Hi,


I was an ex-Primary school teacher who specialized in teaching PSLE English. Being a mum of two young children and a part-time private tutor, I enjoy discussing with other parents about the Singapore education system and sharing tips.

I thought it would be nice to share with other parents here some of my tips. Please do take note that these tips are from MY own personal experiences, working to improve my students' marks. They are by no means a foolproof method in increasing a student's grades. These are just tips.

Tip 1
Vocabulary.
Having a large vocabulary is extremely useful in all exam components - Writing/ Oral / and Vocab MCQ as well as Cloze/ Cloze passage

As I am a 'fan' of past year papers (as my P6 students last yr happily found out during their PSLE, that passages are sometimes 'recycled'), i take vocabulary words from those papers and create my lists. These lists are then given to my students on a weekly basis and they are tested the following week.
These lists are easy to make - parents or your child's tutor can do it at home and are a great help during the PSLE year.

This is an example below taken from RGPS Prelim 2011. RGPS is 'notorious' for their challenging Vocab sections, though Pei Chun's Prelim this yr was the hardest among all the 2011 papers.

Vocabulary List
P 6 RGPS Prelim 2011
1) appalled – shocked
2) disenchanted – not happy/ satisfied about something anymore
3) stoic – showing no emotion (when something bad is happening)
4) ad hoc – a) made or done without planning
\t\tb) formed/used for a special purpose
5) random – chosen/done without a particular plan/pattern
6) pragmatic – dealing with problems in a reasonable and logical way
7) idealistic – attitude of a person who believes that it is possible to live according to high standards of behaviour and honesty
elucidate – to make something that is hard to understand, clear and easy to understand
9) extradite – to send a person accused of a crime to another country for trial
10) daunted – to make someone afraid / less confident
11) exhilarated - to feel very happy and excited
12) concerted – done in a planned and deliberate way by many people
13) grave – critical
14) ecstatic – exuberant
15) shimmers – glistens
16) mirroring – mimicking
17) flaps - flutters

Next tip : Composition Writing

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/topic/25874/tutor-my-tution-haven-p5-p6-english-tipsRSS for NodeMon, 20 Apr 2026 16:50:20 GMTWed, 14 Sep 2011 03:33:49 GMT60Hi


Thank you for yr reply. English was my worst subject and I have problems locating the different parts in a passage to get the answer myself. So really not sure how to help my son. Any comprehension books that help to explain how to find the parts/clues? Really need to read them myself before helping my son. Thanks.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1455299https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1455299Thu, 22 Jan 2015 17:39:38 GMTHi. Sorry, I don't get alerts on my email when a reply is posted so i've just seen your question. Many of the questions in Comprehension are inferential. Thus if your son does not fully understand the passage, he is unable to answer such a question. He is only able to spot the direct questions. Another issue is how he phrases the answers. His answers must answer the question at hand..not give more nor less information than needed.


What I do with my students is to read the passage carefully. I will then ask them questions orally first to test their understanding. Some questions will be direct and others inferential. This is to train them to read with understanding.
Then they will take the time to highlight their answers from the questions given in the paper. If there is an inferential question, they will highlight the parts that give them the clue to formulate their answer.

It can be time consuming but when done regularly, the child gets used to reading with understanding and finding their answers. The process will speed up over time and they will be able to do these steps on their own.

I hope my answer has helped

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1453398https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1453398Tue, 20 Jan 2015 02:41:40 GMTHi my tuition haven


Thank you for the tips on the writing component. They are very useful. My son is very weak in comprehension. Most of the time, he fails to extract the correct info/answer from the passage. 2 days ago, he did one given by his school teacher. Both of us were unable to find the answer from the passage. Any tips or books that can help to improve? Thanks again.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1452680https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1452680Sun, 18 Jan 2015 23:34:28 GMTHi everyone. I haven't been here in awhile and I had a few parents from this website, email me a few weeks back asking me to post tips concerning the PSLE English new format here. Unfortunately there is a new system of ks$ (Help! Chief!) so I have posted this on one of my older posts. This concerns the Writing Component. Hope this is visible to everyone : )


As the first batch of PSLE students get ready to take the English PSLE 2015 with the new format, I have started blogging more (http://www.thinking-factory.com) about what parents need to look out for with the new components.

Situational Writing
•\tRemains the same as the old format

Composition
•\tThree pictures given with a theme
•\tStudent may use one, two or all the pictures in his story

1)\tRead the theme carefully.
Many students look at the theme on Celebration and assume that a birthday is the best option. I usually tell my students to think outside of the box and get creative. A celebration can be about winning a special competition or contest…a grandparent’s 90th birthday, or even celebrating the recovery of a best friend involved in an accident. Another way is to add a twist to the theme. If it is a birthday celebration, the party can be interrupted suddenly by a humorous incident or even a mishap. This allows the child to have a more interesting content in his composition. With the theme given in the new format, unlike the old one, it somewhat restricts the student in writing what he wants to or knows.

2)\tChoose the pictures wisely.
Whether a student chooses one or all of the pictures, he should not write just one short sentence based on any picture chosen. This is a surefire way to go out of point. For example, if a student has chosen to use just one picture (a picture of a present) out of the three and only writes:
“I gave a broad smile as my friends handed me my presents.”
Then not mention the present again in the compo, can be considered out of point. By just choosing one picture the student must ensure that it is an important part of the story. So, how many pictures should a child use? A good writer will be able to weave a story around all three pictures and not go off point. An average writer should use at least two to weave his story according to the theme.

3)\tStyle of Writing.
By the start of the P6 year, students should already be using more complex sentence structures in their writing and know certain idioms, metaphors and phrases to suit certain themes. Less narration and more description is needed in composition writing and it is a good time now to reminding students of that. A good variety of introductions and endings is also needed to suit different themes and the start of the year could be a good time to prepare. For ideas on Introductions or Endings, please look at my blog post in October 2014.

I hope this is helpful!

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1448335https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1448335Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:29:23 GMTHi yellow belt, can you pm me your contact if you are still available to give tuition

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1403100https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/1403100Wed, 22 Oct 2014 08:33:08 GMTHi, I always believe in Read, Write and Speak in mastering languages.


I believe a lot of reading will help your child. Next is practice: doing assessment and write regularly. It will be good to write at least a composition a week. Encourage your child to keep a book to write new words he or she has learnt and use them in compositions. The more new words are used, the better your child would be at remembering the spelling.

There is no short cut but consistent effort goes a long way.
Readers' Digest and newspapers would be good for children in upper primary.

You may want to find out more about the syllabus here:
http://www.moe.edu.sg/education/syllabuses/english-language-and-literature/files/english-primary-secondary.pdf
Perhaps this could help in selecting materials for your child

Hope this helps

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/892192https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/892192Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:57:45 GMTHi , how can I help my child who is weak in spelling, transformation ( under synthesis) and comprehension cloze?

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/891216https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/891216Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:00:27 GMTHi , how can I help my child who is weak in spelling, transformation ( under synthesis) and comprehension cloze?

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/891213https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/891213Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:00:07 GMTHi. In lower primary, most of the comprehension answers can be found in the passage provided. Children should start from a young age to understand what they are reading. If he understands what the passage is about, then he will be able to answer the questions. Let him the read the comprehension passage on his own, then ask him questions about it. E.g. What is the first paragraph about? What do you think this sentence/word means? When you are satisfied with his answers, then he can attempt the questions. If you do this often, the child will learn to ask himself the questions as he reads the passage. It has worked with my P5/6 students.


As for reading books, it is essential that he starts to read magazines and books now as comprehension passages get more complex in upper primary. A suggestion would be to take him to a bookstore/library and let him choose materials that interest him. Have a half an hour reading time at home when he sits quietly and reads the material (magazine/book) that he has chosen. Then ask him casually about what the material is about so that you continue to encourage him to understand what he reads.

Hope my suggestions prove helpful to you in some way. Tks.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/650353https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/650353Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:07:19 GMTMy son P3 next year. Worry about his English. Just get 75% in P2 SA2.Weak in comprehension. Said can’t find the answer from the passage. How to help him. And he don’t like reading the story book. Please help.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/650065https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/650065Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:45:15 GMTthanks, i think i know what i should do now. he is weak in comprehension cloze and comprehension OE.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/631027https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/631027Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:03:04 GMTHi. It depends on which areas he is weak in. If it is grammar then it is good to get him to do grammar exercises (The MCQ ones, maybe from Longman) and at the same time have the Primary English book with him that explains the grammatical rules when he makes a mistake. He should try to memorise the rules.


If it is Comprehension Cloze and Comprehension OE, then practice makes perfect and the past year papers help. At the same time get him to read magazines such as Readers Digest and National Geographic.

If you can tell me which area he is weak in I can try to give you more tips. Thanks

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/631006https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/631006Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:48:03 GMTHi Yellow Belt,


My son english is weak, should i also forcus on the grammer? I am a bit lost at what i should forcus on when teaching english. Can i just let him do those top school past year english paper and forgo all the assessment book?

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/630859https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/630859Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:36:26 GMTYou’re such a good teacher! I wish my DD could meet this kind of English in the near future.

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/596539https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/596539Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:49:42 GMTHi. Yes I take certain words from the Vocabulary MCQ and Vocabulary Cloze sections of the past years’ papers that i do with my students and create these lists. I feel that these words may come up again in other exam papers and are useful to file away and remember.


I believe that there are number of books for upper primary Vocabulary available at bookshops like Popular. However, personally, I prefer that I build the words and phrases with my students as we work together.

I hope that helps.

Thanks

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/596267https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/596267Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:39:49 GMTHi


Do you mean that you extract these vocabulary from past years’ exam paper? Is there any vocabulary list from MOE for upper primary?

]]>https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/595635https://forum.kiasuparents.com/post/595635Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:14:41 GMT