Sunday, August 20, 2017

Giveaway: Chinese eOracy HomeKit!

Chinese Oracy is one area that I cringe when it comes to exams and tests. Like most Singaporean children, I think that Dumpling is not as fluent as she should be when it comes to chatting in Mandarin. I have been more intentional lately when it comes to engaging her in conversations in Mandarin as she still has 病句. It is more about practice to build up the competency as well as right usage of words. 

So as a parent, how do we start and where do we start from? Especially since there’s been a change in the Oracy requirement for PSLE; where the format is now an e-format, using video clips and where the marks are now 25% of the total score

I then chanced upon a home kit – eTutor eOral Exam Pack by the creators of eZhiShi (and “newspapers” such as 新朋友which I believe many of the Primary school children are subscribing to). I decided to buy the set (retailing at $69) to try it out.  


:: What the pack consists of:
A Guide Book and a USB Drive

USB: 
In the USB, it consists of:
-          5 video conversations 
-          10 animation conversations 
-          15 read aloud 
The USB card also consists of e-oral procedure and simulation, oral prompts and reference answers. 

Guide Book:
The booklet is an e-oral guide which shares tips on scoring for the examinations. 

:: How it works
The USB drive comes in the form of a “card” where we need to insert it facing this way. 



Your laptop / PC should read the drive and there should be a pop up screen with folders inside. For most, you should be able to set it up by clicking “autorun”.  However, as I am not the administrator for the laptop which I used to try out this card, I had to then click on the “alt.drive” folder and then double click on the icon where it opened up this screen below:




After loading it, the page below should pop up:


The eOral pack, as seen above, has individual sections where you can work with your child directly on reading aloud, video conversations, etc. There is also a complete "end to end" mock experience (eOral Simulation) which leads from "read aloud" to "video conversation" seamlessly.

:: The main sections:

1) Read aloud
The format looks very similar to the www.ezhshi.net portal and in this USB, there are 15 read aloud passages.


Your child can then choose to read on his/her own or click on the "readaloud" button where a narrator will read it and as he/she does, the font colour changes, assisting the child to follow the "flow" better.


The great thing is that even if  you are not around as your child attempts it, you can get him/her to record the reading (red button) and you can review it later. In the event if there's any assistance needed, a quick click on the "question mark" will yield a "help guide" (below):

 

2) Conversation practice
There are 10 "scenes" used in this animated clips with different 生活单元 for discussions with your child.

Each conversation practice has 3 sections to the discussion (indicated by the numerals below) and like the other sections, this also allows your child to record his / her answers. Your child can also choose to read the text to the oral prompt given. 


Importantly, for some children who need more support as they are unsure of how to proceed, a sample "answer" is provided - both the text as well as someone narrating it. 

3) Video Conversations
Besides the 10 animated clips, this eOral pack also includes 5 video recording. I understand that more clips will be added after a quick call with the company :)


Like the animated clips, these also has 3 sections to the oral prompts. 

4) eOral Simulation 
Lastly, there is an eOral simulation which brings the child through an "end-to-end" Oral Examination experience - Reading aloud + the conversation after watching the video clip. 

You can view a sample of the video clip here as well as a simulation of the procedure at the same link.

:: What I like about it

Convenience & Content
Honestly, this is #1 reason because I believe many of us will have challenges being able to get our hands on the resources to be able to view any video / animated clips. To have this in a ready format brings convenience to a whole new level as it is basically a "plug and play" hit.

Additionally, I really like the content as it is based on authentic experiences (生活单元) where I believe that it is easily understandable and relatable to children.

Content flow
The flow is thought through properly and Dumpling was pretty much able to navigate through easily. While Dumpling may not be at the level of the suggested vocabulary (this goes up to P6), I thought that it is a good exposure for her.

Guide Book
Importantly, this set comes with a guide book where the questions and the suggested answers are printed in it.




This makes it easy for us as we have a hardcopy to readily refer to as it provides a "compilation" of the activities and model scripts in it. :) 

I am pleased to share that I have 3 x eOral Exam Pack (worth $69 each!) to give away! 



Terms and Conditions
  1. The products are kindly sponsored by E Com Education International Pte Ltd and the giveaway is not endorsed, or associated with Facebook.
  2. The products cannot be exchanged and are not exchangeable for cash
  3. Please answer this question in the comments section below: “What are you doing to encourage / support your child's Oracy skills at home?”
  4. Winners are to collect  (during office hours) from Monday to Friday at: 33 Ubi Ave 3, #03-23, Vertex Building, Singapore 408868

    GOOD LUCK! 
Disclaimer: My eOral Exam Pack was a personal purchase where I found it useful and collaborated with E Com Education on this giveaway. All opinions expressed are entirely ours.

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram 

46 comments:

  1. The new oral format tests mainly on daily vocabulary which is not possible to learn overnight. So we try to speak Mandarin as much as possible at home.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would communicate to her in chinese at home as often as possible. To encourage her to raise question, replied via chinese. Daily groceries shopping at supermarket will tell her the item that I require in chinese so that she will know what is the items. Hope to win as my girl is in Pri 1 today and her weakest part is truly the oral component.

    FB : Grace Ng

    ReplyDelete
  3. What are you doing to encourage / support your child's Oracy skills at home?
    We do not communicate in Chinese in our daily conversation as some adult members do not speak the language, we as much as possible when the boys are revising or do their homework, we get them to read aloud. Irregardless if it's MCQ questions or comprehension or just fill in the blanks, the boys will read aloud every sentence.
    The other thing we do is during car ride, we get the kids to tell us the weather in Chinese. And end of the day after our trip out to reflect their day in Chinese. But then it's just a sentence sort of sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Try to converse in mandarin at least 20min a day! Other than that i try to strike a balance, borrowing both english and mandarin books from the library.

    Chengling

    ReplyDelete
  5. Talk to my girl in mandarin & read more Chinese storybook

    ReplyDelete
  6. We try to speak more mandarin to each other, and watch Chinese drama serials - since my kids don't really like reading Chinese books much.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I speak to my boys in mandarin on various topics such as their day in school, the programmes that we are watching, the plans for the school holidays, the ingredients in our dishes and more. I encourage them to describe as well as critique what they see and feel. I read Chinese storybooks with my boys, each of us taking turns to read parts of a story. I choose to read with them and not to them as I feel that my boys enjoy participating in the storytelling more than just listening. This approach engages them more. Along the way, we pause to laugh, joke and talk about the story, not necessarily waiting till the end of it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I try to speak more in Mandarin and not reply the kids until they respond back in Chinese.

    ReplyDelete
  9. We try as much to encourage her to speak in mandarin at home and outside, for example ask her to order food in mandarin. We also make weekend nights bedtime storytime to be reading aloud Chinese storybooks.

    FB name: Joanne Kam SeokEan

    ReplyDelete
  10. I try to talk to the kids in Mandarin as much as possible so that they hear the language more then English in the house.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I read Chinese story books, converse mandarin, encourage the kids to ask question.

    ReplyDelete
  12. We encourage our kids to read their Chinese story books aloud, and to converse in mandarin

    FB; michelechin

    ReplyDelete
  13. As my hub is a non Chinese, we hardly converse in Mandarin when my girl was much younger. Luckily, we had a weekly visit to my mum's place and my kids had no choice but to converse in Mandarin since both my parents do not speak English. As my girl is already in P2, she has knowledge of hanyu pinyin so I will borrow Chinese books with HYPY so she can read the books by herself. I will make her read her textbook passages to me and correct her accordingly.

    FB: Tammy Tng

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hubby will speak to them in mandarin while I speak to them in English. I also bought Chinese comic books they like for them to encourage reading. It's not easy for them to like reading Chinese book but we tried by going for what they like.

    ReplyDelete
  15. We make effort to speak in mandarin between us as adults and to children, we started off with daily conversations and during our story time every night we read chinese books. We are trying to follow up with a craft or a song to sustain the interest in the story and the language. We do not believed in drilling and practice that do not stem from interest, we are not there yet but we do see our boy asking from chinese time with us (we do crafts or songs or dance) every other day
    Watching meaningful local productions like 小当家, daily news and not forgetting 知识报,小拇指,e知识 and the recent MTL 2017 enhances their experience and learning.
    We realised that if we do not give them the exposure (not speaking) we cannot expect them to love the language.

    ReplyDelete
  16. We try to speak Mandarin at home and my girls love bedtime stories in chinese as we take turns to read short paragraphs!

    When the kids go to their grandparents home, they speak in Mandarin to their 奶妈 too!

    ReplyDelete
  17. We try to encourage them by speaking in mandarin and to read chinese story books! The kids would speak to grandparents in mandarin.

    ReplyDelete
  18. We will have daily proper conversation + phrases; explain to them and teach them how to makes use of it into our daily activities.

    Keith

    ReplyDelete
  19. We will try to speak mandarin wherever we can. I encourage them to sing chinese songs, watch TV and read comics books. Singing Chinese songs helps them a lot in remembering the words too.

    ReplyDelete
  20. We communicate in Mandarin at home and we read many Chinese books together everyday.
    Khor Lee Ling

    ReplyDelete
  21. We converse in Mandarin at home and listen to Chinese radio station every morning.
    leonyeeming@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'll ask my girls to speak in mandarin and also to read as much Chinese materials such as newsapaper articles and books.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I read Mandarin stories to my kids and let them listen to Chinese radio station.

    Louis Lee

    ReplyDelete
  25. I let them watch Chinese films and cartoons and also listen to Chinese music and radio.

    Zoey Chan

    ReplyDelete
  26. I read Chinese story books, talk to them in mandarin. Try to have a balance in English n mandarin

    Julie tan

    ReplyDelete
  27. I try to speak and read Chinese to them. Let them watch Chinese cartoons and listen to Chinese radio station.

    ReplyDelete
  28. In some parts of the day, we speak Mandarin and do not mix our conversation with other languages.

    Fb user: 熙慧

    ReplyDelete
  29. We try to converse in Mandarin as much as possible, but that is quite challenging as we are so used to speaking in English. I also try to borrow more Chinese titles from the library, especially those Chinese translated books from popular English titles.

    ReplyDelete
  30. FB Jaime Chan

    There is no short cut, constant exposure of the language , be it at home or school will definitely help

    ReplyDelete
  31. We do it pretty unorthodox way - starting from watching Chinese singing competition programmes on YouTube, such as Sing China. The boys love mimicking their favourite singers and belting out their songs at home.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I will encourage Chinese by reading to my children alternate days. I bought various types of Chinese story books, comics and magazines since young to read to them.

    I will also let them watch some Chinese plays and cartoons to let them have more exposure.

    I started introducing Chinese pop songs to my elder one to make Chinese more fun.

    FB Jenny Chua

    ReplyDelete
  33. We will converse in Mandarin as much as possible. I would ask her to borrow at least 1 Chinese book whenever we go to library so that we could read at home.

    ReplyDelete
  34. We borrow a lot of Chinese books from the library, and also buy a lot of Chinese picture books for our home library. Additionally, we listen to YES93.3 station on our drives.

    Robert Sim
    Robert_sim@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  35. We tried conversing in Mandarin but not always successful. That's why still looking for a method!

    Cresswee@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  36. We try to speak Chinese at home and listen to the Chinese radio stations whenever we are in the car to practice their listening skills.

    FB: Jenny Ting

    ReplyDelete
  37. We speak Mandarin at home and we encourage them to read Chinese storybooks out loud to practice their pronunciations and reading skills.

    Fb: Zuanyan LuQuin Loo
    Ig, twitter: esprits81

    ReplyDelete
  38. We speak mandarin at home and read at least one Chinese story book before bedtime

    Fb: Sanghua wong

    ReplyDelete
  39. Converse with my Son in mandarin. Get him to read a book before bedtime as well as exposing him to mandarin shows. This has boardened his vocabulary and love for Chinese.

    Fb: Jomaine Chan

    ReplyDelete
  40. Facebook id: CL Doreen Tan

    Since young, we will always set our table with Chinese newspaper, She will be keen to look at the Chinese Characters and play word-search with me. She will look for Characters in the newspaper. Point out and read it. She will also ask us how to read the characters that She thought it looks interesting,.
    We play Word-in-Word game when learning Chinese.
    Eg. 一人大, 二人天,父和巴 就是爸 日和月就是明

    ReplyDelete
  41. I have been speaking to my kids in Mandarin, let them watch Chinese shows and listening to Chinese songs. Bought Chinese storybooks to boost their interest and explain to them the meaning in Chinese and followed by English. Practise with them the reading by reading together and revised their Chinese textbooks. Try to overcome their phobia by making it simple and fun by learning new words and try to use it im daily life eventhough it may not be that successful in making them more interested in Mandarin but I believe with this awesome supplementary aid and never give up spirit of mine. I am going to help and boost my kids especially my 2nd kid to improve her Mandarin written and oral skills. Hoping to be able to win this for her PSLE next year.

    FB : Doris Lim

    ReplyDelete
  42. We try to converse in mandarin daily even if it's for simple conversations. My child's grandparents speak with him in mandarin only - which certainly is a plus.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Thank you for the detailed review! I'm making a deliberate effort to speak to my 2 children in Mandarin at home. I do not force them to speak or reply me in Mandarin, but I show by example so that at least they get accustomed to hearing the language spoken. We also read the 好朋友 series that my daughter gets from school before bed and find it a good resource. Having this e-learning package offers an added dimension and will be a great motivation to the kids to get them more interested in speaking the language!

    ReplyDelete
  44. I ask my kids to read out to me the newspaper articles that interest them

    ReplyDelete
  45. I am fortunate that I have a good Chinese foundation and so it's easier for me to converse and correct my girls when we communicate in Mandarin. I would intentionally slip in a Chinese storybook as one of the books to buy as bday or Xmas gifts. I believe that as long as the book is around, they would somehow pick it up and be interested to read it. I would also read aloud the Chinese storybook or magazines which my girl borrowed from the school library.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Be warned: All content in this blog is copyright protected.

MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected