There and Back Again

The school term is ending and my son has received all his test results. You might have noticed that I said test and not examinations. Primary One students sit for tests that are spread out over the entire semester, and I guess this is the school's way of not stressing these young kids.  Overall, I cannot complain too much about his results. They are quite alright. I have to emphasise (especially to my dear wife) that having a great Primary One result does not mean anything. No teacher will ask for his Primary One results and no employer will ask for his Primary One progress card. My wife is in contact with some mothers who are ridiculously "kiasu". They will discretely ask around for test results. One of them was even checking if her son scored well for a health and physical fitness MCQ test in comparison with other students! Seriously. Anyway, back to my son's results. I am happy with his results, but I think he lacks basic examination skills. He is very car...

I thought hard about whether to include this in the blog - it is, after all, a negative reflection on my son. Do I want this memory to be recorded down for prosperity? After some thinking, I decided to include it, but I will not emphasise this entry in social media. If you are reading this, it means you are probably somebody who reads my blog quite often! Last week was my son's Math Amodes (which stands for alternate mode of assessment). To me, an alternate mode of assessment is something non-traditional, like project work, presentation, scrapbook, etc. But in Catholic High, it is still a pen and paper test - not very alternative is it?. It is like calling Madonna an alternative singer. But, anyway. My wife spent some time helping my son prepare for it. She went through the Math files and even got an assessment book so that he can have more practice. By the time he sat for the test, he was very ready for it. As usual, I was waiting for him along the corridor when I saw him cr...

Cover Page of STELLAR Unit 6. STELLAR stands for Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading. The programme is designed specifically for Singapore children by Singapore teachers. It was rolled out in 2006 and after nine years, all the primary schools use for all levels. STELLAR is an instructional programme and not a syllabus, and therefore it offers materials and strategies rather than an outline of teaching outcomes. As a result, some parents complain that it seems unstructured. However, from what I can see, there is a certainly a pattern that only an experienced teacher can detect. There are elements of explicit grammar instruction (like the lessons taught traditionally). But wrapped around these basics are stories that interest the kids instead of the boring old textbooks during our time. How does STELLAR work? I will focus on STELLAR at the lower primary levels since that is where my son is studying. There are three stages - Shared Book Approach (SBA), Modi...

Recently, Lucas' spelling marks dropped. From my own analysis, the problem is that I did not ask him to write it down. Instead I just relied on him speaking the letters out loud. Actually, it is pretty silly of me. Whenever I test my students, I always insist that they write down all the answers. They always protest, but I always tell them that it is for their own good. If the test is written, then the retrieval must be in written form. Then I always give the analogy that if all they want to do is to speak the answer, then it would be like a runner just imagining the race instead of really going for practise runs. The irony of it, not following my own advice. At the same time, I am still not happy with the school's theme-based spelling. After some research, some sources say that theme-based spelling lists must also include the etymology of the word. I am still not convinced. I am not sure that a six-year old really understands what is etymology. By the way, for the non En...

Captain America Shield. Made by the dad. Our usual night time schedule is actually not too ideal for my son. He sleeps too late, and I feel that he does not get enough sleep sometimes. Unfortunately for him, both my wife and my schedule does not really allow for early sleep times like 8pm or even 9pm. I work till 8.30pm and my wife sometimes works even later. This is because she works for a transnational company and needs to have conference calls with her European and American counter-parts. Fortunately, these calls can be taken at home. As a result, he usually sleeps around 10.30pm; though sometimes it extends to 10.45pm. This is something we need to address next year when he enters primary one. Even though the current situation is not good, I guess all of us have to adjust. We do try to let him sleep until the very last possible minute before waking him up for school. One of thing bad habits my son has is watching too much iPad. At least I think it is too much; though he obv...

The last weekend was spent at F1 with my son. My wife had refused to come with us, so it was just the two of us. It was my son’s first live F1. Actually it was mine too. I never really fancied watching F1 live – firstly, I watched the Macau Grand Prix before and motorsports was never my thing and secondly, I always thought that F1 wasn’t that exciting.  It only turned exciting when there was a crash.  Nevertheless, my son was quite enthusiastic, so I brought the tickets. Of course one of the objectives of bringing my son there was because of entertainment. He had always been fascinated with cars since young, despite the fact that his dad was not a car fanatic. So he was excited whenever he saw sporty cars on the road (he must be extremely disappointed that my car came original without any changes at all and looked like a typical sedan car). But back in my mind, I wanted to expose him to different experiences – travelling, exhibitions etc. From my own experience as a teache...