All About SAP Schools

[nms1]

mummy so kiasu:

alng:

[quote=\"dorisp\"]Oh you mean if non SAP school the social studies and health education will be taught in Englsh?


Interesting. Is there an Englsh option?

My dd is in a non-SAP school. I am very certain that her social studies is taught in English cos she has to do some SS projects in English this year. But I cannot remember if her health ed is taught in English or Chinese. I only recall that her recent sexual ed was in English this year.

Yes, social studies & health education are taught in English for all non SAP schools. I am not aware that these subjects are taught in Chinese in SAP schools.[/quote]In non-SAP schools, CME (Civics & Moral Education) is taught in mother tongue. There does seem to be some overlap with social studies which is taught in English.

[Jen_xu23]

Jen_xu23:

hi im new here.. can i ask some q


1-i dont know wat the meaning of sap but i know holy innocent pri sch is..

2-holy innocent is hcl is it they focus more in chinese??

thanks in advance

Isit more focus on Chinese only? Thanks

[SAHM_TAN]

Jen_xu23:

Jen_xu23:

hi im new here.. can i ask some q


1-i dont know wat the meaning of sap but i know holy innocent pri sch is..

2-holy innocent is hcl is it they focus more in chinese??

thanks in advance

Isit more focus on Chinese only? Thanks

In SAP schools, they focus more on Chi culture and values.

1) The only MT taught is Chinese
2) Students will study Higher Chi fr P1 with the option to drop and take up normal Chi in P5, I think it's P5.
3) There will be CCAs that emphasis Chi cultures like Chinese Orchestra, weiqi, wushu, etc. Not all SAP will have similar CCAs.
4) Not sure if this applies to all SAP, but there are lessons for students to learn abt Chi culture, like learn a Chi musical instrument, calligraphy, weiqi, etc but may differ for each SAP schools.
5) There might be other bilingual programmes initiated by different SAP schools too.
6) There might be more elaboration regarding Chi festivals.

[crystalbelle08]

Hi,

Understand that SAP schools are more into Chinese.
Generally, are the children from SAP school stronger in Chinese but weaker in English?

If my child is weak in chinese, should i send her to a SAP school to improve her Chinese.
Or it should be the other way, i.e send to a normal school with less emphasis in chinese, so that she can gel better?

[hquek]

hi crystalbelle08,


Sahm_tan had given a good summary of what SAP schools are about. From there you should be able to assess if your child is able to adjust. You mentioned your dd is weak in Chinese. So you have to figure out if you wanna throw her into the deep end and if you are able to help her on this journey. There is usually an escape route but I don’t know if this applicable prior to P5/6.

My kids are in SAP schools although their chinese is relatively weaker. After this exposure, I feel that generally SG kids are not very strong in their chinese also - even in SAP schools. So with chinese tuition, my kids get by. My choice of SAP came about by chance, what was more important to me was that the school is close to my place and the values of the school are dear to me. Parents may discount that, but distance really matters even if parent can ferry (think about all the traffic stresses).

You have to decide for yourself if she can take it. It’s not that scary actually. My take is that if they don’t know there is easier chinese about, they can’t complain (and no, so far they have not whined to me about taking ‘lower’ chinese).

[crystalbelle08]

Thanks hquek for your valuable advises.

Its a tough decision. The SAP school is my alumni school, so in a way, she should be able to get in if we want her to.
Now really dunno if we should just go ahead. :?

[hquek]

Usually people will go for their alumni cos it’s the easiest and nonid to think. The chinese may be ‘higher’ but somehow it seems kids generally ok. I am not sure how bad you mean by bad. My Dses spoken chinese really quite terrible (by my standards), but strangely, their written is ok…I don’t know how that happens.

[sleepy]

crystalbelle08:

are the children from SAP school stronger in Chinese but weaker in English?

Since p1, I observed that majority of classmates' English way better than Chinese.
SAP school or not, I believe this is the trend in Singapore nowadays.

[bluesclue]

sleepy:

crystalbelle08:

are the children from SAP school stronger in Chinese but weaker in English?

Since p1, I observed that majority of classmates' English way better than Chinese.
SAP school or not, I believe this is the trend in Singapore nowadays.

it used to be SAP - special assistance plan to get students who have strong chinese speaking background to have more exposure to english. 30 years on, i think the role for SAP schools have reversed, ie, to expose students who are mostly with stronger english speaking background to chinese. It is the chineseness which needs the special assistance now

[rachels1982]

SAP schools are quite a bit more chinese than normal ones. I can say it did well for my 2 sons