25%--struggle to ---->50%
----->Lost confidence in the midst and gave up in the end
Already----strive for------>A1 passing
-Sec 3 Daniel from ACS(I) IP programme
-Sec 2 Matthew from ACS(I) IP programme
From my past years of teaching Sec 2 to 3 students from various traditional-English schools i.e. 5 from ACS(I/Barker Rd),few from MGS,SJI or Fairfield methodist,they have something unfortunate in common.That is most of them do not have an interest in Chinese.(no offence given) The extremely weak ones desire to pass.The relatively strong ones from top classes would yearn for an A1 to create the perfect report card. Those are the two categories of students.
More often than not,they will give up halfway when they do not see their fruits of labour. They confidence towards Chinese will sink to an all time low especially at Sec 3 when they are at the brink of O levels either next yr or at the end of the year. Why did they,despite all their hard work, failed to reach their desired grade?Below are some of the possible reasons:
1.They may have "made a dash" too late
Some students only start to put in effort in the language upon reaching a crucial time such as in sec 3.Language often is unlike a Humanities or Mathematics subject where if you memorised or practiced hard enough,you can improve by heaps and bounds. Unknown to many,from my past experience,the average time needed for somebody of a B4-C5 standard to reach an A1 is 1 and a half years.Yes!it's that long.
2.Their foundation is weak and language exposure is limited
Many of the students I have mentioned earlier come from english-speaking homes and schools,where Chinese is only applied at work. Without a firm grasp on basic linguistic techniques, they may find that Chinese just gets harder and harder everytime they study. There comes a point that he finds that no mater how hard he or she try,they're not going to make it...might as well Give UP!
Firstly, when teaching them, i will overcome their disinterest towards Chinese. With methods like surfing the net to search for essay ideas, watching videos and using webcam, Chinese becomes a more "lively" subject that are not just constrained towards doing 课本and 作业. Only after changing their attitude towards Chinese,will they have the interest and morale to continue to srive for their targetted grades in Chinese.
