On 11th Dec, I gave a talk to about 180 parents at Suntec City on making the transition from primary 2 to primary 3. The session also gave me an opportunity to talk about the primary 3 materials that I’ve worked on with Marshall Cavendish and a team of writers. Judging from the response and the questions asked, I could see that there was a lot of anxiety among parents about how the lower primary curriculum will prepare their children for primary 3. I empathise with them but I don’t think they should worry too much. From my own experience working with schools and with holistic assessment strategies, I am confident that students will be well prepared. Having said that, I would also add that what will probably vary is the degree of preparedness, and this is unavoidable since schools and teachers are never homogeneous.
What parents worry about is how well their children are trained for formal exams since there will be fewer such formal tests in the lower primary. I assured parents that teachers worry about this too. Learning the test format is not difficult. Learning to finish the tasks within a prescribed time will take a while but it’s not impossible. Knowing what to do is also teachable. What is most difficult is to ensure that students have the necessary basics that will enable them to do the exams and by this, I mean the literacy skills.
Students must have learnt the basic reading and writing skills in the lower primary to ensure a smooth transition into primary 3. The gap between primary 2 and 3 is considerable; just check the texts, tasks and learning outcomes stated. Without a sound foundation, children will struggle and they won’t be able to cope with the everyday tasks, let alone exams. Parents should ensure that their children are reading well by the end of primary one, although I must also add that children learn to read at different ages and there’s no magic age for when they should be able to read. However, if they are still not reading well by the beginning of primary 2, some intervention is crucial.
At the end of primary 2, students should also be able to write the basic sentence structures, and good writers will be able to use adjectives and adverbs to elaborate on their sentences. They will be able to write simple compound and complex sentences using appropriate vocabulary. Some students can write long stories at this stage but I don’t think that’s typical of a primary 2 pupil. The ability to write good sentences is a good goal to work towards; telling a story in sequence is a bonus. A child who can write a good sentence is already exhibiting good grammar knowledge. As long as the meaning of the sentences and the story is clear, I don’t worry too much about the grammar, especially the tenses. They have a whole school life to learn how to do that well and when adults still struggle with agreement and tenses, why should primary 1 or 2 pupils have to master these well at their age?
A knowledge of the basic letter-sound system is essential too and this means being able to spell the basic words or to approximate the spelling of these words. My teachers know that I always complain about the unrealistic spelling lists that primary school children get. They should learn and spell words that they need to write, not words that they don’t need. These words, e.g. surgeon, are unlikely to appear in their writing although they should recognise and read them. A word like surprise however, is more common and useful for writing and its spelling should be learnt.
Good penmanship is also important and the ability to form the letters correctly and well is the first step towards learning how to write in cursive. Cursive writing allows students to write faster and more efficiently. Children who are still printing letters in the upper primary will be hindered in the exams because they cannot write as fast. So parents should not neglect penmanship or do the handwriting tasks for their children.
The lower primary STELLAR programme focuses on a rich reading curriculum and a supported writing programme that builds on children’s oral language. Twenty five years or so ago, we had a similar programme called the Reading and English Acquisition Programme (REAP), and it has been the only literacy programme we’ve had that produced positive results that were documented in research papers. REAP was a revolutionary literacy programme that laid the foundation to much of the English curriculum in the later years. STELLAR brings back the best of the REAP strategies. But although STELLAR is a sound programme, its success is dependent on how well teachers are trained to deliver the contents. All teachers do get the necessary support but there are teachers and teachers. We must remember that the curriculum itself is inert; it’s the teachers who bring it to life. So, I would say don’t worry about the curriculum. Think instead of how teachers are teaching your child in class because no matter how hard the MOE works, there’s no way they can teacher-proof the materials. And I must add that just because a teacher is not doing what another teacher is doing does not mean that she/he does not know what to do. Good teaching is fluid, and it changes and flows with the rhythm of the classroom and the pupils.
As for the new holistic assessment (HA), I can only say that I support it. Having worked closely with a school on their programme, I can say that HA provides useful feedback for teachers and parents. Teachers are also guided by HA to know what they should be teaching. If HA goes wrong, it’s often because it’s not well implemented. Implementation requires careful thinking through of what the learning outcomes should be for each term and each year, and also what teachers should do to ensure that these learning outcomes can be achieved.
So, for all parents of young children, I will still say that you need to ensure that the basics are in place. By the basics I mean reading and writing skills and these in turn are dependent on a sound knowledge of the alphabet and the alphabetic principle. But these alone are inadequate. Children need to also develop a love for reading and learning, a curious and critical mind, the ability to ask and answer questions, to focus on a task at hand, and to have the discipline and attention span to see them through many different tasks. They also need the ability to work together with others, to have compassion and respect for those who are different, and integrity and honesty to make it through their little classroom and school world. These soft skills are increasingly more and more important for success in school and life and they should first be learnt at home.
At home, parents should focus on being parents first and not be too worked up about “teaching” their children. Regardless of our own educational backgrounds, there’s a lot we can do to help our children do well in school, and these do not even require textbooks or assessment books. For instance, reading and talking to your child are two very significant and useful school preparation activities. Remember, although you are your child’s first teacher, what you choose to teach him or her can make a lot of difference in your child’s life.
Finally, I must mention the Society for Reading and Literacy (SRL) whose mission is to promote reading and literacy in Singapore. SRL sells an old but useful DVD on how to read with your child. This made-in-Singapore DVD shows Singapore parents in action and includes some useful notes for those who are not sure what to do.
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