PSLE: Boy from Muar shines with help from family and society
Huamin Primary School student Matthew Sun with his mother Mdm Tan Aa Liang. Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY
SINGAPORE — When he came to Singapore from Muar in Malaysia four years ago, Matthew Sun’s grasp of English was so poor that instead of learning with peers his age in Primary Four, he had to join a Primary Two class.
Subjects were taught in an unfamiliar language he had hitherto spent only three hours a week learning.
“I would only understand part of a sentence… everything was in English,” said Matthew, 14, who became a Singaporean in 2012.
On top of that, he had to adjust to a new environment and make new friends at Huamin Primary in Yishun.
His grades initially suffered — even in his favourite subject, mathematics. For instance, he did not understand the word “dozen” when he first encountered it in a maths question and had to turn to a close friend.
On the home front, Matthew and his three brothers had their share of household chores. He had to coach his two younger siblings in English and would tag along with his mother, Mdm Tan Aa Liang, 51, about six hours a week to help sell Vitagen, a probiotic drink, in neighbourhoods nearby.
To manage his time in the leadup to this year’s Primary School Leaving Examination, he quit his hockey co-curricular activity last year and created a timetable. He placed schoolwork first and cut back on time spent playing the guitar and basketball. His younger brothers helped cover some of his household chores.
With discipline, help from his family and teachers, as well as financial support from various organisations, Matthew did well enough in the PSLE to qualify for his school of choice, Anderson Secondary.
The results were released on Friday (Nov 24) and while he did not want to reveal his score, Matthew said he got A*s for Chinese and Maths, A for Science, B for English and a Merit for Higher Chinese.
“I’m looking forward to (secondary school), what else I can learn there,” he said in an interview ahead of results day.
As his per capita monthly household income is less than S$625 — his father works as an engineering assistant — Matthew receives financial assistance from the Ministry of Education (MOE).
His grades were good enough to earn him Raffles Institution’s Raffles Scholarship this year.
The scholarship is open to students on MOE financial assistance and who display good conduct and positive attitudes in academic work and co-curricular activities. Students are nominated by their schools.
Besides the S$1,000 scholarship money, awardees are offered a place in the Raffles Institution Mentorship Programme. Matthew signed up and spent a day each week at Raffles Institution, where he received help in his homework from junior college students, among other activities.
He also received tuition at the Chinese Development Assistance Council and has attended English remedial lessons since enrolling in Huamin Primary. Crediting his schoolteachers for their patience, he said: “Sometimes they would explain in Chinese when I don’t understand what something in English means.”
His form teacher for two years, Miss Lai Xiao Xin, said Matthew had opportunities to practise speaking English during groupwork, and is now much more conversant in the language.
“While he is not extremely outspoken, he always gives intelligent answers whenever he is probed or needs to make a point,” added Miss Lai.
Matthew has set other goals for himself. He aspires to enter junior college and earn a distinction for guitar at the Singapore Youth Festival.
