'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?'

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Mon, 13 Feb 2017 12:56:19 GMT

janet88 — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 12:56:19 GMT

phtthp:
janet88:

i didn't know not all SAP schools offer HCL from p1. HCL is definitely challenging compared to standard CL.

do agree with you to take HCL only from p5 is really no joke because p5 is a steep jump from p4 with tough math and science syllabus...if HCL is offered as well, the poor child will have problems coping.
@end of P4, there is streaming.

how do the P5 students manage both tough P5 (Maths & Science) syllabus, coupled with heavy, demanding P5 Higher Chinese requirement(s) ?

the jump from p4 to p5 is known to be very tough. my son dropped HCL at the end of P4.
if HCL is offered at p5, it is going to be very content heavy for all subjects as the students have to start getting used to psle expectations.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Mon, 13 Feb 2017 05:27:21 GMT

phtthp — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 05:27:21 GMT

janet88:

i didn't know not all SAP schools offer HCL from p1. HCL is definitely challenging compared to standard CL.

do agree with you to take HCL only from p5 is really no joke because p5 is a steep jump from p4 with tough math and science syllabus...if HCL is offered as well, the poor child will have problems coping.

@end of P4, there is streaming.

how do the P5 students manage both tough P5 (Maths & Science) syllabus, coupled with heavy, demanding P5 Higher Chinese requirement(s) ?

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Mon, 13 Feb 2017 04:49:00 GMT

janet88 — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 04:49:00 GMT

Imp75:
I must say to do well in HCL in PSLE, it is vital to start from young....best to be start HCL from P1....I find it perhaps challenging for CL pupils to suddenly take on the demands of HCL from P5 onwards. Why can't all schools start teaching HCL (instead of CL) from P1 since the demand should be there (can take HCL why don't take, children nowadays are like rubber band mah, super stretchable?). I thought all MOE CL tchrs should be equipped to teach HCL if they can teach CL. Resources like materials can be sourced from MOE.

i didn't know not all SAP schools offer HCL from p1. HCL is definitely challenging compared to standard CL.
do agree with you to take HCL only from p5 is really no joke because p5 is a steep jump from p4 with tough math and science syllabus...if HCL is offered as well, the poor child will have problems coping.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Wed, 08 Feb 2017 05:41:06 GMT

grimm — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 05:41:06 GMT

Imp75:
I must say to do well in HCL in PSLE, it is vital to start from young....best to be start HCL from P1....I find it perhaps challenging for CL pupils to suddenly take on the demands of HCL from P5 onwards. Why can't all schools start teaching HCL (instead of CL) from P1 since the demand should be there (can take HCL why don't take, children nowadays are like rubber band mah, super stretchable?). I thought all MOE CL tchrs should be equipped to teach HCL if they can teach CL. Resources like materials can be sourced from MOE.

I think having more options will be better for everyone:
- If your child wants HCL, they should get to do it
- If your child wants another language instead of CL, that's ok
- If your child is happy to stick with only English, that's fine as well

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Wed, 08 Feb 2017 01:22:10 GMT

Imp75 — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 01:22:10 GMT

I must say to do well in HCL in PSLE, it is vital to start from young…best to be start HCL from P1…I find it perhaps challenging for CL pupils to suddenly take on the demands of HCL from P5 onwards. Why can’t all schools start teaching HCL (instead of CL) from P1 since the demand should be there (can take HCL why don’t take, children nowadays are like rubber band mah, super stretchable?). I thought all MOE CL tchrs should be equipped to teach HCL if they can teach CL. Resources like materials can be sourced from MOE.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Wed, 08 Feb 2017 00:24:41 GMT

janet88 — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 00:24:41 GMT

Connecting the dots:

If HCL is of utmost importance to the mom, she should have just sent her child to a SAP Pri school.

EXACTLY.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 22:28:10 GMT

phtthp — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 22:28:10 GMT

Connecting the dots:
grimm:
Complain enough and you can get your way.

If HCL is of utmost importance to the mom, she should have just sent her child to a SAP Pri school.

Yes, u are right.

If HIgher Chinese is so crucial to her, right from the start or beginning -
during P1 registration back then in July 2015 (for 2016 P1 intake), this mom ought to have enrolled her child into Poi Ching primary : the SAP primary school available in Tampines neighbourhood, instead of enrolled her kid into St Hilda primary, if her house address is located within 1 km of Poi Ching primary.

If she had done that -
she would not need to publish any complaint into Straits Times, to alert everyone.

At Poi Ching primary, Her child would \"safely\" be given the golden opportunity to study HCL automatically AND peacefully from P1 to P4, In a SAP school.
Only When reach end of P4 After SA2 results been released, Poi Ching school will re-assess situation, again. Those end of P4 students who had done well overall, in 4 subjects : can continue to proceed with HCL, in P5 / P6. Otherwise, P5 students can just opt out of Higher Chinese, do Normal Chinese - if the burden for P5 HCL prove to be too heavy & stressful @end of P4, in a SAP school, leaving them little time to prepare for PSLE, in the other 3 crucial, important subjects (EMS). Can you manage, or not ?

At least, this mom would have been spared the anxious, panicky \"roller-coaster\" effect at St Hilda primary, at each year end (after SA2), anxiously wondering whether or not her kid made it, or did her child manage to fall within Top whatever X % of the entire cohort level announced out-front, to all impacted / affected parents in the school, so as to be allowed to continue with HCL, immediately the following next year, according to St Hilda school policy, concerning HCL ?

Besides, if one were to compare the Chinese curriculum alone, taught between Poi Ching (a SAP school) vs St Hilda (a non-SAP school) : Poi Chong (P1 & P2) Chinese curriculum taught, beat St Hilda Chinese curriculum, hands down.

For P1 / P2 Chinese, taught at Poi Ching -
The School used special, demanding Chinese vocabulary books, to ground & to drill the P1 & P2 students, to help them acquire a solid Chinese foundation, in lower primary.
At end of lower primary, students at Poi Ching, had already been exposed to & been taught many \"chim\" Chinese vocabulary. The amount of \"chim\" vocab prepare them well ahead, to tackle the demands of Higher Chinese, at Upper primary.
These special Chinese books, can be found in China, used by some China students, too.
If u have the chance to lay hand on these books, can flip through the pages, have an idea of what or how much \"chim\" vocabulary, these students had learnt.

(In 2014 P1 batch, Poi Ching school were using such books. Now 2017 P1, not sure if Poi Ching still using same Chinese books, or change to another set of \"chim\" books)

Earlier on, in the beginning 1st few pages of this thread (if refer back), one parent had jokingly pointed out, but with a meaning, trying to convey across : do not look down on neighbourhood school, although school may not be of GEP status.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 14:19:49 GMT

Connecting the dots — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 14:19:49 GMT

phtthp:
grimm:
Complain enough and you can get your way.

No wonder we have lost our competitive edge.
That's the POWER of the media response, if u publish something openly, isn't it ?

apparently, the mother of the P1 child who scored 97 wanted her child to do P2 Higher Chinese very much, and she succeeded.

If HCL is of utmost importance to the mom, she should have just sent her child to a SAP Pri school.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 10:10:46 GMT

floppy — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 10:10:46 GMT

Nebbermind:
jetsetter:
[quote=\"grimm\"]Complain enough and you can get your way. No wonder we have lost our competitive edge.

I'm more shocked that the P had to bow to pseudo-legalese!
Parent = 1; MOE = 0

This reminds me of the poor endangered red junglefowls that were culled recently by AVA due to some urbanites' complaints.

Some more it's an own goal[/quote]Nang kiang jiu ho, mai geh kiang.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 09:39:54 GMT

Nebbermind — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 09:39:54 GMT

jetsetter:
grimm:
Complain enough and you can get your way. No wonder we have lost our competitive edge.

I'm more shocked that the P had to bow to pseudo-legalese!
Parent = 1; MOE = 0

This reminds me of the poor endangered red junglefowls that were culled recently by AVA due to some urbanites' complaints.

Some more it's an own goal

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 07:55:10 GMT

Porky Pig — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 07:55:10 GMT

Currently there are only 2 classes of HCL - 59 students (30 in 1 class and 29 in the other). I suspect that they will "invite" those with 97/96/95 marks to form another class of 30 students. The kids have plenty of homework each day on top of the regular weekly ting xie. They are tasked to write pages of xi zi etc.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 05:11:05 GMT

phtthp — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 05:11:05 GMT

slmkhoo:
The school will probably set more difficult papers in future so fewer students score such high marks! Is that what parents prefer for P1?

for the FIRST Semester of P1, from January to JUne : P1 students spent half a year, getting introduced and learning Han yu pin yin (Chinese Phonics), & learning how to write the strokes, the \"bian pang zi\", etc.

More Chinese Vocabulary are taught, from Second Semester of P1 (from July to November)

Since more than 6 months had been spent on Han yu pin yin, how much \"more difficult\" can the school set the P1 Chinese paper, at year end ?

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 05:04:31 GMT

phtthp — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 05:04:31 GMT

grimm:
Complain enough and you can get your way.

No wonder we have lost our competitive edge.

That's the POWER of the media response, if u publish something openly, isn't it ?

apparently, the mother of the P1 child who scored 97 wanted her child to do P2 Higher Chinese very much, and she succeeded.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 04:47:21 GMT

phtthp — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 04:47:21 GMT

Porky Pig:
Happened to stumble into this topic which is of great interest to Porky as my DD happens to be from the mentioned school and the particular batch. She was offered the HCL option.

Interestingly I wanted to opt out of this option as our CL is not strong but her CL teacher was very encouraging and said that we should give it a try. And so we did.

I never thought that there would be such a big hoo ha on this.

Porky,

Open up one more extra Higher Chinese (HCL) class means : admit in how many more new P2 students, now?
how big is the additional, new HMT class ?
another new P2 HMT class of 25, 30, 35 or 40 students ?

what's the new, Revised Cut-off Criteria now, after the appeal published in the Straits Times went through, successfully (St Hilda primary Principal under pressure had to make amendment / changes, to existing HCL policy, implemented ) ?
has it been changed to Top 30 % or 35 %, of entire P1 cohort ?

that kid whose mom earlier complained inspite of scored 97 couldn't get in last time, now can get in.
How about those other P1 students : who managed to scored 91 (A*) to 95 range, for Chinese ?
can these students do HCL now, or still cannot ?

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 04:41:46 GMT

jetsetter — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 04:41:46 GMT

grimm:
Complain enough and you can get your way. No wonder we have lost our competitive edge.

I'm more shocked that the P had to bow to pseudo-legalese!
Parent = 1; MOE = 0

This reminds me of the poor endangered red junglefowls that were culled recently by AVA due to some urbanites' complaints.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 04:37:03 GMT

jetsetter — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 04:37:03 GMT

Porky Pig:
Happened to stumble into this topic which is of great interest to Porky as my DD happens to be from the mentioned school and the particular batch. She was offered the HCL option. Interestingly I wanted to opt out of this option as our CL is not strong but her CL teacher was very encouraging and said that we should give it a try. And so we did. I never thought that there would be such a big hoo ha on this.

Porky
How did the P select 30 pupils for the additional HMT class this time? Cut off @ Top 35% of 270 pupils? :slapshead:

Or specially admitted that affected pupil and others with extremely high MT marks but who fell outside of Top 25% of cohort?

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:27:43 GMT

sharonkhoo — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:27:43 GMT

The school will probably set more difficult papers in future so fewer students score such high marks! Is that what parents prefer for P1?

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:09:44 GMT

grimm — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:09:44 GMT

Complain enough and you can get your way. No wonder we have lost our competitive edge.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Mon, 06 Feb 2017 14:18:54 GMT

buds — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 14:18:54 GMT

Singapore school adds Higher Chinese class after furore over 97-marks rejection.

Parents of students at St. Hilda’s Primary complained to media last month about the stringent criteria to study Higher Chinese.

SINGAPORE: The school which made headlines after a student scored 97 marks but still failed to qualify for the Higher Chinese stream has reviewed its criteria and opened an additional class for the subject, it was revealed in Parliament on Mon (Feb 6).

Last month, St Hilda’s Primary School sparked widespread debate when a parent complained that despite his Primary 1 child’s interest and score of 97 marks in Chinese, it was not good enough to read Higher Chinese at Primary 2, as it was outside of the top 25 per cent of the cohort.

The Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Parliamentary Secretary Low Yen Ling said the cutoff mark for St Hilda’s was unusually high as the school sought to ensure a high level of ability in students who wanted to take the Higher Chinese language.

“We acknowledge St. Hilda’s good intentions in making sure students who want to take Higher Chinese are well-suited and also ready to take on the subject because it also entails extra curricular time and a heavier study load for the child,” she told Parliament.

“MOE is very glad the school is making positive steps very swiftly to enlarge its pool of Higher Chinese language students. It reflects the school’s commitment in terms of teaching and learning of mother tongue languages - not just Chinese, but all three.”

Earlier, Ms Low said she was heartened by the enthusiasm shown by parents and students for Higher Chinese language. “We want to assure the House that the schools are deeply committed to the teaching and learning of Higher Mother Tongue languages,” she noted. “We do so because its not just about mastering a higher level of language, but deepening bilingualism which is an integral part of national identity and cultural heritage.”

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-school-adds-higher-chinese-class-after-furore-over-97/3496284.html?cid=fbcna

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 08:29:19 GMT

jetsetter — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 08:29:19 GMT

floppy:
limlim:

Is very easy. Just introduce them to comics (漫画), the Chinese will improve by leaps and bounds. You don't even need to chase after them they will automatically read.

That's how my Chinese picked up last time.. reading 小叮当& 乌龙院 and the likes..
For boys, can also get them to read 金庸, 古龙 or 梁羽生小说. Can improve Chinese by leaps and bounds in an interesting way. Other interesting texts are 水浒传 or 三国志 as blood and gore usually get the boys attention (I have no idea for girls).

P/S: Magazines like 龙虎豹 and 阁楼 can also stimulate interest in Chinese but I don't think parents would be very approving of them

For girls， i read 红楼梦画皮西游记 comics...sometime later I read 家春秋日出雷雨 ...

Of course I also read 水浒传三国演义comic books. 老夫子 was my favorite comic book in kindergarten.

There were other classics 典故 (曹冲称象/张良提鞋/鲁班)，寓言，孙子兵法，36计，四大美人 in comic format too.

There was this 西方伟人 bio series I had in preschool that I used to devour!

Comic books were hugely popular as we didn't hv iPad. 嘴里的零食，手里的漫画。。。

Ultimately u must love Chinese culture n history lor.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 08:15:43 GMT

Porky Pig — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 08:15:43 GMT

Happened to stumble into this topic which is of great interest to Porky as my DD happens to be from the mentioned school and the particular batch. She was offered the HCL option. Interestingly I wanted to opt out of this option as our CL is not strong but her CL teacher was very encouraging and said that we should give it a try. And so we did. I never thought that there would be such a big hoo ha on this.

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 08:10:15 GMT

laughingcat — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 08:10:15 GMT

limlim:
laughingcat:
limlim, still the same paper for all P2 kiddo even if one take up HCL in P2. There isn't any HCL P2 paper at all.

During my boy's time, in the P2 HCL.....the curriculum increase slightly using the HCL textbook. Depends very much on the school per se, sometime the teacher will introduce additional story books reading.
Yeah they're using HCL textbook..

If that's the case, then actually I believe many many sch actually does offer HCL from P2. My kids sch is neighbor sch also have HCL.. So schools offering HCL is not as uncommon as what some might expect.

No surprises at all. There are plenty of chances from P2-P4. By the time P5, subjects must be logged down. For those who are not offered HCL in primary school, all is not lost. Still can take HCL in sec if the child's result is good.

No HCL, life still goes on. Afterall education is to enrich a person life. So no big deal. I feel getting the love for langauge is more important.

Just like what Floppy suggested....\"reading chinese story books will improve Chinese by leaps and bounds in an interesting way\"

Reply to 'ST : How can 97 marks be not good enough?' on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 07:59:32 GMT

limlim — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 07:59:32 GMT

laughingcat:
limlim, still the same paper for all P2 kiddo even if one take up HCL in P2. There isn't any HCL P2 paper at all.

During my boy's time, in the P2 HCL.....the curriculum increase slightly using the HCL textbook. Depends very much on the school per se, sometime the teacher will introduce additional story books reading.

Yeah they're using HCL textbook..

If that's the case, then actually I believe many many sch actually does offer HCL from P2. My kids sch is neighbor sch also have HCL.. So schools offering HCL is not as uncommon as what some might expect.