27.11.13
*SJI* Secondary 2 Student Testimonial
My name is Randy. I had transferred from Maris Stella to SJI when I managed to pass the entrance examination. As I was in HCL in MSHS, I would also subsequently join a HCL Class in SJI. In SJI, the HCL standard of that was different from MSHS. We had to practise Chinese Essays and Email every single week! When the SA2 exams came, I neglected Chinese as only a pass was needed to continue Higher Chinese next year. However, Mr Kok made me memorise all the techniques and good phrases for my Chinese News Article review. He even set up 4 extra lessons for me to attend. Unfortunately, I could only attend 2 out of 4 lessons, he decided to SKYPE at night, solving the problem of not attending the 2 lessons missed. When I sat for the paper, I was shocked! The comprehension passage and summary was extremely difficult, there were many foreign words that I didn't know. When I received my SA2 Higher Chinese results, I had already expected my score to be borderline pass or even a fail. Indeed, I had failed my Paper 2 obtaining a score of only 33/80. However, for Paper 1, my Chinese News Article review managed to obtain a whopping score of 46/70. If not for my Paper 1, I would have failed HCL! Although I didn't get the marks I expected for Paper 2, but hey, at least I improved my Chinese Essay writing skills. Many have the idea that there's not much of a difference between EXPRESS and HIGHER Chinese, well, let me tell you : There's a major difference. For example, someone gets A1 for express Chinese, however in Higher Chinese standard, that grade would only be a B3.I have found Mr Kok's lessons to be extremely interesting as most tuition centers have a standard routine of doing things. However at Mr Kok's lessons, I got to use various multimedia platforms such as the net book/i Pad to learn Chinese via News Articles online such as the recent "Singapore Haze, Boston Bombing and H7N9 disease". He also improved my Oral Skills by recording myself saying a passage, then listening to it again, picking out the flaws and mistakes and correcting them. Although there wasn't much practice to do, I could still learn the
techniques and memorized the methods as his lessons are fun and
interesting. In future, I will work even harder for the O Levels to improve my Chinese written paper as Chinese is a very important subject.
Should I let my child take Higher Chinese in Secondary School?
After deciding on the school for your child, a common question in the minds of many parents would be if my child has done well for Chinese, should I encourage him to take Higher Chinese? After all, the perks of it are enticing; 2 points off your L1R5 aggregate as long as your child passes Higher Chinese during his/her O level exam and the choice of not taking Chinese during Junior College (JC) term.
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.
Elective schools in Singapore
Elective schools that are available in Singapore:
-School of Science and Technology (SST)
-School of the Arts (SOTA)
-Singapore Sports School
-International schools
1) If your child has immense interest in IT and score A for either Mathematics and the Sciences or both, you can consider enrolling him into SST. SST offers an alternative academic path which focuses on the teaching of IT skills, offering your child an option of not having to go through the normal rote learning. From my student's experience, classes are mostly discursive, with frequent usage of laptops. This innovative method can trigger students' interest to learn. From what i have noticed, the school does not put undue pressure on its students and those who obey their basic rules and regulations have no problems fitting in.
However, here is a big caution! For students who have little self-control over their computer activity be it facebook or cyber gaming, will suffer a deterioration from their academic performance. If they are consistently under-performing, they may be requested to transfer out.
2)Your child may detest rote learning, have problems accepting the academic path and constantly feel stressed out, yet he/she puts their undivided attention on music, singing, dance or the Arts. You are told that they have gifts and talents in the Arts and there's a lot of potential to be uncovered. Consider enrolling them in SOTA! Although secondary schools do have performing arts CCAs that are dedicated to nurture that talent, bulk of their time will still be on academics. SOTA offers a equal emphasis on the arts and academics, even allow the arts to be examinable as a subject. It will be pointless if you send your child to a mainstream secondary school despite his/her desire to enter SOTA. He/she will not be happy there and academics will take a toll. I have students who entered top schools and yet drop out halfway and transfer to SOTA because they simply cannot cope with the rigour and stress. There are even some students who just came back from overseas and prefer SOTA to the mainstream secondary schools due to their more flexible and liberal curriculum.
3)If your child is physically very active, and extrovert and a kinesthetic learner, he/she may just be a sports person. If your child has difficulty coping and is in the normal (technical) stream but he/she is outstanding in sports, why not allow him to pursue his passions in Singapore Sports School (SSS)? Allowing him to enter SSS will not just give him the chance to pursue sports without any restrictions, it will spare him learning technical and vocation skills if he is not at all interested.
4)If your child detests Singapore's rigorous and conformist academic system and he/she already intends to pursue their career overseas, however the time is not right to send them overseas to study, consider enrolling them into international schools. International schools have curriculum that offers a fresh perspective on education with discussion seminars, intensive scientific laboratory work and liberty to decide which subjects to choose. Students are able to express themselves freely, nurturing them to be bold and outspoken individuals which could be highly sought after by employers nowadays. Despite that, the downside is exorbitant school fees and bad influence from western students who engaged in vices.
-School of Science and Technology (SST)
-School of the Arts (SOTA)
-Singapore Sports School
-International schools
1) If your child has immense interest in IT and score A for either Mathematics and the Sciences or both, you can consider enrolling him into SST. SST offers an alternative academic path which focuses on the teaching of IT skills, offering your child an option of not having to go through the normal rote learning. From my student's experience, classes are mostly discursive, with frequent usage of laptops. This innovative method can trigger students' interest to learn. From what i have noticed, the school does not put undue pressure on its students and those who obey their basic rules and regulations have no problems fitting in.
However, here is a big caution! For students who have little self-control over their computer activity be it facebook or cyber gaming, will suffer a deterioration from their academic performance. If they are consistently under-performing, they may be requested to transfer out.
2)Your child may detest rote learning, have problems accepting the academic path and constantly feel stressed out, yet he/she puts their undivided attention on music, singing, dance or the Arts. You are told that they have gifts and talents in the Arts and there's a lot of potential to be uncovered. Consider enrolling them in SOTA! Although secondary schools do have performing arts CCAs that are dedicated to nurture that talent, bulk of their time will still be on academics. SOTA offers a equal emphasis on the arts and academics, even allow the arts to be examinable as a subject. It will be pointless if you send your child to a mainstream secondary school despite his/her desire to enter SOTA. He/she will not be happy there and academics will take a toll. I have students who entered top schools and yet drop out halfway and transfer to SOTA because they simply cannot cope with the rigour and stress. There are even some students who just came back from overseas and prefer SOTA to the mainstream secondary schools due to their more flexible and liberal curriculum.
3)If your child is physically very active, and extrovert and a kinesthetic learner, he/she may just be a sports person. If your child has difficulty coping and is in the normal (technical) stream but he/she is outstanding in sports, why not allow him to pursue his passions in Singapore Sports School (SSS)? Allowing him to enter SSS will not just give him the chance to pursue sports without any restrictions, it will spare him learning technical and vocation skills if he is not at all interested.
4)If your child detests Singapore's rigorous and conformist academic system and he/she already intends to pursue their career overseas, however the time is not right to send them overseas to study, consider enrolling them into international schools. International schools have curriculum that offers a fresh perspective on education with discussion seminars, intensive scientific laboratory work and liberty to decide which subjects to choose. Students are able to express themselves freely, nurturing them to be bold and outspoken individuals which could be highly sought after by employers nowadays. Despite that, the downside is exorbitant school fees and bad influence from western students who engaged in vices.
25.11.13
To Worried Parents
I guess after today's release of PSLE results, there will be 3 groups of parents. First group will be those elated parents who share the joy of their child's fruits of labour. They have scored well above your expectations. Second group involves those who have children that did reasonably "ok" to your standards. Maybe you were planning for your kid to enter the top school but your child didnt do as well but still manage to secure a place at a reasonably good school with an aggregate of above 240. However, this blog post is targetted to the third group of parents who feels disappointed at the results. It is like the higher the hopes for your child, the higher the disappointment if he or she fails. You are worried of your child's future in secondary school. Well of course people say primary 6 is still too early and PSLE is too minor to direct your child's future. But certainly the PSLE result is sure to make an impact of your child's education. Your child has just lost an edge to the better students who is able to go through IP without taking O lvl and even have one more extra year to complete secondary school if he or she scores below 200. The nightmare of your child entering N level has arrived.
It is true when they say children are just sad over their results for a few days, but parents worry over many months and even a year. Well even though it is your son's future that is beyond your control but at such a young age of 12 taking its virgin national exam, you can't help it but to worry what to do. Well the thing about PSLE is this that there is a score range that is commonly referred to as the "taboo" range(210-235) where scoring within this range leads you to nowhere. Your score is just a couple of points away from the eligibility to enter the decent autonomous schools. But the score is too high for the next tier schools which may not sound so pleasant. This is repeatedly one of the flaws of our PSLE.
You just feel defeated and dejected at your child's plight. It sometimes feel as if you have failed as a parent. Did i spend enough time coaching my child? Was i too busy with work? The lasting agony often goes to the parents for a reason. They are faced with dozens of friends, relatives and colleagues that are eager to know your child's results. Who doesn't want to feel proud of your child's outstanding results? But also, when your child is performing way below expectation, your pride will shatter if you have to reveal the inconvenient truth about the results. Avoiding phone calls and visitations, it is just so uncomfortable to talk about it even months down the road.
Well dejected parents, I empathize with you! i have been that, done that three times after my youngest son have crossed the " PSLE regime". Wish you all the best in choosing the right secondary school for your child.
It is true when they say children are just sad over their results for a few days, but parents worry over many months and even a year. Well even though it is your son's future that is beyond your control but at such a young age of 12 taking its virgin national exam, you can't help it but to worry what to do. Well the thing about PSLE is this that there is a score range that is commonly referred to as the "taboo" range(210-235) where scoring within this range leads you to nowhere. Your score is just a couple of points away from the eligibility to enter the decent autonomous schools. But the score is too high for the next tier schools which may not sound so pleasant. This is repeatedly one of the flaws of our PSLE.
You just feel defeated and dejected at your child's plight. It sometimes feel as if you have failed as a parent. Did i spend enough time coaching my child? Was i too busy with work? The lasting agony often goes to the parents for a reason. They are faced with dozens of friends, relatives and colleagues that are eager to know your child's results. Who doesn't want to feel proud of your child's outstanding results? But also, when your child is performing way below expectation, your pride will shatter if you have to reveal the inconvenient truth about the results. Avoiding phone calls and visitations, it is just so uncomfortable to talk about it even months down the road.
Well dejected parents, I empathize with you! i have been that, done that three times after my youngest son have crossed the " PSLE regime". Wish you all the best in choosing the right secondary school for your child.
24.11.13
What are the major differences between Chinese taught during primary school and secondary school?
Well the key lies with the foundation. Does the student possess the required level of reading,writing and listening skills?Well, the student who did higher Chinese in primary school will be better equipped to handle the rigors of Secondary School Chinese. Students who are not apt in reading, writing and listening will have to lean on memorising (背). If a simple sentence is not able to be penned down by the student, he will face immense challenges where the bulk of the syllabus is on writing. Is is Sec school Chinese difficult?
1) Secondary school Chinese composition no longer consists of picture composition unlike that of primary school and the minimum word requirement is above 200 to 300 words.
2) Situational writing will be the additional component for paper 1 where students are required to write letters or email under a given scenario. Students with weak written vocabulary will find this challenging.
3)The written essay component will be either a newspaper article review or narrative. Most teachers will prepare students for it by going through a student's newspaper called comma or （逗号）every week. After getting the insight to current affairs happening in Singapore, students will then need to pen down their thoughts, comments, suggestions and whether they agree or disagree according to a required format. Many students are marred by the inability to recognise difficult words of a report. Reading the the article or question statement will be a challenge, much less writing the essay.
4)Besides being filled with long passages, paper 2 consists of many difficult words. The cloze passage for example has options that are very similar to each other. Many students can get away by using the "tikam" or guessing method during their primary school days but that is no longer the case for secondary school.
5)Next, 3 comprehension (MCQ) and 2 Comprehension (open-ended) occupy the rest of the sections. The most challenging of the questions are the last two which requires you to give an opinion, a philosophy or real-life example that the story can apply.The weaker students do not understand the question or are unable to construct their own sentences based on their knowledge. The medium standard students who feel for the passage will find it hard to find accurate words to express them. This could be attributed by the fact that every comprehension question allow lifting of texts and this question could be the only one that students had to phrase their own sentences. Normally these questions are worth a heavy 5 marks. Some schools even set them as 6 to 8 mark questions. With an average of 2 questions from comprehension open-ended A and B, the marks at stake will be 24 to 32. Imagine students who are not prepared for this type of questions who may only manage to secure 1 to 4 marks and lose 20 marks from the comprehension. Time constraint is another evil that could cause the above scenario to happen when students doggedly do the paper by sequence neglecting the time allocation for each section. Even Higher Chinese student may fall into this trap.
6)For the oral component, the primary school and secondary school both have picture descriptions. However the subtle but significant difference is that the primary school deals with illustrated picture whereas the secondary school deals with photo. Many being used to picture have difficulty describing orally a photo. Students who come from an English-speaking background and do not speak mandarin frequently might startle their way through, unable to achieve fluency.
All in all, the interest toawrds writing, speaking, listening and reading have to be picked up in order to ace sec school chinese.
1) Secondary school Chinese composition no longer consists of picture composition unlike that of primary school and the minimum word requirement is above 200 to 300 words.
2) Situational writing will be the additional component for paper 1 where students are required to write letters or email under a given scenario. Students with weak written vocabulary will find this challenging.
3)The written essay component will be either a newspaper article review or narrative. Most teachers will prepare students for it by going through a student's newspaper called comma or （逗号）every week. After getting the insight to current affairs happening in Singapore, students will then need to pen down their thoughts, comments, suggestions and whether they agree or disagree according to a required format. Many students are marred by the inability to recognise difficult words of a report. Reading the the article or question statement will be a challenge, much less writing the essay.
4)Besides being filled with long passages, paper 2 consists of many difficult words. The cloze passage for example has options that are very similar to each other. Many students can get away by using the "tikam" or guessing method during their primary school days but that is no longer the case for secondary school.
5)Next, 3 comprehension (MCQ) and 2 Comprehension (open-ended) occupy the rest of the sections. The most challenging of the questions are the last two which requires you to give an opinion, a philosophy or real-life example that the story can apply.The weaker students do not understand the question or are unable to construct their own sentences based on their knowledge. The medium standard students who feel for the passage will find it hard to find accurate words to express them. This could be attributed by the fact that every comprehension question allow lifting of texts and this question could be the only one that students had to phrase their own sentences. Normally these questions are worth a heavy 5 marks. Some schools even set them as 6 to 8 mark questions. With an average of 2 questions from comprehension open-ended A and B, the marks at stake will be 24 to 32. Imagine students who are not prepared for this type of questions who may only manage to secure 1 to 4 marks and lose 20 marks from the comprehension. Time constraint is another evil that could cause the above scenario to happen when students doggedly do the paper by sequence neglecting the time allocation for each section. Even Higher Chinese student may fall into this trap.
6)For the oral component, the primary school and secondary school both have picture descriptions. However the subtle but significant difference is that the primary school deals with illustrated picture whereas the secondary school deals with photo. Many being used to picture have difficulty describing orally a photo. Students who come from an English-speaking background and do not speak mandarin frequently might startle their way through, unable to achieve fluency.
All in all, the interest toawrds writing, speaking, listening and reading have to be picked up in order to ace sec school chinese.
23.11.13
To Worried Parents:
I know many of you have gone for the Meet-the-Parents session and Parent-teacher conference, i trust that there are mixed reactions as always. Your child either received a bad report card or a positive one brilliant enough for you to book your holidays right away. However for those who have their children receiving bad results, it can be disappointing for you that all the exam papers you have given your child to do did not seem to work. Or maybe the tuition class you enrolled your child do did not do the wonders as expected.
I can very much understand the feeling as i am a parent of 3 kids. I do believe in tuition just as i teach it and sometimes results just do not seem to show up. For this group of parents, I strongly urge you to seize the opportunity holidays could bring. Yes the year is coming to an end and you may have already made plans to bring your child on overseas trips and even signed them up for them to learn new skill, never underestimate what holidays could bring. Holiday is the perfect time for your child to catch up! It is a time of flexibility in your child's schedule as he is no longer bound by rigid school timings. He just needs to commit time to complete his holiday assignment and go for CCA trainings. One would never expect school time to have such liberty with crashing remedial and CCA sessions, long school hours and if you add normal tuition classes, your child is sure to be exhausted. Therefore, especially for the weaker students in Chinese, I urge you all to sign up for tuition for your kids to brush up on his Chinese. Do not wait till school reopen if u intend to have tuition got your kids for the reasons that your child might have already missed a lot in a class or that it will not be effective enough with your child;s busy schedule.
I guarantee that your child absorbs the most during holiday classes without the need for them to care about so many ongoing content taught in sch. Your child is in the freshest of mind with adequate rest and time for leisure. Did i mention about Chinese being a language? Yes. In order to brush up on a student;s Chinese, just signing up your child weeks or months before major examination is not going to help. Language needs to be taught, applied and lived out. Thus, holidays again will be the best time providing ample opportunities for your child to change any negative attitude towards the language as a useless and mundane one and also to strengthen your child;s foundation in the language.
So what are you all waiting for? Contact me, Vincent, the language specialist at 97641616 to book a class slot with me! Improvement G'teed and I look forward to working with you towards better grades for your child.
I know many of you have gone for the Meet-the-Parents session and Parent-teacher conference, i trust that there are mixed reactions as always. Your child either received a bad report card or a positive one brilliant enough for you to book your holidays right away. However for those who have their children receiving bad results, it can be disappointing for you that all the exam papers you have given your child to do did not seem to work. Or maybe the tuition class you enrolled your child do did not do the wonders as expected.
I can very much understand the feeling as i am a parent of 3 kids. I do believe in tuition just as i teach it and sometimes results just do not seem to show up. For this group of parents, I strongly urge you to seize the opportunity holidays could bring. Yes the year is coming to an end and you may have already made plans to bring your child on overseas trips and even signed them up for them to learn new skill, never underestimate what holidays could bring. Holiday is the perfect time for your child to catch up! It is a time of flexibility in your child's schedule as he is no longer bound by rigid school timings. He just needs to commit time to complete his holiday assignment and go for CCA trainings. One would never expect school time to have such liberty with crashing remedial and CCA sessions, long school hours and if you add normal tuition classes, your child is sure to be exhausted. Therefore, especially for the weaker students in Chinese, I urge you all to sign up for tuition for your kids to brush up on his Chinese. Do not wait till school reopen if u intend to have tuition got your kids for the reasons that your child might have already missed a lot in a class or that it will not be effective enough with your child;s busy schedule.
I guarantee that your child absorbs the most during holiday classes without the need for them to care about so many ongoing content taught in sch. Your child is in the freshest of mind with adequate rest and time for leisure. Did i mention about Chinese being a language? Yes. In order to brush up on a student;s Chinese, just signing up your child weeks or months before major examination is not going to help. Language needs to be taught, applied and lived out. Thus, holidays again will be the best time providing ample opportunities for your child to change any negative attitude towards the language as a useless and mundane one and also to strengthen your child;s foundation in the language.
So what are you all waiting for? Contact me, Vincent, the language specialist at 97641616 to book a class slot with me! Improvement G'teed and I look forward to working with you towards better grades for your child.
15.11.13
Q and A on my tuition.
Who are the target students?
Students who are studying in schools around the Marine Parade Vacinity like Victoria,CHIJ(Katong),St. Patrick(Sec) and Tao Nan, Kong Hwa, CHIJ Katong(Pri), Ngee Ann Pri will have the convenience to my house if they are attending my lessons. They could come for lessons right after school depending on their dismissal times. On a particular day of the week,some schools do have earlier dismissal time than usual.Hence students could attend lessons on that day.It would be even better if i have students studying in the same school,they could come together then forming a goup no more than 3.I have mentioned before and i wish to highlight it again that I strongly believe in the importance and effectiveness of small group and individual tuition and will not neglect that whenever I am admitting students.
How about students who are not from the above mentioned schools?
Students who are not from the schools nearby my place do not fret!You are still most welcomed to join my tuition.But students who are living in the west and areas that are quite far away would have inconvenience travelling to my place for group tuition. They might want to consider signing up for home tuition that is I will come to their house to teach. If not, another flexible and bold alternative would be during the holidays, your child could attend the intensive lessons at my house during the holidays and when school reopens,if your child is really busy we could continue with once a week and your child could communicate his/her doubts through skype.(refer:to RGS Yi Chen's testimonial)
What do you normally teach?
I teach textbook content,through multimedia like iflash,audio CDs and through educational games from websites like asknlearn.com or lead.com and my CDs. Nearing the exam, I would impart exam techniques through analysing of past year Top Sch papers and notes.I would also spot the hot topics or questions that will likely come out in your child's exam. I would also go through with your child the PSLE past year papers or ten-yrs series if he/she is taking the major exams next year.I balance my teaching with fun and seriousness. Firstly, your child's interest towards Chinese is my utmost concern. Maybe the results would be you parents, your utmost concern but again i emphasise again that doing well in a language needs interest and initiative from your child.That is why your child would usually do better in Mathematics and Sciences as they have the interest and inquisitiveness towards those subjects.But i would not neglect the importance of exams and teach those heavy-duty or "laborious" your child would describe in effective yet efficient way.
What is the difference between Group and Home tuition?
Group tuition is what I would describe literally as a small group of students sitting around the table during my lessons with everyone's attention on me as I teach or on the work given. But i would describe group tuition outside like those premier tuition centres as a group of at least 10 people sitted in a classroom style manner.Some students would sit with their friends and began to chat about K-pop and DOTA(teen stuff) things not related to Chinese at all. Not to mentioned some will sms,or even play game consoles during lessons unnoticed by the teacher. Once some hyperactive or attention-seeking student do some "stunt", the whole class starts laughing and the teacher outnumbered by 1 to 10 is unable control the class.The whole class loses concentration and even those diligient and disciplined students would get affected.
Although the above may be exaggerated but it is really true for many tuition centres. Therefore parents would have to ask themselves this question: Why am I sending my child for tuition? Most answers would be " I would want my child to get additional help to do well in Chinese." I would have to ask you why send your child to another "school classroom" environment if your child needs additional help in the subject.
Another problem with "big class" tuition is the lack of interaction between students and teachers.Thus it is no surprise your child could feel so stranger towards the teacher despite many years of enroling in her classes. This would be disastrous as all the money spent was not put to good use!I believed tuition is built on communication and relationship where the students are bold enough lift some doubts so that the teacher could clear them once and for all. Yes i am talking about interaction. In my small group tuition the speed of learning would be quickened with interaction and discussion,be it between students and students or teacher and students.
What is the address of your place?
Blk 15,Marine Terrace,above the Marine Parade Fire Post near Tao Nan School,opposite the Town Council
Specializes in preparing for P5/6 for their PSLE
Teaches Chinese EXAM techniques to ace your PSLE!
1)Using top schools *Oral Exam papers and video recording to improve
your speech.
2)Analyzing Top schools *Compositions. WRITING SKILLs to taught to
increase your paper 1 marks !
3) Reading *COMPREHENSION passages from top schools and learning the
EXAM techniques in answering each question.
4)Looking at top schools MCQ. Analysis of new words to add to your *Vocabulary.
12.11.13
IS PSLE CHINESE DIFFICULT?
The
Primary School Leaving Examination is one that every student must take to move
on to Secondary school. How well one does in this examination will determine
which school he/she will enter. Is PSLE Chinese difficult? It depends on your
child's foundation, and his/her exposure to the language. They will be tested
on areas like writing, listening, and comprehending. Steps have been taken by
MOE to adjust the marks allocated for each segment to decrease difficulty and
increase relevance.
Some would question the importance of the subject in the overall aggregate score. A question frequently heard from parents is,"Why don't I allow my child to concentrate on English, Mathematics and Science first rather than Chinese?" The answer is the weightage of all the subjects are equal, and therefore a drop in Chinese will bring down the total aggregate score. I have students who missed out by one or two points to enter their desired schools of choice like ACS, Victoria they end up regretting not putting enough effort into Chinese.
Getting a huge improvement in grades is something that cannot be done overnight. To achieve the desired result, one must prepare for at least a year. Students should have a sturdy foundation and familiarise themselves with most of the common words by Primary Five. This is because during Primary Six the teachers will be too busy doing intense revision of the past two years to go through the basics. A deadly and unfortunately common mistake are students who prepare for the Chinese Examination at the very last minute. Students will not be able to study properly under the pressure and will likely panic on the day of the examination, which is not recommended. I strongly urge parents who have Primary Five children to send them for tuition classes during the upcoming November to December holidays if they are weak in the subject. Prepare early and you will have no regrets.
Some would question the importance of the subject in the overall aggregate score. A question frequently heard from parents is,"Why don't I allow my child to concentrate on English, Mathematics and Science first rather than Chinese?" The answer is the weightage of all the subjects are equal, and therefore a drop in Chinese will bring down the total aggregate score. I have students who missed out by one or two points to enter their desired schools of choice like ACS, Victoria they end up regretting not putting enough effort into Chinese.
Getting a huge improvement in grades is something that cannot be done overnight. To achieve the desired result, one must prepare for at least a year. Students should have a sturdy foundation and familiarise themselves with most of the common words by Primary Five. This is because during Primary Six the teachers will be too busy doing intense revision of the past two years to go through the basics. A deadly and unfortunately common mistake are students who prepare for the Chinese Examination at the very last minute. Students will not be able to study properly under the pressure and will likely panic on the day of the examination, which is not recommended. I strongly urge parents who have Primary Five children to send them for tuition classes during the upcoming November to December holidays if they are weak in the subject. Prepare early and you will have no regrets.
19.10.13
2013 PSLE Oral Exam ( Chinese )
This picture shows a
scene at a school canteen. There are a lot of students so I think that it might
be their recces time. In the bottom left corner there are two students one boy
and one girl. They seem to be returning their bowls to the collection point. I
think that what they are doing is right and we should learn from them. Behind
them there are a couple of students queuing to buy food from the noodle store.
I think that they are good because they are not pushing one another aside to be
first in line. Beside them there is a small boy who is carrying a bowl of
noodles next to him a bigger and taller boy seems to be trying to help him. I
think that he is doing good and we should learn from him as it is a good act.
If I were there I would have done the same as it is the right thing to do. Next
to the boys there is a teacher telling two mischievous looking boys playing
with the water at the sink. If I were there I would have helped the teacher
stop them as they are wasting water and making the floor wet. If the floor is
wet someone might slip and fall causing an injury. We should not be wasting
water as water is precious. Behind the two boys there is another boy who is
eating his food next to him there is a plate with bones around it and flies
flying around it. I think that whoever did this is wrong because it is wrong to
leave food around like that he should he returned the plate like the rest of
the pupils as this may attract insects and pests. If I see any one do this I
would stop him/her to come back and return the plate/bowl. Behind the boy there
is a group of pupils. One boy and two girls they are talking and eating their
food. I think that this is how recces should be spent as if we run and play we
might sweat a lot and maybe too tired to have lessons. In conclusion the
canteen is a place for us to eat our food and talk to our friends we should
take good care of it as without it we might not be able to talk and eat with
our friends.(Rough translation to English)
-Spoken by Nanyang P6 Student
2013 O Level Chinese Examination
| School | Name | Years taught | Written | Oral |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FFMS | Junwei | 4 years | A1 | Dist. |
| FMSS | Zhenwei | 4 years | C6 | Merit |
| GMGS | De Yao | 9 months | C3 | Merit |
| ACS(IB) | Matthew | 2 years | C5 | Dist. |
| MSHS | Yao Ming | 7 months | C4 | Merit |
| Montfort | Anthony | 3 months | C6 | Merit |
6.6.13
Was the 2013 O level Chinese Written Paper (June) difficult?(2014 New Syllabus)
For my students, especially those who are from top classes in their schools, they were full of grievances and disappointment upon leaving the exam hall.
"Why was it so difficult? I thought that it was supposed to be easier!"
"I had no idea what the comprehension passage was talking about!"
"The MCQ options were all very close!"
"The words that they give for the close passage, I haven't seen them before!"
Such were the reactions of the students after they took the "the killer" exam. Even for those students who normally score A1 for their school exams shared the same pessimism! I was still in doubt so I handed the question paper to my son who was a Higher Chinese student that scored A1 for Chinese. He too agreed the paper was hard with some words from the close passage that were beyond his understanding. He felt that the standard of comprehension resembles that of a typical Higher Chinese paper rather than that of Chinese.
So in all, was the change in syllabus for 2014 going to be easy or difficult? Next year, with the revamp of Sec 4 textbooks in addition to the 6 new textbooks (A and B) from Sec 1 to 3, students will need to grasp more words on their fingertips. Components that were formerly scrapped like 造句，填写汉字，填写词语 are back again, occupying 40% to 50% of paper 2. How are the students who are not inclined to memorizing going to cope? With the other "non-textbook" components weak, how are they going to score? In the past few years, I have seen some of the rather strong students failing to get an A1 despite working very hard. How are students going to do that now with the odds against them?
1.6.13
Hot topics for Chinese O level Paper 1 (报章报道）
1报章报道： 国家环境局指定多座的熟食中心设立碗盘回收处，鼓励人们积极自觉归还碗盘。
2反映地铁不时发生故障并提出建议
3报章报道：教育部不公布全国状元和优秀名单
4成绩优异就是好学生?
5报章报道：政府考虑在早晨繁忙时段前，让公众免费乘搭地铁。
6你发现新移民面临生活上的问题，甚至与邻居发生误会。
7你常去的一间小贩中心的卫生情况越來越差，给食客带来了很多不便。
8报章报道：越來越多人鲁莽开车，导致意外伤忙的车祸有増加的趋势。
9本地学生只注重成绩，却忽略了品德教育。你同意吗?
10报章报道：组屋居民强烈反对在组屋楼下建乐龄活动中心或残障人士中心。
11在公共场所，人们应该怎么表现优雅行为?
12报章报道：越过50%的新加坡人面对极大的工作压力，不仅无法排除压力，甚至把不良情绪带给家人和朋友。
13你发现你居住的组屋区不断发生有人蓄意破坏公共设施，其中还包括涂鸦，给居民带来许多不便与烦恼。
14报章报道：保健促进局推出＂健康小贩计划＂和＂健康咖啡店计划＂，以普及与提高公众的健康意识。
15报章报道：教育部将颁发教育储蓄品德奖。试针对这则新闻，发表你的看法。
16有人认为，在教育学生方面，表扬胜于批评。你同意吗?
17网上购物的利与弊
18谈谈科技的发展给人类带来的利与弊
19报章报道：乘客在巴士上起争执或打架，并惊动警方到场调解的事件日趋增加。
20如何正确使用社交网站
2反映地铁不时发生故障并提出建议
3报章报道：教育部不公布全国状元和优秀名单
4成绩优异就是好学生?
5报章报道：政府考虑在早晨繁忙时段前，让公众免费乘搭地铁。
6你发现新移民面临生活上的问题，甚至与邻居发生误会。
7你常去的一间小贩中心的卫生情况越來越差，给食客带来了很多不便。
8报章报道：越來越多人鲁莽开车，导致意外伤忙的车祸有増加的趋势。
9本地学生只注重成绩，却忽略了品德教育。你同意吗?
10报章报道：组屋居民强烈反对在组屋楼下建乐龄活动中心或残障人士中心。
11在公共场所，人们应该怎么表现优雅行为?
12报章报道：越过50%的新加坡人面对极大的工作压力，不仅无法排除压力，甚至把不良情绪带给家人和朋友。
13你发现你居住的组屋区不断发生有人蓄意破坏公共设施，其中还包括涂鸦，给居民带来许多不便与烦恼。
14报章报道：保健促进局推出＂健康小贩计划＂和＂健康咖啡店计划＂，以普及与提高公众的健康意识。
15报章报道：教育部将颁发教育储蓄品德奖。试针对这则新闻，发表你的看法。
16有人认为，在教育学生方面，表扬胜于批评。你同意吗?
17网上购物的利与弊
18谈谈科技的发展给人类带来的利与弊
19报章报道：乘客在巴士上起争执或打架，并惊动警方到场调解的事件日趋增加。
20如何正确使用社交网站
21.1.13
Who is suited for this type of tuition?
1) Sec 4 Express students:
They should ideally pass their Sec 3 end-of-year or SA2 exam. The intensive lessons are aimed to impart techniques to help them cope with the language. The techniques include Oral, Comprehension, composition and cloze passage. These will at least help them attain a one-grade or two-grade improvement in May this year. The best is that if they scored a C6 last year, then they could aim towards a B3, if they were to score a B3 last year, the A1 should be targeted. All these goals will be towards the Nov paper.
2)PSLE students:
They should at least had a B for their SA2 last year in order for me to safely say I could help them to achieve at least an A/High A. Last year I was more focused on helping those v weaker students who frequently fail in their normal exams or had an extremely weak language foundation (couldn't speak proper mandarin). I thus could only help them with a one-grade improvement. Thus this year I hope that at least a handful of my students can begin with a moderately strong foundation.
3)Sec1-3 students:
Even if they fail their normal examinations, the situation is not as bleak as those mentioned above. They should have at least 1 year or 1 year plus to beef up their standard. Usually the common problems faced by students in passing Chinese include a limited word bank (not that they didn't learn enough words but more of retaining them in memory), inability to read or write or to recognise the meaning of the words. Thus when this repeats itself, the students get demoralised after numerous failed attempts and want to give up.
The root cause could be due to PSLE Chinese being an exam that emphasises too much on memorising, rote listening and writing (Picture composition) without being taught practical methods. Rote learning would only result in "rote forgetting". Failing in composition, comprehension and cloze passage are the results of this. Therefore, techniques are more sustainable in that sense. Through learning simple "news" vocabulary, constructing sentences, writing short paragraphs and with the aid of multimedia and devices like e-dictionary, they will be able to make improvements. With visible improvements, their interest will slowly pick up. This will progress to the student setting goals for his or her O level Chinese in the long-run. With such motivation, he or she definitely has a high chance to succeed. Pls click my previous posts on students' testimonials for examples.
4)P5 students:
Even when faced with the problem of a weak foundation, if you have seen the testimonials of my previous foreign students, you will be surprised that they can make tremendous improvement! If a foreign student who did not grow up learning Chinese can do it, what more can normal students like your child do? It all boils down to effort and time. If the student is willing to give it their very best, I as a tutor will commit to all means to raise her marks up. But of course Chinese being a language subject, we have to be realistic that vast improvement cannot be done overnight.
Here's how a typical primary school kid views Chinese, especially boys:
Just the day before Spelling or "听写", they are able to recall how to write the words but the day after they would have forgotten completely what are the characters they have learnt. With a short concentration span, they are easily distracted by trivial things during lessons. Their only goal in Chinese? To do well enough to satisfy you parents so that you can reward them. They fear 作业，they dread 听写. Their words are illegible! Sounds familiar?
Well let me tell you that you need not satisfy with this status quo! Constant encouragement from parents and teachers is key to turning the situation around. I feel only with a good teacher-student relationship, can the student's interest towards Chinese be unlocked. So let me help you, give me a call on my hp no. at 97641616 to start the change!
They should ideally pass their Sec 3 end-of-year or SA2 exam. The intensive lessons are aimed to impart techniques to help them cope with the language. The techniques include Oral, Comprehension, composition and cloze passage. These will at least help them attain a one-grade or two-grade improvement in May this year. The best is that if they scored a C6 last year, then they could aim towards a B3, if they were to score a B3 last year, the A1 should be targeted. All these goals will be towards the Nov paper.
2)PSLE students:
They should at least had a B for their SA2 last year in order for me to safely say I could help them to achieve at least an A/High A. Last year I was more focused on helping those v weaker students who frequently fail in their normal exams or had an extremely weak language foundation (couldn't speak proper mandarin). I thus could only help them with a one-grade improvement. Thus this year I hope that at least a handful of my students can begin with a moderately strong foundation.
3)Sec1-3 students:
Even if they fail their normal examinations, the situation is not as bleak as those mentioned above. They should have at least 1 year or 1 year plus to beef up their standard. Usually the common problems faced by students in passing Chinese include a limited word bank (not that they didn't learn enough words but more of retaining them in memory), inability to read or write or to recognise the meaning of the words. Thus when this repeats itself, the students get demoralised after numerous failed attempts and want to give up.
The root cause could be due to PSLE Chinese being an exam that emphasises too much on memorising, rote listening and writing (Picture composition) without being taught practical methods. Rote learning would only result in "rote forgetting". Failing in composition, comprehension and cloze passage are the results of this. Therefore, techniques are more sustainable in that sense. Through learning simple "news" vocabulary, constructing sentences, writing short paragraphs and with the aid of multimedia and devices like e-dictionary, they will be able to make improvements. With visible improvements, their interest will slowly pick up. This will progress to the student setting goals for his or her O level Chinese in the long-run. With such motivation, he or she definitely has a high chance to succeed. Pls click my previous posts on students' testimonials for examples.
4)P5 students:
Even when faced with the problem of a weak foundation, if you have seen the testimonials of my previous foreign students, you will be surprised that they can make tremendous improvement! If a foreign student who did not grow up learning Chinese can do it, what more can normal students like your child do? It all boils down to effort and time. If the student is willing to give it their very best, I as a tutor will commit to all means to raise her marks up. But of course Chinese being a language subject, we have to be realistic that vast improvement cannot be done overnight.
Here's how a typical primary school kid views Chinese, especially boys:
Just the day before Spelling or "听写", they are able to recall how to write the words but the day after they would have forgotten completely what are the characters they have learnt. With a short concentration span, they are easily distracted by trivial things during lessons. Their only goal in Chinese? To do well enough to satisfy you parents so that you can reward them. They fear 作业，they dread 听写. Their words are illegible! Sounds familiar?
Well let me tell you that you need not satisfy with this status quo! Constant encouragement from parents and teachers is key to turning the situation around. I feel only with a good teacher-student relationship, can the student's interest towards Chinese be unlocked. So let me help you, give me a call on my hp no. at 97641616 to start the change!
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