Congratulations to Victoria Ng for obtaining 73% for her PSLE Math Prelim Paper as compared to just 43% for her P6 Math SA1. This is also the first time she has passed Math in P6.
Although she was a comparatively weak Math student, I allowed her to join my Sat morning Challenging PSLE Math Programme for Medium to High Ability Students as I believe that most students will benefit from the exposure to the tough questions that I give.
I adopt a metacognitive approach in all my teaching, making students think about their own solutions and making them compare their solutions with those of others and my own. In this way, they will learn the most efficient method to solve a particular type of problem. They will also learn about their natural way of thinking, and how the latter may not be the best approach for some problems.
Metacognitive P5 Science Tuition
For our latest timetable, click here => 
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ORIGINAL POST(OUTDATED):
I conduct P5 Science tuition every Friday 4pm to 5.30pm at blk 627, bukit batok central. $100 per mth. Max 8 students. Yesterday’s lesson was on the human circulatory system. My emphasis is on thinking, process skills, application and metacognition. You can view my resume at https://singaporelearner.com/
You can sms or call me at 97860411 for more details. Thank you.
My personal views on the changes to the education system (PSLE, DSA) announced at NDR 2013
I was interviewed by the media yesterday about my views. Since the televised version of it is just one minute, I will write my full answers here plus extra perspectives. : )
Q1. How was it like when you had to register your child for P1?
Although my wife is an alumnus of a popular school, we decided to send our girls to a nearby school instead. We were disappointed that even though we live less than 1 km from the school, we still had to participate in balloting. Although our children did get into the school, it would be quite stressful if they didn’t. To me, children who live less than 1 km from a school should be given a higher priority to enter that school than children whose parents are simply alumni.
Q2. What do you think of the changes introduced?
I think the changes introduced are too minor and vague to make any significant impact on the education system here, if the intention was to reduce stress in the system. If the intention was to have a greater diversity of student backgrounds in a school, the impact will still be minimal. For example, what if there are more than 40 students with no prior connections to a school wanting to go to that school which is near their home? 40 places is not a lot. As for DSA, higher-income parents will be able to groom their children to have some sporting or artistic talent. As for good character or resilience being a consideration for DSA, it is very subjective; students can also be pretentious and parents can force their children to undergo activities that show or document that they have good character or desired personal attributes.
Q3. As a parent, how stressful is PSLE for you?
Because both my wife and I are educators, it is not very stressful for us as we are able to develop our kids academically ourselves. But this may not be the case for other parents, especially those who are not teachers or tutors.
Q4. How do you think the change to PSLE scoring will impact the way children learn?
Not much. Just because I won’t be able to know whether my child gets 235, 265 or 266, it doesn’t mean I will not push them to get 4 A-stars. Parents still want their children to get the best grades.
Q5. As an educator, what are your thoughts on the option to do higher level subjects in Sec 1?
It’s still quite vague what the subjects are that students can do. Apparently, it’s only for Normal stream students to do an Express subject, not for Express stream students to do a higher level subject. It may be good for some able students, but just because you have done well in some previous exam it doesn’t mean you are ready to do a more rigorous subject.
Q6. How will the change to DSA impact your child’s preparation for Secondary School?
Hardly any. Personally, I don’t like a backdoor method of entry to a school. If I want my child to enter a top school, I want her to be intellectually ready to compete with other top students.
Q7. Is it realistic to move towards a “every school is a good school” reality in Singapore?
It will take some time to convince parents that every school is a good school. In the first place, the term “good school” is problematic. What exactly constitutes a good school? I think the government contradicts itself by saying that “every school is a good school”, yet it wants to preserve the notion of “top schools”. So there are good schools and there are top schools. So as a parent, why should I not push my child to get into a top school rather than a good school? What will be more obvious to the public is, all schools are good schools, but some are better than others.
My interview will be aired tomorrow at 9pm in VoicesTODAY. I think it will be repeated on Saturday at 5.30pm, and I was told it would also be available on Youtube.
Unlimited Tuition Pass …
Some of my existing students are so weak in their Math or Physics that they have to come thrice in a week. For such students I have also offered to them an unlimited tuition pass, with no additional fees. So students at Singapore Learner who have paid to come for at least thrice a week can actually come as many as times as they want, since exams are so near and some of them also can’t study elsewhere due to the presence of distractions.
I think some S4 and S5 students who have not revised their work are also not benefitting academically from attending school nowadays, especially if the school keeps giving mock exam papers and just briefly going through the answers. Such students would need intensive topical revision, not the doing of more and more exam papers. But I understand that the school has to cater to the needs of the majority. But I wonder if such students would be allowed to skip school and go somewhere else to study at their own pace, or with their tutors instead.
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
59 days (abt 8 weeks) to the PSLE
70 days (10 weeks) to the N-Levels
84 days (12 weeks) to the O-Levels
101 days (abt 14 weeks) to the A-Levels
Yay, my student finally passed her Sec 2 Math
I have a tutee from Crescent Girls’ who has not been passing her math tests since the middle of her sec 1 year. After one lesson I knew her main problem was doing Algebra. So we had been focusing on Algebra, especially Algebraic Fractions, for the last few months and the effort has paid off. Two topics important for lower sec students to master are Algebra and Indices.
I’ve said elsewhere and here I will say it again – If your Algebra is bad you need not attend Math lessons anymore in secondary school.
Every pre-primary child should attend kindergarten
I’ve recently had the privilege of interviewing two needy students under my free tuition scheme. One is in P6 and the other in Sec 1. Both have done badly in school from P1 to P6, and both did not attend kindergarten.
I wonder if parents are aware that the academic standard of our P1 level is quite high. P1 has not been designed to teach a child the English alphabet or the Numbers 1 to 10 for the first time. BEFORE a child enters P1 he must already know how to spell ‘apple’ and be able to understand simple English instructions. He must also already know the numerals 1 to 10 and is able to do simple addition and subtraction. These things are learnt in good kindergartens and some kindergartens teach even further than those.
Thus a child who has not attended kindergarten will be quite ‘lost’ in P1. He may be placed in the school’s Learning Support Programme but this only means he is singled out and stigmatized from a very young age. More likely than not, such children will perform poorly throughout their primary school years, end up in the foundation classes for PSLE, and in a way become destined for the Normal (Tech) stream in secondary school.
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TUITION CLASSES:
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EDUCATIONAL SERVICES:
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By EX-MOE TEACHERS & EXPERIENCED TUTORS
@ BLK 644, BUKIT BATOK CENTRAL, #01-68. S(650644).
CALL 65694897 OR SMS 98530744 OR 97860411.
Mixed feelings during relief teaching
I’m now in the staff room of a school in the north, during a break in relief teaching for the day, to cover the work of a Physics teacher. I still enjoy teaching in schools, seeing students clowning about and teachers cracking jokes now and then, and of course, the free parking.
But it saddens me when, at the end of a lesson, the students ask me if i’m coming back to teach them again, or if I can replace their regular teacher. It’s not that I’m such an outstanding teacher; I just do what I thought all teachers should do in class, such as giving real life examples, doing demonstrations, injecting humour now and then, and finally drawing their attention to what the examiners would always look out for in their answer papers.
It has happened just too many times, this thing about students asking me whether I can be their classroom teacher for the long term, that I’m beginning to wonder how many teachers in service are actually passionate about their jobs and possess the right mixture of attributes that can capture students’ attention and make them think about what they are learning. Sometimes, even my own tuition students ask me to teach in their schools.
I’m happy to know that I have the right teaching techniques and the personality to connect with students. But I can be sad thinking about how many students out there are wishing that they have a different teacher for whatever they are learning right now. I’m sure there is a sizeable number of good teachers out there, but perhaps it’s still not enough for the around 30 000 students in every cohort.
Just because you are highly educated in a certain field, it does not mean that you are able to transfer that knowledge to others. So to aspiring teachers out there, please do not enter teaching because (1) it is a stable job, or (2) it gives you many holidays, or (3) you think it is an easy job, or (4) you want free parking, or (5) a job near your home, or (6) you want cheap food. Of course, nothing wrong with all these perks(I myself enjoyed most of these for 3 years), but you should make sure that you possess the right mixture of knowledge, temperament and communication skills for the job. Teachers are the most powerful people on earth; they have influenced leaders like Obama and even Hitler, and others you have not yet come under.
I need another part/full-time admin assistant
Hi there.
My current admin assistant cum tutor will be enrolling in a uni course soon, so she can only work a few days a week. However, my business and work are expanding so I’d need another admin assistant very soon (if you can tutor as well that would be a bonus).
You should preferably be someone who is staying in Bukit Batok or nearby. You should possess at least a PSLE cert (because it is possible that you are bright but only have a PSLE cert, such as ex-IP students), and can write/type (you’d have to type letters and emails) and speak good English (you’d have to answer the phone). The only Math you’d need to know is arithmetic and percentages (this is true of most jobs, so why are students asked to learn a lot of things in Math?). Anyway, you can use a calculator in my office, so no drawings of models or number bonds please. : )
If you have at least an A-Level cert I might ask you to help me out with tutoring, so please don’t tell me you are afraid of children and teens. My home office is in a HDB flat, so if you bother about prestige don’t bother applying. The tuition rooms are air-conditioned but the office is not, and I’ll only cool the whole flat if the haze returns.
In general, you’d be taking students’ attendance, collect fees, update simple accounting records, looking up the internet for information, updating my website and doing simple marketing. Because Singapore Learner is a small business, we’d all have to multi-task. I’m not interested in your experience as I am in your resourcefulness.
The working days, hours and times can all be negotiated. I’m open to all possibilities, including that of hiring full-time staff. Your work place is very near West Mall, the Bt Batok bus interchange as well as the MRT station.
If you think you can work with me, please send your resume/CV to principal@singaporelearner.com.
There is no perfect job, or perfect boss or perfect employee. We just do what has to be done. (I don’t know why many job advertisements list a whole lot of qualities that a candidate must possess, but when I walk into the buildings of these organisations, I don’t see the kind of people that their job ads are supposed to attract).