SOTA does not talent scout. 100% students chose to enter. One of the full scorers I heard had less than 220 for PSLE. Anything is possible with a rigorous curriculum. Know a teacher there so trust my source.

Sigh. I can’t answer for that maybe boss there decided to close for personal reasons. I am not sure if you realise computers have been used by educators to improve learning hand in hand with good teachers. Were you ever told that your child was weak in English and was advised to read more but he wouldn’t? If so, like me you would be more appreciative of how technology like this has helped. My friend’s child was recommended to try it and he is autistic. Told me his child scored above 90 percent in Pathlight. He is on the home use programme. He just told me the reason for computer failure is because the host in USA does maintenance but it’s usually up and running in a day. I think we all know technology isn’t perfect. Maybe you can try to be more rational and not see things so negatively. Are you a parent?

Firstly, I only joined this forum to ask for advise like most like-minded parents who care for their child’s future. Secondly, this is about the only post I have so have nothing to contribute other than this thread. Thirdly, I don’t appreciate your tone and think a parent like yourself should not act like a child. Fourthly, I have seen real improvements on my child’s reading with progress reports to prove it and school grades have improved so there is no reason why I should slam the Programme. Lastly, since I posted this thread, I didn’t get much response so I took it upon myself to contribute. I think you need to stop posting in a mature parents forum. Sigh.

Do you mean all computers broke down at the same time? Not possible unless sabotage involved. Which centre did your friend go to? My second son has been reading two grades above his age group. He started to read Harry Potter and he is only 8 years old. I tried LCentral but it was just worksheet tuition style and teacher was some elderly man. Didn’t last.

Hi, I want to share with you about a personal story which I feel strongly about. When my son attended a Phonics programme. (I shan’t say which one) He was indeed enjoying the lessons for about a month. We chose the programme because we felt the ‘Native’ speakers would be a better teacher for my son. At least for the first month, it was so. Then, came the nightmare. Without informing us, the teacher left and a replacement teacher came in. I managed to speak to the teacher one-to-one and found out he was teaching in many countries and has a wide experience in teaching business and english. It just so happens that my son’s class was near the end of the opening hours so the teacher would go home at the same time, while I was waiting for my other niece to end her class. Then, this teacher started saying bad things about the centre and how he was not getting the pay he deserved. I remember asking him before about why he wanted to teach English since he was a business major. He did not respond to it. Anyway, little did I know, he gave me a name card and told me that he also conducted lessons one to one! I felt that this guy cannot be trusted and emailed the admin lady with a fake email.


The thing I want to say here is that since then, I became skeptical about Native speakers. I have since withdrawn my son and niece and attended a local MOE-trained and Singaporean female teacher’s english programme and both of them love the lessons. One thing that I know works is that locals know the Primary school requirements and can cater to it. This teacher even went all out to contact my son’s school teachers to ask how and provide feedback. That’s what I call a caring teacher!

I think that it is more important that we trust our own and not be too obsessed with Native speakers. Many of them may come from unknown backgrounds and have no experince at all. Or if they do have it, one wonders why they are here instead of teaching in their homeland. For all we know, these are the ‘dropouts’ in the Native speakers country but because they are Native speakers they speak in a way that impresses us. I don’t know.

Sorry just venting here. Make sure you know who the teacher is and dont trust too easily.

I too have signed my son up at BrainFit Classroom @ the Literacy Post at Bedok. I made the plunge and have not regretted. Imagine seeing my kid talk more and more each day as he reads his online book. I do my part to go through all the new vocab the software highlights with my son and this has improved our relationships too!

BrainFit English is also offered at bedok reservoir. These are the two in the East. Anyone tried the programme pls let us know. I just saw http://www.literacypost.com.sg. Apparently they are providing free P4 - 6 English worksheets based on current Straits Times articles. They pick the more interesting articles and with answers too. And it's free. For now...

Hi I would like to give my thots.


Pure Tuition- get experienced teachers to teach. If they are still teaching in schools, they may not have time to care for your child as they have a hundred students to think about. So it’s always best to get referrals of the teachers. If it is a former MoE teacher, they might be too old to connect with the child. If they are younger, be careful that they are MOE school ‘dropouts’. This means they could not survive in the school setting, can’t find a job and so give tuition. BUT I must stress that most Tutors are doing a good job. You must speak to the tutor yourself to assess them. Don’t rely on the brand name.

Tuition cum enrichment- such centers started as tuition centers but soon developed a curriculum that is well coordinated and improved on. These are good to consider as they provide solid curriculum. However, if drilling is not what you want for your child try enrichment centers.

Pure enrichment-
As far as academics go, I believe children need to learn most of the time in school. However, they may need extra help to learn skills that schools are not providing. From my GEP experience, always provide good foundation via enrichment rather than tuition at the start. Many kids get stifled when they only see tuition as a means for success and can’t study on their own. Enrichment centers should empower kids with such essential skills found in school, thus they have a unique curriculum for this purpose.

Ultimately, decide on getting good teachers rather than go with the name. Many established centers expanded and now there is a huge lack of good teachers everywhere. So ask "can I speak to the teacher teaching my child?""""

Miscom! One term is $360 for 8-10?? 1.5 hr sessions at the centre with teacher and compulsory 24 0.5hr sessions at home on the programme. It’s pretty complicated but the idea is frequency with the programme impoves brain’s language ability. You must really go down to talk to them. Hard to explain here. Bye! Boarding ze plane…

Two. http://Www.literacypost.com.sg and http://www.brainfitclassroom.com

I will be overseas. Catch up soon!