Where to get PS4 at a reasonable price?

Hi all, I’m receiving conflicting views about the importance of Chinese in secondary school. Some said that it’s not important as it’s just one of the other subjects while others said that it’s important esp for entry to JC. Any thoughts on this?

I just called MOE too and my ds received eagles

Anyone has any idea how JSS will form their Sec 1 class next year given that they will start SBB?

Anyone has comments for Hua Yi and Jurong Sec?

Whole clan!!! My ds indicated that only both parents allowed, no siblings to tag along on that day.

A great article!

Thanks Hercules!


I will focus on his listening as per your advice.

Thanks again.

hercules\" post_id=\"1944553\" time=\"1572840548\" user_id=\"14947:

Hi Giggler1

Do you have his SA1 and SA2 Listening score?

I only have his SA2 scores:
Oral 11/30
LC 6/10
Compo 3.5/15
Paper 2 12/45

hercules\" post_id=\"1944407\" time=\"1572709267\" user_id=\"14947:

I will be sharing how I coached my P3 GN for her SA2 Chinese. Below are ideas only for kids who have minimal interest in Chinese and for parents who have given up hopes in developing such interest in their kids but yet still need to ‘clear’ Chinese. They are more like 死马当着活马医 'strategies'.

Basically it is still the same strategy of trying to stay as close to those vocabs listed in the textbooks as possible (average about 17 new words per chapter). Expand about 5% out of it if desired. Keep assessment books max at two (I only used one from 汪老师）or else this category of kids see Chinese will really feel like crying / detesting.

Always attempt to be as lean as possible so that the list of vocabs doesn’t look like a mountain tall (‘goal’ set must always look achievable / manageable from kids’ point of view). The 辨字and 词语 depend heavily on these textbook vocabs and so regular revision of word recognition are required to score well in this. Basic knowledge of 边旁部首 is helpful in case sometime forget and need to do tikam.

P3 will need to do 仿句. These are the few that I prepared for her:

1.\t如果……, 就……。
如果你不爱吃肉，就吃鱼吧!

2. ……, 却……。
我爱吃肉，却不爱吃鱼。

3. 只要……就……。
妈妈说只要我常吃鱼肉，就可以长得高大。

4. 虽然……, 但是……。
虽然我很胖，但是我可以跑得很快。

5. ……时, ……。
我在看书时，小明叫我出去玩。

6. ……, 因为……
妹妹在习字，因为明天有听写。

7. ……一会儿……, 一会儿……。
妹妹一会儿写字，一会儿玩球, 妈妈看了很生气。

8.\t……一……就……。
我一出门，天就下起了大雨。

When constructing 仿句 sentences (to memorise), use the minimum number of words to form the maximum number of sentences, ideally with as many simple words as possible as long as the sentences make sense (choose more common words that your child is more likely to remember how to write).

I printed the sentences and got her to read (and read). Then when she was ready, just showed her the given words to test her memory (死背). Once could regurgitate correctly, then started to test writing (and to practise on words that she couldn’t remember how to write).

The same for 扩写句子. Just took a few past year papers and got her to do by reading. I minimised writing for her as she writes painfully slow for Chinese and 扩写 just need to know where to insert the words (轻轻地、一下子、忍不住 etc) that don’t really require other new words for P3 level (most of the time). Don’t waste time and spare your child the agony of copying the sentences. More efficient (and ‘enjoyable’) to learn 扩写句子 in this reading manner.

She scored 10/10 for the above. Without 死背，she might get 0/10 for these two sections.

I only started thinking of compo writing for her about 2 months before SA2. Prior to that, she was too weak to write even a simple sentence base on pictures. She is still weak but I couldn’t send her to a compo exam without any preparation. So I just prepared three simple compo for her to read (and read) to get a sense of ‘flow’:

一个风和日丽的星期天，爸爸说要带我们一家人去海边玩。我们听了都拍手叫好。一切都准备好后，我们便坐巴士去海边。

不一会儿，我们便到了海边。我们把东西放在草席后，我和弟弟便去游泳。爸爸和妈妈坐在草席上谈天。

下午时分，我和弟弟便上岸吃妈妈准备的点心。我们一边吃点心，一边看着蓝蓝的天，白白的云，觉得好开心。吃完点心后，我们一起去玩泥沙。

太阳就快要下山了，我们便一起收拾东西，带着依依不舍的心情回家。我希望爸爸会再带我们一起去海边玩。

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一天早上，妈妈带我去超市买东西。

在超市里，妈妈忙着找她要买的东西。我在一旁等着，觉得好闷。突然，我看到了一辆空的手推车，我就跑过去拿过来玩。

我把手推车飞快地推来推去，觉得好玩极了。突然，一个小妹妹不知道从哪里跑出来，一不小心就撞到了我的手推车。小妹妹跌坐在地上，她马上放声大哭。她的妈妈立刻把她扶起来。

我低着头向小妹妹说对不起。小妹妹的妈妈告诉我说超市不是一个给人嬉戏的地方，如果要嬉戏就应该去游乐场。我听后红着脸地点点头。

经过这件事后，我再也不敢在超市里嬉戏了。

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放学了，小明背着书包，拿着香蕉，一边吃着香蕉，一边把香蕉皮扔在地上。

一个老爷爷也正沿着这条路慢慢地走来。他没看见脚下的香蕉皮，一踏上就跌坐在地上。

小明听到声音后，转过头看了看。他马上上前把老爷爷扶了起来，红着脸向他说对不起， 然后捡起香蕉皮，扔进垃圾桶。

经过这件事后，小明再也不敢乱扔垃圾了。

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*All the above I allowed her to spot and change some words from my original writing. Eg, she felt 傍晚时分 difficult to write, and so I changed to '太阳就快要下山了' which she preferred. Any word in my original compo that she felt difficult I would just change whenever possible to simpler words. She likes to 'bargain' over this part which I am OK as long as she is willing to memorise.

I didnt know what would come out for compo topic but got her to memorise these few opening and closing paragraphs and the body she had to count on herself to construct sentences with those helping words given (my objective was to PASS the compo). She literally went for Chinese compo with just these in her head:

一个风和日丽的星期天，爸爸说要带我们一家人去海边玩。我们听了都拍手叫好。

一天早上，妈妈说要带我出去买东西，我听了拍手叫好。(in case she forgets how to write ‘星期天’‘)

放学后，小明背着书包准备回家。

太阳就快要下山了，我们便一起收拾东西，带着依依不舍的心情回家。

经过这件事后，小明再也不敢乱扔垃圾了。

She was lucky to be able to make use of both the opening and closing paragraphs in her exam topic (about mother brought child to a departmental store and the child stole a toy and so 经过这件事后，小明再也不敢偷东西了。)

Oral wise, she is OK with reading (as she can remember textbook words quite well) but tongue will tie knot when comes to conversation. She told me her discussion topic was 难忘的一件事 and right away I knew ‘finished’ coz she didnt even know what’s the meaning of 难忘. But it’’s OK, not doing well in oral was expected (the picture topic I spotted for her on bullying small animals came out but the 难忘的一件事 was never in my list. Some hit and miss.)

It’s another year of my ‘Chinese Adventure’ over with my GN. Next year will be another year of ‘hit and miss’ (my target for her PSLE CL is 60 - 65/100). Teaching this category of kids Chinese I know can be quite blood-vomiting. Nevertheless, must still try to find some fun out for both parties else really very miserable when studies still have to go on.

Dear Hercules,

My son failed badly for his P4 Chinese. What do you advise for me to do with him this holiday?

Thank you in advance.