Thank you for telling us your concerns. We will try to
address all issues as soon as we can.
With regards some of the points you have raised, we would
want to clarify a few things.
1. You have requested that the pace of the lessons in math
be slowed down. We would really love to do so, but the current pace we have for
grade school math is already slower compared with the pace we had in the previous
years. The slowdown in pace is the result of our curriculum adjustment for
Grade 7 and the K+12 program. We have spread out the old curriculum and
staggered our lessons, resulting in a slower pace for our lessons.
2. Our math teachers do guide their students strictly to get
answers to practice exercises during the introduction phase of each lesson. For
succeeding exercises, students are encouraged to provide answers, with teachers
just correcting errors or providing additional explanations for difficult
numbers. We do give our students plenty of worksheets. We will provide more
when the situation calls for more.
3. As for seminars for parents regarding the use of the
“unitary method” in Singaporean math, we held one only at the time when we
began implementing the system. Although many schools have given up on
Singaporean math, we can proudly say that we are quite successful at adopting
the system. Almost all of our students eventually take to the system quite
well, many becoming quite expert at the Singaporean model approach by the time they get to Grade 6.
4. For Grade 5 math, the only test with results that were
not so favorable was Quiz 3, a quiz on problem solving. With additional
lessons, the students were able to do better in Quiz 4. Quiz 5 was a quiz on a
topic different from that of Quiz 4. Quiz 5 was an additional quiz and not a
retest. The results of Quiz 4 and 5 were much better than those of Quiz 3.
5. Our math coordinator closely monitors the result of every
test. We will take careful note of our students’ performance.
Thank you again for raising your concerns. Let’s continue to
work together to help our children be the best they can be.
