Playtimes HK Magazine Spring 2019 Issue | Page 48

education Big Boosts for Struggling Students ‘ Work smarter not harder’ is a phrase that’s sometimes greeted with shock by the nose-to-the- grindstone kids of Hong Kong. However, there are only so many hours in the day. Once students have packed those hours to bursting with studying and they’re still not keeping up, it’s time to add in some different techniques. For a kid who’s falling behind, it’s important to figure out the root of the problem and take some time to tackle it 46 www.playtimes.com.hk head on. That way, the effort your child expends on their studies in future will be that much more effective. Take a look at the types of problems that typically cause students to fall behind, and find out the ways to overcome them. most kids can handle at a certain age. But your child might be young in the year, or perhaps they haven’t quite developed a skill as quickly as everybody else. A child might be ahead in languages but a slow-starter in maths. How should you handle this? Developmental Variation Stay positive Young kids like to categorise things in a very black-and-white way so as to make sense of the world. If they This is a common problem in the first few years of primary school. A curriculum is based around what