KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

The Language League thanks all participants of our workshops. We will be conducting more such workshops soon, sharing with you our newly set papers and resources in line with the new English syllabus.

Register your interest on our website http://www.thelanguageleague.com.sg, should you want to be informed of future workshops.

Cheers!

The Team at The Language League

Why do I sense a lot of fear mongering and subtle marketing in this thread? Tuition centres all over Singapore are seizing this opportunity to distinguish themselves from others, offering their own set of tactics and strategies to conquer the new syllabus.

BUT, if we take a closer look at why our children / students are not scoring today, perhaps we'd realize that teaching them a load of inferential skills isn't going to be the best way to help the majority of them (and would perhaps only directly help those who are already the cream of the crop).

Many students whom I have come into contact with are still struggling with their basics (e.g. spelling, past perfect tense) which is why they are forever stuck with C grades unless they have a tutor or teacher who can help them conquer these hurdles.

Truth be told, the new component in comprehension (the visual stimulus) only constitutes a tiny 3.5% of their entire grade, and taking into consideration the other integrated elements such as new question types in Text 2 comprehension and even editing/oral, these purported "new" skills would help influence at most 15-25% of their overall grade.

What happens to the other 75-85%? The paper ultimately consists of traditional sections like the continuous writing, the situational writing (not much of a difference given that the expectations are the same - tone, audience, context)

I see no need for parents or centres to kick up a fuss when in reality, kids simply have poor English. I have seen many parents using the "new syllabus" as an excuse for their kids' poor English.

Literary techniques and inferencing skills are good, useful, and necessary. The change in syllabus will benefit our kids. Yet, there is no reason to make parents worry unduly or start using the "lack of inferential skills" or the lack of teachers trained in Literature/English as reasons for bad grades.

Traditional learning still has to go on, alongside the new.

Finally, while exposing kids to the beauty of language and literature (tone, impact, meaning of words etc), it is also of paramount importance to expose them to greater things, deeper themes and broader topics (e.g. marginalization, poaching, human rights) that will help them comprehend texts and eventually become better people.

Emma_CY wrote:Why do I sense a lot of fear mongering and subtle marketing in this thread? Tuition centres all over Singapore are seizing this opportunity to distinguish themselves from others, offering their own set of tactics and strategies to conquer the new syllabus.

BUT, if we take a closer look at why our children / students are not scoring today, perhaps we'd realize that teaching them a load of inferential skills isn't going to be the best way to help the majority of them (and would perhaps only directly help those who are already the cream of the crop).

Many students whom I have come into contact with are still struggling with their basics (e.g. spelling, past perfect tense) which is why they are forever stuck with C grades unless they have a tutor or teacher who can help them conquer these hurdles.

Truth be told, the new component in comprehension (the visual stimulus) only constitutes a tiny 3.5% of their entire grade, and taking into consideration the other integrated elements such as new question types in Text 2 comprehension and even editing/oral, these purported "new" skills would help influence at most 15-25% of their overall grade.

What happens to the other 75-85%? The paper ultimately consists of traditional sections like the continuous writing, the situational writing (not much of a difference given that the expectations are the same - tone, audience, context)

I see no need for parents or centres to kick up a fuss when in reality, kids simply have poor English. I have seen many parents using the "new syllabus" as an excuse for their kids' poor English.

Literary techniques and inferencing skills are good, useful, and necessary. The change in syllabus will benefit our kids. Yet, there is no reason to make parents worry unduly or start using the "lack of inferential skills" or the lack of teachers trained in Literature/English as reasons for bad grades.

Traditional learning still has to go on, alongside the new.

Finally, while exposing kids to the beauty of language and literature (tone, impact, meaning of words etc), it is also of paramount importance to expose them to greater things, deeper themes and broader topics (e.g. marginalization, poaching, human rights) that will help them comprehend texts and eventually become better people.

As a tutor myself, I have also been searching for relevant materials for my Sec 3 students. Hence, I welcome publishers and tuition centres to share with us the resources that they have managed to gather for the new syllabus 1128. I can confirm that there are no assessment books at the moment in Popular and other bookstores that cater to the new syllabus, so please please.. share with us any links or materials that you can get your hands on..

Here is one: http://www.phd-education.com.sg
I got their flyer from my fellow tutor colleague. Apparently students get one year of academic tutoring with each subscription. Their content for syllabus 1128 is relevant (you can view their 'package preview')..

Yes, and I also agree with Emma_CY that the visual component should not be a cause of worry for parents because basically a huge section of the papers are still on 'traditional' sections. That is how I assure my students' parents..

I'm taking my 'O' levels this year and I'm really anxious. Is there any books that I can purchase so as to improve my level of English? Frankly speaking, I wouldn't say that my English is lousy, I'm a low A2 student but i really want to be able to secure an A1 for the 'O' level examinations.

In addition, rather recently I had my English orals for prelims & I'll be taking the 'O' level English oral examinations on the 21st of August. Is there any way that i can improve on my conversation? Often, I would only score a 11 or 12, i want to improve further to a 13 or 14 maybe?

Please help! Any feedback/response will be greatly appreciated.

Your syllabus is still the same as 2011's right?

twilight wrote:Your syllabus is still the same as 2011's right?

Yup! My batch is the last batch.

I think oral is a section which is easier to score.
For conversation, it's quite easy actually. I don't really remember, but there are 2 questions right? The first is a personal one like what food do you like and the second is more of a general case kind right? The first one, just talk about anything and everything. Remember who, what, where, when, why, how. You can spin off a lot of questions from these. For example, tell me your favourite food. What is your favourite food? Is it western, chinese, korean etc? What do you eat it with? Who introduced the food to you? Who else likes the same food? Where do you eat it? Can you cook it? How much is the price? If it is a hawker centre food, like chicken rice, do you find significant difference in hawker centre chicken rice and that served in a proper chicken rice shop? Why or why not? Why do you like this food? How is it eaten? How much does it cost? How often do you eat it? What is its nutritional value? And so on. So as long as you keep the questions running in your head, you should be able to speak continuously.

For the second question, the same applies. For example, my question was would you choose to work abroad if you had the chance? Why? So you can ask these questions. Where would you choose to work? Why? What kind of career do you want to do? What about your family? What are your main considerations? Financial? There's a better prospect there? What kind of experience do you hope to have? Do you plan to come back? What is it that you do not like about working locally? Would you only go abroad if your company requests you do so? How are you going to remain rooted to your own country?

Hi,
I see the change in the English syllabus as a move to better prepare students for GCE 'A' level General Paper, in particular the comprehension paper. Literary questions listed below are common in General Paper, so it is a good move to sensitive our students at a younger age to the intricacies of the English Language.

TheLanguageLeague wrote:Literary understanding- meaning, knowledge of literary devices and techniques- Eg; Writer's tone, use of personification, metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, analogies and how these impact the key points of the passage. Even how these work in a visual simulus.

Teachers should and must know these in order to handle the new syllabus. Which is why tutors/teachers with double majors in EL and Lit are more confident with this revamp. Check with your current tutor/centre on the background of their teachers. And if they are aware of the change even. Many are not. Even assessment books with the old syllabus are still on the shelves. lol.

Emma_CY wrote:Why do I sense a lot of fear mongering and subtle marketing in this thread? Tuition centres all over Singapore are seizing this opportunity to distinguish themselves from others, offering their own set of tactics and strategies to conquer the new syllabus.

Ah, but is that not how a business should be run? Playing the devil's advocate here: businesses that do well do so because they solve their customers' problems, whether that problem is real or imagined, realised by customers or fear-mongered by businesses.

Many good tutors, on the other hand, do not do well precisely because they do not know how to market themselves.

you can try these 2:

http://www.OLevelEnglish.com

or britishcouncil.org.sg

my son went for the first one and he said he felt it was really helpful. I have to say that the results do show. Although the british council one seems to be good too, I prefer my son to learn from someone a little more localised. Just my 2 cents worth