School reopens next week! Therefore, as much as we hope the last week of the year can last for much (much) longer, it’s really a case of “too bad, so sad” and time to get a plan of action, into motion.

 

Know What You Must Study

As the new academic year starts, there may be new components in the English syllabus that your child may previously be unfamiliar with. Situational Writing, for example, would be new to a Primary 4 student moving on to Primary 5. Or, for a child fresh from the PSLE and new to secondary school, not only will they be tasked to now attempt two different open-ended comprehension exercises for their exams, but there will also be several elements within those exercises that will be new to them.

As with everything new, some confusion as your child attempts to navigate what seems like alien waters is normal. The important thing here is to be familiar with these new components and not to ace them (yet!). This will help when your child’s schoolteacher begins teaching it later in the year.

 

Lay Out Goals

It may be a certain number of books that you’ve been meaning to get your child to read, or simply just reading more, but setting it out as a goal would be a good first step to take so your child has an idea of his or her reading plan for the year. After all, they don’t call it a New Year’s resolution for nothing!

Do remember, however, to start modest, and break it up into bite-sized, palatable amounts. Too much, too fast, may overwhelm your child and backfire instead – not something we want to happen.

 

Start a Journaling Habit

Journaling, especially bullet journals, have been all the rage these few years, so why not get your child to start his or her own? There is an array of exciting colours and patterns and templates available to intrigue any young heart, and it’s a step in the right direction to not only get your child to start their own collection of new and good words, phrases, and expressions, but also get them motivated to actually write down and revise the words they’ve collected.

This will marry well with what your child may come across in the new books that they read (see point 2 above) or even as the year progresses, and he or she starts to pick up new words naturally on his or her own.

 

English is a beautiful language that is easy to learn but difficult to master; and mastery of the language is what we strive for here at Cognitus Academy. Our staff and teachers welcome the opportunity to chat with you, so do drop us a message or call us at 8321 8252.

 

As the year draws to a close, we wish you all not only a very Happy New Year, but also may you have the very best year ahead!