PCF/PAP Kindergartens

[jedamum]

nat_mom,

your kid with pcf too?
my ds1's phonics enrichment's (under pcf) spelling is cat, bat, friend! i nearly fainted (too easy also faint...:lol: ) and my boy don't even bother to inform me that there is spelling.
despite the weak-emphasis in acadmics, I like the school cos the teachers like to ask my boy to be 'class monitor' aka takes care of the class (they shuffle this duty among the more 'outspoken' and 'not so mischievous' kids). that gave him a big boost in his ego.

[nat_mom]

Hi jedamum,


Nope..my girl is not with PCF. She's with a montessori-based childcare. Initially i was toying with the idea of sending her for a PCF class in the afternoons but decided against it as she is used to taking a nap in the afternoon. I thought i better don't tire her out.

They will have about 45mins-1 hr doing each of the 3 subjects, 1 teacher will take care of about 7-8 students at any one time. But certain activities would still be conducted as a big group, eg Show and Tell, music and movement. Guess they had done well in making my girl into a confident girl, she will not hesitate to dance, sing and speak in front of a group, even in front of strangers.

Think your boy must be very well-behaved to be nominated as the class monitor
My girl's class does not have any monitor as the teacher try to task different student to help out everyday.

[tamarind]

jedamum:

tamarind:

I want to clarify that when I mean \"high standard\", I don't mean the best system of education.

Yes. 'High standard' is a relative term. For tamarind's dd's pcf, it is consider high standard among other pcf. That also explains the slightly high school fees.

Glad that you are in the same wavelength as me

I have heard many complains about PCF, so initially I was quite worried about whether I made the right choice. But every PCF is different, since they are run by different teachers, so I think we should not generalize

nat_mom:

As for spelling, she does not have it at all! Oh dear, is there any cause for worry?

I think it depends on the primary school you plan to send her to. Some primary schools expect the children to write compositions in both English and Chinese in P1. Then we need to make sure that our kids know how to write simple sentences before entering P1. So they should at least know how to spell the simple common words.

I know the school I plan to send my girl to, West Grove, has composition in P1. But I am not sure whether all other primary schools are the same.

[tamarind]

I just found out that my boy’s PCF N2 class has spelling test ! My boy will turn 4 years old next week only. I heard many of his classmates cannot write independently yet.


The words are "my", "am", "is", "no".

Anyone knows of any other nursery school that has spelling ?

[sleepy]

tamarind:

I just found out that my boy's PCF N2 class has spelling test ! My boy will turn 4 years old next week only. I heard many of his classmates cannot write independently yet.


The words are \"my\", \"am\", \"is\", \"no\".

Anyone knows of any other nursery school that has spelling ?

my girl's N2 only teaching a b c, shapes, fruits, colouring activities
most kids can't read yet at 4

[tamarind]

My girl previously was from a \"normal\" PCF, also don't have spelling. My boy is now in a \"premium\" PCF nursery ($160 a month). They are already teaching the kids to read from simple books.


I am quite surprised. I have never heard of spelling test at N2 level :roll:

[miawhua]

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


Dear parents,

What do you think of PCF kindergarten comparing to those like Julia Gabriel, St James Church, etc?

I'm not sure which one i should really go for for pre-nursery.

[ChiefKiasu]

miawhua:

...What do you think of PCF kindergarten comparing to those like Julia Gabriel, St James Church, etc?

...

This topic has pretty much been beaten to death earlier in this thread. Have fun reading

[tamarind]

Insider,

I do not agree with what you wrote :
The importance is to inculcate a love for reading with awareness of letter sounds and spelling will come NATURALLY instead of force memory which is against major early childhood theories.


My 4 year old son is reading the Ladybird keyword series book 7a now, which I think is about P3 standard. He knows phonics very well and he loves to read. He can recognize and read hundreds of words, but he can only spell 2 letter words and some 3 letter words only. There are many children out there who needs to be drilled before they can do well.

For example, when my boy tried to write \"cake\", he wrote \"keke\", which is actually correct using phonics. There are many words in English which are not phonetic. Phonics will help in spelling, but there are many words which must be memorized.

Both my girl and boy loves to attend their PCF kindergarten, and they have very strong interests to learn.

Re-posting what I wrote on the previous page. You may have missed it.


I think you do not have a full picture of my girl's PCF.

In her class, the teachers teach the meaning of the words before asking the child to learn them. They have a theme every term. For example, when they have a transport theme, they spend the whole term learning about aeroplanes, submarine, fire engines, etc, through various activities, and even trips to Changi airport. So every child understands the meaning of the words aeroplanes, submarine, fire engines, etc before they are asked to learn the spelling and tested on them. This term they are learning the digestive system. One example is that the teacher used a long sock and pushed some tissue through it to demonstrate food going through the intestines. They had a trip to SGH museum. Then the children are asked to spell words like stomach, lungs, etc.

The children are also taught to read books in class. They are given one to one coaching by the teacher to read. The parents are given a list of 30 english words, extracted from the book, to practice with the child at home, only word recognition, not spelling. Then the child is tested in class to see how many of the 30 words they can remember. I think they do this every 1 to 2 months.

Now in second term, they are already writing in sentences in English. At first I thought they don't teach much phonics in class, but now looking at my girl's worksheet, they actually do teach phonics. They are now learning long vowels and split vowels.

The same with Chinese. They know the meaning of the words very well, before they have the 听写。 They are also taught to recite 唐诗 like 清明时节雨纷纷，... and 慈母手中线，... Their Chinese teacher is from mainland China, and she taught the children some very interesting 童谣 that I have never heard before. However I think her Chinese words for 听写 have too many strokes, some children are only starting to write at 5 years old, so they may find it stressful.

For maths, they are now learning addition and subtraction.

All the above are done in the K1 class. So it is not only difficult spelling, they have a very enriching curriculum. They also include dancing, cooking, speech and drama, poetry, junior writing and lots of arts and crafts.

I think as others have mentioned before, PCF kindergartens all have very different standards. I am glad I found one that has a high standard near my place.

[tamarind]

insider,

I am not going force my boy to spell at home. But if his kindergarten has spelling tests, I will make him write those words as many times as it takes for him to remember the spelling.

To be honest I agree with you, that pre-school children should not be made to memorize the spelling of words. However, we have no choice if we want our children go to primary schools in Singapore, where children are required to know how to read and write in sentences, both English and Chinese, before they enter primary 1. The primary school I planned to send him to, requires students to write compositions in primary 1. For an average child, we have no choice but to drill him. If he only knows how to spell "cake" at the end of K2, that will be too late. He must know enough words to write in sentences before entering P1.

Have you ever met a child who is able to write sentences without having to memorize the spelling of any words ? A child like that is a very intelligent child and belongs to the minority.

My son knows phonics well enough, he knows the silent "e". But there are many words in English which are not phonetic. Like "one", "two", "", etc. There are just too many exceptions. My girl completed the 11 month course at the Montessori phonics class when she was 4 years old, but at that time she still could not read fluently. I have let her read the Ladybird keyword series where she learns the sight words. Now at 5 years old, she has almost finished reading Charlotte’s Web. At home, she likes to create "books", where she will draw a picture on every page, then write sentences to describe those drawings. I have never taught her to do it. I attribute it to the good environment of her PCF kindergarten. I don’t mean that they force the children to memorize spelling everyday. In fact, they only need to spell 4 words every 2 weeks. In her class, the teacher teaches them creative writing, where children are encouraged to draw and write sentences to describe their drawings with the teacher’s help.