Comparing English Enrichment Programmes

[hquek]

awfullyKS:

Hi,


Recently I realized that my boy who is 8 is not able to write very well. He does not know how to add details to his writing. he reads but cannot transfer what he has read to what he writes. I heard about TAS from a friend who has her daughter there, she told me that they are known for writing. I would like to find out more about them from fellow parents at the forum. I am still undecided about signing up as my kids have been 'enrichment' free so far and I want to keep it that way. However, knowing how demanding singapore's education is like, I wonder if my kids are losing out.

hi awfullyKS,

What info do you actually want to know? My DS is with tas since start of this year. I see from his stuff that they cover vocab, grammar, spelling (of toughie words), compre and dictation (I think this is part of their training for kids to familiarise with good phrases). He has fun mostly in the class though memorising the dictation ain't no walk in the park.

[awfullyKS]

hquek:

hi awfullyKS,

What info do you actually want to know? My DS is with tas since start of this year. I see from his stuff that they cover vocab, grammar, spelling (of toughie words), compre and dictation (I think this is part of their training for kids to familiarise with good phrases). He has fun mostly in the class though memorising the dictation ain't no walk in the park.

Hi hquek,

Thanks for the reply I would like to know how they teach the composition part and also for comprehension because I know of many centres where they give the kids a list of words and ask them to use those words but the kids still do not know how to apply. For compre, they read through the passage and then ask the kids to do it without teaching them any techniques which I feel I can also do at home with my kids.

[hquek]

awfullyKS:

Hi hquek,


Thanks for the reply I would like to know how they teach the composition part and also for comprehension because I know of many centres where they give the kids a list of words and ask them to use those words but the kids still do not know how to apply. For compre, they read through the passage and then ask the kids to do it without teaching them any techniques which I feel I can also do at home with my kids.

For compo, what I see is they will have a certain topic - eg fire. A compo is given and that forms the dictation they are going to have for the next couple of weeks. From there, one of the lessons will be to get the kids to write a compo on that topic - kids may lift sentences from the dictation pieces (but cannot refer to the compos they have - all memory work) but extra credit given if the child comes up with their own imagination.

This week, heard DS will have to write a compo and it can be any topic whose compo that they had learnt before. They have learnt a variety of settings - eg rainy day, windy, sunny etc.

On compre, not so clear. I only see the passage and answers filled in by kids. Not sure how the teacher guides them through.

Spelling words consist of stuff that are used but not easy - eg auditorium, theatre, collapse. conscious. I think it's ok becos kids may feel they need to use these but won't know how to spell it unless they have learnt. They are taught how to break up the words so it's easier to spell. Sometimes if that fails, I fall back on my rhyming method - but not often lah.

[MLJ]

Hi awfullyKS,


Just thought I could add to what hquek has said, for their comprehension, I know they will go through the questions first and then get the children to think of the possible answers: eg- ‘Why did Mr Tan fall?’ the children may give answers like - the floor was slippery, there was a banana skin in front, he was ill etc. The teacher will then do this for every question and write on the board the children’s suggestions. Then when they read through the passage, the children already have an idea of what to expect. I find this helps my kid a lot. Recently, i noticed his compre improving and asked him why, he said that the teacher at TAS does this and so when he does this on his own, he kind of knows where the find the answers. I doubled checked with his teacher at TAS and found that this is indeed the method they use.

For compo, they constantly show the kids how they can use what was taught in one compo for another similar one which I find helps the kids to know how to apply and to really internatlize what they were taught. However the TAS teacher did say that for compo, the kids need a lot of input for various different compo themes_ accident, day in the park etc and so if the exams tests on a theme they have not taught before, the children may not be able to write that well as they do not have the required vocab to describe that scene. So the child needs to be exposed to as many themes as possible. From my understanding, for upper pri, the themes are more defined but for lower pri, the themes can be very varied (from fire to a day at the park to vandalism, to cleaning the classroom, literally anything) so the kids just have to know more phrases or read more I guess.

So far I have been with TAS for a while and I really like their teaching methods and as for the teachers, most are young and I dont think they are NIE trained but I know from the teacher teaching my kid that they have training every week for at least 4-5 months! And they train everything from classroom control to content based stuff to even how to liven up the class and how to tell jokes- she explained to me that the joke telling was important as it helped to punch in certain learning points, when the kids looked at that certain word or phrase, they can remember becos of the joke.

I have been at TAS since last year and I have quite a good relationship with the teacher and I find that she is very willing to share with me their methods and explain things to me so that helps a lot too.

[hquek]

Ha, what MLJ said brings to mind something. DS1 told me very conspiratorily that his TAS teacher tells him a trick to doing compre - looking at the questions first before reading the passage. this is something I practiced on my own but I had to learn this by myself.


After classes, if parent desires, teachers are generally happy to spend time telling the parent what went on. Last week, the teacher ‘caught’ me as I was leaving to let me know some items of concern that I should look out with my kid. Felt their personal touch is really there.

[Kayelinht]

hquek:

Spelling words consist of stuff that are used but not easy - eg auditorium, theatre, collapse. conscious. I think it's ok becos kids may feel they need to use these but won't know how to spell it unless they have learnt. They are taught how to break up the words so it's easier to spell. Sometimes if that fails, I fall back on my rhyming method - but not often lah.

Hi hquek,

I am interested to join TAS but so far have only joined their holiday progs.

You mentioned about this spelling technique that they have. Can you explain more about the breaking up part. My children seem to have constant difficulty in their spelling. Thanks!

[csb]

Hi MLJ and hquek, can you share which centres your kids are with? I'm wondering if it's the TAS culture? Or are both of you lucky to have the good teachers ? Thanks.

[hquek]

Kayelinht:

Hi hquek,

I am interested to join TAS but so far have only joined their holiday progs.

You mentioned about this spelling technique that they have. Can you explain more about the breaking up part. My children seem to have constant difficulty in their spelling. Thanks!

Hi Kayelinht,

For eg, theatre - th/eat/re => they circled the eat part and asked children to write popcorn becos in a theatre, sometimes you eat popcorn mah.

conscious - con/sci/ous. DS will mutter to himself con = c,o,n, sci = s,c,i; ous = o,u,s.

Since he joined, DS is more conscious about breaking up words when he spell. it makes life a bit easier but is not foolproof becos there are some words that he find it hard to learn.

You can try the rapping method with your kids. eg c-o-N // s-c-I // o-u-S sounding like a rapper style. my kid finds that easier to commit to memory.

[MLJ]

csb:

Hi MLJ and hquek, can you share which centres your kids are with? I'm wondering if it's the TAS culture? Or are both of you lucky to have the good teachers ? Thanks.

Hi csb,

I am at AMK branch but for one month, we sent our boy to the Bukit Timah branch as he had extra music classes that clashed with his classes at Ang Mo Kio. And I found that the teacher at Bukit Timah was also the same way so it seems to be a culture there. I know in their trainings (from what the teacher told me), they also emphasize on the kind of attitude they should have in teaching and how it is important to work with parents etc.

One of my friend also has her son under another teacher at AMK and so far feedback from here is also that the teacher will also explain the son's weak and strong points and when the son was quite weak in the beginning, they even got him to come earlier so the teacher could teach him more.

[hquek]

csb:

Hi MLJ and hquek, can you share which centres your kids are with? I'm wondering if it's the TAS culture? Or are both of you lucky to have the good teachers ? Thanks.

My kid is in AMK. He attended a preview class and we found the teacher very nice so decided to go with her timing/location (originally we wanted another location/time). No regrets.

My fren's kids are in Bt Timah under another teacher. So far so good.

Think it's the general culture - hope they will maintain this way.