Testimonials

SPECIALIST TUTORING TESTIMONIAL

Marcus Tan Chun Hon attended Specialist Tutoring for 1.5 years at DAS Rex house learning centre. Marcus was a Secondary Three student at St. Andrews Secondary School (Express Stream). He was referred to Specialist Tutoring as he had weak sentence-writing, lack of understanding in phonological decoding, passage-reading fluency and reading comprehension.

Marcus is a well-mannered boy who showed good levels of attention and perseverance throughout the sessions I had with him. He was able to relay his ideas in a fluent and coherent manner. My sessions with him included spelling drills, oral conversations based on selected topics, essay writing (narrative and expositive) and reading comprehension passages. Passages for reading comprehension were carefully selected for his ability. He always left my session with a simple task to finish before he attends the next session, mainly topics that would be covered in the next reading comprehension task. We usually commence the sessions with conversational topics relating to the reading comprehension passage. Marcus enjoys researching and reading on the topics given as it enhances his general knowledge. At times, we also covered study skill concepts as he had challenges on time management, organisation and note-taking.

However, he would come for my sessions displaying some stress with school work and expectations. He would get angry with himself if he does not attain his own academic targets that he has set for himself. Over time, we had lots of positive discussions on how we can manage emotions in a much effective manner. Marcus gradually improved in Secondary 4. He started to answer questions pertaining to reading comprehension passages he read independently and most importantly with greater confidence. Marcus started developing better spelling skills and made lesser spelling errors in his writing tasks. It is highly commendable that Marcus attained good conversational skills within the period he was with me.

We always had great discussions on positive learning and how one can achieve by being positive. Marcus texted me when he was in the school hall when he was about to receive his “O level results”.

We had funny moments of laughter wondering how he had actually scored as he mentioned he was having a “heart attack”. Marcus did extremely well for his O levels by achieving 7 points.

I remember Marcus texting me “I worked so hard for this and it was really hard”.

Marcus is a self-motivated teenager who set out goals for himself. The road to success comes through hard work, determination and sacrifice. I am truly proud of Marcus.

Find out more about his Senior Educational Therapist and Specialist Tutor, Bhavani here

I was only officially diagnosed with dyslexia when I was in secondary 4. This means that I take a longer time to understand and learn a concept. Plus my carelessness and my complacency during my exams also led to me not doing well in my studies and caused me to lose hope, especially in my favourite subject, science. However, when I was promoted to secondary 4 I knew I had to do better so that I would have more paths to go for my tertiary education. With the help of my teachers and my DAS teacher, Teacher Bhavani. Teacher Bhavani taught me how to annotate the questions properly which although mainly used in English comprehension but I found it to be useful in all of my subjects. She also taught me to read the questions first then the passage so that I could look out for the answers while reading. This really helped to prevent my carelessness. I am really thankful for her! Overall for me trying your best and consistently working both hard and smart, applying what you learnt for study skills helps. It is a long but rewarding journey with some failures along the way and one should not give up.

Gretal Seet Jia Xuan attended Specialist Tutoring for 4 months at DAS Rex House Learning Centre. Gretal was a Secondary Four student at Admiralty Secondary School (Express Stream). She was referred to Specialist Tutoring as she had weakness in composition writing, and a lack of understanding in phonological decoding, passage-reading accuracy and reading comprehension.

Gretal is a pleasant and polite student who always appears calm during my lessons. Although Gretal was able to engage in daily conversations, she found it challenging at times to express her thoughts during oral conversations. She would constantly mention how difficult it is to get the word out and prefers to write her thoughts instead. Gretal and I had a good chat about her verbal outbursts in school when she was stressed at school. We had good conversations on how to control one’s emotions and how failures can be learning experiences.

I incorporated spelling drills, oral conversations based on selected topics, essay writing (expositive) and reading comprehension passages in the sessions. We did many reading comprehension passages and had lots of verbal conversations surrounding the topic to prepare her for the upcoming O-level Oral Paper. Gretal is a hardworking and self-disciplined student. She would read the topics ahead of the session to ensure she had relevant knowledge. Gretal shared her interest in pursuing Zoology and was always an independent learner.

Gretal attained a B3 for her O-level English when initially she used to obtain C6. I am heartened to see that Gretal’s efforts paid off and she did very well for her for O-level exams. Good Job Gretal!

Find out more about Bhavani here

Feedback from Gretal’s mom, Sherinna.

I had a telephone conversation with her mother Shenna and she mentioned the following support which she felt contributed to Gretal’s success:

DAS has helped Gretal to have her first assessed, confirming the diagnosis of Dyslexia. The recommendation for extra time which was granted meant that Greta could complete the exam papers and could therefore demonstrate her knowledge for the O Level examination 2017. Her Specialist Teaching classes with Ms Bhavani helped Gretal gave her much confidence and strategies in tackling the English Paper. Overall the smooth flow quick response and recommendations for Gretal were much appreciated by Gretal’s mum Shenna.