2014 hot topics for O level Oral and Composition/email writing from Topschoosl

2014年中四会考作文，私人电邮，口试题（选自名校考题）

1）霸凌问题越来越严重，造成青少年自杀率上升。

2）小印度客工骚乱。

3）我国多名政府机构高官和慈善组织领导贪汅。

4）国家环境局在小贩中心实行碗碟归还计划，参与与的小贩中心已看到成效。

5）62%受访者认为，新加坡生活节奏太快，不能成为优雅社会。

6我国的小六会考制度应否取消，争论多年，至今还在争论不休。

7教育部规定全国会考，不公布全国状元和优秀生名单。

8）为了落实'每一所学校都是好学校'的教育理念，教育部废除中学成绩等级制。

9）我国有些大学新生入学时，因为不会做家务，所以带女佣到宿舍打扫。

10）近年來，半工半读的学生有増加的趋势。有人认为他们这么做有利也有弊。

11）调查发现，新加坡15至19岁青少年，与其他年龄层相比，最不快乐。

12）调查显示，国人少运动的主要原因是依赖网络。

13）调查结果，新加坡人在'缺乏情感指数'全球排第一。

14）私人电邮：网上购物。

15）私人电邮主题：靑少年睡眠不足。

16）公务电邮：向地铁局投诉列车经常发生故障，搭客非常不满。

17）你发现一些购物中心和咖啡店的公共厕所条件差，不但肮脏，臭气熏天，有些设备还损坏。

118）分数是衝量一个学生的标准吗?试提出你的看法。

19）有人认为，在教育学生方面，表扬胜于批评。你同意吗?试写出你的看法。

20）有一天，你在搭乘地铁时，列车突然停止行驶，你被困在车厢里。试描述当时的情况，并写出你的感受和感想。

Common Reasons why Students Cannot Do Well

If you know your child's attitude towards his/her current Chinese tuition is not positive, why not try one lesson here?

You may have found out that your child does not treats his/her work lightly such that the teacher or tutor often complains of him/her not handing in work (if he/she do so the work is all copied from peers), not paying attention during classes and failing 听写 all the time. What could be the root cause? Other than the 10 reasons i have posted below, your child could just simply have a lack of interest towards Chinese along with a weak foundation that is not built properly from young.

Tests/Exam scenarios
Paper 1)
Pri Sch: Composition's word count too low, did not capture the main points the 6 pictures is trying to depict, sentences are incomplete and the final picture is often left undescribed or barely touched due to a lack of time.
Sec sch: Situational composition/newspaper article review 
Common problems include illogical content, recurrent "ill" sentences which are often plagued with basic language errors. Essay also often lacks coherence and the required main points (worse still runs out of point).

Paper 2)
Pri Sch: The student may be unfamiliar with the words from the syllabus. This will impedes them to score even for MCQ questions which are meant to pull up a student's overall score. Many students who possesses a "heck-care" attitude towards Chinese will guess and write anyhow. This is especially so for the last comprehension question which will require a certain level of analysis.
Sec sch: Similarly students may not be familiar and proficient in the usage of textbook vocabulary, affecting their performance in close passages and comprehension segments. Top schools' exam papers often habour a higher level of difficulty causing students to just give up because they know they just can't finish.

Paper 3)
Pri Sch: In the oral component, passage reading is often the Achilles' heel. For those students with weak foundation, they will have to skip across many words because their teacher said so to skip if you are unable to read. This can lead to as much as half of the message not being read. Picture description often is simpler. Normally students are able to describe the picture in plain details. However they may not be accurate in the jargon, with speech that is not coherent and complete in sentences. Likewise, students are also unable to elaborate their answers to the examiner in the conversation segment.
Sec Sch: Students with a weak foundation will also find passage reading challenging. Recently there has been a change in syllabus, where picture description is introduced. Still, many are not able to go beyond the "surface" to express how they feel about the behaviour of a person. Picture in this case is a photo which depicts a real-life scenario. Students are required to possess some kind of current affairs knowledge to be able to apply to the photo in order to score the maximum marks. Speech with frequent stutters and slow pacing will result in the loss of marks. In the conversation segment, answers given have to be on the spot and natural (like you are indeed having a lively conversation with a friend). Students that keep hesitating and repeating their words awkwardly will be penalized. This could be due to their not being equipped with current affairs knowledge or they may have the knowledge but being more proficient in English, they are unable to translate their thoughts to proper Chinese.

Paper 4) Listening comprehension (LC)
Pri Sch: Usually the standard is relatively easy. Most of the students will find it rather easy.
Sec Sch: Similarly based on what I have consolidated from the annual broadcasts of the LC recording, I find that it has become easier over the years. Last year I let a P6 kid try the exam, and surprisingly he is able to answer some questions.This segment may prove to be a challenge to foreign students who not too long ago started learning Chinese from scratch.

10 reason why Your Child may Need Me

What these students need is patience, patience and more patience, yet more often than not, schools neglect them as teachers place them under the "hopeless" or "problematic students" category. Actually all they need is just a little bit more care and attention, their psychological conditions can improve along with their grades. Some of their subjects may even reach stellar heights.



Students with:

1) extremely short concentration span that is less than 15 minutes

2) Attention deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)

3) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), excessive attention on handwriting causing the child to not be able to finish his/her work on time.

4)Autism

5)Inferiority complex

6) Phobia towards Chinese which may be triggered by abuse from a Chinese teacher in the past

7)Extremely strong foul towards Chinese

8)Extremely poor memory 

9) Stuttering speech disorder

10)Foreign students struggling with Chinese

Normally if you suspect that your child may have any of the syndromes above, a professional Psychiatrist or pediatrician from the Child Guidance Clinic (CGC) is required to make a proper diagnosis and decide on the treatment to follow which may include medication, workshops and counselling sessions. As for what I can help as a tutor, i can offer patience and counselling to your child if he/she is under me.

In the past ten years, I have met with numerous students that fell under the above category. My 30+ years of expertise was severely tested. I have learnt that these students can only be treated with love, patience and the will to help them improve.

1)Love would produce acceptance, which means accepting the child for who they are despite its imperfections.

2)Patience require me to explore all sorts of methods to cater to that child's special needs.

3)The will to help them improve is important because many times I would feel like giving up. But just reminding myself that they are not hopeless and can be changed would keep me going. Only if I choose not to give up them can they have the will not to give up on Chinese.

I will always aim to build a friendship with the student. Learning about his hobbies, chatting about things under the sun and even lending a listening ear to his problems if he is open enough would put me in a better position to encourage him not to give up on Chinese. Winning the child's heart, this I feel is more challenging than teaching Chinese itself.However at the end of the day, seeing these type of "challenging" students accepting me as a friend and mentor, seeing that my patience and determination in helping them pass Chinese has paid off, and seeing them grow from primary school to their completion of secondary school is what keeps me going in this job for 40 years.