Berries - Discussion
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bigsnoopy:
I am wondering if I should let my DD continue with Berries when she goes to p1. I know Berries is good for preschoolers as they focus on songs and other interactive things. Any comment about Berries program for primary school? Which is better Berries or Tuition?
my boy is with berries since K1. He is now in P3. berries adopt advance teaching method for primary school. my boy is having normal chinese for his school, but with berries, he is under Higher Chinese class, so he gets to learn more. I see it no harm to drop berries but only if your girl (or you) is independent enough to continue to read CL books, converse in CL , do activities to keep up with the CL interactions at home (i am assuming you have an English-speaking background) etc (like tamarind's children).
for primary school syllabus, berries has their set of notes/techniques in 'teaching' oral and compo writing. my eat-potato boy can do Band 1 for CL at P3 SA1 (his is neighbourhood school though), very much thanks to berries (condition that i still need to reinforce berries teachings at home esp compo writing; i have to qualify that i feel that berries compo only provides a skeleton/guide for parents to further stretch their kids at home - my boy did not improve his writing until i stepped in to reinforce/stretch what he learned in berries; however, without berries' framework, i won't know where to start). but berries alone is not going to help if my boy does not pick up CL reading soon (i am getting him to read a short story on alternate nights).
2 cents. -
jedamum:
Hi jedamum, my DD has also benefitted from Berries. She started since Pri 1 and is now in Pri 3... but I've heard that Berries will not be too suitable as they move up to Upper Primary i.e. Pri 4... What are your thoughts on this? Just need to hear some feedback before deciding if I need to change to another school when she goes Pri 4. Thanks.my boy is with berries since K1. He is now in P3. berries adopt advance teaching method for primary school. my boy is having normal chinese for his school, but with berries, he is under Higher Chinese class, so he gets to learn more. I see it no harm to drop berries but only if your girl (or you) is independent enough to continue to read CL books, converse in CL , do activities to keep up with the CL interactions at home (i am assuming you have an English-speaking background) etc (like tamarind's children).
for primary school syllabus, berries has their set of notes/techniques in 'teaching' oral and compo writing. my eat-potato boy can do Band 1 for CL at P3 SA1 (his is neighbourhood school though), very much thanks to berries (condition that i still need to reinforce berries teachings at home esp compo writing). but berries alone is not going to help if my boy does not pick up CL reading soon (i am getting him to read a short story on alternate nights).
2 cents.
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Happy Mama:
i heard that berries are not efficient for upper primary too. my boy shared with me something the other day when i arranged make-up class for him; he told me that there was a kid sleeping in class while the teacher teach and another who copied answers. is it because the teacher is not able to motivate the children? i'm not sure. discipline-wise, i feel that (based on this) the teachers will not be able to help those who do not pay attention in class and rapport-wise, my boy's teachers for the past yrs build better rapport with the students as compared to his current teacher - is it the case as the level goes up? i'm not sure. although my kid has not reach that stage yet, my personal feel is that berries has good materials, but to stretch the kids, we still have to do more at home. and until i can find a better one, i have no choice but to stick to this one.
Hi jedamum, my DD has also benefitted from Berries. She started since Pri 1 and is now in Pri 3... but I've heard that Berries will not be too suitable as they move up to Upper Primary i.e. Pri 4... What are your thoughts on this? Just need to hear some feedback before deciding if I need to change to another school when she goes Pri 4. Thanks.jedamum:
my boy is with berries since K1. He is now in P3. berries adopt advance teaching method for primary school. my boy is having normal chinese for his school, but with berries, he is under Higher Chinese class, so he gets to learn more. I see it no harm to drop berries but only if your girl (or you) is independent enough to continue to read CL books, converse in CL , do activities to keep up with the CL interactions at home (i am assuming you have an English-speaking background) etc (like tamarind's children).
for primary school syllabus, berries has their set of notes/techniques in 'teaching' oral and compo writing. my eat-potato boy can do Band 1 for CL at P3 SA1 (his is neighbourhood school though), very much thanks to berries (condition that i still need to reinforce berries teachings at home esp compo writing). but berries alone is not going to help if my boy does not pick up CL reading soon (i am getting him to read a short story on alternate nights).
2 cents. -
@ jedamum Thanks. After reading ur comments, I will continue to monitor her progress as I need to confess I don’t practice the materials at home at all as I don’t know how to read the more difficult words not to mention han yu pin ying. I return everything to my mandarin teacher lieow. Took the easy way and went to poly so no more contacts with mandarin until now.
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jedamum:
i heard that berries are not efficient for upper primary too. my boy shared with me something the other day when i arranged make-up class for him; he told me that there was a kid sleeping in class while the teacher teach and another who copied answers. is it because the teacher is not able to motivate the children? i'm not sure. discipline-wise, i feel that (based on this) the teachers will not be able to help those who do not pay attention in class and rapport-wise, my boy's teachers for the past yrs build better rapport with the students as compared to his current teacher - is it the case as the level goes up? i'm not sure. although my kid has not reach that stage yet, my personal feel is that berries has good materials, but to stretch the kids, we still have to do more at home. and until i can find a better one, i have no choice but to stick to this one.
Ya lor, that's why I haven't pulled her out yet. I'm still looking around too.
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Happy Mama:
When you find what you're looking for, pls pm me, ok.
Ya lor, that's why I haven't pulled her out yet. I'm still looking around too.
A lead for a dog, how's that for an exchange? :evil: -
markfch:
No problem. But for lower primary, it's really very effective and DD's HCL results has always been very good, except the recent SA1 where the paper was a killer, with lots of failures... Having said that, she still managed a Band 1. So Berries still works, to-date. Your DS is there too, I believe? :evil:When you find what you're looking for, pls pm me, ok.
A lead for a dog, how's that for an exchange? :evil: -
Happy Mama:
Yes, ds there since K2. Berries helped him a lot. DS hanzi recognition is quite good for his age but his conversational mandarin really cmi since we don't speak much mandarin nor watch chinese tv programmes at home + his first chinese tutor was me so can't expect too much. :oops:
No problem. But for lower primary, it's really very effective and DD's HCL results has always been very good, except the recent SA1 where the paper was a killer, with lots of failures... Having said that, she still managed a Band 1. So Berries still works, to-date. Your DS is there too, I believe? :evil: -
May I know when is a good time to start Berries? My DD is K2 this year and her Chinese is quite poor…
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gt1122:
May I know when is a good time to start Berries? My DD is K2 this year and her Chinese is quite poor...
I believe the best time is before P1. after P1, berries group learning for weak students may not be feasible as the materials may be too difficult by then; teacher may not have time to address individual weaknesses. Unless the kid can learn fast and both parents and kid are willing to put in effort, joining berries after P1 is also possible.
best time is N2. imo.
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