MOMMY CLUB - Yr 2007 P1's (Yr2000 Millennium & Dragon Babies)

Wow, Jess, putting effort into it without enjoying it. That's quite a feat for children nowdays, don't you think?

A Chinese teacher in my kid's school mentioned that if the kid manages to get 70 and above for P4 HCL overall, then he should continue with it, bcos he probably won't struggle with it.

Yes, I think the teacher is pressured to perform and that's why she's applying pressure on us ie. my kid and me. It's very unhealthy becos the way I see it, my kid has made a lot of improvements in Chinese and starting to acquire skills to recognise words and the meaning of words. It'll be a pity if she hates learning Chinese, instead of - like what you said - enjoying, becos of the pressure. Honestly, that's why I do welcome the lowering of weightage of MT at PSLE. It'll probably help my kid to learn Chinese without the tremendous pressure to excel in it.
 


Rains,
I have a friend and her husband who doesn't speak Chinese and their son hates Chinese. So they send him to an international school after the PSLE and now he is taking Chinese as a foreign language. According to my friend, the son now begins to like Chinese because it is no longer so stressful to learn it.

I am contemplating not to let my son take HCL because I think it will be a struggle for him and eventually puts him off. But we will continue to ensure that he still maintains a certain standard so that if he wants to improve his Chinese when he is older, he will still have the basic skills to do so ...
 
hahaha, Jess,

You make Chinese sound like swimming, or at least it seems that way to me ie. needs basic skills to upgrade.

I thought if you're a local, you can't be enrolled into an international school?
 
Rains,
Well, I mean it is not easy to learn a language from scratch. So with a stronger foundation, it will be easier for him to pick it up later.


I am not sure about the regulations. The boy is in SJI International, I think the father is definitely local, the mother is at least PR.
 
Rains/Jess,
My friend's son scored 79 for P4 exams and he was persuaded to continue with HCL at P5. He hates it this year bcos the class had so much 笔记 to write everyday and the pressure is taking a toil on him.

My son has tuition...it's natural to expect that bcos he has tuition, he should be doing well in that subject.
Like what Jess mentioned, I will just let him do his best and see how it goes from there. But I feel that if he has to put in a lot of time for one subject, it's not worth it bcos P5 is a crucial year.
 
Someone asked what books my kid reads the other time. I have been confiscating books from her these few days as she's been reading while 'doing homework'. Now I can tell you the titles:
Frankie's Fortune
Bonnie & Sam Racing the Tide
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Unabridged version of Gulliver's Travel
4 Chinese Sponebob Squarepants comic books

When my friend called me to ask me out, I had to use a very very suppressed voice to talk to her becos I was suppressing my anger. After she broke down the other day, I try not to lash out at her or get affected by what her Chinese teacher said. A colleague of mine had also remarked that the teacher wasn't genuinely concerned about my kid's results ie. she's more worried about her own glory.
 
Rains, do you think that it is possible for a teacher who teaches in the second best class to try to pull down the marks of the students in the best class in order to make his own students look good? My son has this concern when his oral was conducted by this teacher recently. Someone had told him that this teacher has the habit of doing so....
 
Rains,
Have you had a good chat with your daughter yet ? I can understand your frustrations/anger when you gal is reading instead of doing her hw. Paper II starts next week or maybe earlier in some schools. Motivate and encourage your daughter and don't get affected by what her CL teacher at this crucial moment.
 
Jess,
If the class has its oral done by another teacher, I do think that's possible, becos after all, the kids' oral marks are decided by the teacher who did the oral exam with them and there usually isn't a second teacher to 'audit' the result. But oral is quite subjective. It depends on how lenient or strict the teacher is. It's not very possible for you to point your finger at the teacher and said that she was being partial becos you were not there to judge. That's why at PSLE, there are 2 teachers conducting oral for each student.

The English teacher will get the score sheet of her class' oral result. If she finds that the scores are not justified, based on her own experience with her children or comparison with weaker classes, she might be able to challenge the teacher who conducted the oral, depending on the English teacher herself. So usually, there's a limit to how much the oral marks can be deducted.

Janet,
Her Chinese papers 1 and 2 were done last week, on the same day, so she's left with the other 3 subjects.

I've talked to her about the Chinese matter on the day she broke down. I told her she was doing great for Chinese. Her progress is satisfactory to me and within, and even surpasses, my expectation. I told her I'm fine with her Chinese, except that she needs to hand in her work on time. I explained to her that her Chinese teacher is treating her badly becos she's frustrated with her nil or late submission of homework. As for the ghost story, I told her that it's good that she realised that writing a ghost story will warrant a failure and that it's better to realise it through a practice paper than an exam, and that I don't care if she fails a compo practice.

Aiya, but like what you said, we spent alot of time on Chinese revision, especially compo. We only started on Maths revision yesterday. And she developed a high fever.
 
Janet,
I was telling my husband about my conversation wtih the Chinese teacher.

From our conversation, my husband feels that the teacher seems to dislike English-speaking parents and kids, so she is 刻薄 with us.

When I told him she said that she felt that my kid is unresponsive to her when she talks to her, and wondered why, given that my kid participates in question-answering in class actively, my husband said that answering questions is one-off instances whereas carrying out a conversation takes two-way communication which my kid is not apt in, in Chinese. She's not able to carry out a sustained conversation in Chinese and probably that's why she was not responsive to the teacher. But the teacher takes it that my kid deliberately distant herself from her.

He said that he wanted to call the Chinese teacher to talk to her but I asked him to leave it at that. I don't want the teacher to tell other teachers that we are being defensive or protective of our kid. As it is, when I explained to her why my kid behaves in certain ways, she said she didn't believe and implied that my kid was lying to get away with things. I must admit I do think my kid lacks the initiative to find things out for herself, but I attribute this lack of initiative to her lack of interest in the subject, and probably becos of the teacher.
 
Oh oh, mummies,

Happy Mother's Day! Hope you get to enjoy some privileges of being a mother today, amidst prepping your kid for exams!
 
Rains,
It is sad that the children should suffer because of teacher politics in school. My son said that last year, all his friends whose oral was conducted by that teacher only managed to get 10 - 12 marks out of 16 whereas the others managed to get 15 or 16. That's why he was quite worried that his oral marks will pull down his overall marks for English.

As for Chinese, I think it is normal for your daughter participate less actively if she has no confidence in the subject. It will be worse if the teacher is very critical and not encouraging.
 
Rains,
My son has Eng II 2moro...lost his voice and has phlegm now. Kept him from swimming today.

Chinese is a subject I've spent quite a fair bit of time on...it's a tough subject and although it's our Mother Tongue, I'm ashamed to say I'm struggling with it.
 
Jess,
You read wrongly lah. My kid participates actively in answering questions.

Janet,
I'm sorry that you find Chinese tough. I'm sure it's becos you don't read Chinese reading materials. It's really an easy language if you read it enough. But never mind that. You're not the one taking exams now.
 
Rains,
Aiyah, sorry. Mis-read your post...
Anyway, I think it is subjective whether a language is easy to learn or not. A lot depends on exposure and opportunities to use it. I suppose these days, many kids use English all the time, so it is a language for communication purposes but Chinese is just another examination subject or worse, just a foreign language.
 
Rains,
Actually Chinese is more straightforward as compared to Eng. It's just that I am reluctant to read in-depth.
Chinese is a subject which is compulsory since it is Mother Tongue or like what Jess mentioned, a foreign language.
 
HAPPY belated MOMMY DAY's!!!

Talking abt Chinese. I can say i am struggling too or my elder DD is struggling too!

We r a mandarin speaking family, my girl can speak fluent mandarin and sometimes, being mistaken as PRC cos she speaks using "cheng yu", etc,.... BUT i dont know WHY she is not good at writing chinese compo. Once i read her compo book and i nearly fell off my chair!!! Then i started to panic and realise she cant write good chinese compo!

She is with Berries World this year. I find that she was ok when she was with Berries in K2 n P1. I m pulling her out n gonna find her a chinese home tutor after june holiday. My headache nvr ends!!!!

Anyway, my DD having her SA1 Maths today! Tomorrow is Chinese, last is Science!

To add: Local can study in International Sch! For SAS, American Sch, u will need to donate a S$300k to them and u can get in almost immediately. (My DH's always like-to-build-a-castle-in-the-sky fren called up to make enquiry!)
 
VQ,
My boy used to go to Berries too but I find that they are more effective for preschoolers. He said that his teacher often provide answers to the worksheets before they even try them out since P1, not sure it this peculiar to his class only or is it their usual way of teaching. Anyway, I switched him to another school after P2 when I note that there is very minimal improvement to his Chinese.
 
Rains,
Chinese paper today. Guess what ? Son has throat inflammation yesterday. Brought him to see doctor and had to start on antibiotics...couldn't revise much with him last night
sad.gif
. Hope he will do his best today.
 
Jess,
I agreed. Berries is more effective for preschoolers! More on to bring them to be interested in Chinese!

Rains,
How is ur little girl eye? Recovered? Hope she is fine n still as active as before!

Janet,
Hope ur boy is fine. Get him to drink more water! My 2 girls were down with a similar flu virus like H1N1 (was later mentioned in the news, dunno "A" group H1N1!), before exams. Elder is ok but the younger give us HELL when come to taking medicine. Put inside milk, she dont drink milk then! Put inside ice-cream, she only take for the 1st time and then stop taking even ice-cream!!! Headache!!

U take care ya!
 
Oh, mummies, I was thinking of sending my kid to Berries. But now, seems it's not so good, from your review.

VQ,
Wah, thanks for your info on international school. $300k ah. $3k I also need to think long long already.

My baby's fine now. She's at the imitating phase now. She likes to imitate her elder sister. When her sister is reading on the bed against the bolster, she'll find a book and position herself in the same manner. When her sister props her face up with her palms while lying on the bed, she does likewise too! Very cute now! Just that she still doesn't speak.

My elder kid had h1n1 during the 'peak' period. Recently when she had her high fever, the doc said it can strike again bcos it has different strains.

About compo-writing, I was like you, shocked when I realised my kid didn't write well although her English was quite good. But perhaps we shouldn't be surprised since speaking and writing are two different sets of skills.

My kid is left with Maths paper. She's been using the word 'good' to describe how she feels about her papers. I hope I won't get a heart attack when the papers are back.

I think it's the weather. Throat inflammation, fever etc are related to being heaty.
 
VQ,
Thanks...brought him to see doctor fast, so his condition was controlled.

When my daughter had HFMD, all she ate for ice cream...for 3 meals a day.

Rains,
Left with Science...will be tested on Diversity, Cycles and Interactions. Like you, I hope I don't get a heart attack when I see his papers.
 
Rains,
I think if you want to send your kid for Chinese enrichment, Eduplus is not bad. Unfortunately there isn't one near my place. My kids attended their holiday classes and enjoyed them very much. Agree that oral and written skills are different. My boy can write better than he speaks. He just sat for EL papers today. 3 more papers to go....
 
hello, yes berries more suitable from pre-school to lower primary. i withdrew my boy end of P3. may look for MT creative writing for him.

tomorrow maths, followed by MT on friday...then the real stress of waiting for results...

i signed my boy for holiday maths workshop with onsponge.com. found it from the website as his school is using the workbook. was told the workbook contain rather challenging questions.
 
Wen,
My son finished his SA yesterday...will be going through the Maths papers today. That is another stress but nothing we can do about it, since we have done what we can done.

Will have to plan June schedule or he would forget his name when school reopens.
 
Jess,
This song of Jay Chou, even my going-to-be-3YO younger DD, know how to sing n swings her hand in the sky, like Jay n that little boy did in the MV. Hahaha... funny.

Wen,
I sign both my girls up for the holiday program with Act3. Let them hv fun!!!

Janet,
Waiting for their results, is really like waiting for a verdict! Heart beat very fast!!
 
My kid couldn't complete her Maths paper today. A good 4 marks is wasted. I can only console myself with,"At least it's not more." I hope it'll make her see the importance of working quickly.
 
Janet,

Thanks for sharing!

I'm learning to not be disappointed, or at least not to show disappointment, with the academics. One of the Chinese parenting books stated that parents should never show disappointment in front of the child over the academic results. Instead, encourage, encourage, encourage. It's a challenge for the disciplinarian in me.

I couldn't help but showed my disappointment when my kid told me she's 1.5 marks shy of a band 1 for English. I honestly am expecting more from her English, bcos if she doesn't excel in English, I don't know what else I can have high expectation for. I walked away to dwell on my disappointment for a while, then it occurred to me that the more pertinent question is whether my kid has done her best. I went back to her and told her that we'll wait for the paper to come back so that we can look thro it to see if she's done her best.
 
Janet,
My DD got her marks too! Same as Janet's DS, my girl did not do well for her Eng & Maths. She herself were shocked cos she really put in alot of effort doing alot of practices for Maths n for her english, her tutor got her to do P5 papers instead of P4. She got full marks for her CA1 but not SA1. But i told myself, at least she improve on her comprehension, she used to get 2 marks or lesser for compre but nw she got the highest in class!

Rains,
Same here. i couldn't help but show my disappointment.

Anyway, we will hv to wait for the papers to see what is her mistakes abt? careless?
 
VQ,
Is your expectation very high? You're expecting full marks for Maths? Then anything short of 100 will be a disappointment for you lah. I'm just aiming for a Band 1. Don't be too hard on yourself and your kid lah.
 
Hi Janet,

I've tried to pm u but u dont receive pm, thus write to u here.

I wld appreciate if u cld share with me the details of ur son's doctor who care for cleft lip palate. need advise and recommendation for my newborn niece (2 days old) who has this condition. pls pm me? thks a lot & God bless.
 
MBJ,
I've disabled my PM as I received lots of junk.
PM-ed you regarding the doctor.

Rains,
I've been very cool and trying to relax since the last day of SA1 exams...well, I've done my part, so the rest is up to my son. I'm aiming for a Band 1 (I'm more than satisfied if he gets the lower range of Band 1 or high end of Band 2).
 
mommies

How did your kids perform in Oral? I was told by another mommy that it's easy to get full marks for oral. However, mine can't leh. Wonder how to help her? I bought guide books and trial run with her but her oral result is worst than last year
 
My son still has Science paper today and will not be back till 4.30pm because of supplementary class, so I do not know any of his results yet. I hope he can get 90 and above for all subjects because his school's exam papers are usually not very difficult.

I think oral for upper primary is not easy because the students are expected to use creative phrases as in compo. Some students will find it very unnatural to say it out. They must also express their personal views on the spot and not just provide factual description of the picture. That's why I think if there is going to be greated emphasis on oral in exams, it will more difficult to score if the students do not speak the language frequently.
 
i guess we all have certain expectations of our kids based on our understanding of them. my boy's results for english and science are out...both below my expectations. he acknowledge he won't be getting his 'prize' since target not met.

i'm not really upset by his performance...probably starting to get immune heheh. just hope he doesn't spring any failure in the remaining subjects ;p he is typically a high band 2 or low band 1 kid for EL subjects but lately i find his results deteriorating. i'm sure it's always due to carelessness and over-confidence...i find this type of behaviour difficult to correct.
 
My son came back with a memo from school today...there will be a re-test for 6 questions bcos the students were tested on Systems which isn't included in SA1. So these few days will be focusing on Cycles and Interaction. Hopefully he will be able to get high marks for these few questions to boost his marks.

My son's results started to drop last year. I was told this is to be expected...all I hope and pray hard is for his inner motivation to mature, which will mean he will work harder on his own.
 
Janet,
The school is very kind to do a re-test. I remember my son's Maths paper last year tested on something not even taught yet, from then onwards, he always asks me to teach him slightly ahead of his teacher...
 
Jess,
Since the school honour this little mistake, I hope my son is able to get as many questions right as possible to boost his SA1 overall. These few days, I've been revising his notes on Cycles and Interaction. Anyway, the SA1 exam papers have not been returned yet...so only the teachers know about this boo boo.
 
Today, a mother whose DS was in the same kindergarten as my elder DD, told me: You should hv put ur girl in a "branded" sch! This pri sch here is a chicken-feet to her! I was flattened BUT i know my girl! If i really put her in those "branded" sch, she will definitely be stress out! I rather she stay in a normal sch n stays the TOPS!!!! Heehee.....

Sorry, i might be kiasu to ask BUT we must prepare our kids for sec sch liao mah! So, which sec sch u hv on mind for ur DD/ DS??

I am thinking of Nan Hwa.
 
Wow, Janet, that's a big boo-boo the teacher involved made. It'll definitely be remembered by the school for a long time to come.

Jess,
I googled for the psle cop and found a blog that suggests doing the following:
Go to http://app.sis.moe.gov.sg/schinfo/SIS_index.asp
Select the secondary school you want, you'll reach 'School Information Service' where they give you the basic info of the school. Scroll down and you'll see the cut-off point for the previous year.

I'm so envious of you having such a 上进 child. Only thinks of how to improve. Mine always wants to be in the middle only, and now she's probably at the bottom of the class. She doesn't want to be taught ahead. Just contented with what the teacher teaches her. The moment I try teaching her new things, she switches off.

VQ,
Why Nan Hwa huh? Is it near to your place?

I was keen on nygh since there's affiliation, but how my kid performed has made me look at some neighbourhood schools already. I really feel like throwing out the 'encourage' and 'nurture' theory and cane her for the shortfall eg. she gets 65, so cane her 35 times to make up to 100. I feel that these 'loving' theories do not work on my kid. The more loving and encouraging I am, the more slack she gets.

I'm still thinking of what to do with the hk trip. I really hope to teach her a lesson by not taking her there this time, but the whole trip has been planned with her in mind. I feel so wasted. But if I don't teach her a lesson this time, she will not learn. But if I teach her a lesson by not taking her to hk, will she learn?
 
Rains,
Thanks for the link. I also found that but I remember seeing something that is tabulated as in if you specify the COP range, they will list out the schools within the range.

My son is more of kiasu than 上进 lah, sometimes he will also drive me mad. He can also be very lazy at times, but I suppose that is human nature....
 
Rains,
I hope that HOD doesn't repeat that boo boo for SA2.

Since your trip is planned, then continue with it...your daughter has a high EQ and will mature. Give her some time...I'm also hoping my son will mature asap but this thing can't be rushed.

Jess,
It's very hard to find a child who is kiasu. I do wish my son is interested to learn ahead than be contended with what his teacher teaches.
 
Jess,
I agree with Janet that it's hard to find a child who's kiasu academically. What's a little or occasional laziness compared to his eagerness to want to do well? Come lah, we exchange children, then you'll know what it means by 'lazy' and 'drive me mad' - sometimes I feel that my kid is trying to drive me to my grave. A friend ever asked if my kid was trying to make me die angry.

Janet,
She has high EQ when it comes to human relationships, but not so when it's about the academics. I put part of the responsibility on the school's casual labelling of the classes. They outrightly label my kid's class as 'high-ability' which I think is inappropriate. My kid gets really complacent this year and thinks that she's really good when she isn't. It's difficult for me to tell her she's not when her teachers, including the p, keep telling them they are. And bcos they do so, my kid will probably be dropped out of the class next year becos of her poor results.

I want to ask you mummies whose kids are taking higher chinese this year. Do your kids' schools get them to take two chinese papers - the normal chinese and higher chinese? Mine only takes the higher chinese paper and I feel that I'm not able to gauge where she stands for normal chinese, which is more important for psle. The HOD may say that if they are able to cope with higher chinese, they will be able to cope with normal chinese, but my kid is not doing well in higher chinese, so I'm not able to see where she stands in normal chinese. I do feel that higher chinese is indeed more difficult, given the number of open-ended questions. I didn't know the difference until I was invigilating a normal chinese paper at p5.
 


Rains/Janet,

My boys also have their ways to drive me mad, 家家有本难念经... Having said that, I do realise that they are also very good in many areas compared to other kids, so let's count our blessings. I am sure your kids have their own strengths as well.

Rains, I read somewhere that many kids who think that they are "naturally bright" do not think that they should work hard becos they do not want to look stupid if they do not succeed. So, we should praise the kids for their effort and not for their intelligence because effort is something that they can control, not "natural intelligence". My son also develop some complacency when he was placed in the best class last year. I have to keep emphasizing that he does well in school because he puts in effort, not becos he is bright and lucky. He now understands that his intelligence level will not increase naturally if he does not put in effort to increase it.
 

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