2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[Peony]

pertunia:

How about spelling? My boy always gets the spelling wrong. He uses his phonics on parts that cannot be phonetically decoded. Eg. saliva is spelt \"saliver\". Any tips to solve this problem?

I was told early on that if a child learns to read using phonics, there's a high chance of having spelling problems later. It's better to start with sight words.

Am no expert but would it help to have a list of words that you cannot spell using phonics and place it somewhere he will see often? The key is for him to be familiarise with these words and note that there is no way he can spell them using phonics. It becomes more of what the word should look like.

DD scores well for this too and we've not had to even introduce spelling rules to her. She reads a lot and I think she recalls spelling based on a combi of sight - how the word is usually spelt - as well as phonics and not just the latter.

As I said, am no expert. Just sharing what works for us.
Hope it helps.

[8228]

Peony:

8228:

My dc is weak in vocab too. Anyone here can recommend a eletronic dictionary? He refuses to use the hardcopy one.

I have two electronic English dictionaries - Oxford and cannot remember the name of the other.

DD has stopped using them ever since we got an Ipad as it's so much easier to search for meanings on the Ipad. You have quite a number of apps to choose from. Her current favourite is wordweb.

Thanks. Is the brand called \"Oxford\"? Where did you buy it? I went to Popular and they have Besta which is more Chinese based. Trying my best not to own an Ipad as I may have another daunting task of controlling his game time.

[fifiyeo]

This is a terrible weekend...awaiting the arrival of exams papers next week. :scratchhead:

[Peony]

8228:

Peony:

[quote=\"8228\"]My dc is weak in vocab too. Anyone here can recommend a eletronic dictionary? He refuses to use the hardcopy one.

I have two electronic English dictionaries - Oxford and cannot remember the name of the other.

DD has stopped using them ever since we got an Ipad as it's so much easier to search for meanings on the Ipad. You have quite a number of apps to choose from. Her current favourite is wordweb.

Thanks. Is the brand called \"Oxford\"? Where did you buy it? I went to Popular and they have Besta which is more Chinese based. Trying my best not to own an Ipad as I may have another daunting task of controlling his game time.[/quote]I bought it from Bras Basah Complex. Quite a number of shops sell it.

[blessed777]

fifiyeo:

This is a terrible weekend...awaiting the arrival of exams papers next week. :scratchhead:

Can relax this wk end already.. going to hv party, only 1 exam left for Monday which is Science :rahrah:

[PiggyLalala]

Peony:

pertunia:

Can anyone share how to improve English vocabulary? We are struggling just to pass the english paper. Please help!

DD got full marks for vocab MCQ by doing elimination. So it's partly strategy.

I also print out vocab lists from various sites - do a google and choose vocab list for 7th grade upwards. I zoom in on words she doesn't know.

I also have a board - just an A4 paper - set up in the living room. Both DD and I add words that we come across in the news, books etc. She checks the meanings on the ipad. We've been doing this since she was in P4.

Thank you for sharing.
Does your child need to write out the meaning of the word on the A4 paper? I find that it can be quite tedious to write out the meaning and sometimes there are a few meanings to the word.

[PiggyLalala]

Peony:

pertunia:

How about spelling? My boy always gets the spelling wrong. He uses his phonics on parts that cannot be phonetically decoded. Eg. saliva is spelt \"saliver\". Any tips to solve this problem?

I was told early on that if a child learns to read using phonics, there's a high chance of having spelling problems later. It's better to start with sight words.

Am no expert but would it help to have a list of words that you cannot spell using phonics and place it somewhere he will see often? The key is for him to be familiarise with these words and note that there is no way he can spell them using phonics. It becomes more of what the word should look like.

DD scores well for this too and we've not had to even introduce spelling rules to her. She reads a lot and I think she recalls spelling based on a combi of sight - how the word is usually spelt - as well as phonics and not just the latter.

As I said, am no expert. Just sharing what works for us.
Hope it helps.

Thanks for sharing.
ANd all the best to yr DD

[fightingmom]

Peony:

pertunia:

Can anyone share how to improve English vocabulary? We are struggling just to pass the english paper. Please help!

DD got full marks for vocab MCQ by doing elimination. So it's partly strategy.

I also print out vocab lists from various sites - do a google and choose vocab list for 7th grade upwards. I zoom in on words she doesn't know.

I also have a board - just an A4 paper - set up in the living room. Both DD and I add words that we come across in the news, books etc. She checks the meanings on the ipad. We've been doing this since she was in P4.

Hi Peony,

Can share / pm the list of vocab ? If no, it is ok lah :oops:

My DD is very weak in her vocab ! :?:

[beanbear]

Just to share some strategies for spelling. I had a few spelling bee practice sessions with my DS & DD past 2 weeks. We managed to get something like 600 words. Each time, I only gave them 10 mins to learn as many as 50 words. Under the time pressure, they had to quickly focus on common patterns, use association strategies. We had different types of lists to learn. Some lists would have certain word patterns/rhymes eg words with "eous" vs "ous" endings vs "ious" endings, or "ence" endings vs "ance", "ie" vs "ei". We also had a list of double consonants - "ss", "mm", "cc", "tt" such as committee, accommodation, etc.


We also had word "demons" list - highly difficult words like diarrhoea, haemorrhage, debris - which are not in our kids’ common vocabulary but you will find in the editing or vocabulary cloze passages.

I tried to make it fun & motivating by giving star points for every correct word spelt and along the way find new strategies to remember the spelling either using mnemonics or making funny pronunciation of the words.

[janet88]

SA1 is finally over…results are also coming in.

This June will not be fun-filled…bcos it is not even a holiday for the P6s. When school reopens, it is time to prepare for prelims.