Author: global

Every year, the PSLE exams, including PSLE English exams send adults and especially the primary 6 collectives into a frenzied flurry. It can be stressful, knowing how a few exam papers taken at a time in our youth can really shape and influence the future prospects to some degree. News outlets, daily discussions, activities, and even sleep all become punctuated by the impending exam, during this time of year.  On the part of the parents, there is also considerable pressure involved to fully participate in the process so as to have the best outcome for your child. Here are some tips and suggestions that your family can engage with, in preparation for their PSLE English examinations that will also prepare them for the curriculum in Secondary English.

Practice with targets in mind

Practice is necessary, but keep it specific. Make sure your child is focusing on areas that will genuinely make a difference as the exam date approaches. It might be too late to learn new abilities and methods for exam tasks on which they have performed poorly in the past.

Instead, look at tasks where they have managed to get a half-decent grade. These indicate that there is a strong knowledge base to build on. Concentrating on these is more likely to result in improved grades.

To accomplish this, have open and honest discussions with your child about which things to prioritize and which to abandon or at the very least devote less time to. It will also relieve tension on your youngster if they are not concentrating on things that they do not comprehend.

Utilize Exam Skills

Your child’s language skills are as good as they will get for the exam in the weeks leading up to the big day. Don’t have them memorize word lists or model answers.

To counter this issue, insist on time limitations by buying an egg timer, or using your phone when doing assignments. Time management is made up of a number of components; That means setting your fixed time limit, carrying out the exercise, answer checking, reflections, and then stipulated, small breaks between before repeating the process. These methods will help you organize your learning load into manageable chunks, as opposed to an unorganized load!

Read Plenty

You could say that the time spent learning how to read is equivalent to time spent learning how to write. Encouraging extensive reading at any age will always have a beneficial impact on the reader, especially when paired with reflections.

Reading them aloud and discussing why they’re good, for example, how is the story made interesting? What distinguishes the report? Discussing topics with your youngster improves his or her understanding. Keep in mind that this isn’t the same as memorizing!

Review Old Compositions

Your child will have amassed a sizable collection of old compositions by primary 6. Get them out of the bottoms of their backpacks and behind desks! For last-minute correction, they’re gold mines. They will, on one level, comprise errors that your youngster makes on a regular basis, such as simple past. They’re also wonderful for encouraging your child to consider ideas that will assist them to improve their writing and prepare them for Secondary English, whatever their level may be.

Inquire about the sentences they wrote before and why they were happy with them. Which ones do you think they’d want to change, and why? What are some ways they could make their parts more engaging or concise? It’s a good idea to double-check that they’ve comprehended and considered their teacher’s criticism.

As a parent, it’s crucial to remember that your child may find it difficult to show you their work, especially if it looks akin to a sea of red ink! Don’t panic or pass judgment; the point is to talk to your child about how they would approach the exam differently.

Embrace positive focus

Finally, there’s the essential holistic stuff that every parent is capable of! Whether your academic method is to be more hands-on or not during the period of the final revision, it is always of utmost importance to ensure that your child feels confident and ready on the exam day.

Children who enter an assessment room just thinking about their flaws are already on the defensive, psychologically speaking. Each child has a unique skill set unlike the others, that can best be nurtured through encouraging parenting. Find out what your child’s unique skill sets are by observing and enquiring about what sorts of activities, and subjects they like. Once the exams are over, your child may have skills or natural gifts outside of the exam arena, and it’s always good to remind them of what they are good at.

Mental maths is a key skill to have in any situation, regardless of whether you are taking PSLE Maths, Secondary Maths, or JC Maths. While some papers allow you to bring your own calculator, Maths tutors still recommend avoiding overreliance on calculators, both for the papers where calculators are not allowed, and also so that you will not have to waste time keying a simple equation into your calculator. Regardless, mental sums help sharpen your mind and can come in handy even when you’re not in the examination hall – you can use your mental maths skills when making a purchase, converting currency in a foreign land, calculating the fastest route to a destination, and so on. Read on to learn some tips you can use to strengthen your mental maths skills that will help you in your PSLE Maths or JC Maths paper.

Use Round Numbers

If you are dealing with “not-so-nice” numbers – such as a number that does not end in “5” or “0” – calculating a simple addition or subtraction can seem challenging. If you need to calculate 427 + 503, an easier way instead of trying to add the numbers up front would be to shift the 3 from 503 over to 427, giving you 430 + 500. This makes it much more straightforward to add the two numbers since they are both multiples of tens, giving you the result of 930.

You can also use a similar method for an addition such as 298 + 350. Most students hesitate for a moment when they see 98 added to 50 since it is not a straightforward calculation. Instead, you can simplify the calculation by adding 2 to 298 to round it off to 300, and then adding 300 and 350 to get 650. From this number, subtract the extra 2 you added earlier, resulting in the correct answer of 648.

This technique can apply to any type of calculation, not just addition or subtraction. If you need to multiply 39 by 5, you can round 39 off to 40 by adding 1. Multiply 40 by 5 to get 200, then subtract the extra 5 (from the 5 times that you added 1 to 39) from the answer to getting 195. It’s usually easier to do mental calculations with numbers that are multiples of 10, so make use of this to round your numbers off and calculate them faster.

Learn Quick Multiplication Tricks

You can always memorize the times table, but calculating any multiplications beyond that can be difficult, especially if the multiplication involves two or more multiple-digit numbers. What’s the product of 34 and 19? Most people may have to think for a while about that.

One of the easiest multiplications to calculate mentally is any number multiplied by 10. All you have to do is add a 0 to the end of the number and you’ll get your result. For example, to calculate 12345 x 10, just add a 0 to the number which will give you 123450.

Although it is slightly more complicated than multiplying by 10, you can also calculate any number multiplied by 11 with a trick. To multiply any single-digit number by 11, simply put the number side-by-side to form the two digits of the result – for instance, 5 x 11 is 55, and 6 x 11 is 66. For two-digit numbers, you can add the two digits of the number and insert this result in between the two digits. As an example, to multiply 15 by 11, take 1 + 5 which is 6, and put it in between 1 and 5, which gives you 165.

Learn Divisibility Rules

To find whether a number is divisible by a certain single-digit number, you can follow these divisibility rules instead of going by trial and error, which can take up valuable time that you may not have in the exams.

• A number is divisible by 10 if it ends in 0.
• A number is divisible by 9 if its digits are added together and this result can be divided by 9.
• A number is divisible by 8 if it ends in 000 or its last three digits can be divided by 8.
• A number is divisible by 7 if you remove its last digit, double that digit, subtract it from the remaining number, and the result is divisible by 7.
• A number is divisible by 6 if it is even and the sum of its digits can be divided by 3.
• A number is divisible by 5 if it ends in 0 or 5.
• A number is divisible by 4 if its last two digits can be divided by 4.
• A number is divisible by 3 if the sum of its digits can be divided by 3.
• A number is divisible by 2 if its last digit is even (0, 2, 4, 6, or 8).

Essay-writing is a common struggle for young children, and it can be frustrating when they have trouble communicating concepts. However, with the proper support from parents and teachers, kids can develop a better understanding of essay structures in no time. The earlier students start to understand the flow and structure of essays, the easier their overall experience will be in school. This can be solidified through additional primary English or PSLE English tuition in Singapore as well.

It is a common belief that language struggles are innate, but recent research has shown that this may not be the case. In fact, there could be many factors behind poor performance in English classes or other language classes. Understanding these causes can help students and parents find ways to improve their child’s ability in English. That said, here are three main reasons why kids continue to struggle with essays:

A limited understanding of the English language

Essays are, in the end, a gauge of how well children can express themselves through the written medium. A firm grasp of written language structure and flow is essential, and it is heavily different from spoken structure and flow. Specifically in Singapore, there are a large number of spoken colloquial terms that are disallowed from making their way onto the written form.

As such, loose studies and rote memorization of grammatical rules and vocabularies are insufficient to make good writers. Good writers need to know how to engage their readers; whether in fiction or non-fiction and no matter the topic, a grasp of the reader mentality is essential. This is something that can only be gained by doing two things: reading and writing.

Students should be encouraged to read far and wide beyond the scope of what is recommended by their teachers: story books, young adult novels, articles, and non-fiction classics are all fair game. While they are reading, students will also be able to learn more about the world and therefore, about other subjects.

A lack of feedback

Essays are often subjective, and the skills related to writing are often difficult to convey or train, especially in primary English or PSLE English classes at school, where teachers are often concerned with teaching whole classes instead of individual writing styles. Instead of encouraging a wide expanse of reading, teachers frequently need to go over assignments in class that relate to vocabulary memorisation, grammatical rules, or dictation. Reading is provided only in a structured format, and students are provided a list of books they ‘should read’.

Instead, two things are more relevant in improving your child’s writing. The first is to encourage them to go to the library or provide them with a Kindle, so that they may increase the amount they read. It can be about anything: from glassmaking to baking to politics and the rise of K-Pop, the library has it all. There is no need to restrict your children to the information they read; the exposure will simply strengthen their ability to write.

The second thing is to get a personalised tutor, if possible, for your child. School assignments are standardised, but language isn’t. Allow the tutor to push your child and provide personalised feedback for their essays and work. Let them help your child explore the meaning and depth of linguistics, and the breadth of words in the English language. In this way, your child will be able to improve their skills in a way that is more personalised to them than simply following along with the school’s templated format.

Discipline in writing

Many artists are creators, and frequently we hear of artists who lack inspiration and are unable to create. The same can be said with writing.

However, this mindset is a mistake for school-based essay writing. Inspiration is necessary to be able to write an outstanding piece of literature; however, in primary and PSLE English, what is needed is discipline and practice in the use of essay-writing skills. Many authors and writers adopt a habit of writing a certain number of words a day regardless of whether they have inspiration or not.

Think about it this way: a painter with inspiration cannot convey that inspiration if they do not have the techniques. No matter how profound, if their techniques are subpar, their work will also be subpar.

Train your child in those techniques, and allow the inspiration to come from their experiences and from their reading. Inspiration cannot be trained, but technique sure can be. That is where English tuition for essays will focus on.

To summarise: read, and then write. That is how your child will get better at essay writing. The English language is both expansive and limited at the same time, and a firm grasp of it is necessary for students to be able to succeed in their academics as well as their working life.

For tips on how your child can improve their English essay-writing abilities, do refer to the rest of the articles on our blog!

The Maths Olympiad is a common term tossed around throughout math tuition in Singapore, but did you know there are two kinds of Maths Olympiads? While there is an International Maths Olympiad, there is also one tailored specially for students in Singapore – the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad. It is this prestigious competition that many students vie for a chance to participate in.

What is the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad?

Founded by the Singapore Mathematical Society, the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad is an annual competition where students compete in different divisions to test their Secondary and Primary Maths ability. There are three different sections of the Olympiad, divided by age. Each section comprises two rounds, the first of which is usually held in late May or early June, and the second in late June or early July.

Junior Section

The junior section is geared at lower Secondary Maths students. The first round consists of five multiple-choice questions, each with five options, and twenty open-ended questions. Questions may come from topics in the lower Secondary syllabus, such as algebra, number theory, geometry, pattern recognition, and simple combinatorics. The second round is three hours long and consists of six essay questions. Students have to come up with detailed proof and formulae for each question, explaining their working process and findings.

Senior Section

The senior section is open to upper Secondary Maths students. Similar to the junior section, the first round of the senior section consists of five multiple-choice questions with five options each, and twenty open-ended questions. However, the scope of the topics tested is different, based on the upper syllabus. Students are expected to have a firm knowledge of probability, algebra, number theory, geometry, and combinatorics. Only the top scorers of the first round are invited to continue to the second round, which consists of a four-hour-long paper including five questions of varying difficulty. Since the participants are narrowed down in the second round, one can expect the competition to be much fiercer.

Open Section

The open section is meant for pre-university students. Unlike the junior and senior sections, the open section does not have any multiple-choice questions. Instead, the first round is made up of 25 open-ended questions, testing the topics of probability, algebra, number theory, geometry, combinatorics, and also occasional calculus. While the topics are similar to those in the senior section, the difficulty level is considerably higher. Just like the senior section, only the top scorers of the first round are invited to continue to the second round, where they will have to take a 4.5-hour-long paper of five essay questions. The six top scorers of the second round will then be selected to represent Singapore in the International Mathematical Olympiad.

How Can My Child Prepare For the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad?

The Singapore Mathematical Olympiad is not your regular exam. While a child may be doing well in their A-maths tuition in Singapore, they may not necessarily possess the skills required to do well in the Maths Olympiad. Usually, each school selects a number of top students to represent the school in the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad, providing them the training and material to master the problem-solving and answering skills required for the Olympiad. However, many students and parents alike worry if this is ample preparation for one of the fiercest mathematical competitions.

It can be difficult to prepare for the Maths Olympiad as there are no textbook answers like in the regular O-levels. That said, there are resources and past-year papers from the Olympiad that can help your child familiarise themselves with the answering format and required concepts. It is important to consider that if your child is in Secondary 1 or Secondary 3, they will be competing against students who are one level higher than them and thus have studied the syllabus for an additional year. As such, going through the school syllabus, even the topics they have not learnt yet, can help to put your child on par with their seniors.

Time management should also be a concern. In the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad, mastering the different types of questions is not enough – your child must also be capable of completing each paper within the time constraints. This makes it all the more important to practice so that your child will know each question like the back of their hand.

Does Math Tuition in Singapore Help My Child Score in Maths Olympiad?

Has your child been selected to represent their school in the Maths Olympiad? Congratulations! You may be wondering if it is necessary to start on A-math tuition in Singapore in preparation for this rigorous challenge.

Since the Olympiad syllabus and question format differs from the regular school syllabus, mastering the regular questions in Secondary and Primary Maths tuition may not be sufficient to prepare one for the Olympiad. While there are some tuition classes geared toward preparing students for the Maths Olympiad, we believe it is possible to achieve top scores as long as your child focuses on drilling themselves for the competition. Remember that the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad is intended to be difficult and challenging, so it is important not to get discouraged if a question proves too daunting. Hard work and perseverance is the key to success!

Deciding whether coding is right for your child can be a tricky matter, but by letting them learn to code, you’re giving them a head-start to a world full of opportunity and help them achieve their dreams. Here are 7 benefits why.

As a parent, you would want your kids to be able to succeed in life by having a great career and to be able to persevere in this wonderful yet complicated life on Earth. But how is success related to kids learning how to code? Experts suggest that getting kids enrolled to coding programmes at such a young age will help them think more logically and develop life-long skills such as problem-solving, visualisation, organisation, and even confidence. In fact, it’s a prime time for kids to absorb all kinds of information and they are smarter than you think.

This provides an edge to them in the long run when the world continues to evolve towards a more automated future. To understand more,  here are seven potential benefits of enrolling your child in a coding class in Singapore.

Technology today is so much more advanced than it was 20 years ago.

No discussion of our technological evolution would be complete without a nod to the ever-growing marvel that is the World Wide Web. And by teaching your kids about how technology used to be 20 years ago (and how it is today), they will have a better understanding of why we all need to care for the Internet. A coding class for kids will allow them to gain deeper insight into why technology should be nurtured with care, and how it will allow them to participate in a global economy.

Your kid will gain a vast amount of knowledge.

Our world is so interconnected that we can never really be far away from everything, from our friends, family, world events and even community issues. Getting your child enrolled in a coding programme will help them get a peek at some of the lesser-known (but very important) aspects of our community. You wouldn’t want your child to feel as if they are just another digital blob in the crowd. And getting them into the Coding Nation could prove to be the perfect way to inculcate the values of a “smart citizen”.

You’ll get them set for the future

I’m no psychologist but getting them into this learning programme at such an early age will help your kids to stay up-to-date with the latest trends, technology and future trends. The information will give them the confidence to tackle the real world and push for a career in technology. And Global Education is one of the best institutions that offer a coding class in Singapore.

It gives them exposure to a number of professions

You could point out that coding isn’t just about learning the language but it opens a pathway to endless careers that require IT knowledge. And that doesn’t include only programmers or software engineers, but also professional IT consultants, graphic designers, financial analysts, marketing specialists, and a lot more. As the demand for technology experts continue to grow, teaching your kids coding will only give them a better insight into what the future holds and what their aspirations will be.

It will help expand valuable skills such as logic, problem-solving, and organisational skills.

Getting them involved in coding classes will allow them to learn to solve their own problems and challenges. It will also help them to develop the habit of solving problems by thinking logically while getting them acquainted with problem-solving skills that are necessary for this modern age. It will be interesting to see how your kids would tackle the trickier task of solving a problem if given the flexibility to code it up in a different way. That will bring them closer to their target career, and give them better tools to help them grow in the future.

It could shape them into a conscientious and thoughtful citizen.

Computer science is the language of the future. But it also seems to be the language of today with more schools teaching the concepts of coding and helping kids be prepared for what’s ahead of them. As kids and teenagers continue to learn about the evolving nature of technology, it will also make them be more mindful of how impactful technology can play for society. This will help them gain a better understanding of how they can contribute to make our world a better place. In return, kids will foster a sense of empathy, teamwork and diplomacy as they get older.

Finally, it teaches them how to be resilient in the face of adversity.

Most believe that one of the most important lessons that we should teach children is how to deal with challenges and be more resilient when adversity is in the picture. One recommended option is to get them involved in the coding nation as it will offer them a sense of how to deal with any challenges thrown at their face. With experience and time, they will learn to handle their problems in a different manner and be more resilient. This will equip them with better coping skills to tackle life’s toughest situations.

Final Thoughts

As technology continues to disrupt, change and transform, kids need to have the skills and knowledge to cope with these changes. By allowing them to be exposed to coding, they will get a taste of what’s ahead in the world of technology and bring them into the 21st century. So it will be a win-win situation for all.

The importance of critical thinking skills has been gaining popularity over the past decade. Although formal education is beginning to promote critical thinking skills more extensively, for many of us, it has become more of a necessity in our everyday lives.

Kids should also develop these skills when learning English because it is an extremely useful tool for understanding the information more fluently and providing a way to evaluate sources and draw conclusions.

Having said that, this article will explore 7 important reasons why critical thinking skills can help your kid excel in primary and secondary English in Singapore. But before we get to that, you must first understand the meaning of critical thinking.

What are critical thinking skills?

Critical thinking is an important and useful skill that everyone must learn. And the best time to start is during school by engaging them in primary and secondary English. This is especially important because critical thinking isn’t limited to one field but it can be applied to anything we do and how increasingly useful it will be as we grow and learn.

Key areas that critical thinking skills should cover include reasoning, problem solving, critical analysis, exploration of alternative explanations, personal interpretation, and logical reasoning. At some point of time, everyone has got to think critically and it’s always best to teach kids how to think critically from an academic perspective like primary English and secondary English.

7 Important Reasons Why Critical Thinking Skills Is Important?

#1 Critical thinking skills are imperative for English language learners.

As a subject, English is an important language for kids to learn but one of the key reasons why some kids struggle with the subject is because they are unable to think critically or interpret from what they have read, heard or observed.

As teachers, they will need to infuse this skill trait into young learners so that they can think for themselves and derive meaning from it. This is one of the reasons why critical thinking skills are crucial for English language learners.

#2 Critical thinking skills help your kid understand the context and write better

How your kid writes or puts their writing through critical thinking skills can make a huge difference on how well they understand the material, in return, also help them to write better and clearer.

We can’t expect kids to master this skill right away but once they do, they will be able to summarize an argument accurately, locate the thesis of an argument, and provide evidence to support their thesis. This is the critical thinking skills that we want our kids to learn at an early stage and the better they get at it, the more they’ll learn to apply it to the rest of their life.

#3 Increased ability to synthesize and translate information

When kids read a book, they must learn how to  analyse the language, the vocabulary, and the sentence structure. That way, they will be able to make sense of the information and interpret them more clearly. Without a strong understanding, they would often sidetrack and have a difficult time understanding or comprehending the context.

Here, we can encourage young kids to read more on any book they love reading and justify them in their own sense. That way, the kids will become well-informed and confident readers and thinkers.

#4 Critical thinking skills aid critical reading and writing skills

Students and teachers alike agree that critical reading and writing skills are a good place to start when it comes to learning critical thinking skills. Critical reading and critical writing skills help us understand a book, article or an idea in a different way.

Critical thinking skills teach students to use their critical thinking skills to understand and evaluate text and literature. Critical thinking skills help us understand the stories and the subjects in a text, the way it was written and how it was arranged.

When kids get the ability to analyze texts better, they can develop greater comprehension, and deeper critical thinking skills. This way, they will be able to better identify themes in literature and choose appropriate texts for the student’s learning.

#5 Improved vocabulary skills

Sound reasoning and clear analysis of a text is the mark of a successful reader, a skill critical for success in reading and writing.

Yes, more than a language, language skills are a crucial component in a student’s daily learning process. And learning the ability to interpret the text is one of the key components of reading and writing that help children learn to read and write better.

#6 Increased ability to focus and evaluate English literature

Having great knowledge about what we read and why we read it helps us to understand more complex and interesting ideas. Reading great works of literature and understanding the context is critical for students to be able to write well and understand complex ideas. Thus, it is crucial that parents encourage reading of literature and encouraging kids to understand the culture and context of the world.

#7 Changes their point of view

By spending time reading and learning how to interpret the meaning in a text, kids would become very well versed in the subject and take a different perspective to whatever topic they are studying.

When it comes to applying this skill to something they are passionate about, it can even change their whole outlook on the world. It can help them develop a keen insight into how things work and what it means to live in the world.

Critical thinking is important in order to understand the world around us. It is important to be able to interpret and understand things by studying the details and context in every issue, from economics, politics, medicine, sociology and more.

Conclusion

These are some of the most relevant reasons as to why critical thinking skills are important in reading and writing during primary English and secondary English. The same skills can be applied to subjects like science and mathematics. Children should not be dependent on adults to tell them what is a fact or a lie. They should be able to identify the facts in books and determine the validity of certain claims. This will make them become better researchers, creative thinkers and analytical writers.

For many parents, tuition is probably the default go-to option at the first sight of failing grades. Many are the recommendations from friends, family and peers on the best tutors and tuition groups that are a sure-win for any student. Acclaimed tutors have their schedules fully packed with students whose eager parents see them off to tuition every week. After every test and exam, students bring their papers home, where their parents and tutors pore over their improving grades…or so they say.

However, this raises the question: is tuition really the answer to scoring well in Primary Maths? Is attending tuition the magic catalyst that will guarantee good grades, or is it just a placebo? Well, let’s look at how tuition can help and the situations in which it may be less useful.

How Does Tuition Help?

Some parents swear by tuition to help a failing child. There have been countless reports of students who did extremely poorly in their prelims, only to bounce back from the brink with the aid of a good tutor – and move on to scoring a clean slate of As in PSLE. Although such a miracle is probably every parent’s dream, it requires plenty of hard work behind the scenes. After all, it is ultimately the student who is sitting for the examinations, not their tutors or teachers. Even if they undergo intensive practice under the guidance of a tutor, the most important ingredient to excelling in PSLE Maths is to study hard and be willing to learn.

The key to making the most out of tuition classes is not to overload them on your child, but to use them to supplement your child’s learning. Sometimes, less is more – a few quality sessions might help your child retain more information than a fully packed schedule of classes. Finding the right tutor and class style is also paramount to helping your child get the most out of their class. It is important to establish a good tutor-student relationship, where the student feels comfortable enough around their tutor to ask questions and seek clarification, and the tutor is able to explain so that the student can understand. Some tuition classes are held in groups, which different students may or may not prefer. It all comes down to your child’s learning style – if you are able to find a great tuition setting for your child to thrive in, tuition can really give them a leg up on their exams.

That being said, we believe that tuition alone is not the magic solution to solving everything. A child can be attending the best tuition classes with the most accredited tutors, but if they do not have the motivation to learn and improve, the tuition fees and time spent would have gone to waste. Additionally, the lack of access to tuition should not be a barrier to scoring good grades. With the right attitude and sufficient practice, any child can unlock their potential and achieve top scores in the PSLE.

Tackling PSLE Maths Without Tuition

Tuition may not always be an option for everyone, nor should it be a requirement to excel at Primary Maths. If you do not have the luxury of sending your child to tuition, what are some ways in which you can support your child throughout their journey in Primary Maths?

Revise with Your Child

It can mean the world to your child if you sit by their side and take part in their revision. Even if you are not familiar with the subject or topics they are studying, making the small effort to acquaint yourself with their syllabus can be a great confidence booster. What’s more, you can sit through e-lessons together and quiz your child on the concepts they have just learned to reinforce their knowledge!

Play Educational Games with Your Child

Educational games do a great job in reinforcing new concepts without being a chore. When children are able to engage themselves in something fun and exciting to supplement their learning, they are then better able to internalise new concepts. In addition, educational games can help your child to understand difficult topics better. For instance, if your child has problems understanding money, playing some board games such as Monopoly can help your child to learn how money works in a practical situation.

Point Out Real-World Applications of Primary Maths

The textbook syllabus may seem as if it has no place in the real world when a child is first learning it. This may cause them to wonder if it is really all that important to pay attention to their Maths lessons. Often, students who are struggling with Maths become disheartened and lose motivation if they do not see how it can be useful to them when they grow up. As we know, however, there are countless ways in which Maths can be applied to the real world, from percentages in discounts to real-life word problems. The best way to show your child the usefulness of Maths is to point out real-life applications of the topics they have learned!

Vocabulary makes up an important part of the Primary English syllabus. From cloze passages to comprehension passages and essays, students are expected to have built up a sizeable vocabulary by the time they are in Primary Six. An extensive vocabulary not only increases students’ coherence when expressing themselves, but also adds colour and flair to one’s writing. It is never too late for your child to pick up some new words to add to their vocabulary collection – they only have to start now!

Read Widely

Is your child an avid reader, or has it been forever since they picked a book up? One of the most sure-fire ways to improve one’s vocabulary is to read widely. Don’t just stick to one or two genres, either – be sure to choose a variety of works, including fiction and non-fiction, factual articles and narratives, newspapers and books, and even prose and poetry. It is also a good idea to read from a variety of contexts and authors. Different writers have a different arsenal of vocabulary, and different words are used in varying contexts. For example, some words and phrases are more archaic and usually only used in older contexts, while others are more colloquial and spoken more often by modern youngsters. Knowing this can equip your child with the vocabulary needed to write in different styles. By exposing your child to a good selection of works, they can learn numerous sets of vocabulary to be used in any situation.

Keep a Vocabulary Journal

Coming across new vocabulary is one thing, but these words can easily be forgotten especially if the mind simply glosses over them because they are unfamiliar. If one does not keep a record of the words they have not yet learned, these words may be lost as time goes by.

For maximum learning, have your child keep a notebook and a dictionary close by while they read. Whenever they come across a word or phrase that they do not understand, have them look it up in the dictionary, and then write the word and its definition in the notebook. In this way, your child gets to practice writing the word immediately, and also have a handy compilation of all the new words they have learned. As such, it is easy to refer back to their word list and look through their stash of new vocabulary as and when it is needed.

Practice Using New Words

As the old adage goes, practice makes perfect. One can memorise an entire dictionary, but it will do no good if they do not know how to use the vocabulary they have learned. Additionally, PSLE English consists of closed-book papers, so students are not allowed to look up the usage of any words. To be able to effectively use new vocabulary, one has to practice using it in their everyday life and get comfortable with it. If they are not already doing it, encourage your child to cultivate the habit of writing daily. They do not have to be writing tons of essays – even keeping a simple diary or journal about their daily life can help to reinforce their writing ability and vocabulary usage. You can also get your child to use new words in their everyday speech. Not only does this help them to learn the contexts in which to use the vocabulary they have learned, but it also boosts their oral skills and fluency.

Learn a New Word Every Day

Cramming a whole dictionary’s worth of vocabulary overnight is not going to leave your child remembering much. It is much easier to remember words by taking them one step at a time, or in our context, one word a day. Many online dictionaries have a “word of the day” where they introduce a less-known word, its definition, and its usage. This can be a great place to start if you are not sure where to begin. Alternatively, you could pick out a few more challenging words for your child, and teach them one new word each day. Be sure to incorporate the word into your everyday life so that your child will know how to use it by heart.

Learn Frequently Used Words First

On top of learning vocabulary from various contexts, many educators maintain that language is best learned the more frequently it is used. This means that instead of going for some obscure, archaic vocabulary used only in a different neck of the woods, it is easier and more beneficial to learn words that are frequently used in one’s everyday life. For example, a foreigner can pick up Singlish phrases much easier when they hear them in the marketplace and hawker centres every day, as compared to studying a list of dialect words that are almost never used locally. The same goes for new vocabulary. Just by learning the most common words used in our daily context, students will gain an extensive enough vocabulary to express themselves with ease!

If you have a child enrolled in primary school, chances are you will have heard of the Gifted Education Program – a fabled opportunity for your child to advance to greater heights. Perhaps you are the proud parent of a student who has already been selected for this program, or maybe you are simply looking to find out more about this program. Before diving in headfirst and making a decision, here is everything you should know about the Gifted Education Program.

What are the Screening and Selection Tests?

The first test in August is a screening exercise meant to extract potential candidates for the GEP. In this screening test, students will take two papers to assess their intellectual aptitude, one in English and the other in Mathematics. Those who do well on this screening test will then move on to the selection test that takes place in October. The selection test includes the third paper alongside English and Mathematics – General Ability. The top percentage of students in this selection test will then be officially invited to enroll in the GEP in the next academic year.

How did the GEP Come About?

First introduced in 1984, the GEP was conceived as an enrichment program catering to a widening mix of learning aptitudes. It was originally meant for both primary and secondary school students, with screening tests being conducted in Primary 3 and Primary 6. However, the GEP in secondary schools saw a decline in enrolment when the Integrated Program (IP) was introduced in 2004. As such, the GEP was discontinued for secondary schools and is only available for Primary 4 to 6 students today.

To prepare for the rigorous curriculum, a selected few primary and secondary school teachers were tasked to undergo special training to teach GEP-qualified students. The first batch of 40,000 Primary 3 students sat for their screening tests in September 1983, of which only the top 100 were chosen to be the pioneers of the primary school GEP beginning in January 1984. The two schools selected to pilot this program were Rosyth School and Raffles Girls’ Primary School.

For the secondary school program, candidates were chosen based on their PSLE grades – they had to have scored a minimum of three A-stars to be invited to sit for the screening tests. Again, just the top 100 students in the screening tests were offered a place in the GEP for secondary school, commencing their classes in January 1984 at Raffles Institution and Raffles Girls’ Secondary School.

Should I Train My Child For GEP?

It is important to consider that the GEP is not for everyone. Since the screening and selection tests are meant to assess a child’s natural ability, the Ministry of Education has recommended against enrolling your child in a preparation course to pass the GEP placement tests. Some students may need a small boost to unlock their intellectual gifts, but it is advisable to keep in mind that the GEP regimen is mentally taxing and can be stressful to students who qualified for GEP with training instead of natural potential. While GEP can be a prestigious status, it is still a small part of a child’s journey. Rest assured that every child has a different path to success and will flourish in their own time.

As the trend of coding classes in Singapore rises, you may be thinking of signing your child up for some as well. Before deciding which class to send your child to, it is important to consider the different coding languages your child can learn. Depending on the coding language they are practicing, your child can learn to make different types of software for different platforms, such as mobile applications, websites, or even artificial intelligence systems. This is a great accomplishment to put on your child’s portfolio and can broaden their career prospects depending on the language they learn. Additionally, some coding languages are easier to learn than others. Choosing the right coding language for your child can make a difference in whether they grow to love coding or end up dreading it.

Although programming languages are often simply grouped under the umbrella of coding, there are actually hundreds of different languages one can learn. Coding languages are just like natural human languages in that each one is used to communicate with a different type of computer system. To be able to code a program that can run on a certain system, you will have to learn the same language that that computer understands.

Coding languages vary widely in difficulty level. For beginners, especially young children, it is good to start with a simpler coding language to get a grasp on the concept before moving on to more complicated languages. As such, these are the common programming languages widely taught in coding schools in Singapore, which are easy for children to pick up and understand.

Scratch

Scratch is an educational tool meant to teach kids – or anyone! – to code. Developed by Mitch Resnick and patented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it features an intuitive visual interface with drag-and-drop functionality. Kids can drag their desired command to the editor and see its effect on animating a friendly cartoon sprite. The editor allows them to chain commands together, essentially programming an animation in its most basic form. As they progress to more advanced levels, kids can even start programming simple games! Scratch is free and has a large online community of educators and learners.

Blockly

Created by Google, Blockly is another visual programming tool similar to Scratch. As its name suggests, kids can drag and drop blocks into an editor, linking them together to form a sequence of commands. Instead of visualising the effects on a cartoon sprite, however, Blockly will translate these visual blocks into actual code for the popular programming languages of JavaScript, Python, PHP, Lua and Dart. This makes Blockly a great transitioning tool for kids to progress from visual block commands to text-based programming languages. Additionally, the clean design of Blockly, as compared to Scratch’s more cartoonish appearance, may be more appealing to older children.

Python

The perfect graduation language from block-based coding tools, Python is often the first text-based programming language that new coders are introduced to because it is easy to pick up. It is also extremely versatile and can be used to program practically anything – well-known platforms made using Python include Google, Spotify and Instagram. Python has plenty of libraries for data science and artificial intelligence, another growing trend in today’s technological world. If your child is interested in these areas, exploring Python may be a good start to help them learn more about data analysis – an invaluable skill in the technological field.

JavaScript

JavaScript is a popular language for web development. Like Python, it is a great beginner language for coders who are just starting out. JavaScript focuses more on front-end website development, and also features a wide variety of libraries to create just about anything on a webpage. JavaScript is used on almost every website out there. It is an important language to know if your child has any interest in making websites. Despite its wide use in websites, JavaScript can also be used to code games and work with other applications. The great thing about JavaScript is that you do not need to install anything to code with it. Simply open any text editor and start coding!

Lua

Another beginner-friendly language, Lua (pronounced Loo-ah) is often used to create plugins and modifications for games because it is easy to integrate into other applications. Well-known applications that use Lua include Adobe Photoshop, World of Warcraft, and Angry Birds. Lua has a growing online community with an increasing interest in the language. If your child is interested in creating scripts for games, Lua is a great option to look into. Roblox, a game platform popular with kids, also uses a modified version of Lua to create scripts. As such, kids will be able to create their own games on Roblox by learning to code in Lua.