The Alternative Story (TAS) - Discussion

[hquek]

I know the kids are taught to do tension curve - how to build up the story to create interesting points. Also, Ds1 is able to rattle off the start to a story - eg rainy day what to put, sunny day out what to put. This comes from memorising those key phrases.


So I guess the answer would be yes. I gather they start the kids off memorising so they have on hand phrases to apply in certain scenarios. After the kids get that, then they will start learning to apply.

[sean wife]

hquek:

I know the kids are taught to do tension curve - how to build up the story to create interesting points. Also, Ds1 is able to rattle off the start to a story - eg rainy day what to put, sunny day out what to put. This comes from memorising those key phrases.


So I guess the answer would be yes. I gather they start the kids off memorising so they have on hand phrases to apply in certain scenarios. After the kids get that, then they will start learning to apply.

Hi,

Thanks for sharing…your DS1 in P1 class also right? My kids can recite out the paragraphs, but don’t seem like able to apply much. Hopefully in time to come, the application part will surface…

[hquek]

hi sean wife,


yup Ds2 in P1 class. and yes, he is memorising passages. But this time a bit strange because he doesn't have to memorise at home and this only done in class. last time DS1 had to do dictation and spelling, so now DS2 is like having holiday.

I think my expectations more realistic with DS2 so i'm not unduly worried about him not being able to start writing. Will only start panicking when he reaches P3.

[sean wife]

Hi hquek,


Ya, I think they do bulk of the memorization work in class, and I must say that the technique of making them memorise through doing the actions seem to be quite effective…at least without much follow up at home, they can still remember bulk of it a week later. Mine also only have a few words for spelling. No dictation if you mean those kind that teacher read out a passage and the child writes it out.

[hquek]

Hee, so far, Ds1 has to do spelling each week; nothing for Ds2. or perhaps I just don’t know he has.


Haiz…thought Ds1 should be ok in spelling. but lately I find that his spelling also koyak - a combination of careless and don’t know. I hate to have to make him do spelling (figure if he read enough should know), but then seems like I am wrong there.

[phtthp]

hquek:

hi sean wife,


yup Ds2 in P1 class. and yes, he is memorising passages. But this time a bit strange because he doesn't have to memorise at home and this only done in class. last time DS1 had to do dictation and spelling, so now DS2 is like having holiday.

I think my expectations more realistic with DS2 so i'm not unduly worried about him not being able to start writing. Will only start panicking when he reaches P3.

P1 duration is 1.5 hrs.

inside 1.5 hours duration - can breakdown roughly how much time is being apportioned to each section, to teach / learn :-
- compo writing ?
- memorize phrases ?
- grammar ?
- vocab ?
- spelling ?
- Oral ?

[hquek]

sorry dunno. these days I can’t stand outside due to class layout, so no clue.

[sean wife]

I also realize that reading and even knowing phonics do not really equate to no problem with spelling. There are so many exceptions to the common phonics rules that a lot of memory work is still needed. But I find that it is a waste of time to just learn spelling for the sake of learning spelling…after a while they will just forget. At this point of time, somehow I am more concerned about getting the sentence structure, vocabulary etc right rather than focusing too much time to learn spelling words just for the sake of spelling tests.

[hquek]

True and understand. I just get distressed when I see he spell common words wrongly, can tell he never sound what he write. Just my pet peeve

[sean wife]

I can understand and have the same frustration too…my kids can get simple words spelt wrongly too…and for longer words, they will look at me waiting for help, until I break it up into their syllabus and then they realize they can spell it out. Luckily (or unluckily), at K2 now, they do not have much spelling to learn for official spelling tests yet….what can make me more mad is that they can even copy words from comprehension passages wrongly (lazy to turn the page to check so they try to spell it out but often with mistakes…)