More children admitted with mental illness....poor thing
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I'd encourage parents to subscribe to Reader's Digest, good short articles as well as the Word Power section that expands one's vocabulary. It is important to speak well because only then can you write well.Originally posted by dragg:speaking poor english to your kids will only make matter worst. -
but being parents, they wouldn't think this way, cos at the very least i expose them to 'english', the words are there. When they go to school at least they can still speak some simple english mah...Originally posted by dragg:speaking poor english to your kids will only make matter worst.
English is SO IMPORTANT....even Math problem sum is a test of Engerlish...
as least i tried my best mah they can be corrected when they go to school wat 
its better then when they enter school they don't even know wat the teachers are saying....
anyway hor English is not the subject students face problems, its Mandarin!
parents can be speaking to them mandarin, i think they will still face problem, cos its the writing that is giving BIG PROBLEM....oh boy i hate writing CHINESE!
can die le... -
many a times i noticed the english spoken by housewives are directly translated from chinese.
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the problem is most singaporeans are equally poor at both languages!!!
and many cant even speak dialects!!! -
yo charm, u better hide hor......some housewives are graduate le....don't be surprise....just that u have not met themOriginally posted by dragg:many a times i noticed the english spoken by housewives are directly translated from chinese. -
Haha. Did you also notice that for street interviews on the news programmes, just about everyone being interviewed is unable to speak consistently in one language? You have people attempting to speak mandarin with a lot of help from english words and phrases and vice versa. Some don't even speak in complete sentences.
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english, try comics...
Asterix comics to be precise
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Good stuff... Asterix.... especially Asterix and Cleopatra.... laughed off my chair, literally.... Tin Tin's not half bad too.Originally posted by the Bear:english, try comics...
Asterix comics to be precise -
it is true that graduates are everywhere. having a degree does not equate to speaking or writing well. i wonder how and where some people got their degrees. i have met enough at work to know that many are just not qualifed.Originally posted by a_splash:yo charm, u better hide hor......some housewives are graduate le....don't be surprise....just that u have not met them -
We (singaporean) used to pride our being Bilingual...but now the chinese in Shanghai and others can speak/write better in both English and Chinese than us....
how??
any solution??
anyone??
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yes.. that's how to keep their interest
then tell them that every sentence in there has more than one meaning.. and to figure things out... coz each meaning is just as hilarious...
just like each of the characters' names has a meaning which is very aptOriginally posted by Chin Eng:Good stuff... Asterix.... especially Asterix and Cleopatra.... laughed off my chair, literally.... Tin Tin's not half bad too. -
yo pls lah,......they studied real hard to earn them one leOriginally posted by dragg:it is true that graduates are everywhere. having a degree does not equate to speaking or writing well. i wonder how and where some people got their degrees. i have met enough at work to know that many are just not qualifed. -
let's brainstorm for solution to this problem and present it to our MOE
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umm....wat ages are these comic suitable for, may i ask? i only heard of Tin Tin, my boy borrows them from the school library.Originally posted by Chin Eng:Good stuff... Asterix.... especially Asterix and Cleopatra.... laughed off my chair, literally.... Tin Tin's not half bad too. -
all ages... it's a very good comic to read to your children too!Originally posted by a_splash:umm....wat ages are these comic suitable for, may i ask?
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good question!! our educational ministry are still trying to find an answer to this question. obviously they are going nowhere!!!!Originally posted by a_splash:We (singaporean) used to pride our being Bilingual...but now the chinese in Shanghai and others can speak/write better in both English and Chinese than us....
how??
any solution??
anyone?? -
Thanks all for the info!..Originally posted by the Bear:all ages... it's a very good comic to read to your children too! -
I beg to differ. I travel substantially but I do not see how the English standard in Shanghai has improved, not even talking about the Singapore standard. As a matter of fact, I cannot understand the Mandarin in Beijing either. Probably there is a small percentage of people in mainland China that is effectively bilingual, but the general population is still light years behind us. Of course they will catch up if we don't buck up.....Originally posted by a_splash:We (singaporean) used to pride our being Bilingual...but now the chinese in Shanghai and others can speak/write better in both English and Chinese than us....
how??
any solution??
anyone??
Asterix was originally a French cartoon, but was translated into many languages, English included. Two movies were also made over, the second one was shown last year, I think.
Probably the same era as Tin Tin. Still, pick a book that the child likes, let him use that as a platform to pick up words, encourage him to ask you about any words he does not understand. Check the dictionary together. This way, you learn, he learns, use of dictionary taught..... everybody wins.
I am not a graduate, but I try to speak and write using proper English. I expect the same of my boys.... and no, we do not speak Singlish at all, unless intentionally for fun.... -
Well..to be fair, I know many at work who don't exactly speak or write well, but are extremely competent in their work. On the flip side, there are also those that speak and write like English professors or linguists but cannot produce concrete results at the end of the day!Originally posted by dragg:it is true that graduates are everywhere. having a degree does not equate to speaking or writing well. i wonder how and where some people got their degrees. i have met enough at work to know that many are just not qualifed. -
duplicate post.
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Well..to be fair, I know many at work who don't exactly speak or write well, but are extremely competent in their work. On the flip side, there are also those that speak and write like English professors or linguists but cannot produce concrete results at the end of the day!Originally posted by dragg:it is true that graduates are everywhere. having a degree does not equate to speaking or writing well. i wonder how and where some people got their degrees. i have met enough at work to know that many are just not qualifed. -
Thanks Chin Eng for sharing so much here.Originally posted by Chin Eng:I beg to differ. I travel substantially but I do not see how the English standard in Shanghai has improved, not even talking about the Singapore standard. As a matter of fact, I cannot understand the Mandarin in Beijing either. Probably there is a small percentage of people in mainland China that is effectively bilingual, but the general population is still light years behind us. Of course they will catch up if we don't buck up.....
Asterix was originally a French cartoon, but was translated into many languages, English included. Two movies were also made over, the second one was shown last year, I think.
Probably the same era as Tin Tin. Still, pick a book that the child likes, let him use that as a platform to pick up words, encourage him to ask you about any words he does not understand. Check the dictionary together. This way, you learn, he learns, use of dictionary taught..... everybody wins.
I am not a graduate, but I try to speak and write using proper English. I expect the same of my boys.... and no, we do not speak Singlish at all, unless intentionally for fun....
Yes i am doing this (checking dictionary together with them) esp for Chinese ( thanks to my half past 6 chinese and english) -
1% of bilingual chinese is 13 million people! now almost all mainland chinese who handle outsiders can speak some english, singaporeans is not needed to be in between. what is amazing is that many angmoh i met in shanghai can speak mandarin! singaporean who can only speak proper english is just another angmoh in china. But that is in china, I dont need to worry if i don't go there. But what worries me is that a chinese from mainland come here and in 6 months they are effectively bilingual in both language. Why my kids seems to be struggling for so many years?Originally posted by Chin Eng:I beg to differ. I travel substantially but I do not see how the English standard in Shanghai has improved, not even talking about the Singapore standard. As a matter of fact, I cannot understand the Mandarin in Beijing either. Probably there is a small percentage of people in mainland China that is effectively bilingual, but the general population is still light years behind us. Of course they will catch up if we don't buck up.....
Asterix was originally a French cartoon, but was translated into many languages, English included. Two movies were also made over, the second one was shown last year, I think.
Probably the same era as Tin Tin. Still, pick a book that the child likes, let him use that as a platform to pick up words, encourage him to ask you about any words he does not understand. Check the dictionary together. This way, you learn, he learns, use of dictionary taught..... everybody wins.
I am not a graduate, but I try to speak and write using proper English. I expect the same of my boys.... and no, we do not speak Singlish at all, unless intentionally for fun.... -
Actually I think English is a much easier language to learn compared to Mandarin. You can't just pronouce the word in Mandarin and write it!!! Nor can you try to read out the word if you don't reconize it.
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we are fast losing our selling point. as china grow they will need us less. it is important to be good at both chinese and english. most youngsters couldnt be bothered about chinese. and that is a bad sign!!!Originally posted by sgdiehard:1% of bilingual chinese is 13 million people! now almost all mainland chinese who handle outsiders can speak some english, singaporeans is not needed to be in between. what is amazing is that many angmoh i met in shanghai can speak mandarin! singaporean who can only speak proper english is just another angmoh in china. But that is in china, I dont need to worry if i don't go there. But what worries me is that a chinese from mainland come here and in 6 months they are effectively bilingual in both language. Why my kids seems to be struggling for so many years?