I've spent almost a day with the AEIS students and I feel that it is important for me to keep you guys in the loop so that you all can monitor and advise me accordingly. Below are my preliminary assessment for this batch of AEIS students. In general Like what Jasper said, this class is rather bright. They are able to grasp concepts very fast. Within 2hrs, they are able to grasp the main concept of factors and multiplication, which I am impressed by. However, I feel that their basics are not very strong. In this case I am talking about their multiplication tables. Many of them are unable to conduct simple multiplication and require rough workings, eg. 7 x 7 = 49. They are still not very strong with the basics. From what I gathered from them, they've learnt the Multiplication Table 5 years ago and I can see that they were rather dependent on their calculator. I will be focusing on altering their mindset of depending heavily on the calculator to one that is founded upon mental calculation, which I believe is important for them in the context of AEIS and Singapore education. Thus, I actually cut short their homework from pg 12-19 to pg 12-14 as I dedicated the rest of the time to drill them with their Multiplication Table. In summary, my focus for this week and the next will be to increase their ability to conduct mental calculation.
Michael
He is the oldest. In my opinion, he may not be the most intelligent but he is the most matured. He pays attention in class and he respects the teacher. He is also obedient and when given the opportunity, he will be able to sit down and focus on his work. However, he loses focus easily. Also, he needs to improve on his neatness of his work.
William
He is a good natured boy. Rather obedient. However, he is very weak in the sense that he depends a lot on others. He doesn't like to think by himself and he gives up easily. I have trouble stopping him from comparing answers with his brothers. He always like to approach me and ask me if his answer was correct. I'll always guide him instead of giving him the answer. He loses his focus very easily and needs to learn to concentrate.
Henry
He is the smartest of them all. But he gets very full of himself. He likes to compare to the other students, to make himself feel good. He likes to compare to his sister Susan especially. Also, he is not very respectful to the teacher, even when I try to be firm to him. He is intelligent but that also make him arrogant easily. Work wise, he is very neat and tidy and I don't see much problem of him not being able to cope. He is very focused when he does his work but when he is done, he likes to distract others who may not be as fast as him.
Susan
She is very weak in her maths. She finds it difficult to do simple mental calculations and when I drill them for the multiplication table, she had a few errors for the higher order multiplication tables (ie. 11 and 12 time table). She is very good natured, respectful and obedient. But she gets distracted very easily, especially by Henry. She really needs to learn to be focus in her work and she is by far the slowest among the students. I personally think much more deliberate attention needs to be given to her in order for her to catch up.
Noe Noe
She is generally fine. Work wise, she is still able to catch up. However, she needs to be more careful in her work as she commits careless mistakes quite often. Also, she is quite hasty when doing her work, making her more prone to careless mistakes. But she is generally okay, respectful and obedient. She do get a little distracted though when other students start talking to her. She needs to learn to be more focus.
A point to note, I've requested that they stop speaking Burmese in class in my presence as they know that I do not understand Burmese. They like to discuss the questions in Burmese, making it quite difficult to stop them from comparing answers and such. They were even open to me about it, saying that they did this to their teachers in Myanmmar too because they don't really understand Burmese. Therefore, I am discouraging them to speak Burmese when I am in class. Beyond the class, it is okay. What is your take on this issue? Any suggestion?
Yup, that will be my 2 cents worth for today. Hopefully this is of use to you guys. Do revert back to me if you have any issues or suggestions. Your guidance will be of much help to me as I am still considered inexperienced in teaching. Thank you for your kind attention and have a nice day! God Bless.
-- Regards,Lim Young
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