Tip 26: Past Tense

A list of verbs in past tense for P2. An observation can be easily made here - English is irregular. For instance, some irregular verbs like "cut", "beat", "hit" do not change when they are in past tense. Not all past tense verbs end with "ed".

Tip 25: Lower Primary Oral

A list of Do's and Don'ts for Primary 2 Oral Exam (Picture-based):

Do’s

1) Greet Teacher.
2) Start well – this is a picture of a (adjective) …..(topic), this picture shows a (adjective)… (topic), this picture depicts a scene from a…(topic).
3) Tell story with clear articulation and with expression (appropriate intonation and pitch).
4) Show a rich vocabulary.(e.g use adjectives to describe the characters).
5) Use present tense.
6) Use a variety of ways to start the sentences by e.g indicating position of picture (the left hand side of the picture…, the right side of the picture..), using numbers (there are 3 young ladies…, 2 boys are…, etc), adjectives (an elderly man, a blind girl, many children, several girls, etc), or position of the subject (sitting beside the young girl is…, standing next to the boy is…, resting under the shady tree is a girl…).
7) Discuss about the characters (e.g I think the girl is very kind-hearted, I think the boy is very thoughtful and considerate...), make suggestions/share opinions/feelings (e.g this is not right…(consequence), she should...), they seem to be very close friends…, the boys seem to be having a fun time building sandcastle).
8) Thank Teacher.


Don’ts

1) Do not point to pictures.
2) Do not say “this is…..”, “that is…” when referring to the characters in the pictures.
3) Do not say “I see…”, “I saw...”.

Tip 24: Composition Writing

For the Primary 2's, writing composition for the very first time is like learning to walk on a tightrope, or at least I feel this way.

I made a list of items for my daughter so that she could use it to check against her own writing each time she has to do a composition.

1) Start(setting), body(problem-solution), ending. Do some upfront planning (5 minutes).

2) Start - make it interesting (descriptions, speech, feelings).

3) End - make it impactful/ memorable (e.g use of proverbs, saying, incorporate feelings).

4) Check tense, tense consistency, spelling, and ensure complete sentences.

5) Check punctuations marks - capital letters, comma, full-stop, inverted commas, exclamation marks, and question marks.

6) Show a rich/colourful vocabulary. (Find substitutes for common words such as "good", “bad”, "nice", "happy", "like", “sad”, “walk”, “run”, etc).

7) Read the story again after finishing, ensure flow is smooth and coherent.

Tip 23: The Comma Debate

Except in sentences where there are only two items (e.g I eat fruit and vegetables), I have always assumed that a comma is obligatory before "and", as in:

1) She ate an apple, two pears, and a bunch of grapes.
2) I take fish, beef, and mutton.
3) The flood last week devastated the whole village, and many people were left homeless.

However, yesterday Jerrie’s English teacher taught them that comma is only necessary in cases where confusion is likely to happen. Thus, no comma is required in:

- I take fish, beef and mutton.
- I have red, pink and blue pencils.

And a comma is recommended in:
- I like a drink, an egg, and a ham and cheese sandwich.
- The restaurant served fish and chips, bacon and egg, and carrot and mushroom soup.

Tip 22: Some Commonly Mispelt Words

A list of English words which I notice Singaporeans, (including me) tend to falter when spelling them. Sometimes, we rely so much on spell check tools which allow us to conveniently choose and click on to the right spelling that we don't even know that we can't spell them correctly anymore without those tools!

Tip 21: Interested in Phonetics?

My name is pronounced as ru:ˈθ.

I love phonetics. For me, it's one of those things that you learn once and it's hard to forget. Jason said that I should start a class teaching parents that. I gave him a strange look and told him that nobody would find it useful and that the schools would be teaching phonetics to the children if it was really beneficial. Children learn words by uttering them, don't they? Then why do I like it so much? Purely for the fun and vanity of it! It's like knowing a new language.

If you understand phonetics, there is a very cool website that translates English words into phonetics. For any English word that you are not sure of its pronunciation, you can check it out there. Nevermind that it's a Japanese website, it really doesn't really. It's intuitive enough to know where you should key in the word and you just click the first left button to submit. This is good stuff; I think you can't find any free tool like this else where. (But let me know if you know of any....:) )

Here you go: http://www.manabo.net/

Tip 20: Correct use of "spoil"

The children in Singapore (perhaps adults included as well) use the words “spoil” and spoilt” in all the wrong places. “Spoil” is used to mean “damage", "faulty" or "broken”, possibly due to a direct translation of the Chinese word “坏” – a very generic word to mean “bad”. Thus we hear Singlish sentences like:

- My toy spoil already! Buy me another one!

- We can’t take the lift, it’s spoilt.

- He can’t walk, his leg is spoilt.


In Chinese, “spoil” or “spoilt” in the above sentences can be replaced by one word “坏”.


Teach the children the right use of “spoil”:

- My toy is broken.

- The lift has broken down

- His leg is injured.


Other examples on the proper use of "spoil":

- Keep the food in the refrigerator before it spoils

- Spare the rod, spoil the child

- The incident this morning has totally spoiled my day

- Come on, be a sport, don’t spoil the party!