Tuesday, November 17, 2009

he pulled through!

you know the school year is ending because the SPM & STPM exams start this week. the UPSR results will also be announced on thursday.

for the rest, it's report book time.

when we made the decision to send the boy to a chinese-medium school, we recognised that as non-native mandarin speakers, we couldn't help him in the language except to send him for tuition classes. as the main objective for the enrollment is for him to learn to converse, read & write mandarin, we readily accept that he may not excel in school overall, & should he find it difficult to cope, we will re-enroll him into a national-type school.

however, we were pleasantly surprised that he handled the language much better than expected. no tantrums & certainly no i-hate-school tussles. now, he even reads & writes better than us, & we could get a decent conversation going.

oh yes, he was 12th in class in mid-year & improved 2 places for the end-year.


and he thinks he deserves a vacation!

24 comments:

Yan said...

Well done! PTL!

I do have many regrets with insisting that my daughter went through the six years in the Chinese medium school. She was struggling through six years in primary school with Chinese.

Each child is unique in his/her own way. The fact that I love Chinese (Hey, I did classic Chinese in high school and scored A) does not mean that my children should also love the language. I learnt it the hard way!

But, God has been gracious. She is doing very well now in Adelaide. And most importantly, I settled with "no inheritance" to my huge collection of Chinese books. Though the son is picking up some Chinese books, but never those classic books :)

TZ said...

hmmm... your boy will sure thanks you for sending him to the chinese medium school when he start working in the corporate world. Nowadays whoever don't know mandarin in the corporate world is a lost... :p

ilene said...

Oh definitely he sure deserves a vacation for all the effort he has put in. Congratulations to your son DOC!

Gallivanter said...

Wowee. It's getting very competitive these days. Those days, above 90 marks on average would get one in the top 6.

Jo said...

He deserves a vacation alright! And Doc, his average is very high. Don't just look at the ranking.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to son and proud parents!


Just me

doc said...

Yan,

though you have regrets about sending your daughter to chinese school, i wonder how she feels now about those 6 years.

i am certain someone someday will benefit from your collection of books.

looking forward to the day you announce your daughter's graduation!!

doc said...

TZ,

we're glad he has adapted well so far. yes, knowing mandarin means he can communicate with at least 1.5 billion other people in this world!!!

doc said...

Ilene,

thanks.

yes, he definitely deserves a break. maybe a vacation even.

(i'm playing hardball!)

doc said...

Gallivanter,

it's certainly very competitive in the chinese school & we are just glad he went thru the year without much ado.

doc said...

Jo,

you're right. actually the marks & ranking are just numbers to use as a guide to his performance. we're glad & relieved that he actually enjoys going to school!!

and he doesn't know he has another supporter in you! thanks.

doc said...

Just me,

thanks.

Reanaclaire said...

very good!!
u must be beaming when u saw his results... yes, not many can cope esp with parents who are "illiterate" in mandarin like me..

doc said...

Claire,

beaming, not really. but just glad that he has coped rather well in an environment previously alien to him.

wenn said...

it's good to be bilingual..

doc said...

Wenn,

true. even better to be trilingual!

Michelle Mak said...

muahaha..my bro got his upsr result fairly well..didnt expect him to pass his chinese though..cause he hated it so much..and my parents finally give up and sending him to SMK..LOL

doc said...

Mich,

does your brother regret being able to speak mandarin???

foongpc said...

It's good to learn Mandarin. Too bad I am a banana!

doc said...

Foongpc,

it's still not too late to pick up a little. wonder how you managed to get thru your recent china vacation?

Michelle Mak said...

yea a lil..
LOL

doc said...

Mich,

he's thrilled now that i've told him we'll take him to disneyland hong kong in dec.

Michelle Mak said...

i also wanna go la~~
ish...
now posting posting posting only...
but will be on MC again soon..
gotta get thing sort out again..

doc said...

Mich,

hope everything goes well for you.

take care!