What a day!

Today was supposed to be a perfect day for revision. DS need not stay back today and came back earlier since it was a Wed. After his lunch and shower, I told him to start doing his homework (writing and compo) so that I can start on my "already behind schedule" revision.

By the time I came back (DD1 had class today) at 4:30pm, he had not completed his compo. I was particularly tired today, age must be catching up with me. I went to take a rest on my comfy bed at 5+pm, only to wake up and discovered that I've slept for nearly an hour! It was near to 7pm then. DS also ended up sleeping on the sofa, with his compo at the same stage as where I had left him. Sigh......

In the end he had to continue all the way till around 10pm before he could finally finished up a proper compo. And there goes my good revision day. I ended up with more backlogs to cover. I really feel like a deflated balloon now.

华文作文

下个星期就得考作文了。儿子的文法有多好，大家可想而知。要他突然间能滔滔不绝地写出一篇文章，那简直是连做梦的机会都没有。

以前曾听朋友说，她常要孩子背诵好词好句，甚至有另一些是要孩子背诵整篇文章，我都不以为然。但最近我也开始用这一招。曾经在书局买了一本好词好句，但后来发现以儿子现有的程度，根本无法理解，更别说是运用了。我只好亲自动手，从模范作文、课本等，把好词好句抽出，再加以归类化，成为一份接近他程度的好词好句。我把每一类词句（例如，天气晴朗）写在一张纸上，方便往后加入新的词句，再把所有纸张用文件夹组合起来。这将陪伴他到小六会考，希望能助他一臂之力。感到幸运的是，今年的作文考试，学校允许学生们用字典，希望这样可以减少他写的错字，别扣太多分。

现在的小孩读书，父母还真是辛苦啊！我常对儿子说，不知是你在读书，还是我在读书。可是没办法呀，如果不插上一脚，实在看不下去。

The first milestone - SA1

The written exams for SA1 starts in two weeks' time. I went for the P4 briefing conducted by the school yesterday. In order for DS to continue taking Higher Chinese in P5, he has to pass all his subjects and attain at least band 2 (marks 70 and above) for both his languages. He is weak in his languages, so attaining band 2 is not an easy task for him. Especially when Comprehension Close is introduced in his English papers this year. He can practically score zero for that section and that would mean 10 marks gone. :(

Comprehension is another of his weak areas. His English teacher thought it was peculiar as he could speak in English. But when come to Comprehension, he would have problem converting the words in the passage to become his answers. Most of the times, he just copied the whole chunk of words which ended up losing marks. He also has problems with questions which requires him to infer.

Actually I worry more for his English than Chinese even though he failed his Chinese test in the first term. Probably because Chinese is something easier to teach than English. I have almost zero idea how to teach him English Comprehension and Comprehension Close though his teacher did offer some suggestions yesterday. It would not be easy for him to grasp it, especially in such a short time frame.

Earlier on, I had discussed the target score for each subject with him. These are the targets I've set for his SA1 this year.

English 71
Chinese 71
Maths 80
Science 80

It's probably a bit high for his current standards. But if he manages to achieve, he'll be able to fulfil his wish of having a party on his birthday. So, of course I have to set the target a bit higher right?

应付华文口试

儿子的华语能力真是差强人意。昨天的英文口试勉勉强强也许还能过关，但明天的华文口试就很难说了。平时都不怎么讲华语的他，在面对口试时十分吃力。

口试范围分成三个部分，朗读、看图说话及会话。朗读他虽然未必能得很高分，但也应该可以过关。令人担心的是看图说话及会话。这两天跟他练习时，发现有许多日常生活中常见、常用的地点、人物或事物名称，他都不晓得，该怎么考呢？

有位友人，C，的儿子也在同所学校就读。他的华文老师准备了一份中英对照表，写着一些主要地点、人物等名称。热心的C印了一份给我，真是感激不尽！我运用同样的方式，把在温习看图说话及会话时所用过的词，也做了一份对照表（明天一定要记得叫儿子带去学校温习）。虽然是临时抱佛脚，希望能有点儿辅助的作用。

儿子面对华文时，像是得了失忆症。虽然同样的词重复了又重复，他还是没法记在脑里。我常说他是左耳进，右耳出。明天他到底能记得多少，又能否派上用场，我其实不抱太大希望，顺其自然吧！口试占考试的30%，是相当重要得一环。希望他能顺利过关，那对他的总分也有些帮助。

应付口试最好的方法还是平时多讲。像这样的最后冲刺法，真的也只能看他的造化了！


考后结论：

儿子可说是相当幸运。今年他遇到的考题是“熟食中心”，刚好是前一天温习的词汇里，他记得的一项。真是超幸运！他还告诉我，有些同学不晓得怎么讲“熟食中心”，问他为何他会懂。小朋友，你只是特别幸运，千万别太沾沾自喜哦！

Too easy no good?

DS did not need to attend school today. So I got him to do one of his Maths assessment book while I was busy with housework in the morning. It was a step by step book which has 3 sections on each topic, Drill (for basic concepts), Perform (to build on the basic concepts) and Challenge (as the name imply, the more difficult questions). I like the book as I can identify which topics he's got problem even with his basic concepts.

DS, however, did not like the book. He wanted to do another one which covers mostly the more challenging questions. I had earlier explained to him that he'll need to go through the basic concepts first so that I can help him if there is anything not clear. True enough, he made some mistakes in the Drill section. So I made him do the correction after briefly explaining why his answers were wrong. Guess what? He refused to do the corrections! He told me they were boring and he didn't want to do them. After a little struggle, I gave in temporarily. I didn't want to turn it into a sour situation as my main purpose is still to get him to go through them. I will revisit them when he's taken his mind off them for a while. Hopefully he'll be less put off then.

Kids nowadays are over ambitious, aren't they? They want to learn how to run before they know how to walk (that was the analogy I told him a couple of days ago). Should I be persistent and make him go through the basic, especially when he's getting the basic wrong? Doesn't it show that his basic foundation is not strong? I just don't feel comfortable with the idea of going for the higher level when your base is shaky.

Is good results really that important?

This is probably one of the questions we would ask ourselves, as a parent, at some point in time. For me, it is (as of now), which is also the reason why I'm embarking on this journey. While some parents view good results as an entry to better schools and eventually better jobs and pay, I have a different view on it. Although good results do make the path to University easier, it does not mean you can't be successful or can't earn big bucks without a nice degree. Am I self-contradicting? Not quite. I want my kids to go to good schools, not for the results they would get, but more for the people they're likely to mix with. It is the character development that I'm concern with.

While I agree that not all students academically inclined are good students, I feel that the likelihood of getting into bad company is somewhat reduced in those so-call top schools. Chinese has a saying, 近朱者赤近墨者黑. This is especially true for DS.

DS is seldom a leader. He is almost a 100% follower. For the 4 years of his primary education, he loves to mix with those who're fun loving. Unfortunately, they're not really the studious kind. I am not against him having such friends. The only problem is, he is a follower who follows the wrong things. He has picked up tonnes of bad habits and these are then passed to his younger sisters (another worrying issue). For his age, he is not as mature as some other kids. Most of the time his actions are very much controlled by his desires, rather than what are right and wrong. Perhaps it's really too much to ask of a 9 year old.

I just had a good long talk with him this evening. It is probably one of the best talks I've had with him so far. What led to the talk was this. Since a few weeks ago, I've been discovering erasers in his schoolbag. These erasers have loads of staples punched into them, with protruding staples in the center portion. I learn today that the staples were punched in to aid the eraser to spin. Whoever can make the spin lasts longer wins the game and takes the losing eraser as his possession. These erasers were dangerous as some sharp end of the staples could not be covered. I made it very clear to DS that I would throw these away should he bring them home again. And I really did for the next few times.

This morning, I discovered he had 11 brand new erasers in his bag. I was shocked. He told him he had bought them. It was too rush to dig further then as he needed to go down to take the school bus. Throughout the day I was pondering where he got the money to buy them (I gave him money for lunch, but he would usually return the balance to me). I was also thinking of how I could make him be honest with me instead of hiding things from me. This is already not the first encounter.

When he was finally back in the evening, he had a worried look. He thought I was about to scold him and threw all his erasers away. By then I had long calmed down. I was able to talk to him in a peaceful manner, as if having a casual talk. I was careful not to accuse him. I was able to find out how he had bought the erasers and his intentions. I was really glad as he voluntarily told me this was not the first time he has bought them. Lots of details were poured out by him. I explained to him why I didn't want him to play with them, why we, as a parent, did certain things which would seem strange or annoying to him. I brought out an example of myself lying when I was in primary school and how I was punished by his grandmother. I thought this was important as I wanted to emphasize to him that I do understand why he was doing certain things because parents were once kids. The things they do now, we have done so ourselves when we were young. That is one important point, which I find parents often forget while disciplining the kids. We need to remind ourselves to think in their shoes coz we were once young too.

It was a fruitful talk. We discussed about a few other things. I was able to find out more of his thoughts. I think this is the way to go in the discipline of older kids. We probably can't follow our parents' style of caning whenever a child makes a mistake. We have to try to gain their trust so that there is no need for them to hide issues from us. It's not easy, but if we start building this kind of bond from young, things will definitely get easier when they reach teenagers. Don't you agree?

It is better to start young

I derive great satisfaction teaching DDs to read Chinese. They learn pretty fast at a young age. Perhaps it's because there is no exam stress, I can go at their pace and watch them progress in a relaxed manner, as compared to teaching DS.

DD1 has already completed the first book of "基礎漢字 500 启蒙级 (Beginning Reader)" Readers Series. She's now progressing into book 2. DD2 is progressing well too. She's covered more than half of book 1 and is urging me to teach her more words. I often have to stop her. I'm introducing 2-3 new words to them each round. If they understand and remember, I'll go on to the next set. Otherwise I'll repeat the same set of words.

I wonder if they'll remember the words if they do not revise them often. The best way is to use them often. Sometimes the girls will point out the words they recognise (e.g. from signboard) when they're walking along the street.

I need more time!

I was planning DS's daily timetable today. Gosh! I really need more time, not for myself, but to squeeze in revision slots for him. I had a very big headache planning the timetable. The first draft is out, but probably needs some revision as I test-run it. I'm not being over ambitious, but he really has got insufficient time for revision.

This is his current school day schedule.
Mon: Reach home @ 6pm
Tue: Reach home @ 1:30pm
Wed: Reach home @ 3:30pm
Thu: Reach home @ 3pm, Violin lesson @ 4:30pm
Fri: Reach home @ 1:30pm, CL class @ 4pm

I tried to plan the timetable such that there is sufficient rest time. 6-8pm is dinner cum rest & relax time. He goes to bed around 9:30pm, so from 9pm onwards will be his reading time. On his early days, revision is planned to start at 2:30pm, after his lunch and shower. Judging from the planned timetable, there are only 2 productive revision days (by productive, I mean at least a continuous of 2 hrs). Weekends are no good too. DS has classes in the morning. Evening time, we'll usually visit the grandparents. That leaves only 2 afternoons for revision. So, all in all, I have only about 4 days of 2-3 hr slots per week, which convert to 1 subject per slot. :(

This kind of revision timing would probably be all right for someone who's done consistent revision. But for him who needs to start afresh, it's really a bit tight, especially now that SA1 is just round the corner. Stressed... Well, I just have to make do with what is available and try my best to complete the revision.

Prevention is better than Cure

One of the things I've learnt while embarking on this journey is to start young. If I had started coaching DS from young, even before he's entered formal education, his results would probably have been very much different now. Well, no point crying over spilled milk, that's just not my style.

To prevent history from repeating itself, I'm now coaching my 2 little DDs proactively. DD1 was sent to I Can Read (ICR) program to train her to be able to read English independently and ultimately have a strong comprehension ability. I'm trying to introduce phonics to DD2, but not too sure how well that will go, as my phonics is really at a "half pail water"（半桶水）stage. Will probably send her to ICR later too.

The better thing to teach them now will probably be Chinese (actually I find teaching Chinese a breeze, compared to teaching phonics). This will, hopefully, better prepare them when they take Higher Chinese in primary school in 2-3 years time.

Besides compiling a list of words they're currently learning in school, I am using a few other resources.

"基礎漢字 500 启蒙级 (Beginning Reader)" Readers Series



I got to know this series from a parenting forum. You can get the series from the Popular Bookstore. This series teaches a new word in every unit and progressively add on one new word in the next unit.

E.g. Unit 1 山 --> Unit 2 高山 --> Unit 3 高高的山

Each sentence is accompanied with a picture (and English explanation) to let the child have a clearer understanding of what she's reading. There are 5 books in the Budding Reader series. DD1 and DD2 are both at book 1 now. We started this about a week ago.


小太阳阅读计划

I recently chanced upon this series from our National Library. There are 4 different levels in the full series, with 6 books in each level. The concept is very much similar to the Budding Reader series introduced above, except that each book in this series has a storyline. The stories revolve around the brother 杰杰 and the sister 佳佳 which may be more interesting for kids.


Word Cards

I was lucky that I didn't throw away the word cards 字宝宝 DS used in P1 and P2. I extract the words the two girls learn in school or from the readers series and compile a list of words they should recognise. These cards come useful to test if they really recognise the words. At this stage, I am concentrating on word recognition. The writing will probably play a more important part when they're in K2.


Hopefully by starting them early, they will have a better command of the language in their formal schooling. I do not enforce that they have to complete a certain numbers of words in a specified period. I go according to their individual pace. Lots of patience and encouragement will motivate them to want to learn more, which ultimately makes things a lot easier.