Dont think daughter is coping well with P1

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Tue, 17 May 2016 12:19:24 GMT

Yong_pz — Tue, 17 May 2016 12:19:24 GMT

Hi, my girl is not coping well in school also. Thinking of getting a personal tutor who is good in phonics to teach her. Anyone has good recommendation? I’m at location ard Ang Mo Kio and Serangoon North.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Fri, 21 Feb 2014 14:07:28 GMT

mitogal — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 14:07:28 GMT

Hi! my daughter have been stress in her hypy in the first few weeks of school as her teacher is somehow fierce and everytime test them in class... hence my girl is so stress that she will ask me rush back home everyday from my work and teach her hypy. SOmetimes at night even when she is really tired and almost fall asleep she still force me to teach her...

To me, my hypy is still acceptable but when in turn to teach them, we have to break out the word and pronounce them part by part for them, sometime I will end up confused myself whether have I pronounce correctly anot....
But luckily that I found a Chinese book at popular bookstore where everything really follow almost the same as their textbook and in fact they even state a Chinese word beside to let us know how to pronounce and hence make it really easy for me to guide my daughter...

If any parent out there need to know how the book look like can msg me... I will snap shot a photo of it to show u... As I think that currently our child just went in to pri 1 and their school work is already a lot, if can try not to give them tuition so as to make them enjoy themselves more...

:rahrah:

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:02:42 GMT

dimsum — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:02:42 GMT

trex72:
Thanx all for the advice and recommendations! I guess I will continue to personally coach her for the time being as I got lots of time on my hand the moment, just quit my job and yet to find anything interesting. But I will source for some extra Chinese or hypy classes for her as my Chinese is 1/2 pail water so to speak. Hope to find some classes in the weekend as weekdays don't seem possible. P1 & 2 for TNS is afternoon session at the moment, her school bus picks her up at 11am and she reaches home after 730pm.

加油!!
:rahrah:

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 11:58:08 GMT

dimsum — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 11:58:08 GMT

sembgal:
Not only PCF not allowed to reach HYPY, other preschools received instruction from MOE not to teach HYPY to K2 children to avoid confusing them with phonics or teaching them wrongly.

So moral of the story is if the child is in K2 now, it is a must to send the child for HYPY enrichment outside. The pace at P1 is fast and the child is expected to read HYPY sentences in Term 1 P1 for some assessment books. If parents wait till child in P1 to learn HYPY, it is a bit late. Learn in k2 first the basic sounds and take it as revision when children go Pri 1 Chinese lessons in school. Child will not even need to be in Bridging Chinese programme if you have helped your child to build up a good foundation for Chinese in terms of recognizing words, speaking and comprehending simple questions.

My boy's CC (small unknown operator) taught hypy. Really must thank the laoshi for doing a gd job. Thus, i didnt hv to send him for any enrichment class.
You are right. The pace is v fast.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 11:03:03 GMT

sembgal — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 11:03:03 GMT

Not only PCF not allowed to reach HYPY, other preschools received instruction from MOE not to teach HYPY to K2 children to avoid confusing them with phonics or teaching them wrongly.

So moral of the story is if the child is in K2 now, it is a must to send the child for HYPY enrichment outside. The pace at P1 is fast and the child is expected to read HYPY sentences in Term 1 P1 for some assessment books. If parents wait till child in P1 to learn HYPY, it is a bit late. Learn in k2 first the basic sounds and take it as revision when children go Pri 1 Chinese lessons in school. Child will not even need to be in Bridging Chinese programme if you have helped your child to build up a good foundation for Chinese in terms of recognizing words, speaking and comprehending simple questions.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:53:34 GMT

sembgal — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:53:34 GMT

trex72:
Thanx all for the advice and recommendations! I guess I will continue to personally coach her for the time being as I got lots of time on my hand the moment, just quit my job and yet to find anything interesting. But I will source for some extra Chinese or hypy classes for her as my Chinese is 1/2 pail water so to speak. Hope to find some classes in the weekend as weekdays don't seem possible. P1 & 2 for TNS is afternoon session at the moment, her school bus picks her up at 11am and she reaches home after 730pm.

Good decision. With your personal coaching, she will improve very fast to catch up with her classmates.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:44:51 GMT

trex72 — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:44:51 GMT

Thanx all for the advice and recommendations! I guess I will continue to personally coach her for the time being as I got lots of time on my hand the moment, just quit my job and yet to find anything interesting. But I will source for some extra Chinese or hypy classes for her as my Chinese is 1/2 pail water so to speak. Hope to find some classes in the weekend as weekdays don’t seem possible. P1 & 2 for TNS is afternoon session at the moment, her school bus picks her up at 11am and she reaches home after 730pm.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 05:49:43 GMT

dimsum — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 05:49:43 GMT

Yes, pcf is following moe guidelines. I understand the super popular st james also does not teach hypy.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 05:38:23 GMT

lovinglife — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 05:38:23 GMT

SAHM_TAN:
jetsetter:
[quote=\"trex72\"]She cant read and write that well yet and her Chinese.... lets just say you speak to her in Chinese and she'll reply you in English. PCF didn't really prepare her that well for P1

Am surprised PCF didn't teach your DD HYPY in K2...

off-topic a bit

This article was published in Sep 2012.

http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-sto ... m-20120902

There's a part that states \"A previous Ministry of Education (MOE) guideline asking pre-schools not to teach hanyu pinyin but to focus on Chinese characters has not been strictly adhered to, with many pre-schools teaching hanyu pinyin towards the end of K2 because parents ask for it.\"

Not sure if there are any changes to the guidelines now but that guideline should be what current P1 kids was under when they were in pre-schools bah.

The PCF that Trex72's dd was in must have followed the guidelines to the letter.[/quote]My kids' CC did not include HYPY in their curriculum too. If I were to wait for my DS to learn it in P1, he will surely fail his tingxie/test. His tingxie lists were mostly in sentences. Eg, ma yi pa tu po (蚂蚁爬土坡）。

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 02:47:03 GMT

SAHM_TAN — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 02:47:03 GMT

jetsetter:
trex72:
She cant read and write that well yet and her Chinese.... lets just say you speak to her in Chinese and she'll reply you in English. PCF didn't really prepare her that well for P1

Am surprised PCF didn't teach your DD HYPY in K2...

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 02:02:32 GMT

SAHM_TAN — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 02:02:32 GMT

Did your dd join the LSP (learning support prog) in 3rd wk or thereabouts of school term? It will take some time to see results, monitor the progress.

When I help my kids, I start at their level. I'm ok to be slower than school at the start becos my goal is not the next assessment or test.

From experience, many centres will teach in advance, if you are considering to send her for hypy classes, we are in Feb liao, best to chk which part of the HYPY they have progressed and whether still able to suit your dd's learning needs.

If you wish to outsource other aspects of learning, best to find a centre/prog that is able to help her from her starting point. If there are no other issues, once a child gets it/understands, he/she will progress better.

The P1 have either finished or finishing their medical check-ups conducted in the school, do look out for the letter about her eye sight.

MOE has this website

http://xuele.moe.edu.sg/xuele/slot/u107/index.html

Will be helpful for HYPY. There are YouTube videos on HYPY that are rather cute that can be found too.

For Eng reading, I'm a fan of Peter and Jane series. For chi reading my fav is 四五快读。10 mins per day.

Take a deep breath, we make better decisions when we are in a calm state of mind.

All the best.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Thu, 13 Feb 2014 01:31:38 GMT

jetsetter — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 01:31:38 GMT

trex72:
She cant read and write that well yet and her Chinese.... lets just say you speak to her in Chinese and she'll reply you in English. PCF didn't really prepare her that well for P1

Am surprised PCF didn't teach your DD HYPY in K2...

Anyway, it's just some minor 'teething probs' in term 1. maybe your dd is just overwhelmed by the sheer size of TNS and class, plus the instructions are no longer fed to her in a comm book.

she might be intimidated by the eloquence of her TNS peers whose parents might hv well-prepared them in preschool, causing her to wonder, 'why everyone else knows it all, except me?'. Who knows, maybe P1 teacher assumes everyone has been taught by K2 teachers and skims thru her intro...

1) just get into the parents network, teachers' radar and you'll be able to keep tabs of what's going on.
2) she was a sociable and likeable figure in PCF. am sure she'll fit in by term 2...
3) it's the chinese enrichment that u need to tackle more immediately. TienHsia P1 had gone right into HYPY in Lesson 1 (as in all the worksheet instructions are written in HYPY too), and students had received the tingxie list in Week 1 (8/1/14), so I'm a bit worried your DD might be lost. I believe all confirmed P1 students of TienHsia had also attended a 5-day HYPY holiday prog in Dec, therefore the Week 1 notes aren't alien to them.

However, don't let me frighten you. There's no harm calling to check if there are still slots for a centre near Sengkang/Hougang/Kovan/Punggol. Or Han Language, Beijing or Berries...Alternatively, u shd visit your Sengkang CC and check if there're such classes available.

While hunting for a timeslot for the long-term, how abt grabbing a comprehensive assessment book such as https://www.popular.com.sg/jsp/product/product_detail.jsp?vca001=105&vpd001=101709 from Popular and teach your DD at home first?

All the best! :rahrah:

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:50:53 GMT

sembgal — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:50:53 GMT

trex72:
Thanx for the replies, my 1st dd, really quite lost preparing her for P1.

Hi, if you are on tight budget and cannot afford time or expertise to teach your child, I suggest you enrol your child in RC or CC tuition programme. TNS standard is really high, but it is not too late as it is only term 1 now.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:47:46 GMT

sleepy — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:47:46 GMT

trex72:
my 1st dd, really quite lost preparing her for P1.

Probably should start her on tuition right away, unless you're able to coach actively personally. TNS standard is very high.
It is only 1 month plus into p1. She will be able to catch up eventually.

If you only intend to cover hanyu pinyin, can consider RC around your area. Look for those that are taught by native teachers.

What I did was to send my dd2 to hanyu pinyin classes at RC when in K2. Only need to attend a few months mainly to brush up hanyu pinyin.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:19:29 GMT

trex72 — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:19:29 GMT

Thanx for the replies, my 1st dd, really quite lost preparing her for P1.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:02:21 GMT

sembgal — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 10:02:21 GMT

trex72:
Pen88n:
Is you DD able to read and write (like write in a diary about happenings of the day - need not be long, 5-10 sentences will do.) in English and at least read in Chinese when she enters P1? If yes, she should not have a problem coping with P1.

HYPY is a little like phonics. I did not teach both my kids HYPY before they enter P1. Like your DD, my kids have no enrichment classes before P1 or even in lower primary, but I encourage reading, so both of them can read well by the time they enter P1. Both learnt HYPY in P1 and are able to grasp that. If really need to, suggest you consider Tien Hsia for your DD.
She cant read and write that well yet and her Chinese.... lets just say you speak to her in Chinese and she'll reply you in English. PCF didn't really prepare her that well for P1

PCF can only prepare your child at her level of K2 and not beyond. You cannot depend on PCF solely if you want your child to be academically inclined. Most parents nowadays sent their children to PCF and supplement with enrichment classes!

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:44:54 GMT

Pen88n — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:44:54 GMT

trex72, have PM you.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:43:09 GMT

sembgal — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:43:09 GMT

trex72:

She was placed into some Flair class in PCF and her Chinese teacher told us to converse with her in Chinese more frequently. Her reading and writing is quite weak, and I agree with you, I should strengthen her in that area. Thanx for the advice!

Pardon me for saying this but I have a friend who woks as Flair teacher and told me those very weak academically in K1, will be selected for Flair in K2 to brush up English. Flair is not enrichment. It is like learning support (remedial) for very weak students in PCF kindergartens.

You should have invested in enrichment when your child was in k2 if you are not able to coach her yourself. I highly recommend you to seek help ASAP for her in terms of academic learning. Otherwise it will be a struggle for her.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:37:40 GMT

ammonite — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:37:40 GMT

trex72:
Dear fellow parents,

My elder daughter started P1 this year in TNS. Prior to this she did not attend any form of enrichment class or tution. Now I think its a huge mistake as she don't seems to be coping well in school.

I'm teaching her personally at the moment but it's mainly coaching her on her weekly spelling and hypy spelling as well as homework. Got a shock yesterday when I discovered that she has been mainly copying her classmate's hypy assignment as she has no idea on how to do her assignments. She also has trouble copying instructions on her pupil's handwork and most of the time I have to guess what homework she has.

Should I sign her up for tution or enrichment class( especially for her Chinese)? Any good recommendation for sengkang area? Kumon? Kent ridge?

Trex,

Don't worry. It's your first child in primary school so you might not have known what to expect. Basically the child needs to be able to read simple books and have an understanding of worksheet formats. From there, guide patiently on writing conventions, spelling and be thick skinned! Email or ask the teacher to clarify on homework stuff. Some kids take longer than others. And some schools teach and guide better than others too.

My ds2 is also in P1. I showed him some basics of hypy late last year and his kindergarten also spent a term on it. He is still a little confused over it and I help him along with short revision - 10min or less. Incidentally the school he is in teaches it more thoroughly than ds1's former school. My ds1 could not grasp hypy at all and I did not put much emphasis on it. But I find that he has somehow picked it up along the way and is able to use e-dictionary - which is really the whole point right?

By your next kid's turn, you will have a better idea of how to help him/her to transit into primary school.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:34:14 GMT

trex72 — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:34:14 GMT

spicyblackpepper:
Dear trex72, my heart goes with you. I formed a watsapp group for my kid's form class parents. The school is nice enough to invite all parents to sit in same class to exchange contact nos. I took a picture of the parents' name/tel no. list. My kid is a loner, doesn't want to ask for classmates phone nos During K2, in newly changed school, teacher was so worried, told me that my kid couldn't remember how to spell own name 0 - 0 . And you know what, my kid is now in year 1 of IP secondary school. Very normal kid, except needs help in social area. I am sure your kid will be ok too.

Thanx for the kind words, another thing that worries me, she was very sociable and well liked in PCF by her peers and teachers. But in P1 she only have 2 friends in her class of 30 and they are not the 2 sitting beside her( who was assigned by FT to help her). Hopefully it's not some stress of P1 getting to her, making her more withdrawn.

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:26:03 GMT

trex72 — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:26:03 GMT

slmkhoo:
How did she cope in K2? Did her teachers there give you any feedback about weaknesses or difficulties? Can she read hypy and English? You may want to teach her to read both instead of concentrating on spelling. She will cope better with spelling when she can read and make sense of the words rather than just rote memorisation.

For copying issues, do you think she has any vision or coordination problems? Or is she a slow writer? You can teach her what are the key things to write down (page no., question nos) rather than copy down whole sentences. You will be able to guess better that way.

You can ask her FT if there is a parents' support group for her class, or whether you can start one (if you are willing).

She was placed into some Flair class in PCF and her Chinese teacher told us to converse with her in Chinese more frequently. Her reading and writing is quite weak, and I agree with you, I should strengthen her in that area. Thanx for the advice!

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:19:35 GMT

trex72 — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:19:35 GMT

BlueBells:
Besides the Whatsapp group, suggest you also touch base with her teachers to hear their observations. Don't panic just yet.

If she has no improvements by next term, then there are a couple of things you can do:

1. Get in touch with the learning support teacher in school and see if any help can be rendered (can also get in touch with them now, no harm);

2. Put her through selected enrichment classes.

Passing her spellings (EL and CL) is no indication whether she has any learning challenges in school.

I have been in touch with her FT, FT already placed 2 \"better\" students beside her to help her and also put her is some learning support class already. Didn't help that my dd thinks her FT is strict and unapproachable, quite fearful of her in fact.

As for the 2 better students, 1 of them seems to be a MC queen. The other does help her by doing some of her work and letting her copy some assignment, I'm grateful but I think it does more harm than help unintentionally. Then when she wants to copy instructions for her guidebook, her was told that she is not allow to copy by the students. :slapshead:

Reply to Dont think daughter is coping well with P1 on Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:10:20 GMT

trex72 — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 09:10:20 GMT

Pen88n:
Is you DD able to read and write (like write in a diary about happenings of the day - need not be long, 5-10 sentences will do.) in English and at least read in Chinese when she enters P1? If yes, she should not have a problem coping with P1.

HYPY is a little like phonics. I did not teach both my kids HYPY before they enter P1. Like your DD, my kids have no enrichment classes before P1 or even in lower primary, but I encourage reading, so both of them can read well by the time they enter P1. Both learnt HYPY in P1 and are able to grasp that. If really need to, suggest you consider Tien Hsia for your DD.

She cant read and write that well yet and her Chinese.... lets just say you speak to her in Chinese and she'll reply you in English. PCF didn't really prepare her that well for P1