2022 PSLE Discussions & Strategies (born in 2010)

[Mr.025413Clumsy]

At this stage (which is about 7 weeks to go), I believe that there's still a bit of time to build on knowledge. So, where there's a misunderstanding or a lack of knowledge, there's a window (which is closing) to still learn.


However, my approach is to do the following:

- Go into exam mode. Cover PYQs, mock exam papers etc. to get into the habit of seeing exam questions and answering accordingly, managing time for completion, anticipate weak points (which goes back to the learning point above) and be mentally prepared for whatever may come.

- Reinforce confidence, build emotional and moral support. Push, but not shove. Remind ourselves that our children are just 12 year old kids who are undergoing a monumental amount of stress and pressure at such a young age. Encourage, care and love, and remind them (as much as ourselves) that this is just an exam - one of many which they will see in their lives ahead.

- Find time to have fun and relax. It's easy to get caught up in the madness and forget to breathe. I am always reminded of that scene from Armageddon (which applies to everything we do, really) where Harry (Bruce Willis) tells Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) that he wants to give the astronauts time off before the launch - \"what if they're too burned out to do the right thing? what if they're so tense they snap? what if they forget what they're fighting for?\" (Yes, a bit dramatic but you get the picture.)

HTH.

[TryNotKiasu]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2078642\" time=\"1660633275\" user_id=\"162894:

The no. of prompting questions and how the candidate respond will affect his/her grading for the content component (15 marks) of the oral conversation (30 marks). There's a rubric that examiners will grade according to.

13-15：需要极少的引导 + 能够做出全面的回应和充分地扩展个人看法
10-12：偶尔需要引导 + 能够做出全面的回应和扩展某些看法
7-9: 经常需要引导 + 能够做出充分的回应和扩展某些看法
4-6: 需要不断地引导+ 能够做出一些回应却无法扩展看法
1-3: 需要不断地引导+ 几乎无法回应

@chenlaoshi, may i ask for your opinion? If a child obviously misunderstood the question and answered wrongly during psle oral, then the cher said, '我再把问题问一遍' and repeated question. Child responded '对不起，我刚才没有听清楚\" and proceeded to answer the question. Cher gave nod to the answer. Will this incident cause a deduction of marks for the mistake?

[chenlaoshi]

TryNotKiasu\" post_id=\"2078755\" time=\"1660709174\" user_id=\"189482:

@chenlaoshi, may i ask for your opinion? If a child obviously misunderstood the question and answered wrongly during psle oral, then the cher said, '我再把问题问一遍' and repeated question. Child responded '对不起，我刚才没有听清楚\" and proceeded to answer the question. Cher gave nod to the answer. Will this incident cause a deduction of marks for the mistake?

Hi TryNotKiasu,

As long as the child's response after the repeated question is correct, nope, that incident alone will not cause mark deduction.

It is only when the child failed to respond appropriately after the repeated question and/or further prompts that content component of the grading will be affected.

[strawberryking]

Liew Nga Wing\" post_id=\"2078753\" time=\"1660708636\" user_id=\"195250:[quote=\"Liew Nga Wing\" post_id=2078753 time=1660708636 user_id=195250]
Everyone may have their own strategy to cope with their exam but try not to group kids into different levels of ability or at least don't let them think others are having higher ability than themselves. When I was small, my parents always claimed I was a poor ability and stupid girl and I just let myself failed all exam because I was labelled as stupid.

Actually, no one claimed I am stupid except my parents. [/quote]

Not just your parents.
Consider about this, our past: our 80s~90s streaming system prematurely grouped us into different category. Very damaging for young minds. :mad:

[Anotherday]

For the 2nd day CL oral topic, the question was 假期里你想去新加坡的什么地方？This question sounds like a question asking for a holiday destination / place of interest in Singapore (not visiting grandparents, going for tuition), that’s why it is difficult, because the students may find it challenging to express the Chinese names of the places and activities. Many kids at 12 years old would think of Sentosa, Universal Studios and rollercoaster, rather than zoo and animals or gardens and flowers, but how many actually know the Chinese terms well to do a good elaboration?

[mystique_j]

Anotherday\" post_id=\"2078763\" time=\"1660712106\" user_id=\"194606:

For the 2nd day CL oral topic, the question was 假期里你想去新加坡的什么地方？This question sounds like a question asking for a holiday destination / place of interest in Singapore (not visiting grandparents, going for tuition), that's why it is difficult, because the students may find it challenging to express the Chinese names of the places and activities. Many kids at 12 years old would think of Sentosa, Universal Studios and rollercoaster, rather than zoo and animals or gardens and flowers, but how many actually know the Chinese terms well to do a good elaboration?

My son’s command of Chinese not very good, in terms of oral. So for him, he will likely say Zoo coz that’s the easiest that he can think of. Maybe for the stronger students they will crack their brains for Sentosa or USS etc. His classmate who is usually very strong in oral didn't think about zoo and could only say Singapore beach, she didn’t know the Chinese word for the other places like Sentosa.

True enough, I asked him if he got that qn, what would he have talked about? He said 动物园。
He did his chinese on Day 1 though, different topic.


I guess it’s one of the benefits of being weaker at spoken Chinese.

[floppy]

假期我想去新加坡的。。。

乌敏岛。
那里有美丽的仄爪哇，一个多元野生生态的自然栖息地。

Err… 老师等一下，I forget to use 好词好句。

[manorway]

Imp75\" post_id=\"2078630\" time=\"1660630854\" user_id=\"2358:

No idea but generally when examiners laugh heartily means it’s a good sign for higher marks. One of my kid experienced that and naturally she did well for the national exams

Agree. One of my kids used to make all his oral examiners laugh. He always reported that they would laugh in the middle of the exam or after that and each time he would score very well. Some of his examiners even said they enjoyed his answer/story/reply very much and thank my son for sharing.

So we worked out that the more relaxed our kids are, and more humorous the replies, the higher the score.

[chenlaoshi]

Anotherday\" post_id=\"2078763\" time=\"1660712106\" user_id=\"194606:

For the 2nd day CL oral topic, the question was 假期里你想去新加坡的什么地方？This question sounds like a question asking for a holiday destination / place of interest in Singapore (not visiting grandparents, going for tuition), that's why it is difficult, because the students may find it challenging to express the Chinese names of the places and activities. Many kids at 12 years old would think of Sentosa, Universal Studios and rollercoaster, rather than zoo and animals or gardens and flowers, but how many actually know the Chinese terms well to do a good elaboration?

I believe most schools provide oral notes in terms of 口试配套. Some places of interest would have been covered in the notes.

For example, in the glossary of my oral notes, I cover them and I told my students to pick and choose a few to remember according to their preference or familiarity. Another reason I gave them the list is to let them know the ethnic quarters (Chinatown, Kampong Glam etc.) so as to be prepared for questions related to racial harmony or outdoor learning (learning journey).

https://i.imgur.com/FC9apOc.jpg\">https://i.imgur.com/W4kMFuj.jpg\">

Chapter 11 in Pri 5B text book《新加坡，我为你骄傲》mentioned places like 樟宜机场、老巴刹、夜间野生动物园、滨海艺术中心、 龙头游乐场

Chapter 7 in Pri 6B text book 《新加坡的过去和现在》 also covered places like 新加坡河、牛车水、小印度、福康宁中心、MRT stations with beautiful art pieces & the different bridges and parks in Singapore (亨德申波浪桥、花柏山公园、直落布兰雅公园、牛车水花园天桥、麦里芝蓄水池吊桥) etc.

Of course, examiners don't expect candidates to list the exact names - it's just a bonus. If candidate mentioned about going to the different parks (without mentioning specific names) in Singapore to sight see (having been \"trapped\" at home due to C-19 and busy preparing for PSLE), he/she will still be able to score.

mystique_j\" post_id=\"2078765\" time=\"1660713695\" user_id=\"39431:

My son’s command of Chinese not very good, in terms of oral. So for him, he will likely say Zoo coz that’s the easiest that he can think of. Maybe for the stronger students they will crack their brains for Sentosa or USS etc. His classmate who is usually very strong in oral didn't think about zoo and could only say Singapore beach, she didn’t know the Chinese word for the other places like Sentosa.

True enough, I asked him if he got that qn, what would he have talked about? He said 动物园。
He did his chinese on Day 1 though, different topic.

I guess it’s one of the benefits of being weaker at spoken Chinese.

Yeah, in fact there's lots to elaborate for going to zoo - know more about the different animals, usually only get to see them in pictures etc.

Chapter 3 in Pri 6A textbook 《美食小侦探》covered on different types of culinary style and food - can talk about wanting to go try different types of food at various hawker centre too - during elaboration can highlight other points like do it with family members and take time out to exercise together too (family bonding).

For those who want to talk about going overseas, Chapter 15 in Pri 5A textbook 《世界那么大》 introduced them to the different countries around the world.

Anyway, oral examination for this year is over, just hope these sharing will benefit future batches. Just try your best to do consistent preparation - text book and school notes are good sources. Day to day communication will be a great bonus too.

For current Pri 6 students, other than revising on syllabus words/phrases, don't forget the descriptive phrases for compo writing too.

[Rockmelon]

Anotherday\" post_id=\"2078763\" time=\"1660712106\" user_id=\"194606:

For the 2nd day CL oral topic, the question was 假期里你想去新加坡的什么地方？This question sounds like a question asking for a holiday destination / place of interest in Singapore (not visiting grandparents, going for tuition), that's why it is difficult, because the students may find it challenging to express the Chinese names of the places and activities. Many kids at 12 years old would think of Sentosa, Universal Studios and rollercoaster, rather than zoo and animals or gardens and flowers, but how many actually know the Chinese terms well to do a good elaboration?

My son can only think of Sentosa at that time. But when being asked what he did in Sentosa, he was stuck, did not know how to express USS in Chinese and simply forgot about the beach. So he said he went there to take different bus services.