The criteria taken from the MOE website is as follows:
- Top 10% of the PSLE cohort
- top 11-30 % of the PSLE cohort who scored an A* grade in Chinese or at least a Merit in Higher Chinese
Particularly for students who have not taken Higher Chinese Language (HCL) at primary school level, what problems are there if he/she were to take up the challenge?
There are generally 5 types of students which I have classified from my present students.
1) I have a very studious primary school student who did so-so for his normal Chinese in PSLE. He applied for Higher Chinese after entering ACS(I). His HCL results turned out to be unexpectedly bad as compared to that of his Chinese grades in primary school. All his tests and exams were all borderline pass. He could not complete his assignments and book/newspaper reports due to his inability to comprehend the main gist of a reading and to construct proper sentences
2)Another student from Nan Hua Primary School did not take Higher Chinese in primary school and subsequently cannot catch up with the pace of Higher Chinese taught in Nan Hua High School. Assignments proved to be too much for him to handle due the extremely high standards of Chinese they uphold. He had failed his year-end examinations and had to retake it. If he still could not pass his exam, he may have to drop the subject.
3)A student who is currently studying at SJI transferred to Higher Chinese. Although the workload is heavy, he treats his academics lightly. Tests and exams are handled with little preparation. As a result, his grades are disappointing. Fortunately i manage to teach him this year and pushed him to work hard towards his year-end examination. I spotted some "popular" questions and prepared ample practice papers for him. In the end, he was able to pass with flying colours.
4)There are also some HCL students i taught that are from Anglican High School(AHS). Usually these students faced enormous difficulty in even passing tests and examinations due to high expectations set by the school. This is more so for students with a weak language foundation (unable to grasp basic vocabulary). Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools like AHS and Chung Cheng instill Chinese culture in them.
5)The HCL students from RGS, RI, Victoria School and SCGS that I have taught have to memorise large chunk of texts and phrases in preparation for tests, yet they have no problems facing the normal "听写" and "成语" (idioms). However if there are long comprehension passages for them to understand, they will feel a little helpless. Also, Higher Chinese is also unique because the paper 2 format involves summary in Chinese too! Many without solid vocabulary will find it challenging to select points and paraphrase them. Their Cloze passage(选词填空)will also take a toll as they have to rely on guessing to select a word out of 4 unfamiliar words.
I personally feel that if your child has these attributes, only then will he feel no pressure studying HCL.
1)Willing to develop a (daily if best) habit of reading chinese newspapers or watch local news on Channel 8 or U as well as some news-worthy shows like "焦点" and "特写".
2) If your child reads Chinese novels like martial arts fantasies (武侠小说），modern literature and science fiction, he or she would definitely attain a certain level of language proficiency which will enable her to endure reading long texts as demanded by HCL syllabus.
3)If your child is willing to try writing chinese journals or blogs or even have their writings been put up on the newspaper before, your child's writing proficiency is definitely suited for the rigour of HCL.
4) If your child is able to answer the last two comprehension questions of the normal tests and exams quite comfortably and on top of that, has no problems writing a 800-word essay with techniques and thought process meeting the expectations of the teachers, then Higher chinese would not be too much of a hassle for him.
All in all, if you find that your child does not like Chinese at all, has a weak language foundation in primary school and does not feel the need to study HCL, it is of a little benefit to force and push him to take up HCL. This is because HCL is demanding and it may incur a opportunity cost that could be spent on other subjects for him to do better, remember that Secondary school have as many as 7-8 subjects for your child to manage.
5)The HCL students from RGS, RI, Victoria School and SCGS that I have taught have to memorise large chunk of texts and phrases in preparation for tests, yet they have no problems facing the normal "听写" and "成语" (idioms). However if there are long comprehension passages for them to understand, they will feel a little helpless. Also, Higher Chinese is also unique because the paper 2 format involves summary in Chinese too! Many without solid vocabulary will find it challenging to select points and paraphrase them. Their Cloze passage(选词填空)will also take a toll as they have to rely on guessing to select a word out of 4 unfamiliar words.
I personally feel that if your child has these attributes, only then will he feel no pressure studying HCL.
1)Willing to develop a (daily if best) habit of reading chinese newspapers or watch local news on Channel 8 or U as well as some news-worthy shows like "焦点" and "特写".
2) If your child reads Chinese novels like martial arts fantasies (武侠小说），modern literature and science fiction, he or she would definitely attain a certain level of language proficiency which will enable her to endure reading long texts as demanded by HCL syllabus.
3)If your child is willing to try writing chinese journals or blogs or even have their writings been put up on the newspaper before, your child's writing proficiency is definitely suited for the rigour of HCL.
4) If your child is able to answer the last two comprehension questions of the normal tests and exams quite comfortably and on top of that, has no problems writing a 800-word essay with techniques and thought process meeting the expectations of the teachers, then Higher chinese would not be too much of a hassle for him.
All in all, if you find that your child does not like Chinese at all, has a weak language foundation in primary school and does not feel the need to study HCL, it is of a little benefit to force and push him to take up HCL. This is because HCL is demanding and it may incur a opportunity cost that could be spent on other subjects for him to do better, remember that Secondary school have as many as 7-8 subjects for your child to manage.
