All About Working With Children Who Are Weak Academically

[MintyMin]

Having problems with my eldest child, he is 8 this yr. Have known ds is weak in languages, especially chinese.. So signed him up with Tien Hsia (TH) last year when he requested for it, as dd1 (2nd child) started 2 months prior, due to waitlist and all, ds only started attending towards the end of Term1 last yr..


However, just few weeks back, ds told me he no longer wants to attend TH.. reason being, have tingxie and it is higher chinese.. Partly my fault too as i focus too much getting him learn his tingxie.. but u c.. not only TH's tingxie, sch tingxie as well.. he is a boy tat needs practice every day to remember.. n once tingxie over.. he can forget wat the word is.. Last week he had his running revision test.. he came back home ytd with Chinese grade scoring only 22/50.. i was disappointed.. but i din want to show.. but told him tat he needs to work harder.. n he went.. 'this is not a real test, so its ok', it made me rebutted him saying.. 'this is not even the real test and u failed.. wat if it is the real test, do u know how sad i m to see you having this grade?' sigh.. even for maths, he scored only 36/50.. i told him.. my expectation is not high.. the minimum u shld get is 75/100 for all subjects..

I feel lost.. i did all tat i cld for him.. but really duno wat he really want..

I still have 2 dds to handle, though dd1 is consider academically better then ds..but i guess she realised tat she doesn't get as much attention as ds.. thus decided not to know a lot to get me to spend time with her.. frankly.. she could easily read out new words tat r intro in P2, so i took tings ez wif her.. leaving her to do n read books on her own.. she is 6 this yr..

As for dd2.. whenever ds n dd1 is studying.. i try to get her to read P&J books.. but she also wants me to b there to listen to her read..

I feel so helpless.. really duno what to do.. esp for ds..

[ammonite]

Try spreading out the activities. If your two older children are doing work, get the younger one to do maze or drawing, something that you can bend over and guide or nod every now and then. You have to stagger them. So when you are working with ds1, dd1 and dd2 should do something that do not need much supervision. Then rotate. You can also get your ds1 to teach dd2 when you are working with dd1. It can be simple maths, or drawing or doing her P&J with her. Older kids love to teach younger ones.


Re Chinese and your ds - if the gap between the materials being taught and his current level is too wide, he will not benefit from the class. It has to be at a level that he can grasp, plus a little more.

(ps. you may want to change your teaching methods/materials as well if the current ways are not working.)

[MintyMin]

ammonite:

Try spreading out the activities. If your two older children are doing work, get the younger one to do maze or drawing, something that you can bend over and guide or nod every now and then. You have to stagger them. So when you are working with ds1, dd1 and dd2 should do something that do not need much supervision. Then rotate. You can also get your ds1 to teach dd2 when you are working with dd1. It can be simple maths, or drawing or doing her P&J with her. Older kids love to teach younger ones.


Re Chinese and your ds - if the gap between the materials being taught and his current level is too wide, he will not benefit from the class. It has to be at a level that he can grasp, plus a little more.

(ps. you may want to change your teaching methods/materials as well if the current ways are not working.)

Hi ammonite, appreciate your opinions..
The ting abt dd2 is that, she doesnt like to do 1 thing for too long, her attn on one activitity last only 10mins and usually when ds or dd1 teach or guide her.. they will end up being frustrated with her.. as dd2 will purposely refuse to read the word correct as taught by ds or dd1 when they correct her.. so she will end up at the notti corner.. N of coz.. like u said.. older kids love to teach the young ones.. which ds n dd1 does show it as well.. :love:

For ds chinese.. am running out of ideas.. alternate night chinese story book reading.. both ds n dd1 take turns to read.. speaking in mandarin.. he will be dropping off TH after the this term.. last 2 lessons already.. but i isnt' higher chinese just a slight difference from norm chinese? I mayb wrong.. but i tot.. it helps to increase his recognition in chinese words.. but i guess he felt stress abt it..

Whenever he is asked to do his revision, irregardless of subjects.. he will end up coming out of the room 4-5 times out of the 1hr.. u c.. i m a FTWM.. after coming hm.. i nid to cook, shower dds etc.. n while doing those.. i really hope ds will take the initiative to do the needful..

Am running out of ideas to teach him.. left him on his own as he requested doesnt work.. hovering over him to see tat he does it makes me vomit blood n creates tension btw both of us.. i have limited resources.. both monetary n time.. really duno wat to do now.. :sad:

[ngl2010]

Does Tien Hsia have normal Chinese? If have, then transfer him to normal Chinese.


When my DS in P1 and P2, we asked him to start learning ting xie 4 days before the test. At that time, he needs to spend about 30 minutes each to learn ting xie. He needs to practice many times until he got only got max 1 word wrong. At P6 now, he only needs 1 time practice (the night or the morning before) and spends 10 minutes. He almost always get full mark. Somehow now his brain is already wired correctly so ting xie became very easy for him.

Please don’t give up.

[MintyMin]

ngl2010:

Does Tien Hsia have normal Chinese? If have, then transfer him to normal Chinese.


When my DS in P1 and P2, we asked him to start learning ting xie 4 days before the test. At that time, he needs to spend about 30 minutes each to learn ting xie. He needs to practice many times until he got only got max 1 word wrong. At P6 now, he only needs 1 time practice (the night or the morning before) and spends 10 minutes. He almost always get full mark. Somehow now his brain is already wired correctly so ting xie became very easy for him.

Please don't give up.

Hi ngl2010, TH does not have normal Chinese.. I may seek alternatives at nearby CC and enrol him in Chinese speech n drama, as i feel he is not a book person but more of a fun n play kid.. but it may be too late to help him for his streaming end of this yr.. No high expectations.. will just hope he pass his chinese..

Like ur DS, i let ds learn his tingixe a week in advance.. it helps.. but i have to keep nagging to remind him to learn.. which.. i try to avoid nagging.. his initiatives were to only STARE at the list of words.. n not practice.. the practices will only happen if i remind him to..

I will not give up.. I just do not know how else to help him..

[sarni]

Yes , Definitely Your child is totally depend on her parents . I would like to say all parents motivate our child share some feelings and talk friendly .

[ammonite]

Minty min,

Sorry didn’t know you are FTWM. It is harder with limited time and energy. My experience is similar to ngl2010. The child’s learning rate will improve after a period of consistent input. It has to be slow and steady.

In P1, my son could not do hanyu pinyin at all, Chinese grades were very poor, did not know what the class was doing etc. P2, comprehension and complete sentences were also very dismal. MCQ a bit better. P3, he now has no problem with MCQ, cloze passage and complete sentences. His comprehension is still dismal because of incomplete sentences, but he can understand what he reads now. I did not slog over hanyu pinyin with him. Along the way, it improved through constant exposure. He can now use the electronic dictionary which to me is the main point of learning hanyu pinyin.

He still has a lot of 病语, but I can say he has improved and if he stays on track, he will be ok.

[ammonite]

Your dd2 is about 3 or 4 ? That is still young. A hands on craft activity might be better. If possible, your dh can take over with her.

[SAHM_TAN]

Hi Mintymin,


For maths, he’s only 2 marks short of your target. Did you see the maths paper and find out did he lose the 2 marks becos of carelessness? Forgot the steps or dunno?

In the short term

For Chi, to pass, just need to know the ting xie words taught for the tested units, know how to form words, know how to read the HYPY and for compre just need to know the "tricks". Did you see which areas in the Chi papers he can score enough marks to get to your 75%?

For compre, get an assessment bk with comprehension component, your school started with OE for Chi compre or still MCQ? Try to get one with the same format as your ds’ school but with easy to understand passage. The tricks to score as much as possible for compre in P2 are:

1. The answers usually can be found in sequence, meaning answer to qn 1, usually can be found in the 1st paragraph of the passage and so on.

2. Match key words. There are key words in the qn, when you find or match similar key words, the answers are usually nearby.

3. Even if cannot read the words in the qn, by trying to match the same words should have high change to copy the answers too.

At p2, would still be able to copy the answers fr the passage without para-phrasing.

Long term,

Did you have an agreement with him abt the 75% min std? Did you let him know what’s the consequences if he missed the mark?

Maybe have a cooling period think and abt his strength and weakness academically and non-academically. Think about how to develop his strength and help him on the weaker areas to reach the minimum std. so that he will have more time to develop his stronger areas.

For Chi, if really that difficult for him, maybe you want to lower the std to 65% and work up to 75%.

All the best.

[MintyMin]

Hi ammonite,


Its ok.. nothing to be sorry about.. FTWM or SAHM.. we are still mummies wif lots of tasks on hand to fulfil everyday..

I guess i was not consistent enuff due to the depletion of energy as days passed.. n patience running out as n when.. try taking a step back before returning to coach.. but seems super tough.. at the point tat i wished i only had 1 kid.. heehee.. but well.. no looking back.. so back to ds.. consistency is the key i guess..

Yes.. dd2 is 4 tis yr.. super cheeky n attn seeking.. tat even ipad doesnt work on her.. used some chinese learning apps for dd2 which can last 15mins n tatz the max..
handicraft ah.. she used scissors to cut her hair!! and numerous bits of papers all on the floor.. creating mess.. hahaha..

Dh works shift.. he can't help for studies.. but for dd2.. he does once in a while help me with dd2 when she requires my attn.. but often.. dd2 will still come n seek my attn..