about, who the first winners were and if you read closely enough, a child can infer that this Nobel prize is a very prestigious prize.

A well-set paper should not require a child to have had general knowledge in order to answer the questions. To mine for meanings, it certainly helps to have general knowledge. For eg, one passage I did with DS was a historical passage on the origins of foreign labour, how it started with slave trade, then migration of labour to richer countries to work and forced migration. This was a particularly difficult passage for DS. There were references like ethnic cleansing, open door policy, industrial revolution. It was very hard for DS to understand even though he could understand most words but hard to understand because there are many terms that refer to events, concepts, general awareness of economics & history. I taught to see that even in a passage where he didn't know many of the events being referred to, he can depend on his grammar skills to distill a good enough understanding in order to answer the questions. But i must admit, for a kid whose English is just average or below average, it's like reading Greek!!

The last question in OE comprehension is often about expression of feelings or analysing the character of a person. DS often find it difficult because he can't relate with those feelings being associated with the passage. He needs to vicariously experience these things and then extrapolate what might be the feelings. That type of question can be unfair to a child because many children have limited life experiences and a child is usually not yet mature enough to extrapolate what kind of feelings he ought to feel, right? For that kind of questions, I often \"train\" DS to have a pool of feelings that you would associate with different scenarios.

[pirate]

That's very helpful to know. :thankyou:

[SAHM_TAN]

beanbear:

SAHM_TAN:

Do you encounter cases whereby comprehension of passage is dependent on General knowledge? Thanks

So far, in most passages I've encountered in school exam papers do not require you to have an wide general knowledge but it helps for you to fully appreciate what the passage is talking about. Once DS did a passage on Alfred Nobel and he didn't know who he was but the passage gave information about how the prize came about, who the first winners were and if you read closely enough, a child can infer that this Nobel prize is a very prestigious prize.

A well-set paper should not require a child to have had general knowledge in order to answer the questions. To mine for meanings, it certainly helps to have general knowledge.

The last question in OE comprehension is often about expression of feelings or analysing the character of a person. DS often find it difficult because he can't relate with those feelings being associated with the passage. He needs to vicariously experience these things and then extrapolate what might be the feelings. That type of question can be unfair to a child because many children have limited life experiences and a child is usually not yet mature enough to extrapolate what kind of feelings he ought to feel, right? For that kind of questions, I often \"train\" DS to have a pool of feelings that you would associate with different scenarios.

Thanks. I see vocab very important.

[janet88]

My son has done several PSLE comprehension passages with his tutor.

I am unable to repeat what she explained to me, but I understand what she said :oops: doing several passages with different themes and scenarios helps the child to further understand and how to loop in. There are a few passages done like 'Osaka airport', 'kindness week', 'selling eggs'...all these are past year PSLE passages.

I am a stay at home mum. Unfortunately I am not equipped with experience nor the knowledge to coach. What I did this whole year was to arrange/coordinate son's tuition sessions this year. He attended supplementary lessons after school in P5 last year...but honestly I find that they did not benefit him, other than making him MORE tired. So, this year, he did not attend any supplementary lessons at all.
I did try to accommodate during the holidays, but teachers could not give me any information about the dates and I had to plan in advance this year...P6 !!!

[sunnymumsy]

congrats to all mums and P6s! hope the results will be good!

[janet88]

sunnymumsy:

congrats to all mums and P6s! hope the results will be good!

:xedfingers: