Learning Chinese has become too difficult for kids today, and that’s not okay

[mummynew]

'Die'? They probably come out this section so that some other children (Chinese speaking family) can score better because they likely will lose out in other subjects like English and others that are taught using english...

Trust me that if parents with kids of so-so Chinese standard/interest insist their kids must practise for this section = kids see Chinese may start to feel super sianz.

 

[arsenalfc85]

Really hard. I can only recognise 黎明 cos I listen to Leon Lai. Everything else can only recognise 1 or 2 or 2 of 4

Another jiak kan tang spotted

 

[arsenalfc85]

So many jiak kan tang in this thread n still so many edmwers everyday chanting atbd*****

 

[arsenalfc85]

Q6 - 颠覆
Q7 - 报纸？
Q8 - 即使 （not sure if this is the correct word, but 汉语拼音 should be right)
Q9 - 传播
Q10 - 瞬间

Have to start with something easy to motivate them ah... and probably best if can incorporate language into their hobbies etc...

I probably find them not that tough since grew up in Chinese speaking family... recognising and speaking no issue but writing cannot liao... already all thrown back to school
Rofl...


Parents should complain to MOE now already what era liao still trying to "force" students to memorise those difficult to write chinese letters/words... if constantly writing as required like future job is teacher or writer etc of course will know... but if not who will remember the strokes etc... no dictionary then it should be MCQ question or a list of available words let the student pick and write it out to test their understanding and concentration (copy the letter/word to answer sheet)

Furthermore as a student got to study so many subjects... tell the teachers to go through what the students are going through today with all the subjects unless they are scholar or geniuses they will probably also find it tough and stressful?

Moe has lost touch Liao

everyday sit in ivory tower how they know what’s happening on the ground

 

[Multiversal]

Perhaps I should elaborate more..

This is not exactly about whether our fellow Edmwers or myself are conversant with these Chinese words.

I am confident that this word list is too difficult for the current batch of students because theres simply no good reason for them to converse, read or write in Chinese in Singapore where English is dominant, and parents can speak and understand English.

This is unlike in the past where parents were mostly Chinese educated and we converse with them in mandarin or dialects.

Might even get whacked for using an English word because a parent didn't understand and thought you were trying to be funny.

Reading and writing is often suggested to be a good way to learn a language well.

I remember my own schooldays. Took 8 O level subject, of which only one subject was ===> Mandarin. The other subjects were English, English Literature, Maths, etc etc. which were taught in English....and the textbooks, which I had to READ, were in English.

After school, I did my homework at home, and every subject was in English except for the Mandarin homework.

Homework took up a lot of my time already, but I was asked to read. So I borrowed story books, which were in English. But I also had other activities known in those days as ECA. Whether you joined the National Cadet Corps or School Brass Band or whatever, you were trained/taught in English.

You graduated from Sec 4 knowing how to say in English but not in Mandarin, the following:

clarinet
trombone
saxophone

Worse yet is being an ethnic Chinese, children learned how to bark "sedia" which was not even their mother tongue, but had to learn much much later in life how to say 立正.

When you summarize the above WOT, it simply means that the learning environment did not afford a lot of time for reading Chinese story books, or even comics.

 

[mummynew]

My niece's this S3 EOY Chinese exam on 词语替换:



She managed to get 4/10. Basically I ‘spotted’ only 15 vocab for her to practise. If come out then take the marks. If nothing come out and she couldn't do = it's OK.

*all 'strategies' are about getting marks in the exam and not 'interest'.

 

[YouYongQun]

What's your age range?

My son when around late 20s had difficult reading my niece's PSLE Chinese paper. We had great fun together when he was attempting to read her PSLE compre passage (读到一块一块的) a few years back.

40 liao. Leon Lai was popular 30 yrs ago mah. I am old

 

[mummynew]

40 liao. Leon Lai was popular 30 yrs ago mah. I am old

About same age as my eldest nephew (born 1985).

I don't remember his O level Chinese was at the current level. He seemed scoring quite well without much preparation then.

*this nephew is 'unique' coz he was taken care by my parents for about 16 years = he can speak very fluent Hokkien, and that might be one of the reasons he could pick up Chinese easier. His Mandarin speaking and reading skill are fluent till now.

 

[Linguist]

Moe has lost touch Liao

everyday sit in ivory tower how they know what’s happening on the ground

65% of the ground supported them though...

 

[mummynew]

I feel most adults will get it wrong too.

How ofter do u train her?

I make them study everyday 10min Chinese, 10 min English.

I am prepping materials for niece's tuition during this school holidays.

Will be spending time doing practice of comprehending below kind of non-fiction content:



*dry but ROI better as compared to 词语替代 and so have to 'drill' = classified as "lower hanging fruit".

 

[tidiii]

I am prepping materials for niece's tuition during this school holidays.

Will be spending time doing practice of comprehending below kind of non-fiction content:



*dry but ROI better as compared to 词语替代 and so have to 'drill' = classified as "lower hanging fruit".

i realized i cant be bothered to read chinese at all in this thread

the truth is unless u have to deal with china in work, there is no need for chinese at all and its unfortunate as sg allows more and more china companie to open in sg

tech especially, alot of china companies that expect to hire people with china level profiency. they dont do this in USA or any other part of the world. SG is the only country

 

[Kiwi8]

Indeed! Its quite hard!

I know all the words listed here.

 

[plasticpistola]

chinese lessons were a torture siah

 

[mummynew]

i realized i cant be bothered to read chinese at all in this thread

the truth is unless u have to deal with china in work, there is no need for chinese at all and its unfortunate as sg allows more and more china companie to open in sg

tech especially, alot of china companies that expect to hire people with china level profiency. they dont do this in USA or any other part of the world. SG is the only country

Years back my girl was approached by a recruiter to interview for a job with tiktok but the interview would be with a chinese speaking team.

She discussed with me and my opinion was don't bother as I don't like Chinese working culture.

She considered herself then declined the interview (she was with a job then).

 

[zoossh]

i realized i cant be bothered to read chinese at all in this thread

the truth is unless u have to deal with china in work, there is no need for chinese at all and its unfortunate as sg allows more and more china companie to open in sg

tech especially, alot of china companies that expect to hire people with china level profiency. they dont do this in USA or any other part of the world. SG is the only country

That’s the plight now.

It can be nothing more than an examinable subject, and people who insist on more do not realise that they are the ones that causes this.

Young people often react more directly. They (and probably everyone else) do not like being mocked at, gaslighted and emotionally blackmail. Too much toxicity just end up putting people off.

for mandarin to become a popular language for a larger community who will like to use, it has to have its media conveying values in line with the rest of the world and not trying to build its own world with its own narrative that the rest of the world dislike. After that then we think how to make the teaching more interesting. If not it is just a topic to score and not one to love

 

[tidiii]

Years back my girl was approached by a recruiter to interview for a job with tiktok but the interview would be with a chinese speaking team.

She discussed with me and my opinion was don't bother as I don't like Chinese working culture.

She considered herself then declined the interview (she was with a job then).

That’s the plight now.

It can be nothing more than an examinable subject, and people who insist on more do not realise that they are the ones that causes this.

Young people often react more directly. They (and probably everyone else) do not like being mocked at, gaslighted and emotionally blackmail. Too much toxicity just end up putting people off.

its too bad that it will only get worse and worse for singaporeans

as more chinese companies enter and will only hire those who are already exposed to companies in china. eventually these jobs will go to foreigners 100% since we are not exposed to the level of chinese that they expect at all. all forms of work in sg, apac, usa/eu/aus are all in english

alot of chinese companies also work mostly in english but require you to be able to read and write chinese to converse with their main office in china

one company i learnt of recently, only has customer service here and require them all to speak and write chinese cus again, main team are all in china and the headcount for these companies are extremely tiny

u say they pay tax, but the money doesn't even come to sg so what tax r u even talking about

like mihoyo in japan is the best example. they're there only for marketing purposes so its a place where money is spent, not earned

i think the gov is recongising this fact so they are making chinese exams harder but thats completely not the point since we will never see or hear many words that they use, and wont understand their slang or memes

its the same way we wont understand UK slang

 

[mummynew]

i think the gov is recongising this fact so they are making chinese exams harder but thats completely not the point since we will never see or hear many words that they use, and wont understand their slang or memes

I am OK if MOE wants to raise the standard of Chinese BUT they have to reduce the syllabus of other subjects. Cannot 鱼也要、虾也要 while in the meantime talking about 'happy learning'. Now there are HCL classes and perhaps MOE can start another higher level 'Supreme CL' classes for those who are really keen to master Chinese in view of future job markets.

I am trying to think of how to make my 微塑料 comprehension lesson more 'interesting' (bearable) for my niece. Sigh, actually I can imagine her super sianz face for the next lesson.

*after tiktok recruiter approach, my girl was approached by another company in Suzhou. Since she has oredi made up her mind not to work for any China company, she declined the interview as well. Personally, I boycott ALL restaurants operated by China brands as I feel very much 'invaded' invisibly.

 

[tidiii]

*after tiktok recruiter approach, my girl was approached by another company in Suzhou. Since she has oredi made up her mind not to work for any China company, she declined the interview as well. Personally, I boycott ALL restaurants operated by China brands as I feel very much 'invaded' invisibly.

u dun wanna work for china companies in sg then what is left? its not like the job market now is good

 

[mummynew]

u dun wanna work for china companies in sg then what is left? its not like the job market now is good

She is working for a UK subsidiary company in sg now and so doesnt need to 折腰 yet.

Currently work life balance is good (as in still got time to pursue hobbies and accompany me to see doctors when needed).

 

[TopGun]

its too bad that it will only get worse and worse for singaporeans

as more chinese companies enter and will only hire those who are already exposed to companies in china. eventually these jobs will go to foreigners 100% since we are not exposed to the level of chinese that they expect at all. all forms of work in sg, apac, usa/eu/aus are all in english

alot of chinese companies also work mostly in english but require you to be able to read and write chinese to converse with their main office in china

one company i learnt of recently, only has customer service here and require them all to speak and write chinese cus again, main team are all in china and the headcount for these companies are extremely tiny

u say they pay tax, but the money doesn't even come to sg so what tax r u even talking about

like mihoyo in japan is the best example. they're there only for marketing purposes so its a place where money is spent, not earned

i think the gov is recongising this fact so they are making chinese exams harder but thats completely not the point since we will never see or hear many words that they use, and wont understand their slang or memes

its the same way we wont understand UK slang

Then what's the point of making the exams harder?