SUCCESS STORIES
Cassandra in an English speaking Family
Cassandra grew up in an English-speaking family. She excelled in all her school subjects…except Chinese.
Chinese dented her aggregate score, and she started to worry that she wouldn’t make it into a good school.
Whenever Cassandra studied Chinese, her confidence plunged. During tuition, she would sob quietly, letting her tears drip onto her worksheets when she couldn’t understand the lesson.
Her situation was making her miserable, and her parents searched high and low for somebody who could help their daughter.
When I first met Cassandra, she was a stressed-out, sensitive kid. She was a classic Type 1 — struggling to even pass.
We struck up a relationship and not long after, I was able to pinpoint her weaknesses.
I crafted her a customised, exam-smart plan that could help her improve her score.
Soon after, I watched Cassandra regain her confidence. She went from needing her mother by her side with Google Translate when doing her homework, to being able to learn on her own.
She became a Type 2 — passing her exams, but still a distance from A.
In P4, she started scoring low As, graduating into a Type 3. Eventually, she scored A* in PSLE.
In Sec 2, she topped her cohort for Chinese and was invited to take higher Chinese in Sec 3. She gained a B3 for O-Level Higher Chinese, which allowed her to shave 2 points off her L1R5, paving the way for her to get admitted into Anglo-Chinese Junior College.
I share a warm friendship with Cassandra. I am proud of what she has achieved. My experience with Cassandra has taught me that each child has the potential to shine, if only we let them.
Student with Learning Disability
Jenny L. raised her score from a mere pass to AL3 within a year even though she has a learning disability
Jenny (Not her real name – for confidentiality purposes) suffers from ADHD. When she reads and writes, she has a tendency to skip words.
Coupled with her difficulty focusing, Jenny was faring terribly at Chinese in school. She was a Type 1 through and through.
Her English-educated parents were helpless. It got so bad that Jenny would cry whenever the Chinese tutor arrived at her house. Embarrassed, her mother did not know what to do.
Her struggle was tough on the whole family. One previous tutor worsened the situation by forcing Jenny to memorize phrases. The tutor assigned tons of homework, which only caused Jenny and her parents more stress.
When I started teaching Jenny, I used the TGEE Checklist to determine the areas she needed to work on. I instantly could tell that Jenny had the potential to do well in Chinese and told her so.
Encouraged, Jenny came back week after week. She put in the work and utilized the techniques I taught her. I could see her slowly warming up to the subject.
Within just three months, Jenny went from failing miserably at Chinese to passing the subject, becoming a Type 2.
Jenny is the perfect example of a child who only needed her confidence and the right techniques.
DOES THIS LOOK FAMILIAR?
Learn & Memorize?
Blind memorization is a sure way to kill a student’s interest. On the contrary, reading out aloud is one of the ways paramount to mastering a language.
A research at the University of Waterloo had 95 participants do each of these four activities: read silently, listen to someone else read out loud, read aloud themselves, and listen to a recording of themselves reading. The researchers discovered that reading out loud was by far the best way to retain memory!
However, just reading out loud doesn’t cut it either. Your child needs instant feedback to lock in the learning. After all, there is only one way to read it right and many ways to do it wrongly.
That is why we are here! At the DailyExcel Quickfix Workshop, we encourage maximum results by guiding them each and every step!
Understanding You
Communication is key, and it’s important to know that you have an understanding teacher.
Our language educators, having lived in Singapore for many years, are fully aligned to the Singaporean culture, principles, and the educational system in which they teach.
Bilingual Education Policy - Singapore
Bilingualism has been the cornerstone of Singapore’s language policy since late 1950s. The policy entails an emphasis on using English and the mother tongue languages (Mandarin for the Chinese community, Malay for the Malay community and Tamil for the Indians).
English was to become Singapore’s working language, while the mother tongue would serve to strengthen one's values and sense of cultural belonging.
This policy has been implemented primarily through the education system, which requires students to study the English language and their respective mother tongues.
In addition, annual campaigns are held to promote the learning and speaking of mother tongue languages as well as to encourage the use of grammatically correct English among fellow Singaporeans.
Reference: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_2016-09-01_093402.html
The question is - how many of us are effectively bilingual?
Do you think that being efficiently bilingual, it empowers you to be an effective communicator that will bring you life-long benefits?