Sunday, May 3, 2009

Who knew talking could be so complicated?

Last week, Andre had his oral exam. For oral, the kids have to read aloud a passage and talk about a picture. You may remember his garbled account last year.

I dislike oral revision because it's so iffy - there are no outright answers (unlike math!) and I don't have a clear idea how to help Andre improve. So as usual, procrastination set in and we scrambled to revise only a few days before the exam.

Surprisingly, his passage reading has improved. I think it helps that he's very animated so his narration comes across as lively. Except he sometimes swallows his words, which he explained away as, "I have a lot of saliva in my mouth!" Eww...

He's less adept at the picture talk. For one, his grammar is atrocious. Past tense and present tense all jumbled together with a generous helping of Singlish. Plus his tendency to start a sentence without thinking about it first, leading to lots of "And, and, and...", "Ummm...", "Errr..." and starts and stops.

The other problem is that just like in composition, his imagination sometimes runs away with him and he is unable to apply the picture in a realistic context. This is a picture I used to revise his picture talk.

Looks quite straightforward, right? Andre was quite enthusiastic about it as it looked like an exciting scene. He said very dramatically, "A robber on the left side was carrying a SWORD." And then, you see the bar stool that had toppled behind the robber? Andre said, "Somebody left on the floor one of those... those weights, you know? The thing you carry in the gym."

Aiyoh!

The night before the exam, to give him some assurance, we prayed with him. I prayed something along the lines of "God, please give Andre confidence for his oral exam tomorrow and help him think clearly and know what to say."

When he came home from school, I asked how his exam went. He declared, "VERY CONFIDENT!"

Doomed. We're dooooomed.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is deja vu...

I vaguely recall this ringing in my ears after the theory exam... "Very easy!!"... *heart dropped*...sounded like 1-2 pages were missed out! bwaaaah.. Until today I am still trying to think positive...LOL.

But I must say if Andre has not been exposed to a robbery scene before in shows, this is actually quite hard...you know fallen chair and taken at knifepoint..not so common. And if you think Andre is alone on this about pictures, pray no! My kid is more interesting in interpreting pictures. I saw a picture of a boy in water next to a flight of steps...and my girl wrote... "He is swimming in the SEA."! I asked her which she had not seen before, the sea or the pool? She replied...neither..Then? no answer... LOL. What is worse? :P

qx

monlim said...

QX: First, I must say I'm very flattered that you're reading my blog at 1am LOL!

Like that very hard leh, if every picture the kids haven't seen, then how? He hasn't seen a robbery in person but surely he must have seen it on tv 100 times, right? I wonder how the examiner would mark him if he said those things. Or maybe give him extra points for entertainment!!

Lilian said...

Aiyohhhh, why he so cute one!!! Of course he's confident lah, I bet he charmed the socks off the examiner, you don't worry lah.

During one of my primary school oral exam, I think prelim, I just couldn't remember the word 'sugar'; my teacher kept trying to give me clues, prompts, I think we were talking about ingredients for cake, and for the life of me, I couldn't come up with the word, kept saying sweet? something sweet?...em Sweets?

monlim said...

ROFL, "sweets?" - you're so funny lah, Lilian! I bet you charmed the socks of your teacher too :D

Anonymous said...

Ya Mon, addicted to your post...Is there a "Mon blog Anonymous" to call for help? LOL..

Unknowingly...I have progressed (or regressed??) to a nightowl because "time no enough" to use. haha.

My take is Oral Exam for kids will only get better as they gain more experiences with age. If you think the robbery scene is quite straight forward, the hospital scene is indeed tough for some kids who have never gone beyond a clinic experience. :) Baking scene would have been impossible for most kids of my time, I speak for myself.

However, there are 2 scenes I believe children today will fare very well....birthday parties and holiday trips. LOL!

Agree with all mummies here, your Andre is really cute and his innocence is priceless....such moments you will look back and smile when he grows up. And for now, we aunties are enjoying his stories heartily. :)

qx

monlim said...

QX: "Mon blog anonymous" - LOL!! I hope I'm not giving anyone sleepless nights! I'm a night owl myself, just function better with no disturbances, haha.

Yes, I guess it really depends on how familiar the pictures are. I once gave Andre a picture of an old lady's birthday party. He saw seven candles on the cake and said, "The old lady is... err.. 7 years old??" :P

Veronica_L said...

Hi Monica

I was laughing and laughing at Andre's hilarious interpretation of the picture. The examiner must have been quite entertained, don't worry, he'll surely be in a good mood and give him marks for that.

And the picture is really quite challenging for kids his age-the stool does look convincingly like a dumbbell...

maybe he can consider 'comedian' as one of his career options next time.

Veronica

monlim said...

Veronica: I'm sure Andre would love to be a comedian. Anything that doesn't entail studying and being the centre of attention appeals to him! I'm not sure if anyone would pay to listen to his nonsense though... :D

Anonymous said...

Mon, Andre is so funny! LOL! My younger gal is exactly like him, full of 'nonsense'. When I'm teaching her, she would come out with 101 proposal as too why she needed a break from study. I can only shake my head & laugh..... I fear to even think that she is going P1 next year....*shudder*. I told my hb to be prepared, I'm sure the teacher will call us quite often.

Chris

monlim said...

Chris: I think it's partly the last born syndrome! Don't worry so much, not even p1 yet, enjoy her "nonsense" as long as you can! By the time they reach p3, it's not quite so funny :P

bACk in GERMANY said...

Andre is so cute and funny.
I'd really like to do primary school orals. So much fun to see what these kids say.

Don't worry, as long as he talked, there's gonna be something for the examiner to score him on. And with all the laughter, Andre is going to do fine. Didn't he do well the last time?

In one of his oral exams, my hubby had to pick a topic and deliver his speech. (He didn't tell me this story. The account was given by his oral exam partner.) So when the day of exam came, he still had no speech. When the examiners asked him what his topic was, he said confidently, Today, I'm gonna talk about laughter - in an earnest tone. And then, it was all bedit(sp?) talk in German all the way. The examiners were laughing all the time. And in the end, he did exceptionally well.

Point is it's important to make the examiners laugh ;)
And Andre has it!

monlim said...

Cindy: Your hubby is classic lah! So shiok right, no need to prepare, can just speak off the cuff and entertain. That's the most interesting type of speaker!!

Anonymous said...

Mon: You have a gem at home la...even the birthday party one he can crack us up on it...born natural! LOL...

Ok ok I understand...if it is coming from my child, I would think otherwise.... we mummies, so the same. :D

But let me share one of my P2 "innocence" or "ignorance" stories with you... I was fascinated by everyone who had glasses then...so I urged my parents die die must buy me one if I were to get 1st 3 positions in class! I sent everyone rolling on the floor, you should see how hard my brothers laughed...with me still looking puzzled... see la? At least Andre does not make such requests.. LOL...


qx

monlim said...

QX: So you were the clown without knowing it! And hey, Andre DID yearn to wear glasses!!! Before he did, I sometimes found him secretly taking L-A's and trying them on, then squinting cos it blurred his vision. For him, it's a fashion statement - so now I know, you were like that too!! Hahahaha!!

Anonymous said...

Mon: Ya lor...what to do? Back then clothes fashion was not as fascinating.... I thought Lydia Sum's and John Lennon's glasses were so cool then... bwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.....

Now you know why I say his innocence is priceless....I lost it leh...LOL..

qx

Anonymous said...

have you watched this video on preparing for PSLE Oral Examination?



http://www.evideo.edu.sg/vat_programme.asp?id=4&cat=1&level=Primary


Good tips!

monlim said...

Thanks Anon (actually it's Yvonne :D)! Excellent video, very clear and enlightening!

bACk in GERMANY said...

Heee... The weight/dumb-bell thingy on the floor.... hahaha!!! I must say that Andre's right. Blame it on the poor illustration! :o)

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