All About Preparing For Primary One

[sTresSmUm]

Thanks jedamum.


Just realised that within the kiasuparents website, there are a lot of articles being generated regarding my posted topic.

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/category/article/news/singapore/schools

Probably hv to sit down and digest those too !

[NeedHelpMum]

Hi,


Can anyone advise and recommend good and cheap Mind Training and P1 Preparatory Programme near Redhill. :?

My son is in K2 this year and going to P1 next year.

I have found this P1 Preparatory Programme from edufarm and wanted to register him, however, they do not have enough student to start the class.

[Ros]

Hi chiefkiasu, mums, dads and everyone reading this:


I'm been in Australia since Jan 07. I'm coming back with my girl in Sep, so that she can adapt to the local environment and start Pri 1 next year.

What can I do to prepare her for Pri 1 in 3 mths ? We'll be staying in near Holland Village and I'm not sure if I should sent her to
(1) kindergarden + enrichment classes,
(2) childcare / early learning centre (one place for everything), or
(3) is there a \"crash-course\" for P1 preparation?
(4) or teach her myself? but I don't know what's the standard?
I was been reading some postings on this webiste and nearly fainted.... :shock:

She is currently in a normal primary school here - 7 hours of school everyday (8.30am-3.30pm). But no spelling, no diction, no homework. Welcome to Aussie education - they emphasize on character building, creative thinking, confidence building, interpersonal and communications, ability to resolve conflict with peers, etc.. hence she's a very outspoken, confidence girl who can interact well with all ages, all races, ie everybody.

This is what she can do:
English - can recognise abt 80 words eg is, the, they, what, etc. Knows basic phonics. Now learning to read simple one-sentence-one-page story books. Yes, can write a-z ( but sometimes still get confuse with b and d).
Mandarin - can recognise abt 80 words. Can only write very simple character, but wrong strokes most of the time. Attends Mandarin classes twice a week, and home tuition once-a-week from a Singaporean teacher. Learning Hanyu pinyin.
Maths - simple addtion and substraction.

I've a look at the P1 textbook and they look managable - at least in Term 1. Eg no multiplcation in first-half textbook, so why need to know before starting school? But most friends tells me what she knows now is way below the \"standard\".....

I don't know how to balance with the preparation works and yet at the same time, not to stress her out? as the last thing I want is that she can't cope with the system and wants to go back to Aussie. My hubby won't be back until June 09, so don't want her to use stress as an excuse to go to Daddy.

Anyone who with any suggestion of any good place near Holland Village that I can enrol her?

Many thanks for your time !!

[ChiefKiasu]

Ros:

...What can I do to prepare her for Pri 1 in 3 mths ? We'll be staying in near Holland Village and I'm not sure if I should sent her to

(1) kindergarden + enrichment classes,
(2) childcare / early learning centre (one place for everything), or
(3) is there a \"crash-course\" for P1 preparation?
(4) or teach her myself? but I don't know what's the standard?
I was been reading some postings on this webiste and nearly fainted.... :shock:
...

Hi Ros, I can well understand the sense of panic. Kind of like what we felt when we went to the P2 teacher to ask her why my son got a 6/10 for his picture composition and in response she showed us the top student's paper. After reading it, we were in complete awe. Imagine... it started like this: \"One resplendent Sunday morning, while cycling along the bicycle path in East Coast Parkway, we saw a girl fall onto the gravel floor beside us...\" And that was not the only student with full marks for that test. Or just the other day, when a P1 girl worked out 559 / 43 = ? right in front of my eyes without so much as a long division working. I had to use the calculator myself to verify that the answer she wrote down was really 13.

In my opinion, such \"intelligence\" are not in-born, but rather the result of drilling from young by the many enrichment courses that the kids were put through. The entire child enrichment industry has boomed over the last 10 years and has transformed the very manner by which Primary schools themselves operate. Teachers assume that all their students have some form of help at home, either by parents or by tutors or external courses. Those who leave their kids on their own during the first 6 years of their lives are seriously handicapping their children's performance in Primary school, unless their children are natural-born over achievers.

My intent is not to scare you, but to point out to you that your child could face quite a challenging landscape upon her return to Singapore. Aussie pre-school education is wonderful for building up character and independence, and that is a good thing because it will help your child handle the stress by putting in perspective.

There are plenty of P1 preparatory courses in Singapore. It has been fully commoditized. Unfortunately, they are almost entirely unregulated given the light-touch approach that MOE has on the industry. It is difficult to weed the good from the bad, and even in the branded or more popular franchises or schools, you might encounter teachers of different qualities due to high turn-over rates.

The good news is, most schools don't really turn on the pressure in P1, so effectively, you do have more than just a few months to prepare your daughter. I only felt the pressure towards the end of P2, when the poor foundation in Chinese started showing in my child.

For P1, you only need to focus on 3 subjects: English, Chinese and Math. From your description, your daughter definitely need help in her language ability for both languages. 80 words or characters is way too little if she is breeze through P1 with no stress. Between these 2, you probably want to focus on Chinese more, since your daughter is coming from an English-only culture. You might want to consider something like the http://www.yuquan.com.sg/idiom.php offered by Yuquan where kids get to memorize 800 Chinese Idioms and up to 1125 Chinese characters! My son is currently learning this in P3... and he enjoys the class, so I guess they must be doing something right.

For English, the British Council offers very good courses for students at all levels. These are a bit pricey, but definitely effective.

[Ros]

Thank you very much ChiefKiasu. Really appreciate your frankness and advise. I’ve called up Yuquan and spoke to teacher Song. She was trying to convince me to put my girl for the full-day kindergarten, so that she has more exposure to Chinese. I was a little apprenhensive though when she said they don’t offer trial class - was worried that my girl won’t like the class. But in the end, we left it open and said we will discuss that further when we go down to the centre. At least now I have something on hand when we return. Thnk you very much for your tips.


By the way, have you heard about Sam’s Early Learning Centre in River Valley? A friend said its good, but the staff at the centre wanted to "test" my girl to determine her eligiblity into K2 class…

[fattyboy02]

caroline3sg:

Simplyjo

Agree with chiefkiasu, P1 chinese is not chim like your current K2. Unless yours is child care centre. Reputable CCC's curriculum is good for preparation to P1 but not kindergarten even good ones. My son currently in St James (ie since last July aka mid of K1. Previously was with Kinderland for 2 yrs). I found that St. James is not good enough, so I enrolled him in TienHsia last Nov for trying. I also enrolled him with Zoophonics from Aug '07. He is with TienHsia for half of this yr already. He looks forward to both chinese and phonics classes every week. Both centres' administrators noted he always has smiles on his face on arrival.

As another forum mummy suggested, TienHsia is fun. It is not stressful. My son likes it at first lesson. He cried and refused to join when trial at Berries. Tingxie at TienHsia is 2 times per term (it is sentence, ex. this is a cow. I wash my hands before I eat) and much much easier (easier than Kinderland coz Kinderland already have writing from K1, ex. aeroplane, ship, your own name). It goes with the topic transport (K1), festivals (maybe K2) thats why I presume Kinderland may have those words you mentioned.

I have another girl at P5. She is also with TienHsia. At primary level, their teaching style is correct. And follow textbook syllabus. They are so good that their classes are always full.

I have visited a centre at Woodlands Causeway Point (maybe is Hua Language, always get mixed up Hua and Han) for primary level. I don't like it. The chairs are facing the wall for all rooms. I don't like education centre in the heart of shopping. Very rowdy. Civic Centre is okay, at least environment. Han Language should be there.

At this stage, cannot load them too much. Have to instil interest. TienHsia's K1/K2 programme very good at this.

Hi caroline3sg

My boy will be going P1 next yr, I intend to send him for Chinese class as he is weak in Chinese. I'm considering TienXia and Han as both were nearby my place at Sembawang.

Really appreciate if you could provide more info on TienXia ? How they conduct the classes, issit 先 认字， 后 写 字 & any hanyu pingying ?

[caroline3sg]

Hi

TienHsia is recognise words by using flash cards (A4 size), story telling, rhymes. Some excersises in terms of speaking, listening, writing. Hanyupinyin included in K2. $280/term. You can have a free trial. You would be charged for this trial if you wish to take up their programme. The trial is free if you don’t sign up.

[ChiefKiasu]

caroline3sg:

Hi

TienHsia is recognise words by using flash cards (A4 size), story telling, rhymes. Some excersises in terms of speaking, listening, writing. Hanyupinyin included in K2. $280/term. You can have a free trial. You would be charged for this trial if you wish to take up their programme. The trial is free if you don't sign up.

Unfortunately, like many other successful enrichment courses, TienHsia is suffering from its immense popularity. There seems to be a long waiting list for pre-school children especially for the weekend classes. At least that is what I noticed for the branch at Katong Mall.

[fattyboy02]

Hi caroline3sg


Thanks for sharing, will try to arrange for trial class, might enrol if my son enjoy the class.

[oskwks]

Hi,


My girl is the opposite. She is very good in Chinese but poor in English. She has no problem learning her K2 Chinese spelling like hei ma xi huan you yong, ta de pe fui si hui sei de (pardon me for my hanyu pinyin) in less than 10 minutes. But come to English spelling, I can teach hours but she still cannot remember. I even try using picture memory method to teach her but she still came back with 1 right out of 5. Her spelling words are like as swift as a horse, as slow as a tortoise. Beside having problem with spelling, she lacks of learning motivation. When she faced with difficult problem sum or long and unfamiliar sentence, straight away she will say difficult, don’t know, worst still stop learning and those creep behaviour start coming out.

She used to attend Zoophonics and some crash course on Learn Phonics in a week (forgotten the name) but I couldn’t see any good result. I even signed her for P1 preparation class but she don’t like the class, she said the class is too long and boring. I find the worksheet difficult too, eventhough she often get the answer correct, which I think the teacher had help her.

Instead of sending her to academic type of enrichment class, I’m thinking of sending her to some brain development class. She had attend a trial class in Igenius and mindchamp workshop and she loves it. I’m thinking this type of course might improve her memory and learning behaviour. Anyone has any comment on this type of course?

Any mommy has the same problem as I faced? Anyone can advise how can I teach my girl her spelling and how to tacker her learning behaviour.