Twinkle Stars Mandarin Centre

Not every student gets an A — but every student can make progress. ❤️

Not all my students achieve A* or AL1–2, but I hope every child improves from where they started.

This student joined me in Secondary 4 with a weak Chinese foundation. She struggled with reading, comprehension, writing, and even speaking.

She started with an F9.

After a few months of effort, she improved to a C6 and did very well for her oral exam. ❤️

She later messaged me:
“I improved from F9 to C6… thank you for helping me improve!” 🥹

Every child has different starting points and goals.

Some aim for A*.
Some aim to move from F9 to C6.

Different goals, same journey — effort and progress.

I believe in meeting students where they are and helping them move forward.

Progress at every level matters. 🌱❤️

Three years of learning, and today we celebrate an A! ❤️*

We are incredibly happy and proud to share that Shaylan achieved an A* for IGCSE Mandarin!

After three years at Twinkle Stars, seeing his hard work, progress and growing confidence has been incredibly rewarding.

What touched me most was his mum’s message:

“Thank you for always believing in Shaylan and helping him build his confidence along the way.”

As a teacher, these words mean so much.

An A* is wonderful, but seeing a child become more confident, believe in himself and realise that his hard work can truly pay off — that is what makes teaching so meaningful.

Congratulations, Shaylan! 🌟
Your hard work finally paid off. We are so proud of you! ❤️

I’d like to share an English practice platform that I think is especially useful for the final PSLE sprint — BrightStar AL1. ✨

If your child:

❌ Doesn’t like doing practice papers and finds sitting down to complete an entire Paper 2 exhausting
❌ Completes papers but doesn’t properly review and correct mistakes
❌ Gets questions wrong but doesn’t know why
❌ Doesn’t have a collection of PSLE past-year papers and pre-exam papers from top schools
❌ Has limited time for practice and you want every practice session to be more effective
❌ Wants to push their English Paper 2 score higher during the final stage

Then this platform is definitely worth trying.

📚 8,000+ real PSLE past-year and pre-exam questions
It covers key Paper 2 components including Grammar, Vocabulary, Cloze, Editing, Comprehension, and Synthesis & Transformation.

More importantly, it’s not simply about “doing more questions”.

👉 Practise → Get instant feedback → Identify weak areas → Targeted practice → Revise → Track progress

The system generates a diagnostic report based on your child’s performance, helping them understand:
“What exactly did I get wrong? What are my weak areas? What should I practise next?”

That’s what makes practice more meaningful. Instead of simply completing a pile of papers and moving on, every mistake becomes an opportunity to improve. 🎯

And for children who are already entering the final PSLE sprint, time is precious.

Rather than spending hours searching for papers, printing them, and then going through the answers manually, why not use the limited practice time to focus on the areas that actually need improvement?

💡 What I particularly like about this platform is that it offers a large question bank, targeted practice, and very affordable pricing.

There are currently three plans — Basic / Pro / Pro+ — starting from just $30/week, with 5-week packages from $120.

If you’d like your child to practise more efficiently during this final stretch, especially if they are aiming for AL1 in English Paper 2, it’s worth giving it a try.

🎁 There is currently a 2-day FREE TRIAL, so your child can experience the platform first before deciding whether it’s suitable.

Consistent practice today. Better results tomorrow. 💪📚

Back to the basics — and I absolutely love my way of doing things! 🤭🤭

I’m very happy with the results of my 2026 PSLE Chinese Oral teaching and prediction. 🎯

And today, I’m moving on to the next project:

📚 PSLE Composition Analysis & Prediction!

Once again, I’m going back to the basics — the textbooks.

I’ve started revisiting the Primary 3 to Primary 6 Chinese textbooks, analysing the themes, stories, vocabulary, characters and situations, and connecting them with past PSLE questions and trends.

To me, effective prediction is never about simply “guessing the topic”.

It’s about:

Textbooks → Patterns → Connections → Trends → Informed Prediction

And then I looked at my Gallup Strengths report and laughed… 😂

My top three strengths are:

🥇 Maximizer
🥈 Achiever
🥉 Input

Well… that explains a LOT! 😂

Maximizer — I’m always trying to make things better and better.
Achiever — once I start something, I just keep going.
Input — I genuinely enjoy collecting, analysing and connecting information.

So here I am again, surrounded by textbooks, past papers and notes… 📚🤓

This time, diving deep into PSLE Composition.

Back to the basics. Dig deeper. Connect the dots.

That’s probably the teaching style I love most. ❤️

#2026 PSLE Chinese Oral — Day 1

Today’s themes were actually familiar: neighbourly support, courage, integrity and safety awareness — all topics we practise regularly.

But what challenged many students was not the themes themselves, but the unfamiliar scenarios.

For example, the safety awareness scenario involved someone following you upstairs and possibly trying to enter your home, as well as questions about keeping your home safe while travelling and sharing a similar experience.

Some students may immediately think, “I’ve never practised this before!”

That is exactly why I always emphasise that Oral cannot be prepared through memorisation alone. Students need to develop thinking and transfer skills.

Fortunately, we had recently practised a composition with a very similar theme and scenario. So when faced with today’s questions, my students were able to stay calm because they understood how to observe, think, respond and express themselves — rather than simply memorising a model answer.

This is also the teaching approach I have developed over the years: integrating composition and oral practice.

One theme can train oral expression, composition planning, emotions, plot development, problem-solving, as well as personal viewpoints and reflection.

The scenario may change, but the thinking skills remain.

Effective exam preparation is not about memorising more and more. It is about helping students learn to:
observe the situation, think through the problem, transfer their ideas to new scenarios, and express themselves confidently.

I’m confident that our Twinkle Stars P6 students did their best today! ❤️ Well done!

🎉 2026 PSLE Chinese Oral — Day 2: “Honesty”

We predicted it! 👏😊 This has been one of my key predicted topics for years, and my students had practised it from different angles many times.

Yesterday, after Day 1, I quickly analysed the latest topics and prepared 12 key topics for the teachers to review with the students that afternoon.

What makes me happiest is not simply “predicting” the topic, but seeing the students transfer what they have practised into the actual exam, even when the scenarios are unfamiliar. ❤️

And the resources I compiled were useful not only for Chinese Oral — the English Oral topics tested on Day 1 were also included in my materials. 📚

Oral is done! Now, on to Vocabulary, Reading & Composition. 💪

One step at a time. Keep going! ❤️

祝愿Twinkle Stars及新加坡所有的小六娃们明天、后天口试顺利，自信发挥，取得满分！💯🌟 加油，你们一定可以！❤️😊

Some Students Stay in Your Heart Forever ❤️

It was such a joy to see Jeremy today, who came back to Singapore from the UK to visit his teacher and old friends. 🥰

Jeremy started learning Chinese with me when he was just 10 years old. He left Singapore at 16, and now, at 22, he has graduated from university and returned to Singapore to visit us.

Seeing him all grown up and having graduated from university brought back so many beautiful memories.

I still remember little Jeremy lying on the mat in my classroom, happily learning Chinese. 😂 His Chinese was always excellent, and he was such a wonderful student.

His older sister, Jade, also loved Chinese and was a very hardworking student. Jeremy, Jade, Gemma and Tam used to attend my Chinese classes together. Of course, there were many other wonderful students in the class too. Together, they created so many happy memories, and those moments still feel so vivid in my mind today. ❤️

I also remember their mums so fondly. Jeremy and Jade’s mum was such a warm and kind person, always greeting me with a lovely smile when she came to pick them up. I also remember Tam’s mum and the many familiar faces of the parents who were part of those wonderful years.

And the sweetest part is that their photos are still on the photo wall in our classroom today. Every time I see those photos, it feels as though those happy days are still with us. 🥰

Jeremy is also still part of our centre in another special way — he was once one of our little stars, and his photo is still featured on some of our promotional posters. ✨

What makes me even happier is that Jeremy continued learning Chinese at university. And yesterday and today, he was still sending me messages in Chinese! ❤️

I think this is one of the most meaningful impacts a teacher can have — not just helping a student learn a language, but inspiring them to keep it as part of their life.

From the little boy who used to lie on the classroom mat learning Chinese, to the young man who has now graduated from university and still chooses to use Chinese in his daily life — that makes me incredibly proud. 🥰

Perhaps this is what teaching is really about.

Years later, the lessons may be over, the students may have travelled far away, and life may have taken them to different places. But the knowledge, memories and values we shared can continue to live on in their lives.

Thank you, Jeremy, for coming back to see me. I am so proud of you, and so grateful to have been a small part of your journey. ❤️

From 10 to 22 — twelve years have passed. Time may change how we look and where life takes us, but it can never take away those precious memories.

I will always remember that little boy who loved learning Chinese while lying on the classroom mat. ❤️

Some students may leave Singapore and travel around the world, but the laughter, memories and footprints they left behind will always remain here. ✨

🇸🇬 Happy 61st Birthday, Singapore! 🎉❤️
May our beautiful home continue to thrive, prosper and shine brightly for many years to come! ✨🇸🇬

🇸🇬 祝福新加坡61岁生日快乐！🎉❤️
愿我们的家园繁荣昌盛、国泰民安，未来更加美好！✨🇸🇬

PSLE华文口试一共50分，比作文还高，也是最容易提分的一部分！🎤

根据我多年教学经验，以及学生在课堂和考试中最常遇到的问题、最容易失分的地方和重点得分点，我整理了一份《PSLE华文口试考前10大提醒》。

内容涵盖朗读技巧、会话答题结构、考场礼仪、临场发挥，以及学生最容易犯的错误，希望帮助孩子在考前快速掌握重点，更有信心走进考场，发挥出最好的水平！💪✨

祝每一位考生考试顺利，取得理想成绩！❤️