2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy
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august24:
It's term3 week 2. Hw is minimal, math t absent. Haiz, tho hv substitute t still I prefer his own t as there was once this t make an interpretation error in qn to d whole class. & fr wat I see, additional hrs & more hw seem to be given to top class. Mayb cos their t more ks? prob that's y ds quite 'eng'. Gotta jia you on our own alrdy.
Aiyo... why like that ? my dd's school - whether top class or not, all have remedial lessons after school twice a week. Mini-tests for Maths and Science every week for specific topics that the teacher feels that the class is weak in. -
Ok, here's another compo...
SA1 English Tao Nan 2009 Continuous Writing Question 2
Question: This was a somewhat unusual question where they painted a scene of chickens appearing in a classroom and causing havoc. Originally, we felt it was a difficult piece to write, but DD rather enjoyed herself describing the riotous chickens after she got into the actual writing.
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Comment: We start right at the scene and by paragraph 2, we are already at the focus of the compo – the runaway chickens.
\tMrs Tan was going on and on about adjectives. Within minutes, her voice had lulled me into a stupor and I had my palms pushed up against the sides of my face in a valiant attempt to keep my head erect. Alas, my eyes still narrowed into slits which threatened to close at any minute.
Comment: Note the description of the sleepy author; we used 3 phrases to say that the author was sleepy and none of them used the word ‘sleepy”. This is how we tried to show linguistic ability.
\t “Cluck!” the chickens in my dreams uttered a faint greeting. I shook my head and blinked groggily.
Comment: Again, note the description of confusion – head shaking, blinking groggily.\t
“Cluck! Cluck...” The chickens in my dreams were persistent. One looked as if it was appearing in front of our classroom, its head nodding back and forth as it tucked its wings behind and crept up to Mrs Tan. Shaking off my sleepiness, it suddenly dawned on me that the chicken was not part of my dream, it was...
Comment: The chickens are the focus of the compo so even when we want to say that one of the chickens crept up on the teacher, we described this happening and not just told of it happening.
\t“Arhhh..!” Mrs Tan’s high pitched scream pierced through the class as we collectively realised what had just happened -- the chickens from the Eco-garden enclosure next to our classroom had escaped!
Comment: This is the problem defined.
\tThree more brown fat chickens rushed into our classroom as if attracted by Mrs Tan’s screams. They flapped their wings, jumped onto the tables and screeched even louder than Mrs Tan had. One brave feathered friend even dove from cupboard to table to leap over our bags. Water bottles took on a life of their own and pens and books sailed about in the air. Needless to say, pandemonium broke out as we tripped over bags, chairs and chickens and screamed out unintelligible instructions to each other in an effort to run out of the class.
Comment: To have some substance in our compo, we made the problem worse – more chickens appeared. Again, look at the descriptions of what the chickens did and the pandemonium they caused – flapped wings, jumped around, screeched loudly, dove from cupboard to table, upsetting water bottles and stationery, kids running like headless chickens, tripping over bags and screaming. Note also how we tried to use some variation in the words used for the chickens – we either described them “ brown” and “fat”, or called them a “feathered friend”.
\tMrs Tan was initially frozen into a stupor at the bewildering sight but recovered enough to herd us out of the class just as our two school cleaners rushed in to try to trap the chickens.
Comment: This is the resolution to our problem.
\tThe two cleaners made valiant attempts to run after the chickens and catch them, but the chickens pecked mercilessly at the men even as they eluded capture. The noise was terrible but none of us wanted to miss the exciting event as we crowded at the back door of the classroom to watch.
\tTom, our class bully, unceremoniously elbowed me aside to get a full view of what was happening inside.
Comment: We add one more “extension” to our compo by introducing the class bully.\t
“Out of my way pip squeak! Front seats to the show reserved for VIPs only!” he growled at me as I staggered backwards, rubbing my bruised shoulder.
Comment: We use speech and action to make out how unreasonable a character the bully was.\t
Inside the classroom, the chickens were finally tiring. One of the cleaners had out maneuvered and caught three of them. To catch the last chicken, the second cleaner rushed forward and with a mighty yell and a giant leap, he lunged towards it. The chicken sensing that it was in mortal peril, flapped its wings in desperation, and in all its panic, let out a watery string of yellow-brown poop to accompany its ear-splitting screech! All eyes trained on the chicken’s poop as it arched in the air, and as justice would have it, landed right onto Tom’s uniform as he was standing by the door!
Comment: We describe the chase between man and fowl and link this to our “extension” featuring the class bully. Look at the description of our last frightened chicken.
\t“Argh! Poop!” Tom yelled.
\tThe whole class burst into a roar of laughter at the sight of the class bully getting his just rewards. Even Mrs Tan had trouble keeping a straight face.
Comment: This is how the problem is resolved – the bully gets his just reward.\t
Months on, the memories of that riotous English lesson still linger with us. Best of all, the class never had any more trouble with Tom. If Tom so much as stepped half a toe out of line, it only took a whispered “Chicken” to stop him in his tracks!
Comment: This is our “reflection” with a link to an earlier part of our compo.
Gb! -
:thankyou: , psle2011mum once again!
Your dd writes very well ! -
Thanks psle2011mum… I enjoyed both the compo very much and shared them with my DS. Went through with him how to "show" a story instead of "tell". Hopefully he can pick up some pointers in your compo examples:)
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fightingmom:
Hi fightingmom:thankyou: , psle2011mum once again!
Your dd writes very well !
You are most welcome.
This piece was one of the run ups while we were still in the \"correcting\" stage so DD did this \"standard\" only after numerous re-writes [like every other of her phrases, so working on this easily took a whole afternoon] and with much prompting from me, so I'm not sure if this qualifies as her work wholly; that said, thankfully by PSLE, she managed to largely stand on her own and anyway, Mummy couldn't fit into her pencil case for the exams, so she really was on her own then.
All the best! -
Zekezachzoom:
Thanks psle2011mum... I enjoyed both the compo very much and shared them with my DS. Went through with him how to \"show\" a story instead of \"tell\". Hopefully he can pick up some pointers in your compo examples:)
Glad to be of help
I managed to find some of our [ Dd's corrected efforts or my model compos for my DDs] work in soft copy so it has been faster uploading these than when I re-wrote the first one [spider story].
Will look for some time to load the next one soon. Gb! -
Thank you psle2011mum for the wonderful sharing. The compos, particularly the ‘comments’ part, have been most helpful!
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fightingmom:
Aiyo... why like that ? my dd's school - whether top class or not, all have remedial lessons after school twice a week. Mini-tests for Maths and Science every week for specific topics that the teacher feels that the class is weak in.
Yah lor, envy envy your dd sch. Actually mini-tests is good. My revision with ds is like one piece here and there, not systematic at all. I dunno how to plan, only load him with practice paper and oral. Headache! -
mummy of three:
So worrying and many of the good tutors are “fully-booked”
Many tutors for P6 are fully booked since end Dec last year.
A friend of mine told me preparation for PSLE should start in Nov. It's plain :siao: just spoke to a friend whose son did PSLE last year. She asked if I am helpless and breathless...can't help son much bcos it is beyond me. -
janet_lee88:
Don't give up, try your best!mummy of three:
So worrying and many of the good tutors are “fully-booked”
Many tutors for P6 are fully booked since end Dec last year.
A friend of mine told me preparation for PSLE should start in Nov. It's plain :siao: just spoke to a friend whose son did PSLE last year. She asked if I am helpless and breathless...can't help son much bcos it is beyond me.
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