Secondary School History

[janet88]

Son is bored with Singapore politics for history now...David Marshall, lim yew hock, Maria hertogh riot...japanese occupation 1942-45 was still ok. So far, he is still doing well for this subject. Maybe he can be a history teacher :idea:

[Porky Pig]

Son is struggling with Sec 1 History. How to be on the right track and excel? He is ok with Geography though scoring A1.

[janet88]

Porky Pig:

Son is struggling with Sec 1 History. How to be on the right track and excel? He is ok with Geography though scoring A1.

For essay questions, there is a skill...son had problems initially...he asked his teacher after school...told me have to support with evidence.
Then he said he kept writing and writing until teacher told him no need to write so much :faint: . For sec 1, there isn't so much emphasis on essay questions in the first half of the year...have to score in MCQ and short structured questions. You can take a look at a history assessment at popular to have a rough guide...there is this one by Margaret Tan, published by GLM.

[Gabriel_Fu]

Unfortunately, a lot of Sec 1 History is about memory work.


It is helpful for him to develop an interest in the subject so memorising facts become easier.

Learning the basic SBQ skills will help a lot, as the SBQ section takes up a big part of the paper. Just need to follow the structure given by the teacher.

Answering the open ended section (‘essays’) is a bit trickier. He needs to be on track and not go off topic. If the question asks about the Singapore river and its founding he should only talk about that. It doesn’t matter if his essay is short - answering the question is key. Many students don’t get this.

Once they get to upper secondary things become easier as it all boils down to answering the question and memory-work is less important.

[Yishun]

Hi ,


Any mummy able to help my DD with this History questions ?

1) How did Singapore become a booming trading port (before Raffles ) ?
2) How did Raffles / Farquhar contribute to Singapore ?

TIA

[Gabriel_Fu]

Hi ,


Any mummy able to help my DD with this History questions ?

1) How did Singapore become a booming trading port (before Raffles ) ?
2) How did Raffles / Farquhar contribute to Singapore ?

TIA

I’m not a mummy, but I can attempt to answer these.

1) Singapore was a booming trading port because of Sang Nila Utama and his descendants’ rule. It went on decline after Parameswara founded Melaka, until Raffles discovered us again.

2) Raffles’ major contribution was founding Singapore and striking a deal with Tengku Hussein. He left Singapore in the hands of Farquhar after he got promoted and took a post in Bencoolen. Farquhar basically helped Singapore take off from the ground and introduced a series of laws and reforms.

[druid97]

Hi I’m currently a j1 student studying at Raffles Institution, I’m looking to offer history tuition to earn some side money now that my exams are over. Would anyone be interested?

[Sweet Joy]

edifyme:

Hi all,


If you have any questions related to History, please feel free to post here or pm me and I'll try to answer (I'm not promoting tuition classes here--just offering some free advice to parents who feel lost and worried).

I used to teach History and Social Studies in Band 1 sec schools for those of you who want to know who you're talking with, and I'm familiar with the new syllabi. My last graduating classes scored majority distinctions (one of them was the weakest in the entire cohort) so I might be able to help answer your questions about revision strategy, syllabus, exam marking standards, etc.

I also just started a new email mailing list where from time to time I send free History-related notes and how-tos. If you think it might help your ds/dd, feel free to sign up here http://eepurl.com/TSmEL.

Cheers,
Karen.

Hi Edifyme,

Can you explain how to answer 'Are you surprised Source A is saying ...?' type of question asked in the new syllabus?

What skills are to be applied?

Thank you in advance.

[jetsetter]

Would like to highly recommend The Battle For Merger for those interested in Singapore History. :evil:

http://i60.tinypic.com/169gcg0.jpg\">

The book (reprint) contains a series of 12 radio talks written and given by former PM LKY from Sept 13 and Oct 9, 1961. It gives a vivid account of the then ongoing political struggle over the SG-MY merger.

Am most fascinated with LKY's radio transcripts, his well-polished Mandarin talks, and in particular, the rare handwritten Chinese scripts by Lim Chin Siong.

http://www.straitstimes.com/battle-for-merger

For your elderly relatives who don't understand Eng, you can send this Chinese e-book (+ embedded audio clips) URL to their smart phones.

http://www.zaobao.com.sg/lkyradiotalk/

Nothing to do after PSLE/CA??
Go visit this exhibition at the Main Library@Bugis from Oct 9 to Nov 30. It will then travel to public libraries including Jurong Regional Library and AMK Public Library.

[edifyme]

Hi Sweet Joy,


Sorry I missed your post. Although your dd/ds would have taken the exam already, I'll still post some tips on answering the 'Are you surprised' type of SBQ for the benefit of other parents.

Step 1
Read the source carefully and infer what its overall message is. E.g. is it critical or supportive of a certain leader/policy?
Underline the words and phrases in the source that clue you in.

Step 2
Does the source fit with what you have learnt about this topic, or what other sources say?
E.g. if it is a German complaining about the Nazi government in a public place, it would be surprising because the Nazi government was intolerant of public displays of dissenting opinion.

Step 3
Look at the author. If this person is a VIP (leader of the country), likely to have a motive/purpose for making that comment. He/she may want to influence public opinion to gain support for a policy, or to discredit a political opponent. Look for evidence of him/her trying to whip up the target audience's emotions. Target audience needs to be a specific group of people e.g. the Russian public, international community, Singapore government, etc.
If there is a motive/purpose, then the source may not surprise you because author made those comments that may seem surprising on the surface, but are fully in line with his/her goal to bring about a certain change in behaviour on the part of the audience.

In writing the answer, you may find this a useful template:

Paragraph 1:
I am surprised/not surprised by Source X, because [insert overall claim of the source]. This is seen in [insert source evidence--the underlined parts]. Explain why surprised/not surprised.

Paragraph 2:
Furthermore/however, I am surprised/not surprised because it fits/does not fit with what I know/Source Y. [Insert what your background knowledge/Source Y's overall claim]. This is seen in [insert specific evidence from textbook/Source Y that opposes/agrees with Source X]. [Explain how background knowledge/Source Y agrees/does not agree with X.] Therefore, I am surprised/not surprised by X.
Note: If your knowledge/Source Y disagrees with Source X, then you would be surprised.
If your knowledge/Source Y agrees with Source X, then you would NOT be surprised.

Paragraph 3:
However, I am not surprised by Source X because the author (state the name) made this comment in order to convince/persuade [name the target audience] to [insert what he/she wants them to KNOW, FEEL and DO.] This is seen in [insert evidence]. Therefore, I am not surprised because he made these comments in order to appear [insert adjective/descriptive of image author wants to portray], to achieve his goal of [insert his goal].

I hope this helps. I also send out free History and Social Studies resources and study strategies/tips to parents who are on my email list.

If you're keen, feel free to sign up here: http://eepurl.com/1Z4gb.

cheers,
Karen.