Tutor My Tution Haven: P5/P6 English Tips

[My Tuition Haven]

Hi. In lower primary, most of the comprehension answers can be found in the passage provided. Children should start from a young age to understand what they are reading. If he understands what the passage is about, then he will be able to answer the questions. Let him the read the comprehension passage on his own, then ask him questions about it. E.g. What is the first paragraph about? What do you think this sentence/word means? When you are satisfied with his answers, then he can attempt the questions. If you do this often, the child will learn to ask himself the questions as he reads the passage. It has worked with my P5/6 students.


As for reading books, it is essential that he starts to read magazines and books now as comprehension passages get more complex in upper primary. A suggestion would be to take him to a bookstore/library and let him choose materials that interest him. Have a half an hour reading time at home when he sits quietly and reads the material (magazine/book) that he has chosen. Then ask him casually about what the material is about so that you continue to encourage him to understand what he reads.

Hope my suggestions prove helpful to you in some way. Tks.

[cherubs]

Hi , how can I help my child who is weak in spelling, transformation ( under synthesis) and comprehension cloze?

[cherubs]

Hi , how can I help my child who is weak in spelling, transformation ( under synthesis) and comprehension cloze?

[Etoiles]

Hi, I always believe in Read, Write and Speak in mastering languages.


I believe a lot of reading will help your child. Next is practice: doing assessment and write regularly. It will be good to write at least a composition a week. Encourage your child to keep a book to write new words he or she has learnt and use them in compositions. The more new words are used, the better your child would be at remembering the spelling.

There is no short cut but consistent effort goes a long way.
Readers' Digest and newspapers would be good for children in upper primary.

You may want to find out more about the syllabus here:
http://www.moe.edu.sg/education/syllabuses/english-language-and-literature/files/english-primary-secondary.pdf
Perhaps this could help in selecting materials for your child

Hope this helps

[GGJJ]

Hi yellow belt, can you pm me your contact if you are still available to give tuition

[My Tuition Haven]

Hi everyone. I haven't been here in awhile and I had a few parents from this website, email me a few weeks back asking me to post tips concerning the PSLE English new format here. Unfortunately there is a new system of ks$ (Help! Chief!) so I have posted this on one of my older posts. This concerns the Writing Component. Hope this is visible to everyone : )


As the first batch of PSLE students get ready to take the English PSLE 2015 with the new format, I have started blogging more (http://www.thinking-factory.com) about what parents need to look out for with the new components.

Situational Writing
•\tRemains the same as the old format

Composition
•\tThree pictures given with a theme
•\tStudent may use one, two or all the pictures in his story

1)\tRead the theme carefully.
Many students look at the theme on Celebration and assume that a birthday is the best option. I usually tell my students to think outside of the box and get creative. A celebration can be about winning a special competition or contest…a grandparent’s 90th birthday, or even celebrating the recovery of a best friend involved in an accident. Another way is to add a twist to the theme. If it is a birthday celebration, the party can be interrupted suddenly by a humorous incident or even a mishap. This allows the child to have a more interesting content in his composition. With the theme given in the new format, unlike the old one, it somewhat restricts the student in writing what he wants to or knows.

2)\tChoose the pictures wisely.
Whether a student chooses one or all of the pictures, he should not write just one short sentence based on any picture chosen. This is a surefire way to go out of point. For example, if a student has chosen to use just one picture (a picture of a present) out of the three and only writes:
“I gave a broad smile as my friends handed me my presents.”
Then not mention the present again in the compo, can be considered out of point. By just choosing one picture the student must ensure that it is an important part of the story. So, how many pictures should a child use? A good writer will be able to weave a story around all three pictures and not go off point. An average writer should use at least two to weave his story according to the theme.

3)\tStyle of Writing.
By the start of the P6 year, students should already be using more complex sentence structures in their writing and know certain idioms, metaphors and phrases to suit certain themes. Less narration and more description is needed in composition writing and it is a good time now to reminding students of that. A good variety of introductions and endings is also needed to suit different themes and the start of the year could be a good time to prepare. For ideas on Introductions or Endings, please look at my blog post in October 2014.

I hope this is helpful!

[Steadyberry]

Hi my tuition haven


Thank you for the tips on the writing component. They are very useful. My son is very weak in comprehension. Most of the time, he fails to extract the correct info/answer from the passage. 2 days ago, he did one given by his school teacher. Both of us were unable to find the answer from the passage. Any tips or books that can help to improve? Thanks again.

[My Tuition Haven]

Hi. Sorry, I don't get alerts on my email when a reply is posted so i've just seen your question. Many of the questions in Comprehension are inferential. Thus if your son does not fully understand the passage, he is unable to answer such a question. He is only able to spot the direct questions. Another issue is how he phrases the answers. His answers must answer the question at hand..not give more nor less information than needed.


What I do with my students is to read the passage carefully. I will then ask them questions orally first to test their understanding. Some questions will be direct and others inferential. This is to train them to read with understanding.
Then they will take the time to highlight their answers from the questions given in the paper. If there is an inferential question, they will highlight the parts that give them the clue to formulate their answer.

It can be time consuming but when done regularly, the child gets used to reading with understanding and finding their answers. The process will speed up over time and they will be able to do these steps on their own.

I hope my answer has helped

[Steadyberry]

Hi


Thank you for yr reply. English was my worst subject and I have problems locating the different parts in a passage to get the answer myself. So really not sure how to help my son. Any comprehension books that help to explain how to find the parts/clues? Really need to read them myself before helping my son. Thanks.