You're readingSBB – One year on (A reflection) by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook The academic year has just come to a close for Tiger girl. She has successfully completed Secondary 1 under SBB. It has been a rather interesting year for her being in this new integrated class. The school that Tiger girl is in had been chosen as one of the test centers for this new scheme and it has been a full SBB school for two years to date. Come 2024 all schools will be SBB and it will certainly be interesti ..read more

You're readingSubject Based Banding (SBB) and Me by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook Are the changes mindboggling to you? Recently MOE announced that most schools from 2024 will be subject based banding schools. There has been many coverage on various media platforms about the technical differences this makes in the current AL system. Therefore I will not be covering it here on this blog but in fact address this from the perspective of a parent whose child has been exposed to SBB in 2023. It has ..read more

You're readingWhat next after the N- Levels? by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook What should one choose after the N-Level results have been released? Which course should one choose to ensure a smooth journey into polytechnic? I am sure these are some questions that parents and students may be seeking answers to now that the results are out. There are more decisions that one has to make compared to when your child is in the Express or the Intergrated Programme (Directly to GCE A-Levels). Here is ..read more

You're readingHow to Study Effectively in Secondary School by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook Studying in Secondary school is not very easy. There are multiple subjects to handle on a daily basis and it can really get overwhelming. It not handled properly one may see your grades slip from an A to a F easily. I’m not kidding it has been a right of passage for some students to move from excellent grades to seeing a failure mark on their report book for half the subjects they are currently studyi ..read more

You're readingFrom 4 to 8 subjects in Secondary School by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook Moving from 4 to 8 subjects Congradulations you have just finished your PSLE and successfully entered secondary school. It is no longer a hand holding 1st day of school for you. Nope, your parents can’t and won’t be around on standby to see if you are adapting well to the new environment and there is no buddy for you now. You are 12 turning on 13 and it is time to exert your independence. You have to hand ..read more

You're readingSurviving the Secondary Years by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook As our kids grow up and move through the different stages of life there are various changes that they face. In the previous series on the Transition between Primary and Secondary the challenges that tweens in Singapore faced were addressed. Monkey boy completed his Secondary school and now is studying in a tertiary institute while Doggie boy will be sitting for his N-Levels this year. Having experienced personally h ..read more

You're readingSurviving the PSLE – Emotional Guidance for Tweens by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook Teenagers in a classroom Besides addressing academic excellence it is equally important to understand the need for the child’s emotional development. Many a times the parent is too focus on academics and they neglect the fact that they too need to pay attention to developing their child’s emotional intelligence. As a result of overlooking development in this area, the child enters society being s ..read more

You're readingSurviving the PSLE – (Part 4) -The Mobile Phone by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook Electronic Gadgets Allowing tweens mobile phone devices in school/ home has been a heavily debated topic for the past few years. There are two camps to this debate. One side feels that they are too young to be able to properly control the usage of this electronic equipment while the other say they are old enough to be responsible. Many experts too have weighed in on this issue and their opinions are ..read more

You're readingSurviving the PSLE- (Part 3B) The English Exam by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook English Paper 2 is the paper in the English exam which has the biggest weightage at 47.5%. Therefore if one does badly in this particular paper there is a high chance that the overall grade for English would go down by one to two levels. IE : Dropping from an A to a C. What I have observed from my students weaknesses that majority of them are weak in these sections – Vocabulary , Editing ..read more

You're readingSurviving the PSLE (Part 3A) – The English Exam by: Dominique Goh, originally posted on Dominique's Desk. If you have enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me on Twitter, or Facebook Studying English The year has certainly progressed at breakneck speed. The Prelims are around the corner and it is about one and a half month to PSLE. The tension and stress in on both the parent and the child during these preparation months. English is a subject which I have been teaching for the past 20+ years. Comprehension of the various components of Grammar together with the proper ..read more