Top PSLE girl could hardly speak English

Top PSLE girl could hardly speak English

When Qiu Biqing came to Singapore at 10 years old, her English was so bad that she had problems forming full sentences.

Three years down the road, she is Singapore's top PSLE student, with a score of 290 and an A* in English. She also says she wants to be a lawyer or a writer. Biqing came from Guangzhou in 2006 and started school in Singapore at primary three at Qifa Primary School.

Her father, Mr Qiu Guo Hua, 45, is a research fellow at the National University of Singapore, and her mother, Madam Xie Xiaojin, 42, is a research assistant there. They both work in a physiology lab. At the time, she was too embarrassed to speak to anyone with her broken English. She only started to improve after much encouragement from her classmates and teachers. She told Lianhe Wanbao, "My form teacher in primary three was Indian, which
forced me to speak in English - that really helped me a lot."

To improve her English, she read English books widely. From picture books from the children's section, she has now progressed to Harry Potter and books by Jodi Picoult (author of "My Sister's Keeper"), which she said are her favourites.

Principal Debra Saw said, "Qiu Biqing's is very modest, and very helpful towards her classmates. She is the most well-rounded student I have come across in recent years."