Q&A - PSLE Chinese

[Reenie]

hi Chen Lao Shi,

In order to improve combo writing, especially in 命题，what do you suggest for the child to work on this june? besides reading model compo?

Thanks!

Hi Reenie,

Sorry for the delayed response as it's been busy week for me with the mid year school holiday workshops in addition to the usual lessons.

For the rest of this school holiday, I would suggest that your child prioritize on recapping of the adjectives and descriptive phrases (minimal 2 for each type) that can be used for feelings (happy, angry, panic/scared, embarrassed, tired, scared) and common actions (walking happily, walking hastily, running, scolding, apologizing). If time permits, then weather and appearance, as well as opening and ending paragraphs (mainly proverbs - e.g. 天网恢恢疏而不漏 for criminal acts, 赠人玫瑰手留余香 for kind acts, 一寸光阴一寸金 for time management etc.) too.

To work on 命题/情境作, you can get your child to practice analysing the topics/questions (based on the suggestions previously shared in this post) and draft out relevant/potential story plots (起因，经过 - 高潮迭起 if any，结果）

One way to get a list of topics/questions to work on is through reference book's content pages:

- Example 1
- Example 2

Thank you so much!!!!! Really appreciate you taking time to reply.

[cheonginging]

Good morning. May I know any suggestion topics for Prelim oral? Thanks in advance.

[chenlaoshi]

Good morning. May I know any suggestion topics for Prelim oral? Thanks in advance.

The themes are related to moral values and school related activities. It's the details of the videos that changes. For example, for the topic of showing consideration for others (懂得为别人着想）one year can be about seat hogging, few years later can be blasting music while on public transport. Thus, for preparation, the focus should be on nouns, verbs, adjectives related to topics and places, as well as to practice on elaboration of points/views.

Meanwhile, topics that has been tested in this year's prelim include:
- 责任感 (+ 注意卫生/保持环境清洁； cleaning up the mess created after meal)
- 安全意识 (climbing railing, dashing around in public places)

[cheonginging]

Thank you for your sharing.

The themes are related to moral values and school related activities. It's the details of the videos that changes. For example, for the topic of showing consideration for others (懂得为别人着想）one year can be about seat hogging, few years later can be blasting music while on public transport. Thus, for preparation, the focus should be on nouns, verbs, adjectives related to topics and places, as well as to practice on elaboration of points/views.

Meanwhile, topics that has been tested in this year's prelim include:
- 责任感 (+ 注意卫生/保持环境清洁； cleaning up the mess created after meal)
- 安全意识 (climbing railing, dashing around in public places)
[/quote]

[horisono]

Well for my prelim oral it was nothing about morals and values at all. Instead, the video was about:

A family went to an event for a day that comprised of many activities (rock-climbing, kids marathon, and more). I spent the whole week preparing for the oral and they decide to test out of the box. I was kind of shocked, to be honest, but again, that's probably something PSLE Chinese oral would test on as you know, it's full of unpleasant surprises and kind of scary.

[chenlaoshi]

Well for my prelim oral it was nothing about morals and values at all. Instead, the video was about:

A family went to an event for a day that comprised of many activities (rock-climbing, kids marathon, and more). I spent the whole week preparing for the oral and they decide to test out of the box. I was kind of shocked, to be honest, but again, that's probably something PSLE Chinese oral would test on as you know, it's full of unpleasant surprises and kind of scary.

Sounds like 家庭凝聚力 related - not entirely unexpected. Challenge might be on verbs/nouns like 攀岩 for rock-climbing and 马拉松 for marathon.

Besides moral value, social related topics (personal, friends, family, neighbourhood, school life related) are part of commonly tested scope too .

All the best for your prelims & PSLE!

[cheonginging]

May I ask: for the oral, if the video doesn’t show the location clearly, for example, there are two segments in the video, one is showing kids climbing railing, another segment showing kids stepping puddles on the floor, how to tell the location?

Besides, Any suggestion to tell location if it is not clear whether outdoor or indoor?

Thanks in advance.

[manorway]

Hi all!! I have some questions to ask regarding PSLE Compo.

Is it better to make kids learn to write the characters or let them depend on e-dictionary in compo exam? I wonder if checking dictionary will waste a lot of time for slow writers.

This is more out of my curiosity. Since PSLE compo is 50 min, then why do teachers give 40 min in Pr 3 and 4? I was told not all schools give kids 50 min to write compo in Pri 5 too.

I wonder if it is better to let kids just write as long as they like or should we restrict their writing to 40 or 50 min. Please share from experience which is better for your kids or students.

Thanks.

[zac's mum]

Hi all!! I have some questions to ask regarding PSLE Compo.

Is it better to make kids learn to write the characters or let them depend on e-dictionary in compo exam? I wonder if checking dictionary will waste a lot of time for slow writers.

This is more out of my curiosity. Since PSLE compo is 50 min, then why do teachers give 40 min in Pr 3 and 4? I was told not all schools give kids 50 min to write compo in Pri 5 too.

I wonder if it is better to let kids just write as long as they like or should we restrict their writing to 40 or 50 min. Please share from experience which is better for your kids or students.

Thanks.

DS is in P5 this year. His school gave 50min to write the zuowen.

Typically, for all subjects, the kids do not tackle PSLE format until they reach P5 (when it is suddenly thrust upon them, to varying degrees of shock - so it’s good that you’re doing your research).

During DS’ prep for his P5 Compo exam, I consulted chenlaoshi & I recall the max deduction of points for wrong words is 0.5 x 8 = 4 marks. DS’ weakness was recognizing which Chinese character to pick from the e-dictionary (his verbal/auditory grasp of Chinese is good). So from the bigger point of view, I decided that if he is able to write a coherent >100 word zuowen, he knows how to write the majority of the basic filler words grammatically, using hanyu pinyin for “don’t know” 汉字 to inform the marker of the content, we can afford to lose the 4 marks since the content marks will be fulfilled. It didn’t make sense for him to waste time checking the e-dictionary when it was 50/50 chance of picking the correct character.

[chenlaoshi]

May I ask: for the oral, if the video doesn’t show the location clearly, for example, there are two segments in the video, one is showing kids climbing railing, another segment showing kids stepping puddles on the floor, how to tell the location?

Besides, Any suggestion to tell location if it is not clear whether outdoor or indoor?

Thanks in advance.

In oral video, the locations are usually quite visible/obvious.

(If I'm not mistaken - based on what I have heard, not seen , the one with railing is bus stop/bus interchange and the other one is hawker centre.)

However, if the student is unsure or does not not know how to express in CL, then he/she should focus more on the description of the incident (what's happening, who did what, reaction and feelings involved etc.). After all, the 1st question, which is related to video content will involve narration of incident (usually as supporting claim), followed by student's opinion/critique.

Sorry, I don't quite get the outdoor/indoor query.