All About Preparing For Primary One

[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.

[MMM]

Hi, I had the same problem with my son (k2) this year. He would spell the word correctly many times and then suddenly forget how to spell. It’s exasperating teaching him spelling. I usually spend only 20 mins with my girl using phonics as well and she would get all right by the end of it.


I still subscribe to phonics as a good foundation for teaching spelling. Maybe you like to revisit phonics with your girl? Maybe there are some reasons that she didn’t pick up? Eg the teachers, lessons,etc…? In my son’s case, he attended phonics at Jan & Elly since K1. My girl started from K2 and I see tremendous improvement after that.

Here are some of the things I do with my son to help his spelling ;
1) Sounding out using phonics. Eg. for crocodile. I would tell him cro co di le
2) I only teach him 2 days in advance. Eg. spelling on thursday, I start teaching on tuesday and then wednesday. Through past experience, if I teach way ahead, they would forget by the day of spelling.
3) Try getting the child to write the words. Hoping they would remember by practising.
4) Form the words into a sentence. Eg. I was teaching him "crocodile" last nite and he kept forgetting ile. So I told him it’s cro co d "i like eggs". So he form the impression that crocodile likes eggs.

In my son’s case, after weeks of consistent spelling sessions, I find that he is now picking up key words eg. er,etc… so gotta be patient.

On the other hand, I’ve thots of sending him to those brain assessment centre to evaluate if he does have a certain problem that we are not aware of. I attended 1 workshop at girl’s school and they mentioned abt a boy who did well from P1 - P3 then his grades start to drop. Apparently he has some development issues (eg. what he draws is significantly different from the picture that was given to him (it’s a simple shape picture) and it is a actually a brain development issue. But such programmes are not cheap and I wonder at its effectiveness.

[oskwks]

Thanks mmm for your advise. Will try it out.


Any good phonics school to recommend? Had sent her to many enrichment schools and my hubby always nag at me not to waste $. Think it’s wiser to get advise from other experienced parents.

[MMM]

Hi,


I think there is a discussion thread on phonics school under the other sections. Quite a number that I’ve heard like zoophonics (which you tried) and I can read.

For my kids, I send them to Jan & Elly (Serangoon garden) at my colleague’s recommendation, her girls started at Nursery and by K2, they were able to read the papers.

My kids started alittle late as my earlier focus was diff. My girl started in K2 last year but she shown tremendous improvement despite stopping at intermediate stage to pursue creative writing for P1. So by P1, she was able to read many words and spelling learning is easy.

For my son (the problematic one), he started in K1 and then he started to lag behind during intermediate stage. I was partly attributed as I didn’t do consistent revision with him and unlike my girl, he is not as focus. But when I spend time to revise with him regularly, he actually remembers. But lately, I am starting to see that he is starting to show that he is picking up or he is probably showing signs of readiness.

My earlier focus was speech & drama so I sent them to Julia Gabriel whereby they also did some phonics,etc… but not solid. So sending them to Jan & Elly I would say it’s significantly cheaper and at the same time effective.

My niece (P1 this year) didn’t study phonics on a extensive basis. She was having problem reading and my sil told me that she was sent to learning support prog in the school. Another of my nephew who is in Rosyth also studied phonics and my sil shared that phonics really helps the kids. Personally I think it’s good and I would have no qualms sending my 2.5 yrs old for phonics once she is in nursery.

In your kid’s case it seems abit of a rush now. But I think it’s better late than never. Jan & Elly does crash course eg. 1 to 1 type during school hols but it’s expensive as they are cramping entire term learnings. But the teacher will do a evaluation of the child’s phonics knowledge first before deciding which stage to place the child.

[oskwks]

Thanks MMM. How much does it cost in Jan & Elly? Thinking of going to the Rail Way Mall one, its nearer.

[MMM]

Hi,


Based on my impression, they are charging $220/ term for weekdays and $230/term for weekend.

BRgds,
Sindy