Science at the corner

Science here is not mainly about knowing facts. It is about explaining, in writing, why something happens — and doing it in the particular way the marking expects. A child can understand evaporation perfectly and still lose every mark for describing it in the wrong words.

What we work on

• The vocabulary. Absorb, dissolve, transfer, adaptation, characteristic. Long words that carry exact meanings.
• Answering "why" questions. A cause, a result, and the link between them. There is a shape to these answers, and it can be learned.
• Reading diagrams and tables. Half of a science paper is a picture, not a paragraph.
• Experiments, when we can. Some things only make sense once you have watched them happen on the table in front of you.

A note for parents

If your child explains something correctly to you in Vietnamese but writes it badly in English, that is a very good sign. The understanding is there. The rest is language, and language is fixable.