valaiggy:

Hi all. Potentially trying for MSH. Just need to know about student care. If kids got extra curriculum after school, how is it arranged?


I'd appreciate replies from parent whose kids are put up at Bethesda and TLC.

Thanks!

Hi, my ds is in Bethesda. There is no special arrangement if they have extra lesson. I went to both Bethesda & TLC previously and finally settled on the former.

jan1003:

bigfoot:

[quote=\"jan1003\"]Hi, my ds was transferred to maria Stella on 2nd half 2012, in P2. Can any parent advise what subject is PAL and what books to bring?

Welcome to the family.

For PAL lesson, there is no need to bring anything. It stands for Programme for Active Learning. Just need to wear PE attire with the house tee on top. For more information on PAL lesson, you can do a quick search. It has been discussed before.

Hope your DS will enjoy his stay in the school.

Tks By the way, the school told my hubby ds need to wear tie for assembly on this monday when school reopens. But there is PAL on this day, meaning ds need to bring house tee to change?[/quote]
if there is PE or PAL lesson, they can be excused from wearing school uniform..

pinkblue:

But I thought now all children must be buckled up??? No??

only small bus is compulsory to be bucked up. middle or big bus is not required

24hr-mum:

re 3 kids asked to share 2 seats inside sch bus, it happens to my boy too. i m not quite happy cos so squeezy and not safe right?


also for 1F parents, is it true the kids get a lot of hmwk esp ch? this is what i heard but for 1E, still generally relax. not much wk

what to do? i even called up to LTA and they say its not against the law to do so...

ptr:

Zoji, I asked ds abt the school bus situation. He takes those big buses and yes, they are three to a seat and no seat belts. The worse thing is students at the back of the bus which are bigger boys are even seated on the floor, cos there is no mor seating space.

on the floor?? oh my!!! how could that be happening..
i also call up to LTA and they say it is ok for kids that is below 12yrs to be seated in 3 based on 2 seat

and my ds just told me that for the afternoon school bus, the school bus uncle had ask them to all empty their water bottle before they could board the bus...:(

anyone of ur ds is taking the schoolbus?

ds is currently taking the mid-size schoolbus to school. recently ds is being instructed to sit with 2 other boys together in the 2 seaters. anyone know if that is ok or against the law? they are already not wearing any seat belt and now need to squeeze together…thanks

ptr:

I find mshs does have a good system of teaching Chinese. Ds doesn't go to any tuition or enrichment, has no inkling what is hypy before pri one because his kindy doesn't teach it and I didn't let him go to any Chinese prep class. Before primary one, he is also a kandang, doesnt speak much chinese. But now, he is reading short stories with hypy and he converse rather fluently in Chinese at home with me, albeit with a lot of reminders. And his results are satisfactory by my standards.


I spend 30min to 1 hour coaching him everyday in all subjects. So maybe about twenty min on chinese. We rely heavily on all the school/ recommended resources like 课本，字卡， 好朋友，亲子活动 and xuele. I like it that all test content and format is given clearly, so I can help him prepare. I stick very closely to the format like 辨字测验， 短文填空，etc to prepare each tests. So far he is doing well for tests. some careless mistakes when it comes to hypy 声调, but otherwise he understands what is going on.

Ds also learnt very difficult Chinese in k2 like 弟子规，听写 words like 水蒸气，过滤.... But all give back to teacher le. Here in pri one, I find whatever new characters he learnt is reinforced all round in the books, flash cards, xuele, 好朋友 (I read this newsletter with him cover to cover every week). So the words stays with him and he uses them in daily conversation. And these easier words build up his confidence.

I think the teachers really work hard with the students, so I really commend their effort. Btw ds is in 1I. Aside from the usual chops and stickers for encouragement, I heard from ds that they have a group point systems whereby each group accumulate points for answering qns in class and they earn presents like chocolate and sweets. Sound like hogwarts

I don't mean any offense to anyone here. I just feel that mshs does have a system and we can try to work with it and also not stress our kids. Even for ds who doesn't have tuitions, his daily curriculum is grueling as compared to my time. He studies the whole morning, reach home about two plus to three, bathes and lunch. Then does his school homework. After that he has sometime for fun. After dinner when we r home, he has to study with me again. So on days when he is tired, I just read him stories and he just listens or I let him play xuele.

same class as my ds... so far im also ok wif ds progress thou he can do better and make lesser careless mistake

Need_Help_Mummy:

Zoji:

[quote=\"Need_Help_Mummy\"]I do wonder about the way the school teaches chinese and english. i am not sure whether it is pertaining to just maris stella. maybe all MOE schools are the same.


my son is in P1. there is english spelling nearly every week, whereas there is less frequent tingxie. each english spelling has only 5 words. each tingxie has 10 words/terms/sentences, where each term/sentence comprising multiple words is counted as 1. given the importance of constant exposure to learn a language, i wonder why tingxie is not structured with less words but tested more often, just like the way english spelling is done.

in addition, his next week's english spelling has simple words like \"see\". on the other hand, his chinese tingxie is full sentences made up of complicated words with as many as 10 strokes in a word. given that the boys are learning both spelling and tingxie at the same time, it is inevitable that they will compare and find chinese a lot more difficult, and hence lose interest in it.

for SA1 computation, the english teacher will choose the best 4 scores of 6 spellings, whereas each single tingxie counts towards the SA1 point. again, why the different treatment in the school?

i understand the need for the teacher to ramp up chinese. yet the first 3 months have been 'wasted' just teaching HYPY with rarely any exposure to chinese characters. i pity the chinese teachers who painstakingly taught our sons chinese characters in kindergarten, because by march in P1, most of them will have been forgotten.

guess that is where tuition fills the gap....

Hi, actually there is both spelling & tingxie each week. U can look up his worksheet again.
Spelling (5 words each week, total 7 worksheet = 7*10 = 70words)
Tingxie (10 words each week, total 7 worksheet = 7*10 = 70words sentence)
U can also lookup to the timetable worksheet that is given by the teacher on the 1st few days of school on the schedule for both spelling & tingxie. Based on the schedule u will see overall both spelling & tingxie frequency are quite even. Just that spelling they have split into 5 words each week whereas tingxie is 10 words each week.

Sorry is your DS in p1 this year? i dont remember my son learning \"see\" for his spelling next week.

yes, my son is P1 this year. this week's spelling has \"dancing, riding, imaginary, slippery, home\". next week's spelling has \"following, see, there, swimming, after\".

though english spelling has 7 sheets. each sheet has 2 sets of spelling, which are tested in 2 different weeks. so in total, there are 14 spellings. the tingxie is 7, as you said.[/quote]
Hi, thanks
To me its still an total of even 70 words for both spelling & tingxie
probably the teachers try to input some simple words on and off in order not to kill the interest of the kids.
mayb we should montior and see how after the school holidays...

Need_Help_Mummy:

I do wonder about the way the school teaches chinese and english. i am not sure whether it is pertaining to just maris stella. maybe all MOE schools are the same.


my son is in P1. there is english spelling nearly every week, whereas there is less frequent tingxie. each english spelling has only 5 words. each tingxie has 10 words/terms/sentences, where each term/sentence comprising multiple words is counted as 1. given the importance of constant exposure to learn a language, i wonder why tingxie is not structured with less words but tested more often, just like the way english spelling is done.

in addition, his next week's english spelling has simple words like \"see\". on the other hand, his chinese tingxie is full sentences made up of complicated words with as many as 10 strokes in a word. given that the boys are learning both spelling and tingxie at the same time, it is inevitable that they will compare and find chinese a lot more difficult, and hence lose interest in it.

for SA1 computation, the english teacher will choose the best 4 scores of 6 spellings, whereas each single tingxie counts towards the SA1 point. again, why the different treatment in the school?

i understand the need for the teacher to ramp up chinese. yet the first 3 months have been 'wasted' just teaching HYPY with rarely any exposure to chinese characters. i pity the chinese teachers who painstakingly taught our sons chinese characters in kindergarten, because by march in P1, most of them will have been forgotten.

guess that is where tuition fills the gap....

Hi, actually there is both spelling & tingxie each week. U can look up his worksheet again.
Spelling (5 words each week, total 7 worksheet = 7*10 = 70words)
Tingxie (10 words each week, total 7 worksheet = 7*10 = 70words sentence)
U can also lookup to the timetable worksheet that is given by the teacher on the 1st few days of school on the schedule for both spelling & tingxie. Based on the schedule u will see overall both spelling & tingxie frequency are quite even. Just that spelling they have split into 5 words each week whereas tingxie is 10 words each week.

Sorry is your DS in p1 this year? i dont remember my son learning \"see\" for his spelling next week.

seriously even if our kid is doing well in his subjects, parents would still sign up for tution lesson…who is not kiasu when come to our kids affairs? if we have chosen the pri school we want for our kid, the next step is to believe in the school.