The Alternative Story (TAS) - Discussion

[sean wife]

Yes, I recall there was an year-end ‘test’ sometime in Oct last year. And they do state the highest and average score.


I also see quite a bit of correction work done, mainly on the comprehension OE worksheets. I notice that this year, they replace the compre OE with all graphic stimulus kind, no more MCQ and no more story based passages. According to them, this will be the new syllabus going forward.

[hquek]

yup. but I thought I saw also compre technique worksheet? kids are given only parts of passages and each question relate to that part.

[sean wife]

My kids’ P1 class has only been doing graphic stimulus open ended for comprehension this year. Last year, their k2 class has those short passage kind followed by a few questions. I thought graphic stimulus compre seems easy, but seems not so from the recent exercises.

[hquek]

I recall faintly that graphic stimulus involves inference…so that’s the tricky part. Yup, my P1 work also has that only (no compre techniques).


It’s the older one that I recall seeing compre techniques. will go back to dig and post if I was wrong. Last year, before new syllabus announced, confirm they have compre techniques. This year, I really am unsure.

[llshirley4]

Yes I asked them about it, as I was also surprised that they did more of graphic stimulus than story passages this year. They said that graphic stimulus is part of the new syllabus and the questions asked are not that simple. They will cover comprehension passages in time to come but they want the students to be familiar with graphic stimulus that is open-ended.


I asked the school teacher about it, she said they will do both graphic stimulus and comprehension passages in the new syllabus. So it is additional things for the kids to learn.

[sean wife]

Ya, the graphic stimulus questions need quite a bit of inference. Somehow other than language understanding, they also involve a bit of Mathematics understanding in terms of time and money (like understanding what is discount etc). There are some pieces of information which we adults are so used to and take for granted that sometimes I have difficulty trying to explain what they mean to my kids, or something which I thought is quite common sense, but then realize that they actually don’t know what it means. Definitely need more practice on these…

[hquek]

Been guilty of not reading what my kids had been up to. just happily file away after each lesson. Thought that graphic stimulus should be alright…i betta go back and do my share of work.


Thanks sean_wife for bringing that up.

[TSHmummy]

My kid just joined TAS and I find their worksheets difficult too but I like the way they teach systematically. They cover the same skill set and then revisit that skill set again in the future. In the past, I find my kid cannot retain as much as the teacher would go on to teach different things before ensuring my child retains knowledge.


However, I do find that it is best if I go through the worksheet with my child again as well. I would like to purchase their previous worksheets they did the year before so I can help my child reinforce the learning. Do you know if they do this? Sell their previous worksheets? Because I find their worksheets better than most assessment books and would like to use them as further practice.

[hquek]

maybe you can buy their books instead? I recall some of their books include exercises. So far, DS1 was only told to try by himself - teacher is not going through in class.

[TSHmummy]

Haha, I am super KS, I bought all their books already but I would like more practise on grammar, comprehension and synthesis. One of their books has synthesis exercises but I would like to have more practise and especially in the area of comprehension. Most passages and questions in the books outside are not that good and their answer keys just provide one answer, if my child answers differently, I am not sure if it is totally wrong.


I have been asking for TAS comprehension answer keys so I can understand the mistakes my child makes and I like their answer keys as they explain why certain points are pertinent and how they award marks. If I could get their previous worksheets and answer keys, I could help my child much more at home.