Becoming a PSLE Chinese Top Merit Award winner is a competition not just set against other students but also with time. The earlier you start with your child, the more fluent and skilled they will become at writing essays, comprehension tests, and answering questions from the reading papers.
It’s never too early to start strengthening your child’s Chinese language skills and abilities (and after all these years, we still wonder why our teachers at school want us to switch to English subjects at such an early age).
PSLE results day is right around the corner, and many may start to panic. However, this panic is often unhealthy as it can hinder your child’s learning ability and create unnecessary stress. By using these 16 Chinese hacks, you’re going to be able to have more fun with your child, encouraging them to understand the material better fully.
1. Understand the PSLE Chinese Format
The PSLE Chinese format is a bit different from the other subjects, and therefore your child must understand how to approach the exam. This can be achieved by getting familiar with the format and knowing where to find help if you need it.
The PSLE Chinese exam has two parts: listening comprehension and comprehension of written text. The listening comprehension part includes questions about sounds, words, and sentences.
The written text part is divided into two sections: reading comprehension and writing.
In Part 1, there are eight passages with questions in total, and each passage is read twice. In Part 2, there are four passages with questions in total, and each passage is read once.
The reading section is also divided into Part 1 and Part 2. In Part 1, there are four passages with questions in total, and each passage is read twice. In Part 2, there are four passages with questions in total, but only one passage will be read out loud by your child while they answer the question paper.
The listening comprehension test consists of 30 minutes’ worth of questions. There will be 40 multiple choice questions in this section, with each question having four possible answers to choose from. In addition, there are ten short-answer questions where students have to write out their answers in Chinese characters or pinyin (which means they need to know how to write).
The reading comprehension test also has 40 multiple-choice questions. Still, these are longer than those in the listening comprehension section because they require a more detailed understanding of what has been read and an ability to infer meaning from context clues that may not be explicitly stated in the passage. There are no short-answer questions in this section either.
Your child’s ability to listen attentively during the exam is crucial as this will help them understand what they’re hearing while they listen to the question paper being read aloud. They’ll also respond if they know what they hear correctly!
2. Prepare the Right Materials and Physical Environment
As parents, we want our children to do well in their PSLE Mandarin Paper 1. We want them to get a good result so they can continue with their education at secondary schools that are either close to home or have good reputations.
However, we often get caught up in providing our children with resources like books, flashcards, and apps. While these are great, there’s one thing that you need to do as a parent before you even think about buying any of these things: prepare your child’s physical environment!
One of the most significant issues kids face when they study is how comfortable they feel while studying. If they’re not comfortable enough, it will be hard for them to focus and concentrate on what they’re doing. This may even cause them to give up on their studies altogether!
The first step towards creating an environment where your child feels genuinely comfortable is by ensuring that their study area is well-lit and spacious enough for them to spread out their books and papers without feeling cramped.
Your child’s PSLE Chinese score will be heavily influenced by how well they can read.
The best way to help your child become a more proficient reader is to prepare suitable materials and a physical environment to support your child’s learning.
Here are some things you can do:
1. Prepare the Right Materials
Get a copy of the entire PSLE Chinese syllabus and teach it yourself. It will give you a good idea of what skills your child should master before sitting for the examination. You may also want to use the sample questions from previous years’ papers as guides.
2. Create an Interactive Learning Environment
In addition to having a set curriculum, you must create an interactive learning environment for your child so that they can ask questions and get answers quickly and easily. This will help them learn faster and better retain what they have learned!
3. Practice Subject-Verb Agreement and Verb Tenses
We all know how important it is to be able to read and write in Chinese, but there are so many things that you can do to help boost your child’s score. If you want to improve your child’s Chinese grades, it’s best to start early. If you want your child to do well in PSLE Chinese, then you should start practicing with them as soon as possible.
One of the best ways that you can help your child practice their writing skills is by letting them write essays every day, but this also means that they will need a lot of practice with verb tenses and subject-verb agreement. This is important because if they don’t get it right from an early age, they will have a much harder time later on when it comes time for them to take the PSLE Chinese examination.
Another way that you can help your child improve their writing skills is by having them write stories. Or even just sentences every day to start getting used to writing properly in Chinese and getting accustomed to using different verb tenses correctly.
This refers to using singular nouns and verbs with particular subjects and plural nouns and verbs with plural subjects.
For example:
e.g., The boy likes to play football. (Singular subject, singular verb)
e.g., The boys want to play football. (Plural subject, singular verb)
Verb Tenses in English and Chinese
There are three verb tenses in English (past, present, and future). There are only two tenses in Chinese: past tense and present tense!
The past tense is used for completed actions or events that happened before another action or event; the present tense is used for unfulfilled actions or events while another action or event occurs. At the same time, the future tense refers to an activity or event that will occur at a particular time.
4. Focus on Essay Writing Structure and Language Flow
Most students know that they should be able to write essays logically, with a clear structure and good grammar. However, not everyone knows how to do this. This article will teach you some tricks to help your child write better essays.
A lot of children find writing essays a daunting task. They may be able to speak well, but they are not confident in writing essays. Many parents find it hard to get their children to write essays during homework. However, students need to be able to write essays because it helps them develop their language usage, structure, and flow of ideas. It also helps them think critically about the topic they are writing about.
One of the most important things when writing an essay is to have a clear structure. This means that every part of your essay should be related to one another somehow.
For example, if you are writing about summer vacation, you can start with a paragraph about how warm and sunny it is outside, then talk about what activities you did when it was hot out. Then you can talk about how much fun it was playing outside during summer vacation.
The next thing is language flow – this means that each sentence should flow naturally from the previous sentence without any awkward pauses or stops in between sentences that don’t make sense together (these are called run-on sentences).
For example: “I went to school; I ate breakfast; I played with my friends at recess.” These three sentences don’t make sense because there is no punctuation between them.
Here are some tips on how you can help your child with their essay writing:
1) Start early! Start practicing essay writing from Primary 1 onwards. You can ask your child to write about different topics, such as what he did during his weekend or during recess time at school. You must let him decide on his topic so that he will feel more motivated and engaged in the process of writing an essay.
2) Get them to write down their ideas first before they start typing or handwriting their essay to have a rough idea of what they want to say in the end!
5. Master Basic Reading and Listening Skills
The Chinese language has a different writing system from English, which means that reading and listening skills are critical to your child’s success in the Chinese language modules.
A child’s reading and listening skills are essential for the Chinese language paper in the PSLE. It is not just about understanding what is written but also about being able to read clearly and fluently.
Reading skills are essential to help students understand the meaning of what they read while listening skills help them identify words and expressions in spoken language.
Here are some tips to help your child master essential reading and listening skills:
1. Read aloud with your child regularly at home.
2. Focus on comprehension rather than speed when reading aloud together, as this is more important for understanding what you are reading than just reading quickly.
3. Have your child read aloud from time to time during quiet times at home so that they can practice correct pronunciation and intonation patterns without feeling nervous about being judged by you or any other family members.
4. Have them read aloud often. The more they read aloud, the more familiar they will become with the sounds of words, which will make it easier for them to read fluently. You can also ask your child to read from a book or newspaper out loud before bedtime every night so that they become comfortable with reading aloud even when tired.
5. Encourage them to look up new words that they don’t know in their dictionary or online dictionary app on their phones or tablets instead of simply skipping over those words without learning their meanings and pronunciations.
6. Build Sentence Structures for Different Question Types
This hack is more about building sentence structures for different question types. So let’s take a look at an example of how you can do this, and then we’ll talk about how this can help your child score well in Chinese.
You’re asked to describe a picture that has something red and something white in it. You’re given three choices: “the girl,” “the boy,” and “the dog.” If you know the answer, all you need to do is say, “The boy and girl are sitting on the floor.”
But if you don’t know what the answer is or if you’re not sure which one is, it’s better to use a sentence structure like this: “The boy and girl are sitting on the floor.” Then you explain why they are sitting on the floor (e.g., playing with their toys).
The best way for your child to approach PSLE Chinese questions is by building sentence structures for different types of questions before answering them. This will help them connect ideas and improve their vocabulary skills too!
For example, if there are two parts to a question (e.g., Part A asks about different names for animals while Part B asks about how many legs they have), your child should build two separate sentences with Part A as its subject and Part B as its verb or object.
The PSLE Chinese paper is divided into four parts: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The first three sections have multiple-choice questions (MCQs). The Speaking section has an oral interview.
To prepare your child for the PSLE Chinese exam, you can start by teaching them how to answer different questions. This includes answering open-ended questions, short answer questions, and multiple-choice questions. Your child must know how to write a good answer regardless of their question type.
7. Learn Shortcuts to Solve Exercises Quickly
One of the essential skills in PSLE Chinese is how fast your child can solve the exercises. The quicker they can work, the more time they can spend on other questions that may be more difficult than others.
It’s not easy to learn Chinese, and even more complicated when in Primary School (Primary 1 to 4). However, there are some ways that you can use to help your child learn Chinese better. One of them is by learning shortcuts to solve exercises quickly.
If they are given an exercise on how to write a particular character, they would have to write every stroke of it. If they are given training on reading a specific sentence or paragraph, they must read every word carefully.
Even if they do this correctly, it will take them quite some time until they can finish the whole exercise. But if they know shortcuts for these exercises, it will be much faster for them! The best way to learn this skill is to practice regularly and learn some shortcuts for solving exercises. Some children need one or two examples to understand how to do a workout, and then they will do it perfectly every time.
Here are some shortcuts you can teach your children:
Alphabetical order: For example, “A” should be followed by “B.” This helps them remember which letter comes after another letter.
Number order: For example, four comes before five but after two because there are two numbers between 4 and 5 (3 and 6). This also helps them remember which number comes after another number because there are no numbers between 3 and 6!
8. Study Grammar Rules with Word Usage in Context
One of the essential skills that Chinese students need to master is grammar. They need to understand complex sentences and use the right words and phrases to express their ideas.
When you study grammar rules, you need to understand and remember the structure of a sentence and its word usage. You also need to know how different parts of speech work together in a sentence.
The good news is that there are ways to learn grammar rules quickly to use them when you speak or write Mandarin Chinese.
Here are some tips:
Study grammar rules with word usage in context: The best way to study grammar rules is by looking at examples of sentences that follow those rules to see how each rule works in practice.
For example, if you want to learn about adjectives, look at examples of sentences that have adjectives in them (e.g., “He’s a tall boy”). This will help you memorize what adjectives look like and how they’re used in context.
The best way to learn any Chinese language is through immersion. It is also essential for your child to study grammar rules and word usage in context. This way, they will better understand why certain things are said in specific ways and how different types of sentences are formed.
An excellent way to help your child learn these elements is by using flashcards or post-it notes with examples on them that you can use during your daily homework time.
For example, if you have a flashcard with the word “I” written on it and the sentence “I like pizza,” you could write down the correct answer next to it so that your child knows what they should say when asked about their favorite food.
You could also write down examples such as “I like pizza” or “I don’t like pizza.” This way, your child will be able to see how each sentence works and then practice them at home until they get it right!
9. Set a Revision Schedule to Practice Regularly
The PSLE Chinese language paper includes a reading comprehension section and a composition. The writing component requires students to write an essay based on a given topic.
The writing section is worth 20% of the total exam score. Students who do well in this section can earn additional points for their overall score.
It’s essential that students can write well in both English and Chinese. They should be able to express their thoughts clearly in both languages. If you want your child to perform well in the writing section, you need to ensure that they practice regularly. The following tips will help:
1) Help your child set aside time for revision every day so that they can practice regularly without wasting time during school hours or on weekends. For example, if your child has only one hour of homework each day, set aside half an hour for revision so that they can come up with ideas during school hours instead of outside school hours on weekends.
2) Encourage your child to read books written by native speakers to learn from them and improve their writing techniques. You could also ask your child’s teacher about a book written by a famous writer.
3.) Encourage your child to read widely and write down anything interesting they read online. This will help him, or her come up with ideas for essays more easily when it comes time for exams.
10. Read Books Widely for Exposure!
The PSLE Chinese language paper has a lot of text in it. You need to be able to read, understand and comprehend all this text to do well on the paper.
Reading widely will help your child develop reading skills and improve his performance at school. It also exposes him to different types of content, which helps broaden his horizons, increase his vocabulary and develop his communication skills.
Reading widely can help your child learn about different people and places. It can also teach him about history, geography, and culture. It gives him a better understanding of life beyond home and school.
Reading literature makes your child more sensitive toward others’ feelings, values, and emotions. It also helps develop empathy in children and makes them more compassionate towards others’ needs and their own self-development needs.
As parents, we want our kids to achieve their full potential in life – academically, emotionally, and socially. Reading can help us achieve these goals because it opens up our mindsets by allowing us to see things from different perspectives – those who are not like us or those different from us culturally or ethnically.
Reading widely is one of the best ways to improve your Chinese knowledge and vocabulary. It exposes you to different writing styles and makes you more familiar with the language. You may be surprised that some of the books not considered “academic” or “informative” can help you improve your scores in PSLE Chinese.
For example, reading a crime novel will help develop your understanding of criminal terms such as “murder” and “robbery.” This can be very useful when answering questions on these topics in the examination.
If you want to learn more about this approach, click here for more information on how to improve your PSLE results by reading widely! Firstly, as they say, ‘readers are leaders. Reading is a form of exercise that helps in developing our brains.
It improves concentration and enables us to think more clearly and creatively. Reading also allows us to get into the minds of others and understand them better.
Secondly, reading expands our vocabulary and knowledge on various topics. The more we know about other things, the more we will be able to communicate effectively with others.
Thirdly, reading helps us improve our language skills such as writing and speaking. This is especially true if we read books written in formal English or Chinese (e.g., novels).
11. Motivate your child
We all know that our children are our greatest assets, and we want them to do well in school. But sometimes, we may not be able to spend as much time with them as we would like. This means that they may not always be motivated enough to study.
Motivation is essential in any learning process. It can help you overcome obstacles and give you the drive to carry on when things get tough.
As parents, we need to find ways of motivating our children so that they will want to study hard without us having to nag or remind them constantly. One way of doing this is by showing your child how important it is for them to do well in school and talking about how it will help them in the future.
Here are some ways that you can motivate your child:
1) Praise their hard work and effort rather than just their successes. This will set an excellent example for them and encourage them to continue working hard even when they fail at something.
2) Do not compare your child with others or put too much pressure on them to perform well academically or socially because this will make them feel inadequate and stressed out, which may lead to poor performance at school or, even worse, depression!
3) Encourage them to read newspapers and magazines in Chinese. This will help them develop an interest in reading materials written in Chinese, which will make them more confident when it comes to tackling their exam papers.
4) Read books together as a family so that your child gets used to hearing Chinese words and phrases spoken out loud. This will also help your child pick up new vocabulary easily when they start learning Chinese as a subject at school. This way, they won’t be intimidated by not knowing what is being said around them!
5) Watch movies together in Mandarin but do not make it too complicated by explaining every word they hear because this may discourage them from watching it again!
12. Make sure your child takes enough breaks
The PSLE Chinese exam is long, and it can be pretty stressful for your child. They must take breaks in between not to get fatigued. Ensure that you have water and snacks available for them to take a break during the exam.
The main reason why many students do not perform well in the PSLE Chinese papers is that they are not taking enough breaks in between the papers. Most students are so eager to finish all the papers that they forget to take breaks. They also forget to eat and drink during the exam. This can cause them to become dehydrated or lose concentration as they get hungry and thirsty.
You should make sure that your child takes at least 10 minutes between each paper and another 10 minutes before they start writing the following paper. This will give them time to recover from fatigue and regain their focus for writing each paper.
This will also help your child avoid mistakes because if they do not have enough rest, they might skip words while writing or make grammatical errors because of fatigue and hunger. Another reason why taking breaks is essential is because it helps reduce stress levels which may lead to anxiety attacks during exams!
The optimum number of hours for studying is about 20-30 minutes at a time, with rests in between. This helps to avoid “cramming” – spending too much time on one subject before moving on to another – which can lead to anxiety and burnout.
It also helps if you have an open-plan home where your child has room to move around and get their blood flowing to focus better on their studies. Suppose this isn’t possible due to space constraints or other reasons.
In that case, you must provide them with a quiet place to study without distraction – perhaps a desk or table in a corner where they won’t be disturbed by siblings and other family members. Or even just a chair in their bedroom that they can use every day after school until exams are over.
Another hack is to make sure that you have prepared your child well before the exam. This will ensure that they do not panic during the exam and can answer all questions correctly without wasting any time!
13. Make sure your child has a good night’s rest before taking the exam
There are many ways to prepare your child for the PSLE Chinese exam, and one of them is to make sure your child has a good night’s rest before taking the exam.
This is because the kids will be more alert and attentive in class if they get enough sleep. This can help boost their PSLE score as well.
Here are some tips on how to ensure that your child gets enough sleep:
Set a bedtime schedule
Children need regularity in their lives, and this includes bedtime rituals. Make sure you set up a routine for your child and stick to it so that they know what time they need to go to bed every night. You can even use an alarm clock app on your phone or tablet to remind them when it’s time for bed!
Make sure there are no distractions around when it’s time for sleep
If there are TVs or computers in their room, turn them off at a particular time each night so the kids won’t be distracted while they’re falling asleep. Also, make sure there aren’t any toys lying around that could keep them awake either!
The PSLE Chinese paper can be pretty challenging and stressful for most students. With an average of 70-80 questions, it can be challenging to keep track of time and answer all questions correctly.
But there are some things you can do to help boost your child’s score in this year’s Chinese Paper 2 exam:
1. Ensure your child gets a good night’s rest before taking the PSLE Chinese Paper 2 exam. The brain needs time to process information and prepare for an important event like the PSLE. A good night’s rest will ensure that your child is well-rested and ready for their test!
2. Ensure that your child has eaten a balanced breakfast before sitting for their examination, allowing them to stay focused throughout the entire duration of their test!
15. Calm nerves with breathing exercises
There are a few ways to calm nerves before an exam, especially for those who are naturally nervous or anxious. One of them is through breathing exercises.
Breathing exercises can help you relax and focus on what needs to be done, rather than letting your mind wander into other things that may distract you from answering questions correctly.
Here are some breathing techniques that you can try:
Inhale through your nose, hold it for a few seconds, then exhale through your mouth (exhaling gently). Repeat this exercise 10 times.
Breathe slowly through your nose and out through your mouth for about 5 seconds each time. This will help calm you down and get rid of any pent-up anxiety or stress within your body.
Breathe in through your nose while counting up to 6, hold it in until you reach seven, and then breathe out again while counting up to 8. This technique will help lower blood pressure levels while also calming down any feelings of stress or anxiety that you might have been experiencing.
This exercise involves taking deep breaths from your abdomen instead of your chest, which helps you control your breathing more easily and regulate it better when needed. It also makes you more aware of your breathing to slow down if necessary.
You can do this by lying down or sitting up straight with both feet flat on the floor, closing your eyes, then inhaling deeply through your nose for about three seconds before exhaling slowly through pursed lips for another three seconds.
Calming down nerves, especially for easily stressed children, is essential to help them achieve their best. You can do this by teaching your child some simple breathing exercises.
16. Be mindful of the time used for each question
This is an essential point because it affects how you approach exam techniques. You must use your time wisely to answer questions correctly, and in this section, we’ll show you how to do just that.
The first thing you should do when answering a PSLE Chinese question is read it carefully. The question will tell you exactly what information you need to find to answer correctly, so make sure you understand it fully before moving on.
If there is more than one possible answer, ask yourself which one makes sense based on what you’ve read. Once you’ve answered a few questions and got a feel for how long they take, start timing yourself on each one to know roughly how much time to allow for each question type.
If you take a test and there are only 10 minutes left, you will probably rush through the questions and answers without even thinking about it. You want to get everything done as soon as possible. The result? You might not understand some of the questions and write down incorrect answers or miss out on other vital points that could help you score better.
Think about it – if you were given 30 minutes to complete an essay and there were only three paragraphs left to write, would you make sure that your sentences were well-structured, clear, and concise? Or would you just scribble whatever comes into your head on the paper without much consideration?
The same goes for taking a test, especially regarding PSLE Chinese, because it is such a challenging subject! Remember: The more time you spend on each question means more chances of getting it right!
Conclusion
The PSLE is a stressful time for many parents and students. It can be very stressful for the parents, as they are always worried that their child will not get into their desired school or may even fail the exam.
This is why many parents would like to learn more about any tips or hacks that can help them in boosting their child’s PSLE score.
One of the most popular methods that have been used for many years now is the HAO Chinese Learning Center. The HAO Chinese Learning Center offers various courses to help students learn how to read and write in Chinese and enhance their speaking skills with an emphasis on conversational language.
The HAO Chinese Learning Center also offers various programs for children from kindergarten to secondary school ages (Primary 1-4, Primary 5-6, and Secondary 1-2). These programs are designed specifically for each age group so that they can cater to their needs accordingly.
