During my revision with Alycia on Science subject before her exam last week, I found out that her understanding of the concept of spring is very shallow. She seems very confused with the correlation of the diameter of the spring and its elasticity. I am ever more surprised that her Science (in Mandarin) teacher did not do any experiment with them by showing them the different types of springs. Kids are kids and seeing is believing. If you tell them something that is so technical without showing them, how then can they remember clearly? In order for something to be etched in your memory a life time, you need to see the actual object / experiment with your own eyes. Reading and memorizing alone ain’t that powerful. So at the eleventh hour before her exam, I scrambled and searched at every nook and corner of our house to find her some springs to demonstrate an experiment on spring to her. But as fate has it, in situations like this… most of the time, a spring just could not be found. I looked at my ‘blur’ Alycia and told myself that if I did not show her, she will most likely not fare well in her Science test. So I did not give up searching and then on my table top, I saw my spring hair ties! Yes I have a bunch of these spring like, wire like hair ties. I took 3 different sizes of the hair ties and showed her the elasticity of the spring hair ties with different diameters. After the brief experiment, Alycia’s understanding of the spring immediately went up. On the eve of her Science test (in Mandarin), I gave her some work books to do. I told her that Science is all about understanding the subject and of course, you need to memorize facts too. She did not fare well in her Science subject in her mid year exam in June as we did not do enough of revision and preparation. This time, she scored a 92%, which is a vast improvement from the previous Science test and I am quite happy with the marks, given that both the hubs and I read no Chinese and cannot assist her.
My hair ties and Alycia’s Science work book which I bought for her. So far, workbooks from Hup Lick Publishing are the only ones with dual language (English and Chinese) that I can find. I find these workbooks a saviour for me since I can’t read Chinese.
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Well done, Alycia and mommy! The Science test paper comes with English translation as well? There are no English translation for Science and Maths papers in my boy’s school, I know some schools do have. Other than understanding and memorizing the facts, he has to learn the new vocabs too.
Agree with you that as long as they have a good grasp of understanding in the topics, they won’t fare too badly in Science paper.
Inspiredmom, no no. Her school test papers in Math and Science are only in Chinese language. For Mid Year Exam and Final Year Exam, they have to sit for Math and Science in English as well, on the last day of the exam. Though Alycia always scores 90 and above for the Math & Science in English, it is of no use as her class and standard position do not rely on these papers. The above pic shows the Science workbook that I bought for her in dual language. I am only relying this workbook from Hup Lick Publishing to do revision with her 🙂
LOL.. I thought it was the Science test paper I saw in the pic. My boy’s school has no more tests for Maths and Science in English starting this year.
One SJKC in Subang Jaya that I know of, combines both languages (English & Chinese) in one paper for Maths and Science papers, making it easier for English speaking families. That’s why I thought Alycia’s school practises the same. 🙂
Oh that’s too good of that school to combine both languages in one paper. I wish Alycia’s school would do that too! Alycia’s school sets standard that’s a bit high according to her tuition teacher as the number of questions for some of the papers are more by 10 but time frame for the test is still the same.
My boy complained of insufficient time to complete his Maths Paper 2 (40 questions, all objectives – Upsr format) in 40 minutes and as a result, he “hantam” 3 questions and din get to check through the paper. He was lucky to have done well in Paper 1, still scoring 90+ this time.
I know we must work on the speed instead to prepare him for the final exam as he still counts with his fingers at times and that slows him down lots. Haha..
Good one mommy, a simple demonstrate to Alycia and let her understand better. Hmm I wonder why teacher never do the experiment with the students.
Wai Mun, hentam can also score 90+. That’s very good! My girl still uses her fingers to count at times.
Vicky, teacher lazy lor!!
You are very creative in teaching science lesson to your kids. I must remember this lesson when my turn comes. Btw, the Hup Lick Publishing books can get from Popular bookstore?
Very nice job!! Learning makes more sense if the child (and adult) finds it applicable to everyday life. I hope u take this to the teacher and show her how to do her job! I am not sure if it is available on Youtube and what not, but there was this show on TV “Bill Nye, the Science Guy” which was very educational and fun to watch. I used to watch it with my kids and learn from it too!
Kitty, I think you can. My mum helped me to buy these workbooks from a book supplier in Ipoh.
Chris, oh yeah You Tube. I forgot all about this website. In future, I must remember You Tube!!! Tks for reminding!
I can’t read mandarin too…….