We received the "dreaded" English & Chinese spelling list 2 weeks ago. For those who know about my complains on DinoBoy's spelling list in his child care centre (you can read about it here and here) last year, you know I detest spelling. When DinoBoy passed me the lists on different days, I was going "Oh shit!" inside me. However, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders when I looked at the list *phew*.
I had a chance to speak to DinoBoy's child care teacher when we went back to pick up some stuffs from them last week. I mentioned to her about the spelling lists and she said the centre prepared their curriculum in such a way that the kids are 6 months in advance then most of the other kids. So I'm a little bit relieve and more forgiving then the time I had to go through the spelling with DinoBoy last year. I'm glad that they drilled the kids with the more difficult words and teaching phonics slightly earlier then some child care centres. I now appreciates more on the hard work the centre put in to prepare the kids for primary school. The centre is truly a blessing to us and we are very lucky to be able to enroll DinoBoy in this centre some 6 years ago.
Looking at the lists again, for the English spelling he could easily spell them out using phonics. I'm a little bit unsure about the Chinese spelling though since they are test on hanyupinyin with the tones instead of Chinese character. I am not sure DinoBoy's strength in hanyupinyin let alone adding the tones to the equation. Well, he will have his spelling this week, let's see how he fare when the teachers return them for our signature.
Looking at the lists again, for the English spelling he could easily spell them out using phonics. I'm a little bit unsure about the Chinese spelling though since they are test on hanyupinyin with the tones instead of Chinese character. I am not sure DinoBoy's strength in hanyupinyin let alone adding the tones to the equation. Well, he will have his spelling this week, let's see how he fare when the teachers return them for our signature.
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For the next few weeks I will be sharing our experience on our preparation for DinoBoy's Primary One. I hope it will serve as a useful guide to parents when its their time to get their child ready for the new journey and have an idea how Parent Volunteer works.
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Glad to see the P1 spelling list is not as challenging yet. I'm sure Z will be able to cope with Spelling & Ting Xie in school.
ReplyDeleteLet's see how he fare =)
DeletePersonally, I don't think very much of the mentality that "harder and faster is better" for our kids. Very soon, the P1 spelling list is not going to be so easy any more because more and more kindys and childcares will be coming on this route to over prepare our children for P1.
ReplyDeleteI shudder to think of the long term consequences this might have on our children's education and the society as a whole. There's always something that would have to be compromised in this race, perhaps things intangible, things we could not see now or put our fingers to, but would reveal itself in some other ways as the society evolve.
I guess the gov still has a say on the primary school syllabus, perhaps it will not get any more difficult then it is.
DeleteOf course there are always casualties and consequences when there are any major changes. We just hope that every thing will turn out better in future.
But thanks for sharing the spelling list. I enjoy reading your post about all that's happening in primary school these days. And I'm glad the teachers are able to set a standard that would be comfortable for most students at this stage. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoy reading them. I hope this will make some parents relax a little bit and don't push their kids too much to learn too many things or more advance stuffs then their actual age. Kids need to play too.
Deletewow, big difference between this and the K2 lists!!!!! The HYPY part, I am not even sure of where to put the tonation mark for the yin :p
ReplyDeleteYou better learn now so that next time you can coach her!
DeleteHow about we "test" if Z remembers and get him to coach me? :p
DeleteCongratulation on your relief:). Z will sail through P1.
ReplyDeletePC, sail through for spelling perhaps, still have other subjects to think about :D
DeleteSuch a big change from our time - now they learn HYPY first... also caught my attention that the chinese sheets became very kiam chye hor? :P
ReplyDeleteAye! You saw that!!! hahaha~ I gave him a folder to keep all these pieces of paper/homework/letters but he forgot to put the Chinese spelling list inside. He simply just stuff them into the bag and so the kiam chye look lah.
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