Bridging the Gap- Moving from Lower to Upper Primary (Part 2)
Moving from Lower Primary to Upper Primary ( Part 2)
Moving from Upper to Lower Primary has not been an easy transaction for most kids. Not only is it adding another subject, Science, to the number of subjects that they have to study but also a change in mindset due to the different testing methods being used on the child. There is less emphasis on byte size assessments but higher weightage ones as shared in Part 1
Growing up- Moving from Lower to Upper Primary
When the child enters Primary 3 you may see that she suddenly is forced to “grow up” overnight. She is no more the baby of the school and there is less hand holding by the teachers. The workload increases significantly for each subject and there is more writing that needs to be done.
She has to be independent and responsible for her own actions more then before. In Primary 3 she would have to participate in a CCA (Sport/ Non- Sport) on top of her studies. This is normally held after school although I do know of schools who incorporarte the attendance of CCA within school hours by adjusting the daily time table.
Time available for play and leisure is shorten by extra activities and supplementary lessons in school. Therefore it is essential for the child to be able to manage their time properly.
In the previous post I talked about how English and Mathematics. In this post I will be talking about Chinese is being taught and the differences between P2 and P3 assessments
Lower Primary Chinese
Chinese has always been the weakest subject in our family as we mostly speak English at home. Since Monkey boy entered Primary 1 back in 2010 the teaching of Chinese has changed dramatically.
The Changes in Chinese Oral for PSLE
This year, 2017 marks the 1st year the revised ORAL Chinese syllabus will be tested. With this changes there has been a increased focus on spoken Chinese . There is an added focus on developing a good Chinese foundation with good phrases and solid sentence structures that can be applied in any situation – compo, comprehension and oral.
Doggie boy, who is in Primary 5 at the moment, doesn’t have a very solid understanding of the fundamentals of the Chinese Language. As a result, he is struggling in this language as his exposure and usage of the various vocabulary needed is limited.
When he was younger he was highly dependent on learning using HanYu PinYin(HYPY) . This reliance made it difficult for him to associate the meaning of the words with the correct Chinese Character.
At the moment his Chinese tutor and me have to go back to the lower levels to revise with him in hope that his fundamentals in Chinese is strenghtened . Doggie boy is a struggling learner and Chinese is his weakest subject.
Now that Tiger Girl is in Primary 1 I have started to be more intentional in teaching her Mandarin. I’m totally not focusing on HYPY with her but just recognition of the Chinese Characters and how to use them in formulating sentances. Hopefully this will help me eliminate the possibility of her suffering the same difficulties as Doggie boy is facing in the near future.
From Primary 2 to Primary 3
Lower Primary Vs Upper Primary
In Pr 2 there has been focus on Byte size on-going assessment while from Primary 3 there are termly and/ or semester based assessments. This is mainly done to get the student used to the different components that will be tested in each assessment by introducing it to them gradually.
In Primary 2 English the students learn more through choral reading and group work while in Primary 3 be are expected to more independent in their learning.
P2- Show and Tell is part of the overall assessment (3.5%)
P3- Show and Tell is not part of the assessment
In Primary 2
Term 1- Paper 2 components are tested. ( Grammar & Vocabulary)
Term 2 – Paper 2 ( Grammar & Vocbulary )
+ Listening Comprehension
Term 3 -Show and Tell
Term 4 – Oral , EL Written Expression, Listenining Comprehension
+ Paper 2 ( Full Semestral Exam components )
There is a gradual build up in Primary 2 from a partial examination paper to a full paper from Term 1 to Term 4.
Differences in Primary 2 and Primary 3 Maths Assessment
P2- Written Assessments + Practical Assessments
P3- Written Assessments only.
- If you are not accustom to Practical Assessments they are written assessments with use of manipulatives. Open ended questions and multiple choice questions are asked.
In regular Written Assesments the components that are tested are – Open Ended Questions, Multiple Choice Questions and Word Problems
In Primary 3 the 2 main type of items used in the semestral assessment are the MCQ with the SAQ (Short- Answer Question) and LAQ ( Long Answer Question / Word Problem)
P2 Maths Assessment compared with P3 Maths Assessment
Differences in Primary 2 and Primary 3 Chinese Assessment
Assessment in Primary 2
Assessment 1(统一测验一) Hanyu Pinyin(汉语拼音) Fill in the blanks(填写汉字) Matching words(组字成词) Rearranging words(组词成句) Comprehension-MCQ(理解问答-选择 式/开放式 |
10% |
Listening Comprehension 1(听力测验一 ) |
10.00% |
Assessment 2(统一测验二) Punctuation(标点符号) Fill in the blanks(填写汉字) Collocation(词语搭配) Cloze passage(短文填空) Comprehension – Open Ended (理解 问答-开放式) |
|
Story Telling(讲故事) |
7.00% |
Oral Communication(口试) Passage reading (朗读篇章) Picture description (看图说话) |
14.00% |
Written Expression (看图写话) |
10.00% |
Listening Comprehension 2(听力测验二) |
7.00% |
End-of-Year Assessment(年终考试) Identifying characters(辨字测验) Fill in the blanks(填写汉字) Matching words(组字成词) Fill in the quantifiers (填写量词) Collocation(词语搭配) Rearranging words(组词成句) Cloze passage(短文填空) Comprehension – Open Ended(理解问答- 开放式) |
32.00% |
In Primary 3 the format is slightly different as the story telling component is removed.
试卷 Paper | 考查项目 Test Items | 时间 Duration | 题数 No. of Qns | 分数 Weightage |
1 | 作文 Composition | 40 分钟/min |
1 |
15.00% |
2 |
语文应用与阅读理解 Understanding of Language and Grammar usage |
60 分钟/min |
22 |
45.00% |
3 |
听力测验 Listening Comprehension |
20 分钟a/min |
10 |
10.00% |
4 |
口试 Oral |
10 分钟/min |
3 |
30.00% |
As you can see from the tables above it the examination format gets more structured moving from P2 to P3. In P2 the students are introduced to the various components one by one during the academic year .
My thoughts
Primary 2 is a bridging year from Lower primary to Upper primary and it is extremely important to get all the fundamentals strongly ingrained in the child or else she may have a very shaky foundation.
I hope that this series on Bridging the Gap has been useful to you. Do leave me a comment if you have any questions.
1) Bridging the Gap- An Introduction
2) Bridging the Gap- Identifying the Gap in Chinese Language ( P4 to P5 )
3) Bridging the Gap- Reinforcing the Learning of Chinese
4)Bridging the Gap- Identifying the Gap between P4 and P5 English.
5)Bridging the Gap- Learning of English in Upper Primary
6) Bridging the Gap- Identifying the Gap between P4 and P5 Maths
7) Bridging the Gap – Modelling and Methods in Maths (Part 1)
8) Bridging the Gap- Modelling and Methods in Maths ( Part 2)