School selection?
- Thread starter Oppsgal
- Start date
hmm....all govt-schools in SG, all teachers (except for mother tongue teachers) adhere to EL mode of communication when comes to teaching.
teachers and students are not the only factors to consider. There are other internal and external factors that you have to take into consideration to ensure that the child picks up good command of EL.
Eg:
frequent oral/written practice at home,
lang. people use in the presence of the child,
setting up of home environment (like EL books for the child, EL tv prog)
IMHO, it is not to fair to put the sole responsibility on schools, school friends and teachers in educating our children to learn EL. A good foundation starts from home.
teachers and students are not the only factors to consider. There are other internal and external factors that you have to take into consideration to ensure that the child picks up good command of EL.
Eg:
frequent oral/written practice at home,
lang. people use in the presence of the child,
setting up of home environment (like EL books for the child, EL tv prog)
IMHO, it is not to fair to put the sole responsibility on schools, school friends and teachers in educating our children to learn EL. A good foundation starts from home.
Well it depends if your HB and you speak mostly in English.
If our English language is not good, it is better not to speak broken English to the kid. I rather choose a school that my kid can speaks and converse in English, so can have best of the two languages.
It depends on the 'social status' of the school. If most of the children in the school come from english speaking families, they will basically converse mostly in english with their friends.
From the different schools I've taught in, mostly mission schools have stronger english foundation because of the family background of most of the students there. They usually come from english speaking families and will tend to speak english to their friends. Drawback is their chinese is poor. So if you send your child to such schools, be prepared that chinese might take a backseat and you will need to put in more effort to boost chinese.
BTW, there are alot of govt schools with teachers who use singlish/broken english too. There are some teachers who are chinese educated but teach subjects which are taught in english, so end up with 'broken english' teaching the lesson. Not the teacher's fault cos they are chinese educated.
And I agree, good foundation starts from home, but they also pick up alot from school. tt's y i enrol my son in a playgroup where they have indian teachers and china teachers so tt he gets fair exposure to both languages without much singlish
From the different schools I've taught in, mostly mission schools have stronger english foundation because of the family background of most of the students there. They usually come from english speaking families and will tend to speak english to their friends. Drawback is their chinese is poor. So if you send your child to such schools, be prepared that chinese might take a backseat and you will need to put in more effort to boost chinese.
BTW, there are alot of govt schools with teachers who use singlish/broken english too. There are some teachers who are chinese educated but teach subjects which are taught in english, so end up with 'broken english' teaching the lesson. Not the teacher's fault cos they are chinese educated.
And I agree, good foundation starts from home, but they also pick up alot from school. tt's y i enrol my son in a playgroup where they have indian teachers and china teachers so tt he gets fair exposure to both languages without much singlish
CanCanMum
Moderator
All schools in singapore uses English Language to teach, except mother tongue lessons. Singlish or not, i dunno.....but i oso speak Singlish (ley)....jialatz!
None of us speaks english at home~becoz ~i dunno.....not a habit...maybe coz my parents are both chinese educated (olden days) and my DH's english is singlish.....so beta dun...hahahhaa!
My boy is speaking english now, he is picking up in school...maybe becoz his teacher is Malay? So Malay = No singlish....hahahha
If u r worried u can enrol yr kid to for Proper English Lessons at the British Council? I intend to do so when he reaches Primary one or two. So far i have good impression of their teaching standards.
CanCanMum
Moderator
ok ley~ coz last time got one girl in my class speaks and writes so good english ley~ and shes from british council de worh~Wah Cancan.... U want your kid to speak in Queen's English in Pri 1.... POWER leh u.... later in life when he go NS also convert to Singlish one lah... haha!
i hope he can la....can, can mah....see how first la~ if got $ i sure send de~
singlish is a form of communication to the public pple to reduce awkwardness...lols~ for show nia~
see this video?
http://www.mummysg.com/forums/f70/singlish-funny-video-10595/
Daddy D
Alpha Male
I bet the same girl flunks her Chinese.... unless she's Diana Ser lah... pretty effectively bilingual ... left out the "AND" after pretty
Got $$ is one thing... whether the kid likes/enjoys it or not is another.
I think most of us as parents get caught in this... spend $$ on all these enrichment thingy... the kid's schedule all pack full full...
Parent - "Ah boy/Ah ger, u better learn something than to waste your time playing toys/PSP.... last time I no $$ that's y cannot learn ballet/piano/pilot/FI driver..."
Ah boy/Ah ger - "F#^$%&^@%$@...."
... left out the "AND" after pretty Got $$ is one thing... whether the kid likes/enjoys it or not is another.
I think most of us as parents get caught in this... spend $$ on all these enrichment thingy... the kid's schedule all pack full full...
Parent - "Ah boy/Ah ger, u better learn something than to waste your time playing toys/PSP.... last time I no $$ that's y cannot learn ballet/piano/pilot/FI driver..."
Ah boy/Ah ger - "F#^$%&^@%$@...."
CanCanMum
Moderator
i wonx send my boy to every or too many enrichment classes because i do not think at so young an age they should be stressed by a packed schedule. I prefer to let my son learn at a relaxed pace. It really depends on individuals.
sending him to British Council is the only one that i hope i can provide him with. Other than this one if he really likes other classes i will leave it to him to choose.
sending him to British Council is the only one that i hope i can provide him with. Other than this one if he really likes other classes i will leave it to him to choose.
Daddy D
Alpha Male
If relaxed pace.... later go Pri sch... streaming... end up last class... also die
obscurestloh
Member
sorry ah...abit insulting leh...
malay teacher = no singlish
so i am condemned as a teacher whose race is Chn!
just kidding...
I think for some of us, we are so used to speaking singlish, that we bring it to the classroom... yet again, if we have a "overly" angmoh teacher, the child might feel out of place.
there must be some kind of balance i suppose, being in a singaporean context.
don't worry too much about the language development.
like mentioned by some mommies, it is the homebackground plus school experience. if the emphasis on proper english is there, the child would be very aware of proper English!
and like mentioned by another...for a boy, if he speaks the Queens ...enters army, same thing lah... else kena laughed at by friends.
I was once teased by friends for having poor english (as family was cheena background and i went to an all girls school)...then when i was in poly, i got teased at for having too overly proper english....well i managed to strike a balance, had a good job.... because i can speak properly yet can use singlish to work well with colleagues...
then now as a teacher...the lessons learnt are still with me. I know when to switch to singlish for fun ...and to use proper english as a model for my students...and hopefully my son picks up the same habits in future !
ancing_tongue:
malay teacher = no singlish
so i am condemned as a teacher whose race is Chn!
just kidding...I think for some of us, we are so used to speaking singlish, that we bring it to the classroom... yet again, if we have a "overly" angmoh teacher, the child might feel out of place.
there must be some kind of balance i suppose, being in a singaporean context.
don't worry too much about the language development.
like mentioned by some mommies, it is the homebackground plus school experience. if the emphasis on proper english is there, the child would be very aware of proper English!
and like mentioned by another...for a boy, if he speaks the Queens ...enters army, same thing lah... else kena laughed at by friends.
I was once teased by friends for having poor english (as family was cheena background and i went to an all girls school)...then when i was in poly, i got teased at for having too overly proper english....well i managed to strike a balance, had a good job.... because i can speak properly yet can use singlish to work well with colleagues...
then now as a teacher...the lessons learnt are still with me. I know when to switch to singlish for fun ...and to use proper english as a model for my students...and hopefully my son picks up the same habits in future !
ancing_tongue:
obscurestloh
Member
wah, Daddy D...do u feel stressed talking to the wife?
does she pronounce "flour" like "flower"? cos USA tends to do it that way...
in phonetics, flower got /au/ sound...so if the "W" is being exaggerated, it is very awkward and yeah...wrong...but i think if u don't overdo it, and people understand u, it is alright..
how do you pronounce water?
i have heard "wah ter"...that one, super "wah piang"!
oh yeah, i must add on, and emphasize, i am using phonetics hor...not phonics ah!
different !
does she pronounce "flour" like "flower"? cos USA tends to do it that way...
in phonetics, flower got /au/ sound...so if the "W" is being exaggerated, it is very awkward and yeah...wrong...but i think if u don't overdo it, and people understand u, it is alright..
how do you pronounce water?
i have heard "wah ter"...that one, super "wah piang"!
oh yeah, i must add on, and emphasize, i am using phonetics hor...not phonics ah!
different !
obscurestloh
Member
oh yeah. got one more...
must ask ur wife: wednesday...
how to say?
must ask ur wife: wednesday...
how to say?
Daddy D
Alpha Male
Haha! Not stressed talking to my wife lah....My english not TAT bad ok... my sis also teaches english in private sch... TELL me abt it....
later I go ask her abt "wednesday"....
Only thing is my gal's english is better than her chinese... I'm supposed to be teaching her chinese at home... but then... my wife's chinese also better than mine... she reads the chinese papers... I don't! HAHA!
later I go ask her abt "wednesday"....
Only thing is my gal's english is better than her chinese... I'm supposed to be teaching her chinese at home... but then... my wife's chinese also better than mine... she reads the chinese papers... I don't! HAHA!