Her English Teachers

Many of our kids have to learn 3 languages in primary school. They say kids soak up information like a sponge and are good at picking up languages and all that. However, when you are trying to learn 3 different languages seriously, all at the same time, something has to give. You can't be equally good at all 3. Well, perhaps, you can but it will require effort and time.... which we don't have.

Since my girl studies at a Chinese School, it is natural that the school spends a lot of hours and effort in teaching the kids to be good at this language so that is not a problem. The school also has to make sure that their Malay language is not too far behind the National school's, so the standard is not too bad either since the National School's standard is so high these days, much higher than the time when I was a kid in school learning it.

That leaves English. Poor poor English. All forgotten and neglected. The standard is pitiful. Even my son who is attending kindergarten can read and do some of his sister's Primary 2 school work. The teacher asks them to spell "white colour" etc. Quite often there is grammatical and sometimes spelling mistakes as well in the spelling and dictation given by the teacher. We have to tell my girl to "just follow what teacher wrote but you know the correct usage." to which she would reply "but what if I forget and write the wrong one next time." Sigh. It is too tiring to bring it up to the teacher because it happens frequently and the teacher would probably feel defensive and offended so we leave it alone.

To make up for this, some parents send their children for extra tuition. I know a parent who sent his child for tuition at the British Council during the weekends but who at the start of Primary 2 announced that he is pulling his child out of Chinese School because he is not blending in there. I wonder if he considered that he may have contributed to the problem just a little by pushing his child to be good at everything all at the same time? It must be a such a pressure for an 8 year old.

I admit that I am worried too. I want my children to be good in English. Initially I had thought that I would guide them in this area myself but I find there is not enough time. I do not believe in sending them for extra tuition in this area because I think it will be an extra burden for them. I had not believed in tuition for young kids but now I think that if they need extra help for school work then perhaps it is justified. However sending them for extra subjects for something the school is not concentrating on is not extra help to assist in school work. It is an extra burden to an already heavy workload.

However, now I can relax a little on this issue. My girl loves to read. So all I need is to buy her lots and lots and lots of storybooks. She devours them up in no time. I had forgotten that was how I learned English. We were not taught grammar in school but I read so many story books and that was how I used to do well in English during primary school. So now, I will just let her read as much and as often as she wants. Then I can sit back and watch her vocabulary and grammar improve automatically. She says she likes to read books that has no pictures in them, only words. "Then I can imagine it myself, mummy."

So that is how I finally found the right English Teachers for my girl. They are English Storybooks. :)