Here’s photos of Borough Market, London.
- Borough Market caters to everyone’s needs and people come from all over the world to visit this famous landmark.
Borough Market, London
English Language in Singapore
English Language tuition in Singapore has gone a long way since our independence and this can be attributed to three main components of increased business opportunity, parent’s desire for their children to be job competitive and the government’s push to be glocal.
English Language in Singapore
Thinking glocal is how we can be successful in a nation that takes pride in being the centre of the world. We are the avenues between the East and West, and our geopolitically advantageous positioning has put our small island onto centre stage of the international market by providing professional, competitive, stylish and efficient flow of air/sea traffic, a robust financial market, plus a hardworking and talented workforce that has adopted the English Language as their lingua franca.Â
The English Language, with 1 500 million speakers, of whom only 375 million are native (statistica.com), are the highest adopted language in the world. This is seconded by Chinese Language with 1 100 million speakers but are predominantly native speakers of 982 million. With the rest of the languages tailing far behind these two.
The dominance of these two languages means that commanding a mastery in either of the language lets you talk to 1 in every 5 or 6 persons living on earth. In Singapore, the Chinese population that learns Chinese as their second language (and English as a First Language) in school drives these statistics to 1 in every 2.7 person on earth. And that is a lot of people that bilingual English/Chinese speaking Singaporeans can converse with. Coverage is key to a successful business plan and if a business entity can serve a wider network, that unhinges latent opportunities and make connections with markets that would have been otherwise foregone.
This is an advantage that keeps us relevant. The ability to communicate with almost half of the world means we can do business with any country, help anyone in times of need, but more importantly, be a friend with everybody. It is where we become truly global, not only by going out and making friends, but to be a welcoming host and the world comes to you.
Inculcating English into Singaporeans started with our education systems 50 years ago. Compulsory English examination passes to advance, with every subject in school taught in English (minus ethnic languages) means mastery would be advantageous in learning fast and an ability to grasp complex technical concepts. That universities are lectured in English as well, attainment of a degree, a professional career and ultimately, survival, hinges on the proficiency of English.Â
But that is a 20th century strategy: language assimilation.
Latest generations of 21st century English-speaking Singaporeans pass on their English to their children as if the equivalent, a native speaker. English-educated Singaporeans now speak, read, write English as their first language and their children don’t need to learn “A” for Apples in Primary 1 like 40 years ago.Â
Our children is born into an English speaking household and vernacular to English. We have evolved and our children have become as native an English user as any other.Â
Our diverse ethnicity and international positioning keeps English relevant to our lives. Over generations, the English Languge has proven to be a viable marriage into our culture, keeping our traditions whilst adopting Western cultures and views that helps rather than deter. The ability to communicate with most of the world keeps us competitive and economically viable.
“The Limits of my language is The Limits of my World”-Ludwig Wittgenstein
It makes us globally active, engaging, dynamic and yet keeps us intimately connected with our immediate neighbors. Making friends where it would have been near impossible in our multi-cultural nation. Thinking glocal helps when our nation support such diverse ethnic groups where finding a common language would mean learning 4-5 languages just to talk to our neighbours. English breaks down barriers and carries our thoughts. To understand, first, we need to convey in a common language.Â
So where next for English in Singapore? We will continue evolving. Our primary education system for English Language just got tweaked this year after 4 years of research into what we need to improve in our education. There is a push to change from the government sector to include creative aspects into our system.
There is also a sudden increase in international awareness that Singapore is a global city, thanks to Marina Bay Sands and the yearly Formula 1 events. One can’t be hospitable unless one communicates and understands hospitality.Â
And what about English as an art form? Literature, poetry and sonnets. It is the existence of English as an art form, for the sake of art itself and nothing else that a society starts to fully appreciate the English Language. Appreciate the emotional powers and its beauty instead of just English being a tool of commerce or conversation. Appreciate that culturally, attainment of English as art means that we perhaps have arrived rather than be bystanders looking into a prestigious country club.
Thinking glocal helps when our nations’ resources is human resource. Keeping a common framework of English provides the bridge to our conversations and a strong spine to support our communication infrastructure. It is our bread, butter, main course, wine and sweet pastries. It provides for everything, and then some.Â
Tuition for Poi Ching School at Pinevale Executive Condo
Poi Ching School Students at eduKate Singapore Tuition Centre
Primary PSLE Results SEAB Syllabus MOE English, Math, Science Tuition specific to Poi Ching School Primary Syllabus. We take pride as fine educators, wise mentors, supporting motivators and creative innovators with your child’s development turning them into top students, focussed and worldly-wise.
- Tuition in Tampines, Pinevale 6 Tampines St73, Singapore 528825
- SEAB PSLE 2015 All Subjects Schedule is found here:Â SEAB 2015 PSLE Exam Timetable
Classes PSLE Syllabus
- Primary 1 English, Mathematics Tutorial, Preparatory
- Primary 2 English, Mathematics Tutorial, Preparatory
- Primary 3 English, Mathematics Tutorial, Preparatory
- Primary 4 English, Mathematics, Science Tutorial, Preparatory
- Primary 5 English, Mathematics, Science Tutorial, Preparatory
- Primary 6 English, Mathematics, Science Tutorial, Preparatory, Intensive PSLE
Referrals and recommendations from our loyal clients abound with majority  of eduKate Tampines students coming from Poi Ching School.
Close to Poi Ching School at Pinevale Condominium
We also locate our tuition centre close to Poi Ching School so that your child has easy access to our top tutors from alma mater colleges RJC, ACJC, SMU, NTU. We are 50m away and takes 5 mins to walk over from Poi Ching.
Top Tutors, highly qualified, trained and current to PSLE Syllabus
We are a group of university graduate tutors with expert knowledge in the current MOE syllabus. We teach to understand everything according to the syllabus and then move onto solving challenging sums that students will encounter in their exams.
Our classes are conducted in a fully air-conditioned environment with the average tutor/student ratio of 1:5.
Our Current tutors
- Ms Teo Yuet Ling: tutor from TPJC, UOL.
- Ms Jeanine Cheok: tutor from RJC, SMU.
- Ms Renee Kwek: tutor from TP, UOL.
- Ms Yeo Hui Qing: tutor from TPJC, UOL.
- Ms Kajol Singh: tutor from SAJC, NTU.
Our Custom Scheduling fits Poi Ching students perfectly
Our schedule in eduKate Tampines Tuition Centre caters specifically to Poi Ching’s school timetables and CCA’s. All new students will not have problems getting a suitable time slot in our class. One less headache for students and parents to attend our lessons.
Holistic Tuition Centre develops the total student
Give us a call to set up a tour around our centre and know more about  our unique tuition programmes.  Our quality programmes are developed to encapsulate a holistic development of your child’s psyche and let students gain confidence, enthusiastic in learning new things, become gracious and sociable.
Our eduKate Tuition Centre “Team Building and Empowerment” programme for PSLE Primary students:
P6 eduKate Students at Tampines Tuition Centre goes to Climb Central for eduKate Holistic Programme
eduKate PSLE Studetns getting Instruction on safety and equipment during social team building 2014 Holistic programme. Importance of staying safe and being responsible is learnt here.
last check before we head out- eduKate Students gets final safety check by Climb Central Staff. Learning a new skill, equipment and peripheral in a short amount of time is the lesson here.
equipment briefing and being taught about their equipment. eduKate PSLE tuition class goes for their enrichment class at climb central. They learn to be confident and never to give up till they reach the top. plus their own bodies and physical properties. Science combines with mental strength in a real world situation.
being competitive and coming back strong is an important character trait. Primary students at Climb Central finds it tough to reach the top, but fights through the mental barrier and goes to the top
tutor Yuet Ling takes care of me… all the time. edukate PSLE student attends Holiday Programme for Holistic Development, Empowerment and Team Building
edukate student goes up Climb Central for Holiday enrichment programme primary school PSLE SEAB
I fell off a wall… and it was awesome! eduKate Student learns to fall and dust off the disappointment, persevere through the pain and get to the top
Now how do I get down?
Yes… Christmas is coming! and SMILE!!!
Call us to join the most progressive tuition centre in Tampines:
- Yuet Ling: +65 8222 6327
- email: admin@edukatesg.com
eduKate Tuition Centre Tutorial Classes for PSLE Syllabus MOE SEAB Ministry of Education, Singapore
Office Hours:
- PUNGGOL +65 8222 6327
- TAMPINES +65 9247 8997
- OFFICE +65 6638 8814
- MARINA BAY +65 9181 1929
or email us at
- admin@edukatesg.com
Our addresses for eduKate Tuition Centre:
- Punggol 33, Punggol Field, Singapore 821211
- Tampines 6 Tampines St 73, Singapore 528825
- Marina Bay, 2 Marina Boulevard, Singapore 018987
Idioms for PSLE Syllabus-eduKate Tuition Centre
Top 10 Idioms for PSLE English Syllabus, Singapore-eduKate Teaching Materials.
Idioms can add spice onto the canvas of your composition writing and when appropriately used, gives a dramatic effect and shows the mastery that you have attained. Â The idea here, while attempting PSLE, is to have a list of go-to tools that would cover almost every situation that you can come across. This helps pepper your composition, adding flavour and widen the spectrum of colour to your writing.
idiom-ˈɪdɪəm
-a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (dictionary.com) Here’s 10 most useful idioms that you can use to almost every composition that you will see in PSLE.
- A penny for your thoughts: asking someone’s thoughts
- Best of both worlds: All advantages are in effect.
- Can’t judge a book by its cover: Cannot judge something/someone on appearance alone.
- Curiosity killed the cat: Being Inquisitive can lead you into an unpleasant situation.
- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: Do not put all your resources in one possibility.
- Every cloud has a silver lining: Be optimistic, even difficult times will lead to better days.
- In the heat of the moment: Overwhelmed by what is happening in the moment.
- Kill two birds with one stone: To accomplish two different things at the same time.
- Let the cat out of the bag: To share information that was previously concealed
- Piece of cake: A job, task or other activity that is easy or simple.
EduKate Singapore PSLE English Composition Writing Materials-Types of Characters
Singapore PSLE English Language Syllabus Composition Writing Section-prepared by eduKate Tuition Centre
The following is a summarised class material for PSLE EL Syllabus under topic “types of character” that shall be used by eduKate for teaching PSLE candidates in their attempt of the PSLE EL Composition writing section.
Major Characters
Major characters are characters that appear sufficiently in the story to drive the story forwards. They are also characters that will let readers identify with and bond throughout the story.
Minor Characters
Minor characters are characters that appear in localised smaller parts of the story, and could add to driving the story, or not driving the story at all. Minor characters can be used to add to the richness of the story and provide a distraction or comic relief to the reader.
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character and driver of the story. It creates movement of the plot and engages the reader’s imagination and empathy. The protagonist usually has character traits that readers identify with and is usually the hero or heroine of the story. This is not always true, with protagonists that can be evil, or even neutral to make things interesting for ther reader. Â The protagonist usually solves the conundrum in the story, or provides for a solution to the moral dilemma presented within the theme taken by the writer.
Antagonist
An antagonist is the counter character to the protagonist, creating friction and problems for the protagonist to negate. The antagonist is the other driver of the plot and, together with the antagonist, moves the plot to its conclusion. The antagonist presents a counter balance to the protagonist and could give a valuable insight for the reader into the protagonists character/actions/decisions. Again, the antagonist might be evil in nature, or could even be a hero in the story, which gives a twist to the general perception and again, makes things interesting for the reader.
Character Development
Dynamic Character
A dynamic character undergoes personality changes in the story plot, developing into another character or attaining a different outlook/experience. It usually takes a pivotal event in the plot where the character experiences monumental tasks and readjusts to cater for the change.
Static Character
A static character does not undergo any changes in the story. Usually static characters does not undergo any changes because throughout the story, a static character is hardly affected by climactic problems and soldiers on solving it.
Instrumental Characters
Round Characters
A round character is fully developed to be complex and realistic. Depth of character and attention to details makes round characters malleable to changes in the plot and readers sympathise with round characters easily through empathy. Round characters also mimic reality and gives readers an insight into the character and keeps the story interesting.
Flat Characters
The reverse of round characters, flat characters are not fully delineated and usually only has one or two traits to carry through the story. Usually not the main character in the story, flat characters are important tools used to provide comic relief, or even instrumental to a change in the plot.
Foil
A foil is a character that contrasts another main character to make readers appreciate the difference. The intention of the foil is to make readers understand the other character its “foiling” better.
SymbolicÂ
A symbolic character is a character that symbolises certain ideas or morals of society. The intention of symbolic characters are for readers to identify the hidden trademarks within the story and see its relevance to the theme of the story. It denotes clever writing and makes the reader appreciate its intelligence and its intrinsic fabrication by the writer.
New Year, New Resolutions, New Aspirations
Welcome to 2015 and we wish you an awesome year ahead. So the new year is upon us and its that time where most of us reflect on what is important that needs some work on and making sure we do whatever we can to make our dreams come true, or to some of us, not to do something that we have done in our previous years and break that habit of ours.
What kinds of resolutions?
Basically, there are two types of resolutions that we categorise all this into: what we want to achieve in 2015, and: what we don’t want to repeat ever again. So a good way is to catalog your resolutions into these two sections.
An example of what we want to achieve: Get into School of Medicine.
An example of what we don’t want to repeat again: Stop procrastinating.
Start putting these points down and then move to the next stage.
How do we do this?
- The first step is to get a piece of paper and write down what you would like to do in 2015.
- Next, what you don’t want to do in 2015.
- Prioritise all the points and simplify it all.
- Plan how we can do achieve all these and be practical about it.
- Email this list to yourself and label it “Resolution 2015” for you to check it now and then
- Execute.
Next stage:
The first thing about new year resolutions is that we tend to forget we made them and slowly, our spots never change and we continue being the same person that we were last year. That’s when we need to make sure that we do remember to make this resolution into a checklist. So make sure that it is in a prominent place that you can remind yourself often enough of that resolution and check it off once you have achieved it.
Be reasonable with your schedules and make a plan that you can follow. I was a musician when I was much younger and we had to practice these musical passages that had an impossible amount of notes played at an impossible fast beat. There was no way we could have played it right off the first time round sight reading it. So what did we do?
We played it slow, like really slow, and started playing those phrases, note for note, beat for beat, but really really slow. Do it a hundred times. And then we took the speed up, like 5 beats per minute faster. It is an almost imperceptible change to the previous speed, and do that 100 times again. Because its hardly any faster, we don’t feel strained by it. Then another 5 beats per minute faster. Commit to it. It will slowly reach a speed where it is fast, a bit too fast for us to handle, and that was it for that day. And we came back again to it the next day, but we start at the next faster speed. Again, bringing it up to the next 5 beats per minute faster. After a few days of this slow imperceptible increases, guess what, we are now at that impossible fast speed that we needed to be to get the music right. Note for note, beat for beat. It was impossible at first, but it is not impossible anymore for us right at this moment. It is how we trick our brains and body into learning something that we thought we could never do that makes us one of the best learning machines in the world.
Why am I saying all this? Because something is impossible only if we let it be impossible. No one was born to this world running, or flying, but we have achieved all of this, and more. It just takes time, that very first step and keep on moving up the ante till we get where we want to be. So that bring us back to our resolutions.
Want to be a pilot in 2015? Yeah sure, why not? Take that first step, no matter how baby that step is. Make sure those steps gets stronger, faster, braver and slowly, with tenacity, you will reach there.
Aspire to be someone great, someone that is truly what you want to be. Write it down. Now! And let’s all make our 2015 the best year ever.
Happy New Year! And good luck on your new resolutions.
Singapore falls to 15th place in ranking of world’s best cities for university students -ST
More news on university ranking in Singapore for today as Singapore falls to 15th place according to this article from straitstimes.com with an extract of it below:
by Amelia Teng
“SINGAPORE – Singapore has fallen 12 spots to 15th place in a ranking of the world’s best cities for university students.
Last year the London-based educational consultancy Quacuarelli Symonds (QS) ranked the Republic third in the world and the best in Asia.
However when it released this year’s table this morning it had plummeted, which QS said was due to adjustments made to some factors.
Cities were given scores across five categories for 18 measures, including four new ones that looked at their level of pollution, safety, transparency and tolerance.
Existing indicators included affordability and employability
Wong Kin Leong
eduKate
Tuition Tampines
Tuition Punggol
Better scores now needed for NUS arts faculty
this is from an article published by Straits Times…
“Remember the days when one B and two Cs would get a student into the arts and social sciences faculty of the National University of Singapore?
Not any more.
This year, A-level holders needed at least an A and two Bs, despite the faculty taking in the largest number of students at the university – 1,700 in all.
Two years ago, the minimum grade needed was three Bs.”
– See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/education/story/better-scores-now-needed-nus-arts-faculty-20141125#sthash.zw8nv1jr.dpuf
Time are a changing
As expected, the shifts in education in a competitive Singapore are turning its wheels and grinding its gears. There’s no stone left untouched and in time to come, grades needed to enter NUS will only climb higher and its 22nd TOP UNIVERSITY TOP RANKINGS don’t help the matter much. We are an open education system and we have international students vying seats together with our students, and most people will think this is a bad thing but its more of fear that their children does not get a seat. However, this is not true as an open education system allows healthy interaction with the top students around the world, something Singapore needs to achieve a successful international trade programme.
So what does that mean to Singaporean Students?
As we climb higher up the world rankings, our education system becomes more attractive to foreigners and in our open education system, it attracts the best students and we in turn, will interact with the best in the world. That is a good thing. Competition creates excellence. And to vie for a seat in NUS will mean the cream of the crop of Singapore will be competing with the cream of the crop of the world. And that is our bread and butter. We survive because we have to be the best. To be the best, we need to compete with the best. Having a 22nd world ranking university, Singapore’s education system is at a better place right now than the last century and our students will enjoy all this excellent education infrastructure.
Top Education at our doorstep.
Just 20-30 years ago, we had to fly overseas to go to a properly good university with a properly good world ranking. We don’t need to anymore with NUS ranked at 22 at our backyard. I forgot to mention, NTU is at a not so far 39th for 2014.
That is an achievement that we should be proud of. I can only imagine the brains, the work and the funds needed to build two World Top50 University in Singapore. So this brings us to what is next? For a country where our natural resource is human resource, education and training lies high up the ladder for our future survival. But I foresee ourselves in safe hands with world class universities as part of our portfolio, but only if we have the system to create and nurture world class students to be able to qualify for these universities that we will reap the rewards, or else all those seats will be snapped up by the best of the rest of the world. Hardwork, proper training, and determination to be the best shall be dogma.
Sonnet 123 No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change
No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change:
Thy pyramids built up with newer might
To me are nothing novel, nothing strange;
They are but dressings of a former sight.
Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire
What thou dost foist upon us that is old,
And rather make them born to our desire
Than think that we before have heard them told.
Thy registers and thee I both defy,
Not wondering at the present nor the past,
For thy records and what we see doth lie,
Made more or less by thy continual haste.
This I do vow and this shall ever be;
I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee.
-Shakespeare
by Wong Kin Leong, eduKate
Tuition Tampines
Tuition Punggol
Singapore Studies and Education Statistics 2014
Here’s some perspective of our education in Singapore. All data obtained from http://www.singstat.gov.sg
Singapore literacy rate (for 15 years and above) is at 96.5% with males at 98.5% and females at 94.6%. However, there is no change for males literacy from previous years but females upped 0.2% from 94.4% previously.
Singaporeans with Secondary education or higher (for 25 years and above) has increased from 67.7% to 68.8% with males 71.8% and females 66%.
Our mean years of studying are 10.5 years with males at 11.0 years and females at 10.0 years.
Also interesting, our social indicators have improved with 20 doctors for every 10,000 population as compared to 19 doctors from the previous data.
by Wong Kin Leong eduKateSG
Pinevale Tampines
Singapore English Tutors for Small Group Tuition 