Exam Preparation

[Funz]

DS asked me this morning, what is the meaning of 'decent'. Told him mean, acceptable, proper, fitting, appropriate.


He said 'ok, for today's compo test, I will use the word decent.' Thought to myself ok, this is like his fixation with the word 'hilarious' previously. Told him nobody decides the words even before they see what the compo is about. What if the word does not fit in.

He stared at me and told me. \"Don't worry Mummy, I will be able to use the word decent. I will write a decent compo using the word decent and get a decent grade.\"

:faint:

[Sun_2010]

Funz:

Nebbermind:

I read one of my kid's compo a few years back and my heart was racing with the tempo of his story...donch remember any bombastic words. But I was like holding my breath, you know, that kinda 'Psycho' feeling.


Needless to say, he had pretty good marks for that piece of work. :imcool:

And needless to say, it was a once-off!

I had the same experience when reading one of DD's compo. Heart racing with every sentence and I felt I could not breathe as well. And boy was I psycho mum after that.

It was a disjointed piece of work that was bordering on schizophrenic in plot and flow.

Needless to say, she had pretty lousy marks for that piece of work. :stupid:

And how I wish it was a once-off!

One man's meat another woman's poison :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

Language is the tool to express.

I would like to add that the process of learning phrases/good vocab to
applying them is not a smooth progressive path. There will be a period when they use it inappropriately and sometimes totally off but it is thru that they will develop. The problem is we want them to do well every compo and at every exam. One learns to walk by falling .

But of course , I dont give him a list of phrases. He has to create his own. It should be from the books/mags he reads. Hence my insistance he diversify his reading ( not succeeding there :gloomy: ). He uses a few of them sometimes appropriately, sometimes redundantly and sometimes inappropriately. That then becomes a lesson to learn from.

I would rather my child uses imagination and creativity even if there are inappropriate words and phrases and story flow is not smooth than a simple straightforward to-the-point story. The latter may get him more marks for sure. But is it in the right direction to learning. Language can be learnt but not imagination , not the excitement of creating something your own. I dont want to put a damper to that as long as possible ( probably end of P5 maybe?)

Now all I have to do is have the courage to keep this prespective when i get his compo marks. From his input I feel the story went well, and came to a good conclusion. That is till a plane crashed into the building and it collapsed. ( taking deep breathes now )

[SAHM_TAN]

Funz:

DS asked me this morning, what is the meaning of 'decent'. Told him mean, acceptable, proper, fitting, appropriate.


He said 'ok, for today's compo test, I will use the word decent.' Thought to myself ok, this is like his fixation with the word 'hilarious' previously. Told him nobody decides the words even before they see what the compo is about. What if the word does not fit in.

He stared at me and told me. \"Don't worry Mummy, I will be able to use the word decent. I will write a decent compo using the word decent and get a decent grade.\"

:faint:

hilarious :rotflmao:

[sharonkhoo]

Sun_2010:

I would like to add that the process of learning phrases/good vocab to applying them is not a smooth progressive path. There will be a period when they use it inappropriately and sometimes totally off but it is thru that they will develop. The problem is we want them to do well every compo and at every exam. One learns to walk by falling .

I tell my kids that they should experiment during daily work but be conservative during exams. It they always play safe, they won't learn as much, but it would be silly to take too many risks during exams.
...
Now all I have to do is have the courage to keep this prespective when i get his compo marks. From his input I feel the story went well, and came to a good conclusion. That is till a plane crashed into the building and it collapsed. ( taking deep breathes now )
There is a good precedent for that happening in real life - 911!

[Nebbermind]

SAHM_TAN:

I rec'd some lousy news today, thanks to both your posts I had a good belly laugh. :rotflmao:

Well, needless to say, this collaboration is once-off!

[Sun_2010]

slmkhoo:

Sun_2010:

I would like to add that the process of learning phrases/good vocab to applying them is not a smooth progressive path. There will be a period when they use it inappropriately and sometimes totally off but it is thru that they will develop. The problem is we want them to do well every compo and at every exam. One learns to walk by falling .

I tell my kids that they should experiment during daily work but be conservative during exams. It they always play safe, they won't learn as much, but it would be silly to take too many risks during exams.
...
Now all I have to do is have the courage to keep this prespective when i get his compo marks. From his input I feel the story went well, and came to a good conclusion. That is till a plane crashed into the building and it collapsed. ( taking deep breathes now )
There is a good precedent for that happening in real life - 911!

Oh, that was not his imagination. We have seen the 911 video clips some months ago. And recently , the Bangladesh building collapse fascinated him, he did a rewind to see that while watching CNN News .

Actually I do tell him to make it down to earth, especially for exams. But at 9 he is still not matured to distinguish the two - a normal class work and an exam. Stressing him to tone down, results in a bland short write up.

My list of donts based on compos he practiced were
1. No blood and gore. Robbers do not go about shooting all people with machine guns
2. No volcanos erupting , no earthquakes , no asteroids landing on earth.

But I did not say anything about building collapse :slapshead:

[ngl2010]

Sun_2010:

Oh, that was not his imagination. We have seen the 911 video clips some months ago. And recently , the Bangladesh building collapse fascinated him, he did a rewind to see that while watching CNN News .

Actually I do tell him to make it down to earth, especially for exams. But at 9 he is still not matured to distinguish the two - a normal class work and an exam. Stressing him to tone down, results in a bland short write up.

My list of donts based on compos he practiced were
1. No blood and gore. Robbers do not go about shooting all people with machine guns
2. No volcanos erupting , no earthquakes , no asteroids landing on earth.

But I did not say anything about building collapse :slapshead:

For my son (he is P6), he always have death in his English compo. He thinks a good storyline must be tragic :faint:

[sharonkhoo]

Sun_2010:

Oh, that was not his imagination. We have seen the 911 video clips some months ago. And recently , the Bangladesh building collapse fascinated him, he did a rewind to see that while watching CNN News .


Actually I do tell him to make it down to earth, especially for exams. But at 9 he is still not matured to distinguish the two - a normal class work and an exam. Stressing him to tone down, results in a bland short write up.

My list of donts based on compos he practiced were
1. No blood and gore. Robbers do not go about shooting all people with machine guns
2. No volcanos erupting , no earthquakes , no asteroids landing on earth.

But I did not say anything about building collapse :slapshead:

He's a got years to figure out what to do in the PSLE. Too many years working within the contraints of a single exam can be mind-deadening. My daughter only did PSLE stuff for less than a year and was thoroughly fed up long before the exam. Her teacher also made up a fairly long list of 'don'ts'. I wouldn't be too strict just yet - it takes the fun out of writing.

[Nebbermind]

Sun_2010:

Oh, that was not his imagination. We have seen the 911 video clips some months ago. And recently , the Bangladesh building collapse fascinated him, he did a rewind to see that while watching CNN News .


Actually I do tell him to make it down to earth, especially for exams. But at 9 he is still not matured to distinguish the two - a normal class work and an exam. Stressing him to tone down, results in a bland short write up.

My list of donts based on compos he practiced were
1. No blood and gore. Robbers do not go about shooting all people with machine guns
2. No volcanos erupting , no earthquakes , no asteroids landing on earth.

But I did not say anything about building collapse :slapshead:

I guess he must be one of those Final Destination :sick: fans!!!

[janet88]

SAHM_TAN:

Funz:

DS asked me this morning, what is the meaning of 'decent'. Told him mean, acceptable, proper, fitting, appropriate.


He said 'ok, for today's compo test, I will use the word decent.' Thought to myself ok, this is like his fixation with the word 'hilarious' previously. Told him nobody decides the words even before they see what the compo is about. What if the word does not fit in.

He stared at me and told me. \"Don't worry Mummy, I will be able to use the word decent. I will write a decent compo using the word decent and get a decent grade.\"

hilarious :rotflmao:

this is a good one.