听写 is important from pri 1 to pri 5 for basic language foundation, but in pri 6, time is limited, compared to memorizing meaning , most students need much more time in memorizing spelling.Even if you miss only one stroke, you will still get marks deducted. so i would prefer using e-dictionary for the 字(unless you are very good at spelling) that would make sure the words in the essay are correct.

By the way , the weightage for paper2 is much more than composition . Knowing the meaning will be more useful for the papaer2. Focusing more on the meaning would give you more return for the time you put into it.
\"Spending the least time to achieve maximum results\" is my norm.

somemummy:

Yes, my DD was from St Hilda's last year and she did not attend any tuition. I bought her a lot of assessment books as she didn't go for any tuition but she always complained that schoolwork was enough. It can be done so long as your child has supportive teachers who give good notes and go through papers in a meaningful manner, not just blindly copying answers. She got into NYGH this year!

My 2nd DD is taking PSLE this year too!

Your daughter is very lucky to have supportive school teacher. As i know, many teachers ( tutors) do not go through papers in a meaning ful manner, they just give answers. In this way , It is useless even if students do a lot of assessment books.

Every time when my students finish their reading comprehension, or tian kong ( cloze passage) , i always ask them: Are there any words and sentences in this reading passage you do not know? they always shake their heads and say “ No”.

Then i ask them to read this reading passage loudly. Actually there are many words they do not know how to read and there are many sentences they do not understand. so i ask them to write down the words and hanyu pinyin and english meaning to let them memoriz at home. Also i need to analyse the sentences that students do not understand.
In such a way, students would have good foundation for their future study in seconday schools or JC.

nicnac:

I bought only the 3-yr series.. DD said tr will be getting for them in time to come though. I had wanted DD to start on them asap, thinking term 1 should have more time. Till date, no time to do ..homework to complete every day and then tingxie, mo Xie and spelling to learn :gloomy: DD did not even bother to flip thru them.

Time is limited for P6 students. do not spend time in tingxie, mo Xie( chinese subject) which are not important for exam. However recognizing ,pronunciation and memeorizing meaning of chinese words are very important for high score in paper 2. if not know the meaning of chinese words , how can do paper 2? if can not pronunce, how can pass oral?

From my teaching experience, paper 2, oral and listening are easy to get improved after students study hard.

Compo is not easy to get improved even if spending a lot of time in it as it is not only decided by language, instead it is mainly decide by \" life\"----students need to read a lot of课外书+知识面 。

Different teachers also would give different score for the same essay as different teachers have their own taste ,some teacher would say it is a good essay while the other one would say it is a lousy essay. Paper 2 has no such a problem,as it has standard answers .
So it is not easy to get high mark in compo. Please not spend much time in compo.

Please let your kids have enough sleep which is very important for study.

abbysm:

Hi I want to share my happy news to all here as today was PSLE results . My son has serious dyslexia which was diagnosed in primary one. he couldn't read even the most basic words and cannot even grasp the most basic of math concept. the school tried to encourage me to take him out and send him to special school. my relationship with my husband also suffered as a a result and we had frequent quarrels. My son was so bad that he was regularly getting single digit grades. My son was so discouraged that he had no confidence and his classmate even called him stupid. but God came to my aid and I met this educational therapist who is only doing therapy work with students part time. He is very selective but I want to thank him for helping my boy as after 4 years of struggle. all the worry and hard work has come to an end. My boy got 210 and will go to express next year. Thank you MR KW. I am so happy and thankful to you for your effort and patience in coaching my boy

That's great ! Congratulations!

shawnlim88:

hi Gurus,


i understand that Dyslexia is the difficulties in acquiring and processing language that is typically manifested by a lack of proficiency in reading, spelling, and writing.

Is there any thing to do with difficulties in understanding the meaning ( semantics ) of the language ( eg English, or Chinese )?

thanks

Hello Shawnlim88.
I have had a student who did not know the meaning of a sentence even though I told him all the words' meaning in it. I really did not know how to teach him at first , then i analyzed every sentence in the reading passage for him by using English and Chinese grammer. This method really works. you can try it.
If it is also a good method for your kid, please let me, i would feel satisfaction

ammonite:

Hi wuyansg,

Yes, you can reply me in mandarin but your English is great! I understand you perfectly, no worries. I agree with you on how TV drama can help with listening and social understanding. What I am currently doing is to buy foreign language drama that are suitable for children, with Chinese audio and English subtitles. This allows me to make sure that the content and language is suitable, avoid advertisements and does not interfere with my children's schedule.

I will usually buy a new series for every school holiday, so if you can think of any suitable ones, I can get it for the upcoming school holiday. Thanks!

谢谢鼓励！
现在我不买课外读物给学生， 他们根本不会读， 父母也忙， 买了也浪费。
假期里我就开始教下半年课的词语手册。 开学后，我就跟着学校的教学进程，每个星期一个新课，给学生复习生词，因为只有重复才能帮他们记住单词。 当然每次补习都要做阅读理解。

通常我功课给的不多，这样学生不会有压力。其实90%的学生也不会做我的功课的。我是通过他们的考试成绩不断地提高， 使学生对学华文有信心的。如果学生能够做一点功课，进步会比较明显。

现在我教的学生中， 只有一个学生时常还会做点功课，他今年Sec1学高级华语。他有dyslexia. Paper2：今年CA1得50分（阅读理解得35分）；SA2 得64分， CA2得72分， SA2 得74分（阅读理解71分）。 这样他对自己也有信心了， 比以前更愿意做功课了。

如果家长能帮一点，学生进步也会明显多。 但是大多数家长没有时间。

有位培华小学的小二学生（Dyslexsia），一直只考30多分，他母亲都准备不让他学华文。 我答应给试试，我希望这位妈妈能和我配合，给孩子复习我在补习时帮孩子一起背过的生词。小学三年级开始教，3个月后，他的成绩从小二的30多分进步到小三的63分。

你那么关心你孩子的华文， 相信你的孩子一定能学好华文的。

ammonite:

wuyansg:

To ammonite : Thank you for your interest in my sharing.

My students ususally watch TV drama or TV drama serial that is like a story, so kids would be interested. Many years ago , a Chinese movie (还珠格格） was on in channel 8 , some of my students( pirmary school) even imitated the characters in the movie and learned the phrases in the movie.

Hi wuyansg,
thanks for the recommendation. I enjoyed the show but I was afraid it may be too difficult for them. :oops: I will keep looking around, cheers!

Hi ammonite
I might have different opinion as i focus on \" memory\" . When a person starts learning a foreign language , for example Russian, he would feel quite difficult in remembering new words's pronounciation(sound) at first as he never heard all the words's pronounciation(sound) before. If a person has been staying in Russia for 3 or 6 months before he starts learning Russian, he would feel easier in remebering words's pronounciation(sound) although he does not know the words's meaning. So let kids watch TV , that would help them in remembering the new words pronounciation (sound) when they learn the new words in\" ci yu shou ce. \"

Now in the reading comphrehension, more and more questions are asking students's their comments or opinions after they read the short passage.
Watching TV drama would help kids know more our society or our life . One of my students used to watch TV drama together with her mother when she was pri 3, and she could watch TV drama alone at pri 5. When she studied in Nan Yang girl school, only she could answer the question \" 你觉得这个父亲是怎样的一个人“（What can you conclude about the father's characters after reading this passage) in her class, even China scholars could not answer the question correctly.

Of course , i do not recomend your kids watching drama about love stories.

I am a Chinese teacher, my english is not that good :oops: . I am not sure whether i have expressed my thoughts clearly .
Please tell me whether i can reply you in chinese as it would be more convenient for me. If yes, i would tell you more about methods of how to help your kids to memorizing new words.

To ammonite : Thank you for your interest in my sharing.

My students ususally watch TV drama or TV drama serial that is like a story, so kids would be interested. Many years ago , a Chinese movie (还珠格格） was on in channel 8 , some of my students( pirmary school) even imitated the characters in the movie and learned the phrases in the movie.

Sharing my teaching experience in teaching students with dyslexia


In the past 20 years of my teaching career, althouth most of my students were from top-tier schools, but what made me feel real satisfaction were those who had dyslexia.
Here i would like to share my teaching experience with you all. Hope it would be helpful for you in coaching your

1. Teaching Strategy——Focusing on word's memorizing and reading

I have seen many parents spend a lot of time in kid's spelling, but i do not think it is a good teaching method. I usually focus on memorizing and reading new words.
Why i use this strategy ? My reasons are :

1)if you do not know the meaning of words, how can you do reading comprehensions and cloze passages that account for almost 100% proportion of the marks in SA1 and SA2 in secondary school.
if you do not know how to pronounce the words, how can you pass oral test?

2)Now that we can use computer to write any thing , MOE syllabus does not require \" tian xie han zi\" in exam paper in PSLE and O level. Although there was \" gai cuo zi\" ( 5 marks) in higher Chinese exam a few years ago, I never asked my students to do this part in assessement books as i knew they could not do it. I preferred to let them spend more time in reading and get high marks in reading comprehensions and cloze passages to compensate the 5 mark loss. This way, my students usually get a higher rank in their class.

3)I discovered that spelling is their weakest point compared to recognizing words and memorizing meanings. Even if they spend a lot of time in spelling , it will eventually be in vain. Tuition time is limited, i want to do useful work. \"spending the least time to achieve maximum results\" is my norm.

2.Help them remember new words

I studied neurobiology when i was in university, that helps me a lot in teaching students with dyslexia.
They are forgetful. If i help them transfer new words from short-term memory to long-term memory , they can remember the new words, so i spend a lot of time in my lessons to help them to memorize new words by using various memorizing strategies.

3. Help them understand sentences

I have had a student who did not know the meaning of a sentence even though he knew every word in it. I needed to analyze every sentence in the reading passage for him by using English and Chinese grammer. This teaching method really works.

4. Watching Chinsese TV program and often talking with him in Chinese

For the students who often watched Chinese TV program or had grandparents speaking Chinese at home , I discovered that they needed 3-6 months for their chinese to improve. Some of them could even take higher Chinese in school .
For the students from English-speaking families however, they needed 6-12 months for their chinese to improve and it is very hard for them to take higher Chinese in school.

From my point of view, exempting from chinese is not a good solution for dyslexic students and that would not improve their other subjects's exam results .Moreover with China rising, Chinese has become more important in ones life in getting a job and in communication in singapore.

Sorry i posted to many and do not know how to deleted them