Apart from immersion classes, you can also buy Chinese story books for your child to read. You can have your child consult the teacher on words he doesn’t know, or look it up in the dictionary. My Chinese used to be really bad and my parents didn’t speak much Chinese at home. Reading did instill interest in Chinese for me and I went on to study Higher Chinese in my sec school days. Do you guys watch Chinese television shows? It’s a good way to improve understanding of Chinese too. Got a few non-Chinese friends who learnt to speak Chinese thanks to these shows.


And just an idea, but you might want to try learning Chinese together with him if you can spare the time and effort. It’s enrichment for you, bonding time with your child, and he will feel inspired to work on the language as well.

Depends on your motivation to transfer really. If it’s really important to you and your daughter, I’m sure you won’t find it troublesome.


If your child has very good results in Sec 1 or CCA achievements, I don’t think it will be much of an issue with the school. It depends on what school you’re talking about as well. Of course, the more renowned the school, the slimmer the chance.

What? Is this for real?

This reminds me of the game The Sims, where the child will be sent to the Military if he/she doesn’t do well in school.

Jokes aside, if this is for real, I pity this child for having parents who won’t even take responsibility for their kids. No kids are born to study or do the right things by their parent’s standards. They need their parents’ patient guidance.
I hope you’re just stressed, in that case, please take the advice of the other posters, and all the best. Otherwise, you aren’t ready to be a parent apparently.

junemum72:

Anyone familiar with tokyo and osaka? Planning to go free n easy to both places and hoping to visit disneyland and universal studio. Don't know whether is it possible and easy to move around ?


Thanks.

Been to Tokyo twice. Within this city, it's easy to move around, but you'll have to do research on the places you wish to visit (use maps, addresses are quite useless), if you're not familiar with the language. The natives are pretty nice though so you can ask them for directions if you get lost. Tokyo is kind of far from Osaka, you'll need to take the night bus or the shinkansen. So it depends on whether you're willing to spend the money. If cost is not a problem, then transport is easy XD

Also, I recommend DisneySea over Disneyland. DisneySea is gorgeous and the rides are more exciting. But avoid going to either Disneyland or DisneySea on weekends. On weekdays, they are already teemed with people (do Tokyoites not have school or work? =_=) so weekends are undoubtedly more crowded.

Oh my gosh... Was planning to drive down some time at the end of this year with my kids. Malaysia is a great place for leisure but it's a pity the security there is so bad. Perhaps we will go by coach or something rather than by car.

Okosbaba:

STOMPer Friziana's car window was smashed by a robber while her vehicle was parked at the Legoland Malaysia carpark yesterday (Sep 30).

She said:

\"My car was broken into at Legoland Malaysia yesterday (Sep 30).

\"I had parked my car at the Legoland carpark, which is an open air carpark with a lot of security personnel patrolling the area.

\"When I returned to my car at 6pm, I saw two policemen standing beside my car. My car window had been smashed and a bag with clothes inside had been stolen.

\"I was informed by security that the robbery had taken place at around 5pm, as my car alarm had gone off at that time.

\"The two policemen took photos of my car and brought me to the police station nearby to make a report.\"



http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/1347194/robber_smashes_car_window.html

It only took a 3 weeks from the official opening, despite a number of guards... so sad...

Recently, I had the chance to speak to a lecturer of my friend's son (who's studying at a tertiary institution), and he introduced me to classes that he's holding in November for primary and sec school kids in English Enrichment and current affairs.


My kids are already taking tuition classes in English, but I'm particularly interested in the fact that they will be learning current affairs in the class, which I think is really important, given how demanding English is today, and my kids' lack of interest in the news. In the tuition classes that my kids attend, they only teach them the technical know-how and make them practice, but lack of exposure makes it hard to produce substantial responses.

Website here if anyone's interested: http://wordsmith.com.sg/english/

Have you heard of this class? What do you think of it? The lecturer I spoke to seems sincere and knows his stuff. Apparently he used to be a journalist with SPH and some international papers too. Really sound credentials. But I'm in a bit of a dilemma because this means I'll have to sacrifice some classes to avoid stressing my kids out too much. The plus point is that the course is only in November, so it doesn't require a very long committment and doesn't cut into our year-end holiday plans.

It seems like ballet is a popular enrichment choice for girls. I’m quite keen to let my daughter take up ballet to improve her poise and posture, but I wonder if learning ballet in the long term will affect her toes? No offense meant, but I have friends who do ballet and they don’t wear open-toe shoes because their toes are a mess.

PhoBIA:

The authorities are only saying they need off days but did they advise these fdws what to do and what not to do? Simply irresponsible remarks just to score points. Didn't spare a thought for the employers.

It's not much use even if the authorities 'advise' them what to do and what not to do. I'm sure many employers advise their maids too (I definitely do) but whether the maids want to listen is another thing. It all boils down to the maid's personality.

In the meantime, I feel that compulsory off-days are necessary. Most of us are already groaning with a 5 day work week and 9 - 6 job. The maids work more days and longer hours and their pay is so little. They deserve a break.

I feel that what the authorities can do is force maid agencies to be more stringent with their selection process, and choose maids based on skills and personality. Of course, this may lead to maid shortage problem.

You don’t need a maid since your daughter seems independent. Send your daughter for enrichment classes or day care if you’re worried that she’s not utilising her time properly. Are your relatives willing to put her up after school? Perhaps she could go to their house and do her homework / study and then make her way home in the evening. This way, she will feel that she is in good hands, has company and a conducive environment to study.


Maids are a lot more hassle. You will need time to train her, and waste energy re-teaching her and lecturing her if she doesn’t learn or refuses to learn. These days, maids don’t come equipped with the required skills. Don’t succumb to maids if you can help it.

verykiasu2010:

Zhuge:

probably a married maid will use less laptop

she will be on someone's lap top ? :evil: :evil:

lol good one.

Seriously, she's already so distracted with her smartphone. Laptop is definitely no-no. She'll never get any work done. She asked me to give her the password to my wireless. I refused. So now she pays for it out of her sim card.

How about you try changing your wireless password so she can't use the internet? IMO internet is the most distracting feature. I have no complaints if she just wants to use the laptop to practise typing or something.