Gd mrng smartmummy…looking fwd to the hols next week??? i am!!! n i bet my kids are as well!! ahahah

Im not making fun of the teacher…im just so amused at the way Chenonceau has put it across…

Chenonceau:

I have never understood DS' English teacher's obsession with newspaper reading. Incidentally, this is the same teacher who makes spelling mistakes that even my DS does not make. Here are my reasons AGAINST newspaper reading...


(1) Newspaper style writing is a pared down and simple style. The words used are intentionally simple and the sentence construction equally so. This is not the place to pick up interesting vocabulary.

(2) Ideally, newspaper style writing is factual. Good newspaper reports strive to be impartial and to withhold opinion. Present the facts and let others who read, decide. Even if many reports fall short of the ideal, newspaper reports in general TRY to just give the facts... and present the opinions of those interviewed. This therefore, is not the place to imbibe the best of argumentative/persuasive writing.

(3) DS' English teacher says he should read the reports about petty crimes so that he will be able to write realistic storylines in his PSLE compo. Frankly, how many petty crime reports can you read before you begin to discern a predictable pattern? Also, all the reports about prostitutes etc... I don't find very good for character building.

A good grounding for PSLE compo from P1 to P4 should be built with fiction. Why? Because PSLE compo values the evocativeness of the language found mostly in fiction. Not just simple kids' fiction... but fiction that is a few grade levels above the official age reading level. In P4, I was giving Little Boy Eoin Colfer and David Eddings. In P5 ... PG Wodehouse. In P6, Sherlock Holmes unabridged... In P6, I started DS on newspapers, but we didn't just read newspaper reports. We read Insight and other opinion pieces which modeled good expository and argumentative writing. He also started reading Newsweek and Time regularly.

When I told DS' teacher that DS is reading Time magazine regularly, she looked at me blankly and asked \"What is Time magazine?\" You trust the recommendation of teachers who don't know what is Time magazine?

That just cracked me up!!!

Gooooood morning everybody…

Hi Crystal…hope u are better already…oh boy…3 wks is a long time…dun tell me it will begin durg the one wk hols…

I always insist on my boys bringing books tat are nec…so i always insist they pack their bag ever night… i used to carry for my eldest wen in p1 n for 2nd wen he was in p1…thats all…so i believe id do it for my dd wen in p1 as well…

bt its indeed a horror to noe that the bag was 6kg…makes me wonder wats the weight of their bags now…hmmm…

Crystal…how are you babe??

Im thankful that my boys teachers have not put them down yet…but my daughter yes…shes labelled as a slow learner and i take it with a pinch of salt…as in my eyes…shes doing really well! and yes…at the end of the day…if we are not fortunate to have encouraging teachers…its up to the parents to encourage and motivate and uplift their kids…

im sure our kids will get where they need to with us…after all, teachers are not constant…but parents are…and our kids become wat we believe them to be!

I dunnu if im out of topic…but i always feel teachers are very powerful people besides parents…and they have so much power with their words…to motivate or demotivate the children in their charges. sometimes a child may not be doing well…but when the teacher believes in them and encourages them…that may be all that the child needs.

My kids are finishing their ca today…and i hardly had the time to revise with them…im not expecting their results to be good…but really…is marks the only thing in life? i intend to recognise their effort and encourage them to try harder…even if they fail! ( i expect them to fail their MT)
I dunnu…i just felt like saying this…if im off topic…sorry!!

Really…mine came back saying sc was tough…maths dunno a pmb sum question…sigh…and yes…tomow is last paper…and whatever the outcome… I need a break!!! not that i revised a lot with them…but im just tireddddd!!

lim72:

Frankly speaking, I'm feeling very depressed ever since the GE2011. After reading and seeing what we have become now as a society and people are writing about \"accept that the world is flat\" and globalisation... I feel very sad and worried what type of future lays ahead for my only son.


I hope that I'm the only one who is feeling this way and hoping that this is just my \"geng nien qi\" :gloomy:

I have not been working about 7-8years but I can feel the changes and pressures that my family & friends are encountering in their everyday working life.

Eg.1 My friend was really upset that her foreign boss was complaining about paying so much for local employees and how much he can save by employing \"better\" foreigners\" etc.

Eg.2 My sil, a senior executive, was telling me that the future will be very tough for the future generation as most of our kids are study-smart but not street-smart like those \"hungry\" foreigners. She is also worried for her only teenage son.

I just told my dh, maybe we should consider not to put down too much money for our future home, just in case we need to relocate.

I think the most depressing thing is I feel my family has nowhere else to go except to stay here. That's why I feel so helpless....

My sentiments too..i have nowhere to go but stay here...