Primary One in Singapore

I’m stuck at home these couple of days. Have to teach my Primary 1 niece whom will be having her semester assessment in a week’s time. Her parents are the relaxed, ‘bochap’ type so this aunt has to be kiasu a bit, must help her revise the entire mathematics syllabus to make sure she knows what has been taught in school.

What a shock I got when I saw her maths worksheets. No…she’s not having trouble with her schoolwork. I was astounded by the language and difficulty level of the worksheets. She is only in her first year of formal education and had to answer questions like these:

Qn: 1
∆ + O = 20
∆ + ∆ = 30
The value of O is ____ .

Qn: 2
A storybook costs $3 and a calculator costs $30.
Linda bought a calculator and 2 storybooks.
The cashier gave her $4 change.
How much did she give to the cashier at first?

Qn: 3
Mr Li has 76 apples in a basket.
He has 35 fewer oranges than apples.
How many oranges does Mr Li have?

Qn: 4
Nancy is standing between Lina and Sue in a queue.
Two girls are standing before Lina.
One girl is standing after Sue.
How many girls are there in the queue?

Look at them…more words than numbers and they call these maths questions??? I think even some adults may have problem understanding such questions! Kids who still can’t read when they are in Primary 1 are definitely doomed. Thank goodness my niece amazingly started reading halfway through her second year in kindergarten last year.

After looking at our primary one education syllabus, I can understand better why every year we have EM3 students, kids whom are not stupid but are unable to cope with their schoolwork. They probably had no proper English language preparation prior to Primary 1 and their parents most likely had no idea what was in store for them when they started their primary school education. You just can’t wait until they are in primary one to learn English. They must know the language and are expected to be able to read when they go into primary one. Poor kids!

New parents and parents-to-be, you really need to be kiasu. You don’t have a choice. >_<