Higher Chinese in P5 - To opt or not

[diamond_shortcake]

hi,


my child is going to a sap sch next year. i would like to confirm that:

he will be taking hcl from p1 to psle? no need to make any options right?

[JonC]

Oh, missed this thread.


P1, SAP school teach just "CL", but in fact is HCL, at for least for my DS school. Because HCL need to learn more words, every year has a certain number of words to learn, so you cannot suddenly start to learn more words only from P5.

Its only officially in P5 that you can "opt" to actually start to do HCL. The decision is yours after you have your child’s P4 result, the school only can advise you against it if you are in below situation 3.

There are a few situation,
1. Your child’s CL result is good enough and also other subjects result are good enough to take HCL, and you also opt to take HCL.
2. Your child’s CL result is good enough and also other subjects result are good enough to take HCL, but you opt not to take HCL. Some KSP think max 3 PLSE points is not worth the time.
3. Your child’s CL result is not good enough and also other subjects result are / are not good enough to take HCL, but you opt to take HCL, teacher need to give the final blessing in this case, usually for those near miss case.
4. Your child’s CL result is not good enough and also other subjects result are / are not good enough to take HCL, and you opt not to take HCL.

But comes end of P5, the final decision will comes from school for your child to take or not to take in P6 based on your child’s HCL and CL results and also the other subjects result too. You actually have no choice to opt in if your child does not meet the critiria. But you can still opt out if your child qualifies to continue.

If you start P5 with HCL, you can drop anytime if you find you child cannot cope. But do be careful of the child’s ego.

HCL result counts only if you enter SAP schools. Pass is 1 point, merit is 2 points and distinction is 3 points. So max is 3 points.

HCL and CL syllabus are different. Exam format is also different, details you may check it out on MOE website.

Schools (you may check with your child’s school) mainly or only (my DS school, no CL books) teach HCL and your child is expected to take CA1, SA1, CA2 and SA2 for both HCL and CL, bearing in mind your child’s still need to take care of EL, MA and SC.

If your kids school teaches mainly CL (in term of exam format), then you can drop at some point, but if mainly and only teach HCL, you have a problem when you drop it.

[starlight1968sg]

My dd has opted to do HCL in p5 next year.


Her school booklist has a set of textbooks plus activity books for CL and another set for HCL. DH bought both sets. I wonder if this is correct.

I was told in for kids doing HCL in p5, it will be merely a few extra period of lessons per week and I wonder if this is sufficient.

[JonC]

School Dependent.


But it could also be its a standard booklist printout for both HCL and non HCL student and you happen to buy all.

Check with the school, no need than sell away.

[phankao]

starlight1968sg:

My dd has opted to do HCL in p5 next year.


Her school booklist has a set of textbooks plus activity books for CL and another set for HCL. DH bought both sets. I wonder if this is correct.

I was told in for kids doing HCL in p5, it will be merely a few extra period of lessons per week and I wonder if this is sufficient.

Diffferent schools do it differently. Some schools have extra lessons for HCL, some don't. In my boys' school, they only need the set of HCL books, but to play safe, i bought the CL textbooks as well, but I realise that this year's, unlike previous years, the vocabulary list is really a subset of HCL, so not quite so necessary. Nvm lah - the 2 CL textbooks not so expensive. haha.

[MoonFlower]

Same for my boy only 1 set of HCL text and workbooks.

[carebear]

Just saw this thread today.

Was deciding also for DD. She was adamant not to take it, but her form teacher highly recommended it. Her teacher called me to persuade her to take HCL. I was initially not too keen, leaving the decision to my DD. But if she does not take HCL, she will be placed in a class where there is no differentiation in the pupils' standard. Her teacher asked me to consider this point carefully.

After discussing this with my DD, she was still not convinced.

In the end, i proposed to increase her pocket money and the deal was closed! :celebrate:
For my kids, it all boils down to dollars and cents! :moneyflies:

[phankao]

JonC:

If you start P5 with HCL, you can drop anytime if you find you child cannot cope. But do be careful of the child's ego.
.

JonC, your boy is in CHS, right?

You know that, for p5/p6 boys, unless they are in a mixed CL/HCL class, if they drop HCL, they will not actually be asked to change class?

So they will continue joining in their class' HCL periods, but take CL exam only. They will not be specifically coached to take the CL exam bc the rest of their class is taking HCL.

But those boys who are in the mixed class (eg some in the class are taking HCL and some taking CL, not 100% HCL class), will be allowed to join in the CL periods instead of HCL periods.

So need to consider carefully to opt for or not too.

One of my p6 son's previous classmates was that way. He's 5F/6F but dropped HCL midway in p5 but did not change class and have to prepare for his CL exam on his own while continuing to attend the same HCL class as the rest of his classmates.

[JonC]

@carebear


The point of which class to go is also an important consideration too, I missed this point.


@phankao

Yes, in CH. DS continue HCL in P6.

[Emelyn]

Ds1 also just need HCL textbook and workbook.


Carebear,
For DS1, they grouped the kids based in 2 ways.
For high ability kids (based on EL, MA and Science), they will be in 5I, 5J or 5K.....
Then they group again for CL.... high ability kids will stay put in their respective class during CL lessons. Those kids with \"normal\" CL standard will move to another class to do their CL lessons.

DS1's CL is not very strong, but his teacher and tutor recommended to let him try out. He personally wants to give it a try too. While I just sweat over here..... I foresee that I will be heavily involved in his CL learning... But at least he is the one who decided... hopefully not so difficult to get him to put in more effort.