Many Hong Kong students love to read extracurricular books since Primary 4 Chinese tuition. Why are their Chinese scores low?
My child is now in the fourth grade of elementary school. In order to prepare for the middle school entrance examination, I have started to send him to a large-scale entrance education class.
However, he failed in the Chinese language test in the cram school exam, and his grades were at the bottom of the class. I was also taken aback when I saw the questions in the Mandarin test. The child was in the third grade of elementary school when he took the exam, and at this age, he had to read such a long article in a short period of time…
I have been “reading storybooks to my child” since I was a child. Let him get close to books, and he can read storybooks himself. I thought it would be no problem, but it didn’t improve my Mandarin ability. I was very worried about what to do in the future.
If there is any good way, please feel free to guide me.
Not many people know that reading alone will not improve Mandarin skills. And that’s exactly what Ms. Iwata’s problem is. So, let me illustrate this point.
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I heard some mothers whose children got high marks in Mandarin said that although it may not be the case, these children have something in common since they were young. It is the behavior of “parents read storybooks to their children” → “go to the library”.
Whether you are willing to get close to books may be an inherent trait, but the environment in your family will have a great impact when you were a child.
However, at Primary 4 Chinese tuition, there will be such doubts, just like Ms. Iwata, “My family has read story books to the children since they were young, and the children can read at ordinary times, but they are not good at Chinese.”
Listen to it for the child, but he has a good score in Mandarin and was admitted to a well-known private middle school.”
This is true. Since there is no such thing as “one hundred percent can be achieved by doing this”, of course there will be various situations. However, it is also true that there are certain tendencies.
The following content is based on the facts I learned from the mothers who participated in the face-to-face surveys conducted by the students I have directly supervised in the past and the students of Tokyo University, and the mothers who participated in the reading club held at the Mommy Cafe across the country.
Generally speaking, there are two patterns of children who like to read. 1. The type of reading is only the story type; 2. The mode gradually extends from novels and stories to expository essays and essays.
National language questions have been divided into two categories: story type and expository type in the middle school entrance examination stage. This system will also extend to high school exams and university exams.
Although I loved reading since I was a child, I only read stories and did not extend to expository texts later. When I grew up, I became addicted to mystery novels.
And said in unison: “I like reading very much, but I just can’t do well in the Mandarin test.” If you ask him: “What kind of books do you read?” The answer is “stories, novels”. Of course, this is not bad, this is also a kind of reading. However, it will not help you get a high score in Mandarin.
On the other hand, those who start with stories and then increase their reading to expository texts usually have a high deviation in Mandarin and can be admitted to top schools in the middle school entrance examination.
As I said earlier, there are indeed a lot of essays on the national language questions in the middle school entrance examination. And for schools that are difficult to get into, most of the problems will make people jump.
At the stage of primary four, it is necessary to read articles with a very large number of words to answer questions. For children who have not been exposed to expository texts, it is hell.
Of course, for those who are accustomed to reading explanatory texts, the level of articles in the Mandarin test is not a big deal, and the level of vocabulary and thinking has also skipped a grade, so this has caused a gap in Mandarin scores.
Therefore, as in the case of Ms. Iwata, it is advisable to gradually change the type of reading for children from stories to expository texts in the future. Another way is to use the library.
Libraries are treasure troves of knowledge. There are many expository-type books that can hold a child’s interest. However, there are a few things that must be noted:
Let the child “choose” the explanatory books he is interested in, and he will borrow any book he gets home to read. Although it can also guide him or create a learning atmosphere, forcing reading will only fail.
● Borrowing books to go home but find the contents are boring and don’t want to read them. Obsessively reading will only make reading more annoying.
● The point is that parents should intentionally go to the library. Even if parents do not have the habit of reading, go to the library to create an environment that stimulates children’s interest.
There are many other methods, but the nearby library is free to use, so you should take advantage of it. We must create an environment where children can absorb Primary 4 Chinese tuition happily.
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