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
The importance of education and scoring well in PSLE and GCE O’ levels A* and A1, SG50
Tips, Hints, and Focus for the PSLE Examinations.
SEAB MOE Syllabus PSLE and GCE O’ levels Singapore for Primary and Secondary Schools is by far the main contributor to the social mobility of Singaporeans.
It is the first major exam that starts the path of development for a young individual by training, developing and constructing the psyche of the ultimate student and turning them into a complete Singaporean adult that is capable of competing in this 21st Century workforce.
With SG50, we have now witnessed the effectiveness of education in transforming us into a metropolitan first world country, one that only has human resource that drives this country.
We survived, and then thrived against all odds, whilst in the face of competition against many other resource-rich nations. All this did not come from just plain luck.
We have witnessed too, with the PSLE and streaming of students into secondary schools, how much their PSLE scores alter their outcomes when they grow up.
And I am sure we have to keep our education world class in years to come, even more so with the huge external forces from other markets within the burgeoning Asian region as well as pressures from the international market to keep up-to-date and solve every problem that we will face in the future.
We cannot be naive and think our problems can be solved with a normal, mediocre education, with a low-skilled and highly unmotivated work force. That is not the mark of a first world country. We need to have something special to keep competition at bay.
Dynamism is a highly valued characteristic our children should possess.
I shall loosely quote Gordon Ramsay, “You can’t run a “country” if you can’t even run your own bath.”
And hence, education, training, intelligence, creativity, innovation and persevering hardwork are the hallmarks of a successful country. We need to adopt the mentality that we are larger than what we are, that our world is not restricted to the red dot that makes Singapore a country. But rather, we are in a global community that requires global competitiveness and social skills. And that comes from a world class education.
We need a large canvas of intelligence and expertise, multitudes of captains of industries, pools of talents, and scores of highly skilled individuals to deal with the increasingly convoluted society and economy of the future. And that comes from a world class education.
We, as a nation, bear witness to social mobility, from our previous generations to current generations, and am sure, to our future generations, that doing well in education equates to better salaries, better standards of living and a stable economy. But this didn’t just happen to an individual, and the last 50 years, we have all moved up the social ladder as a collective community. And we have continued to be socially mobile. And that again, comes from a world class education.
As a nation, we have improved leaps and bounds, again, that didn’t just happen by plain luck. We have our PM Lee Kuan Yew to thank for that. But even more so, our society as a whole has taken those steps to rid ourselves of the third world status and decided that this should be the way to go, forwards. And that should always be the way to go, forwards.
All this leads to one conclusion, that of a student that does well in his/her education, will do well in life. That is a rule of thumb of any Singaporean student, and its the easiest and distinct way by far to move up the ladder and achieve success in life.
Let not detractors say that PSLE is getting too hard, for being soft only weakens our pool of talented future human resources. For in Singapore, strength comes from advancing together, and we have to be careful when a minority wants to re-invent the wheel and begs for an easy PSLE.
Let me quote some articles statistics that shows our education is working:
Straits Times: “Singapore takes third spot in global education rankings“
Insing.com: Education minister pleased with Singapore’s PISA ranking “To do well, a student can’t get by with just memorisation; he must have real knowledge and the wits to apply that knowledge to unpredictable real-life problems. This is exactly what we want our students to learn in school — the real skills to think critically and creatively so they can succeed in the 21st Century,” said Heng Swee Kiat.
We do need changes to adapt to the ever changing world, and so our education shall be tweaked to allow such changes. But changing the whole system, on something that has worked well, is just suicidal and cataclysmic.
The problem with education is that the effects are not seen straight off, and only in 20 years time, and maybe another 5-10 years after that when the student graduates and starts climbing up their career and contributes to society. Only then will we feel the effect that will be shouldered by the next generation with a wrong education model.
We have come far from where we began 50 years ago, and our success has come from truly hard intelligent pragmatic work. The recipe for success did not come from being weak, or having a compromised education/society. We do have to be careful how any changes will alter our state, as if its for the better, no one complains; but for the worse, everyone pays, ultimately.
Generally, and critically, the higher the education of a Singaporean, the higher they climb up the social ladder. And that is fact. And that starts with the PSLE. And that, is one that parents should never waver in their child’s education.
MOE 2015 syllabus- developing a 21st Century Singaporean child (Part 2)
This is eduKate Singapore Tuition Centre’s Child Development Technology for our English, Maths and Science tutorial classes for primary and secondary tutorial classes.
In line with the MOE’s 2015 English Syllabus, we have been developing new structures to teach students to develop them into 21st Century individuals that are gregarious, intelligent and exceptional.
Below is a list that we keep in mind when we teach our students, and also for all parents that are looking to teach a child to be a successful Singaporean in the 21st Century.
Interpersonal Skills
To Interact, Being a Leader and Team Player gets the work done.
- culturally aware of multi cultural Singapore
- sensitive to society/political correctness
- integrate with society
- take responsibility
- acknowledge one’s mistakes
- ability to solve problems of all kinds
- participate in a team as team member
- conduct meetings
- commitment to a promise
- loyalty to family, friends, company and country
- form a team and engage effectively
- be a leader, motivate and give instructions
- give/receive/appreciate criticism
- manage time, objectives and resources
- negotiate and persuade effectively
- compromise and agree on best options
- speak clearly, concisely and logically
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. 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. 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.
Symbolic
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.
eduKate Singapore Tuition Centre: English Theme of the Month April 2015: Critical Thinking Skills
Dear Parents,
This month, we are teaching eduKate students Critical Thinking Skills. Students will be receiving their notes and shall cover the below modules:
- What is critical thinking?
- What are the components of learning?
- What are the procedures to achieve critical thinking?
- How to interpret and analyse data?
- What do we need to avoid doing to achieve a balanced result?
- Importance of critical thinking in our education.
Aims of this module: To create awareness in students attempting questions in their exams. Relevance of critical thinking skills to English shall be applied to composition writing and answering comprehension questions during the first two lessons.
Composition
Students are required to demonstrate reasoning in their compositions and develop a realistic approach to story telling. During the process of creating a story, students shall use the 3 pictures composition approach introduced in the new syllabus PSLE format. The students are required to gather and include effective implementation of tools from their creative writing classes. They also need to draw from their past experiences when fabricating their plot.
Comprehension
Students are required to demonstrate critical thinking skills of the following basic 6 questions: who, why, where, when, what and how when attempting to resolve questions in the new syllabus format PSLE questions. They are also required to critique and infer from the passage using the said skill.
For more information of this module, kindly email admin@edukatesg.com
Science is FUN! – Transportation of Water in Plants
Have Science Tuition at our eduKateSG Punggol Tuition Centre.
This week in Science, we learn about the plant’s transport system and zoomed in on how water is transported from the roots to the other parts of the plant through the xylem tubes. To demonstrate this, we conducted a simple and fun activity that is easy to carry out at home as well.
Materials required:
- Fresh white chrysanthemum or carnation
- Water
- Food coloring
- Plastic bottle
Procedure:
- Pour 1 cup of water into the plastic bottle and mix in 1/4 cup of food coloring.
- Trim the stalk of the flower using a pair of kitchen scissors at an angle such that the base is pointed and not flat. (Water absorption may be affected if the base is flat and the stalk sits at the bottom of the bottle.)
- Place the flower in the colored water and watch the petals change color!
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.
eduKate’s Holistic Programme @ Climb Central
Our students from Primary 6 had an awesome time this weekend, and here’s some photos from their latest outing: more photos here
Exercise your brains for exam preparation.
Whether you are preparing for GCE, GCSE, IB, PSLE, SAT, or any examination, it is imperative to get your brains fit for the exams. Try these few websites for free brain teasers:
1) Brainmetrix.com contains general games that tests most of brain activities. IQ based, Cognitive and even Sudoku can be found free in here.
2) GamesForTheBrains.com is also a general brain teaser free games website that are simple for children to navigate. Just click on the links you find on the frontpage and you are all set to go.
3) BrainHQ.com is another website but it is slick and organised into memory, attention, brain speed, people skills, intelligence, and navigation exercises. However, it does need a sign up to get the basic tier games, and to access the full site there is a purchase involved.
by Wong Kin Leong eduKateSG Pinevale Tampines.
Singapore English Tutors for Small Group Tuition 