It is back to term 2 and back to studying and growing as a student. I hope you have enjoyed your holidays and recharged yourselves.
Just to get you started, this upcoming SA1 would include Oral, Listening, Composition and Situational Writing. It would be a full scale paper. You have completed your second composition assessment in class. In this topic, we looked at disappointment. As built on from the first composition, I went through planning of the different sections with you and we did focus writing. For focus writing this composition, I went through how to write a model conclusion.
For the conclusion, it is important to write about the solution to the problem, state the end feelings of the characters involved and lessons to be learnt. This would make your conclusion elaborate and clear. Involve the characters in the story and give a proper ending for each of them.
Good vocabulary words to use:
-Crestfallen (sad)
-Downcast (sad)
-Elated (happy)
-Exuberant (happy)
-This incident would forever be etched in my mind. (A good sentence to end off your story)
Spelling and Dictation will resume next week onwards with spelling on Monday and Dictation on Friday. I will inform you of changes if either day falls on a public holiday.
For yesterday, we started on Unit 4 "Ride On", a topic focusing on the the MRT as one of the public transports in Singapore. We did a KWL chart (similar to what we would be using for our comprehension open-ended). In case you want to view the video again, here it is.
It has been awhile since the blog has been updated. It was your CA week and now that it is over, we are busy going through your papers. Here is some pointers and feedback from the CA paper:
Feedback:
Sections that you have done well include Booklet A of Paper 1 as a whole.
Most are you are able to pass your grammar.
Comprehension cloze this time around was not too bad with a high number of passes.
Many of you are doing the pre-reading thinking :)
You still need to improve on your vocabulary, synthesis and comprehension open-ended.
Highlight the key words and draw the arrows for the clues.
Grammar Focus:
Verb Noun Verb rules --> The second verb is always present tense, plural form (in the base form).
Noticed the boy take a packet of sweets
Person whom Person --> We use the word whom when there is a person before and after the word.
The famous actor whom I idolised
One of, Either of, Neither of, Each, Every --> Singular
One of the girls is waiting
Either of them intends to join the restaurant
Lie (present)
Lay (past)
Lain (perfect tense)
Synthesis Focus:
Despite the fact that
Having verb (perfect tense)
Having ridden the bicycle,...................
Having done the work,..................
Neither.........nor...........
Either............or............
We always look at the second noun to determine is the verb is plural or singular.
Neither Jim nor the twins are
Either you or I am
You would have received a complimentary green pen from me for this term and a note (feedback) for you. Do let your parents take a look so you would know which section you need more focus on when you do your revision. Remember, do not give up and feel too sad about your results. You should aim to pass and do well for the next exam. If you feel that you have not put in effort for this term, now will be the time for you to start putting in the effort before it's too late. You all can do it. :)
Here are some questions to help you revise through for your paper next week.
Grammar: 1. Tommy saw the boy _________ the bag of money on the table. a) steal b) stole c) steals d) stolen
Answer: A
You have to apply the VNV rule (Verb-noun-Verb). The second verb is always in the present and plural form.
2) The pack of cards _________ to Mark. a) belong b) belongs
Answer: B
In this case, the word 'cards' might trick you. Even though cards is plural, the key noun here is the word pack. There is only one pack. Even though there are many cards in that one pack, we look at the word 'pack' only. Since pack is singular, we use the singular verb 'belongs'.
3) The patient _________ on the operation table as he awaited the doctor to arrive. a) lie b) lay c) laid d) lied
Answer: B
This is a very commonly asked question. When we talk about lying down somewhere, the present tense is 'lie'. The past tense is 'lay' and the perfect tense is 'lain'. Since the tenses here should be past tense due to the word 'awaited', we use the past tense 'lay'.
4) Neither of the kids __________ at home just now. a) is b) was c) are d) were
Answer: B
Neither means 'not one'. This is singular. The words 'just now' means that it is a past tense event. Thus, we look at the word 'was' as the answer.
5) Either Tommy or Peter ___________ to do the work. a) has b) have Answer: A
Either....... or......... and Neither ........... nor ............. We look a the second Noun, the noun after the words 'or' and 'nor'. Here, we look at 'Peter'. Peter is just one boy and therefore, singular form has to be used. We then use the word 'has'.
Homework:
Finish up all unfinished corrections in your files. Look through your synthesis and grammar. Revise through the grammar rules taught to you.
Tomorrow's morning lesson is as usual at 6.50am in the classroom. As mentioned, we are looking to focus on grammar and synthesis so as to drill and practice and help you remember as much as we can. :) Remember to not give up. English may contain alot of grammar specific rules but once you remember them and practise them each day, it will be stored and you will find it easier. You can do it!
We are now into our revision phase and we are revising through the test paper for last year in detail. So far, I have gone through Synthesis, Grammar and Vocabulary with you.Vocabulary is a section in which I can teach you new words and expose them to you. You do need to read too in order to pick up new words. It is a section that may not seem easy. You can help yourself by using the elimination methods to cross out options that are not logical. However, for synthesis and grammar, it is all about the grammar rules that you can apply. You do need to make a point to remember the rules here:
VNV rule (Verb noun Verb rule)
In this rule, the second verb is always in the Present tense and Plural form.
Example:
Father made the boy eat the cake.
made is the first verb. the boy is the noun. eat is the second verb. 'eat' is present tense and plural form.
verbs that end with 's' or 'es' are usually singular.
What is a singular verb or plural verb? We first need to look at the nouns to help determine.
Plural noun --> Plural verb
Singular noun --> Singular verb
The table has four legs. 'table' is singular. 'has' is singular too.
The tables have four legs each. 'tables' is plural. 'have' is plural too.
Unless (positive statement), (negative statement)
(negative statement) unless (positive statement)
Always remember that regardless of where the 'unless' is placed (be it at the start of the sentence or in the middle), it is always followed by a positive statement.
Example:
He will not do well for this test unless he puts in effort.
Unless he puts in effort, he will not do well for this test.
Either of, Neither of, None of, Every, Each, One of
These words are all in the singular form.
Example:
Either of the girls has to keep the items.
Neither of the boys is to touch the items.
Every boy is a student in this school.
Each kid is to take home a candy.
Either........or..........
Neither.......nor...........
We always look at the second verb (the verb after 'or' and 'nor' to determine if the verb that follows is singular of plural).
Example:
Neither the boys nor Peter is responsible for the crime.
Either you or I am to take charge of the project.
Person whom Person
Person who Verb
That is the boy whom Peter is friends with.
That is the boy who is a friend of Peter.
Lie (present tense)
Lay (past tense)
Laid (perfect tense)
These words refer to the action of laying on a bed or floor.
Reminder:
Bring your practice paper for going through tomorrow.
Tomorrow, there will be extra lessons in the morning from 6.50am - 7.20am. This will commence for tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to give you extra practice for your upcoming English paper on Wed. It is not compulsory. It will be in the classroom. This is to help you to revise through grammar and synthesis so that you can score well for these sections :)
As we are only about a week away from your CA, we will be finishing up the worksheets early next week and completing filing by the end of the week so that you can do your revision. For this weekend, I will be going through some basic Grammar Rules with you.
Basic Rule
The basic rule states that a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a plural verb.
The trick is in knowing whether the subject is singular or plural. The next trick is recognizing a singular or plural verb.
Hint: Verbs do not form their plurals by adding an s as nouns do. In order to determine which verb is singular and which one is plural, think of which verb you would use with he or she and which verb you would use with they.
Example: talks, talk Which one is the singular form? Which word would you use with he? We say, "He talks." Therefore, talks is singular. We say, "They talk." Therefore, talk is plural.
Rule 1
Two singular subjects connected by or or nor require a singular verb.
Example: My aunt or my uncleis arriving by train today
Rule 2
Two singular subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor require a singular verb as in Rule 1.
Examples: Neither Juan nor Carmenis available. Either Kiana or Caseyis helping today with stage decorations.
Rule 3
As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected byand.
Example: A car and a bikeare my means of transportation.
Rule 4
Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by words such as along with, as well as, besides, or not. Ignore these expressions when determining whether to use a singular or plural verb.
Examples: The politician, along with the newsmen, is expected shortly. Excitement, as well as nervousness, is the cause of her shaking.
Rule 5
The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, andsomebody are singular and require singular verbs. Do not be misled by what follows of.
Examples: Each of the girls sings well. Every one of the cakes is gone.
NOTE:Everyone is one word when it means everybody. Every one is two words when the meaning is each one.
Rule 6
When either and neither are subjects, they always take singular verbs.
Examples: Neither of them is available to speak right now. Either of us is capable of doing the job.
Rule 7
Use a singular verb with sums of money or periods of time.
Examples:Ten dollarsis a high price to pay. Five yearsis the maximum sentence for that offense.
Homework:
Vocabulary Practice 2.1 and 2.2 (Look for the meanings of words you are unsure and complete the 10 MCQ questions)
CA Revision Practice Paper
As promised, I have managed to find some videos on the topic of ants which we had done for the comprehension open-ended passage. Remember that you do not have to just look at comprehension open-ended passages as just your piece of work only. From the work you do in class, there are also facts and new knowledge to be learnt. This is the wonder of learning. If you just simply look at every piece of work in class as a torture and something you hate, you will not be able to think positively and make improvements. Learn to appreciate and see the positives out of your learning in school. :) Be positive and work hard.
My apologies for the break in not updating. It has been a busy week on my side too. We are about to finish up on Unit 2 and 3 soon. I have given out the CA practice paper to you and given you ample time to complete the paper before next Monday. It has be to pass up next Monday so that I can mark through and go through with you. We will be doing filing soon so that you can revise through your work for the 3 units.
For this week, we focused on Comprehension Open-ended, Comprehension Cloze, Visual Text Information, Synthesis and Transformation and Situational Writing.
For today, I went through in detail about your comprehension open-ended questions. The second comprehension open-ended exercise was not that well done. Some mistakes to point out:
Always identify for the tenses in the question first. Many of the questions would require you to answer in the past tense which many of you are not doing. You still disregard the importance of tenses. Past tense and Present tense are hugely important!!!
Always highlight the key words in the question first. The 'Why' Questions would always require you to give a reason.
Your answers are not specific enough. If it is a 2 mark question, it usually involved 2 parts to the answers. Most of you answered only 1 part.
A phrase is part of a sentence. When you list your phrase down, check that it cannot be used as a sentence.
When you are asked to quote or write down the phrase, word or sentence, make sure that you write down word for word, spelling for spelling and punctuation for punctuation. You must follow exactly as in the passage.
We also finished up on our Synthesis and Transformation Practice. For Synthesis, there is alot of focus on the grammar rules that you have to know. Let us do an important recap:
In the sentence structure, "Having......................." A verb is after the word 'Having' and the verb is always in the perfect form.
Having taken the file, I proceeded to pass it to Mr Tan.
In the sentence structure, "Despite" and "In spite of" ..................... We can use the words 'the fact that' after 'Despite' and 'In spite of' to complete the sentence.
In spite of the fact that he trained hard, he did not perform well for the competition.
Despite the fact that it was extremely sunny in the morning, it rained heavily in the afternoon.
In the sentence structure, ........................ whose ....................... Before the word 'whose', it is a person/people. After the word 'whose', it is a noun (item) belonging to the person.
Daniel whose wallet was stolen had reported the matter to the police.
In the sentence structure, ............. prefers................ We always use the rule 'Prefer ........ to ........"
Prefer (Verb in the -ing form) to (Verb in the -ing form)
Tom prefers walking to jogging.
Ali prefers cooking at home to eating out at hawker centres.
In the sentence structure, ................ rather.................... We always use the rule "Rather ........ than ........."
Rather (Verb) than (Verb)
I would rather study than play.
I would rather revise for my examinations than go out and play with my friends.
Half of the term has passed by. Two more weeks before you begin your CA. Remember to start revising through, especially for your Maths and Science. You should have started revising through past year topics. Today, we finished up on Grammar practices. We went through idioms and grammar practice.
Homework for the day:
Comprehension Practice 2.1 and 2.2
Please take seriousness in your homework and really put in effort.
For comprehension cloze, do not forget to read for understanding, then highlight key words and check for tenses/singular/plural.
I have returned your composition scripts today and do have a look at the comments and ways to improve your compositions. As mentioned,
Tenses are a huge error in your composition. Many of you are using present tenses which is wrong. When we write a story, it is recapping and talking about what happened, thus you should use the past tense.
Elaboration is important. I want to know about the feelings and how and why the person did what he did.
Example: Tom is wearing his favourite red sneakers. The sneakers mean alot to him as it is the first birthday gift he has received from his parents and it is his lucky charm. (Here, you are elaborating on his action and how and why he wears that pair of red sneakers)
Do not just talk about the actions. Elaborate and explain more.
Many of you talked about yourself being separated and then reuniting but you left out about your parents who were also being separated from you. What happened to them? Explain more.
As homework, look through your composition and rewrite in green pen the whole composition again so that while writing, you are also reading through and correcting your mistakes. Don't rewrite the same mistakes again. Look at my corrections for you.
If you have not done well, don't be upset. Don't give up. Remember that there are a few more compositions coming up and I will be taking the best 2 or 3 compositions. Those who have done well, do not be complacent. Remember to put in more effort and find ways to improve further.
We went through vocabulary mcq and cloze today with vocabulary being one of your greatest weaknesses. I taught you the elimination method in which you read the question, highlight the key words and then strike out the options that are not logical. In this case, even if you are unsure, you can narrow down your options and make a good guess for the answer.
In order to improve vocabulary, you have to read widely and pick up new words. Also, make it a point to look for the meanings of the other options that you are not sure of. You do not just concentrate on the answer but also find out why the other options are not possible. This means that you have to research and find out the meanings of the vocabulary words you are unsure of which I have set you as homework over the long holiday weekend. I want you all to see the meaning behind doing certain practices rather than have you just doing them.
We pick up new meanings today through the reading of the comprehension Open-ended passage.
Bonnet - Front cover of the vehicle
Hood - Back cover of the vehicle
To tackle comprehension open-ended, we first look at the questions and understand the questions. We can understand the story by looking through the questions as what I have modelled to you in class today. This is known as the Pre-Reading Thinking Activity. Before reading, we think about the questions.
Example:
1. Who was Mrs Morgan to James?
We know that the main characters are Mrs Morgan and James. We want to find out their relationship.
2. In Paragraph 3, why would James enjoy staying with Mrs Morgan?
We know that James would be staying with Mrs Morgan. James would feel happy staying with Mrs Morgan. We want to find out the reasons that would make him feel happy staying with Mrs Morgan. To stay with Mrs Morgan would also suggest that they were rather close.
Hence, we did the Pre-reading thinking activity first to think deeply before we then read the passage.
Today's reading is not that fantastic. I feel that you guys need to build up confidence in reading aloud first before we talk about higher level skills like voice intonation and expression. Read loudly and practise reading in front of the mirror if you can.
First and foremost, a very Happy Chinese New Year to all pupils and parents. Have a blessed Lunar New Year. Therefore, I believe in enjoying hard and taking some time off for yourselves. The only homework for your long weekend would be:
Finding the meaning of the words you are unsure of in the Vocabulary Practice for 1.1 and 1.2.
Today, we focused on Comprehension Cloze. This is not an entirely easy section. Based on past experiences, this is a section in which many pupils will struggle with. However, do not think that way and practise hard on it. This being your first comprehension cloze, do not give up despite the many mistakes you might have. Believe that you will score better the next time around. Here is the recap of the key skills:
Read for understanding (the topic and the main idea) Every topic might have their own key words.
Highlight the key words and draw the arrows.
Check for tenses/plural/singular
Check!
The reason why we do newspaper articles and read up on more information texts is because comprehension cloze passages tend to focus on these. It is no longer stories but more so on information texts or newspaper articles. Therefore, you need to read widely.
Also, I do notice that many of you have issues with the tenses. Remember to draw clues from the passage and check for tenses. If it is in the past tense, make sure you fill in your answers in the past tense.
We also completed Synthesis and Transformation today with the focus on several key Grammar Rules like:
Unless (Postive), (Negative)
Unless is always followed by a positive statement and then a negative statement. The statement that comes after the word 'Unless' is always POSITIVE.
Example:
Unless the students work hard (positive statement), they will not do well in their upcoming examinations. (negative statement)
Unless we train hard, we will not do well for the tournament.
Neither........nor
Either........or
The words that come after 'Neither' and 'nor' are NOUNS
The words that come after 'Either' and 'or' are NOUNS
Neither (noun) nor (noun) (verb)
Either (noun) or (noun) verb
How do we know whether the verb should be singular or plural?
Importantly, we look at the SECOND NOUN (the noun after the words 'nor' and 'or' to determine if the verb is singular or plural)
Example:
Neither Peter (Noun) nor Tim (Noun - Singular) is (Singular verb because 'Tim' is singular) going to the party.
Either the boy or the girls (Plural) need to finish the race.
Neither Tom nor the boys have to stay back after school today.
Either Peter or Tim is to complete the work by today.
It has been 4 weeks and I hope that by now, you are fully adjusted to school. Some of you do need to work on your handwriting skills. Please be neat at all times. This is an important skill for life and not only for school. You guys are definitely getting more well-disciplined in doing homework and bringing homework on time. Please keep it up. My target from next week onwards is to not have anyone forgetting to do homework or not bringing.
Keep the class spirit up and going. Remember rule #1 "We are a FAMILY!" Here's wishing you happy holidays and remember to work hard for the upcoming CA in 4 weeks' time. It will contribute to 10% of your overall marks come end of the year. Work hard together everyone! Be resilient!
It's the end of Week 3. Next week will be a short week due to Chinese New Year. You can take a break, enjoy the festive season and recharge yourself. On Friday, we went through the grammar practice and the Visual text practice. Here are the main points to recap:
Verb - Noun - Verb rule. In this rule, the second verb is always in the base form (Present tense and plural form)
Example: Father made me eat the apples.
made (verb) me (noun) eat (verb --> Present tense, plural form)
Who refers to a person
Which refers to a non-person noun like animals and non-living things.
When refers to a time
Where refers to a place
Phrasal verbs are short phrases which combines a verb + preposition
Example: Called (verb) off (preposition) --> cancelled
In grammar items, we always need to identify for plural/singular and past/present/continuous tenses.
We also looked at the word 'Biennale' which means once every two years.
We started on Unit 1 today with the reading of the story, Heartbeats in the Dark. What we did today was to get you to think deeply, posing almost everyone of you a question on the story. We talk about understanding the story through the title first and getting you to predict about the title, 'Heartbeats in the Dark'. Following that, we did silent reading in which you read independently. Then, we paused at certain sections to ask key questions and make meaning of certain key words to support your answers. I am modeling to you how real life reading of books or comprehension passages should be done. You do not just read on and on. You must pause and ask yourself key questions like:
Who are the characters?
What is happening?
Why are certain events happening?
Where is the story?
When is the story?
How are the events happening?
We call it '5W and 1H'.
Today, we talked about Darren, the main character in the story, conquering his fear of being the dark. As such, the moral of today's story focuses on how we can overcome our fears. It is a terrifying process but we can overcome with resilience and with little steps of faith along the way.
Today's grammar items which I taught you:
Practice --> Noun
We are going for our football practice later on.
Practise --> Verb
We are going to practise our football later.
Everybody, Everyone, Each are all in the singular form.
Each of us has to buy a pen by today.
Everybody likes to do well in life.
Everyone here is a pupil.
You need to also know about the importance of singular/plural words and words in the past tense or present tense.
There are grammar rules which I will go through and they are highly important to help you in your writing and grammar. Make it a point to remember them. I will be very naggy about it but I hope that you will remember in time to come with all my constant repetition of these grammar rules.
As we finished the day, I went through with you focus writing whereby we focused on modeling the write out of the introduction of a composition. I focused on using the technique of flashback, focusing on how an item or object or particular scene sparked your memories of an event. This is a good technique to start off rather than just going straight to introducing the setting.
After which, we then move on to the introduction of the story itself. What happened before the main events take place? Who are the characters? Where is the story? What is the day, time and weather? Any feelings at the start?
A good composition is one in which you elaborate, describe and explain about the events and characters. You do not just write 'It was very hot.'. Go on and describe how hot it was. 'It was so hot that we were perspiring from head to toe.' Then, talk about your feelings about the weather. Why was it so hot? Who were affected? How did these people feel? Where was the place?
Tomorrow, we will be touching on the composition test. Do up your planning and look through what I have gone through with you so far. You can use the vocabulary I have taught you to apply for your writing tomorrow. I have taught you good vocabulary words in place of common simple words like happy, sad and scared.
We have come to the end of week 2. For this week, we focused on situational writing and the techniques of writing a good situational writing. We went through the format of email. Feedback given was that many of you are using your own words and information than sticking to what is given in the question and information. Remember that you cannot place your own information into situational writing. You have to follow the situational given to you strictly. Also, tenses errors are a huge problem. If the event has been completed and has taken place in the past, you have to use the past tense. Read first and ask yourself these questions before writing the words.
We moved on to composition writing and the planning stage. Failing to plan would mean planning to fail. Stick to what I have taught you in breaking down the composition first. Refer to my last post for a recap.
We will carrying out the STELLAR reading Unit 1 next week together with composition writing test and perhaps situational writing unit 2 if there is time. I do not want to rush but to go through with you thoroughly so that you can understand and apply. I will be collecting any questions in the question hat on Monday so do place your questions in the hat if you have any questions/difficulties understanding at any point.
Do take good care of your health. I have noticed a number of you getting sick and missing lessons. The festive season is coming and you do want to enjoy yourself over this period. Drink lots of water and rest up well. Study hard but also make time for family and resting.
Homework:
Journal writing "A terrifying moment in your life"
The reason behind doing this topic is to help you with your composition writing. One of the main issues is on the aspect of writing out and elaborating feelings in your composition which is greatly lacking is most average compositions. Thus, I want to you to focus on bringing the emotions and feelings out. This will aid you when we talk about our composition writing next week.
Don't forget to pick up the newspapers and read through the main headlines if you can. Log on to the news websites to also read the news. :) Reading is important for knowledge and learning.
We have completed our first lesson on Situational Writing. As mentioned, you do not write down all the information you have found. Instead, you need to be able to understand the information and then write down the answers to the 6 content points given. Answer straight to the point and avoid unnecessary details. Do not add in your own information and follow the information given to you. We will have more practice soon.
Today, we also went through composition writing.
As part of your assessment, we will be having the composition as class tests and done during class time. There will be a total of 2 composition writings for term 1 and another 2 for term 2. We will take the best 3 composition scores and average them as your overall assessment. So, do work hard and treat this seriously.
Prior to writing your composition, you have to be able to plan first. A proper planning would include jotting down notes for:
Place
Time
Day
Weather
Characters
Events
Problems
Solution / Conclusion
Place
We are talking about the location in which the story is taking place. The location is important as part of the setting. In some cases, you need to be very specific with the places the story is taking place in and to also describe the surroundings.
Example: If the story is about a pickpocket in a secluded park, you want to describe more about the park and the bushes and how the pickpocket hides behind the bushes and makes use of the surrounding to his advantage.
Time
Timing is important. You have to be logical here. If we are talking about a day in school, then perhaps the timing is usually in the morning, afternoon or evening perhaps.
Day
Whether it is a weekday or weekend is important. It should fit in logically with your story.
Weather
The weather is also important as part of your introduction and in some cases, as part of the development of your stories. If we are writing about typhoons and tsunamis, then you have to be very detailed about your description and the impact of the weather.
Characters
This is very important as characters make up a story. Every story has its main characters. As such, you need to really describe the character in terms of appearance, actions and most importantly, FEELINGS! Most of the time, the greatest problem is the lack of description of the feelings of a character. When I read a story, I want to be able to relate to the feelings of the characters. Do not just say that the character is happy. Go on and further elaborate on why he is happy and what he does when he is happy.
Events
Here, we talk about the main actions in the story. What is going on? Why is it happening? What is happening next?
Problems
The problems focuses on what went wrong. I am sure there will be instances in the story where problems will appear. If we talk about a robbery, the problem would then be in the form when the character is robbed. What happened to her when she was robbed? Was she injured? How did she feel? What was the impact on her?
Solution / Conclusion
With problems, there will be solutions. Who have solved the problems? How did they solve the problems? How did everyone feel in the end? What happened in the end?
With that, we will be going through very thoroughly on the composition topic to fully prepare for your composition writing test. Do not forget about the dictation test we will be having on Friday. Here are some videos about our first composition topic, 'Reunion'.
Reunion is always a happy occasion. What caused the separation? How did the people feel when they were separated? How did they reunite? How did they feel and what did they do upon reuniting?
This video is from Google India and it shows how two friends reunited.
Here, it would be more related to your composition. You can watch about how the victims reunited with their loved ones (at the 20min mark) in this real life story about a hotel's collapse in Singapore. Your parents might be familiar with this.
On an ending note, I want to talk about today with all of you once more. It has been 2 weeks and this 2 weeks have shown me that some of you are still not totally serious about your work. You do need to get adjusted to the fact that you are in Primary 5 now and it will get more difficult this year. The longer you take to adjust, the harder you will find it to be in terms of adapting to learning. As such, I really want everyone to focus and be on task. Complete your work and remember to bring your homework at all times. To see some of you not putting in effort and not completing my work or some of you constantly forgetting to bring my homework is really disappointing. I want to be able to mark all your work and return to you at the same time. 100% effort is really crucial. Why is it that my rule #2 is Do your best, pass up all work on time? This rule is important in every classroom learning and discipline. I am very particular about work as it allows me assess how much you have learnt. Have your learnt correctly? Do I need to reteach? Do I need to give you extra help? Every piece of work helps you to grow and increase your knowledge. Practice makes perfect. I do not give unreasonable homework which requires you to complete within such an unreasonably short amount of time. I do understand the amount of work that Mathematics will have as with the other subjects. If I can, I would rather spend quality time in class to go through your work and have you complete them. At times, due to the time constraints, we will need to assign you homework. So, I want you to see the importance of homework. It is not to torture you but to help you along. I really want to see improvement from all of you and for those who have been consistently putting in effort and working hard, continue to do so. I believe in all of you and I do not want to want to have to feel so disappointed again.
I would just like to start off with welcoming you back to week 2. This week, we will be having our Sincerity and Charity Drives to donate to the poor and needy. Remember it is not about how much you give but what comes from your heart. With our first rule #1 We are a family, I urge all of you (100%) to take effort and the time to donate when the teachers come around. :)
Today's lesson introduced you to Situational Writing. I went through the important skills and structure of Situational Writing. Four important points to take note of are:
ROLE - Who you are writing as? The name you are given is important especially when you sign off.
AUDIENCE - Who you are writing to? If you are writing to someone important and of a high status/position/authority, you need to very formal in your tone and language. Ask politely and write formally.
FORMAT - This is crucial. The format given to you (e-mail, letter, note, report writing, letter of complaint/compliment) will determine the structure of your answer. Each different format has different structures. This I will teach you in time to come.
PURPOSE - What is the main aim of the writing? What are you writing for? This must be introduced in the first lines of the answers.
Today, we talked about emails as the first format. Here is the structure of emails.
Dear ___________,
How are you? (You only use this when you are writing informally.) State the purpose in the next line. (E.g I am writing this e-mail to inform you about my plans for the school holidays.) Answer Points 1 - 3.
In the next paragraph, answer points 4 - 6.
Yours sincerely,
Your name
Content - 6 marks
Language - 9 marks
There will be six points / content points.
For language, we are looking out for grammar errors (tenses, singularity/plural forms, sentence structures) and vocabulary (spelling). Also, your punctuation has to be correct. All these will affect your marks. Most importantly, are you writing in the right tone? Is it formal when it has to be? When you are addressing someone important or about an important matter, are you aware that you have to be serious and polite?
We will go through in greater details tomorrow so please bring your situational writing.
Dear Parents,
We have completed the first spelling test. Just to update all of you that I have set the passing marks higher because I want to motivate and push the students to do better and not just to rest on the passing mark. As such, the passing mark for spelling and dictation will be pushed higher to 6/10. Also, I am giving extra words for spelling that the students have learnt in the lesson during the week to help them remember and apply. Retest will be given to those who did not meet the passing mark. Do guide your children and help them :)
If you do not do well for your tests, please do not give up and work harder. Help one another. The group points are incentives for all of you to motivate yourself. One for all and all for one. :) So unity is strength.
It is the end of week 1 and how time flies. This week, we focused on using newspaper articles as a source to teach and learn English. I also broke down the basic aspects of grammar for you, focusing on what verbs, adjectives, nouns, adverbs and pronouns are. From the quiz on Friday, I can still see that some of you are unsure about some of the aspects. Do revise and recap on your own as instructed for you to write them down in your journal book. They are crucial in constructing proper sentences. This in turn affects your writing and your marks.
For Thursday and Friday, we went through the second newspaper article of Yuan Zai, the first Taiwanese born panda. As promise, I will upload the video as found below. From newspaper articles, I want to teach you the importance of how articles can also be used as stories. However, these stories are real and factual. Knowing about world knowledge helps you be updated of current affairs. For the very first journal topic, I asked all of you about some of your likes and dislikes about English. One of the dislikes was about newspaper articles. Some of you found it boring and difficult to read or newspapers are only for adults. From this week, I am trying to build your interest and change your mindset about newspaper articles. They can, in fact, be for students like you. Of course, I am not asking you to read every page. Some sections like 'Business' may be too technical for you. However, you can read up on the headlines, world and home sections. I hope some of you have changed your mindset about newspapers and have picked up newspapers to start reading. Jot down words you may not understand and find out the meanings on your own or with your parents.
Dear Parents,
You can make it a point to spend reading the newspapers with your children every week, maybe during the weekends. Pick out one article and get your child to read aloud for you (working on reading confidently and oral skills) and to verbalise their reflections about the article for you. Also, you can go through some vocabulary words with your children. This also promotes bonding for you and your child. Model reading newspapers for them. If you do not subscribe to newspapers, you can always head to the Channel News Asia or Straits Times website. If you want to challenge your child further, head up to the international news websites like the Daily Mail (UK-based) or the New York Times (USA).
Homework:
Writing down the meaning for the 5 vocabulary words
4 Comprehension open-ended questions
Next Monday will be your spelling test and Friday will be for your dictation. We will focus on paper 1 of English next week with the introduction of Situational Writing and Composition Writing.
Today's lesson was an important one as I focused on the teaching of grammar to all of you. Based on the learning needs of my P6 class last year, grammar was one big area in which pupils tend to neglect and be weak in. As such, you need to know the basics of grammar. Grammar form a huge part of sentence structure and how you go about writing a complete and correct sentence form. This in turn affects your writing of composition, situational writing and comprehension answering.
Recapping on the main points:
Verbs are action words such as run, jump, walk, talk, ask, is, are, was, were. Verbs can be classified further into past tense, present tense, singular, plural, past perfect and continuous.
Nouns are names of objects such as people, places, animals, just to name a few. Words like Peter, Orchard Road, Holy Innocents' Primary School, Noodles are all nouns.
Adverbs describe more about the verbs. Words like sadly, quickly, angrily, tiredly are adverbs. They are often used after the verbs. e.g Tom walked (verb) quickly (adverb) to the store. The word 'quickly' describes the manner of how tom walked.
Adjectives are describing words. They usually describe the nouns. Words like pretty, fierce, hardworking, greedy are all adjectives. e.g Peter is a greedy (adjective) boy (noun). He likes the tasty (adjective) apples (noun).
Pronouns can be used to replace nouns. Pronouns include words like 'He, she, they, their, his, her, my, yours, it, its'.
This is an important part of learning English and you have to remember these grammar structures. You will find me using them to teach you grammar rules when we venture into doing grammar practices and your synthesis and transformation.
No homework for today. A little short break for you but do bring your newspaper article book and journal book tomorrow.
We started the group points system today and I can see that it is effective in maintaining the classroom discipline and to also motivate all of you to work together and help one another. Bond with your group mates and do the best you can. Points are not everything and most importantly, it is the process of working together.
At the end of each term, prizes will be handed out to the top 3 groups. As for the group with the lowest point, I will find a way to help you bond together and work better.
Prizes will also be given to:
Group leader(s) of the term
Pupil of the term
Work hard for it :)
Dear parents,
Do take note that your child should have showed you their spelling list. Do guide them and help them along. This year, we have changed things up a bit. 8 Spelling words are given and 2 sentences with good vocabularies are given. The students are to learn the 2 sentences but I will only be picking one good vocabulary word from the sentence to test them for spelling. Spelling is a good way to help the pupils memorise and practise. The good way to learn spelling is to write the word repeatedly and then for you to test your child. Repetition is a good way to help remember.
As for dictation, if you find it difficult to remember, break up the passage into phrases or sentences and slowly work on them. You should zoom into the difficult vocabulary words and remember these words. However, do not forget about the simple words too.
Mondays - Spelling
Fridays - Dictation
Do remember to bring your newspapers each day for the recycling competition and your CNY decorations. Together, we can achieve!
We went through our newspaper article today and further built on the content with a short practice for comprehension open-ended. After going through the vocabulary items with you, I hope you can see that this is important for your vocabulary MCQ and also for your comprehension open-ended where you might be asked to replaced a vocabulary word with your own word.
Always remember to highlight key words in the question given such as:
Who?
When?
What?
How?
Why? (Explain)
Key facts and figures
Words that tell you the tenses (singular or past tense)
Grammar is an important part of answering your questions. If you answer in incomplete sentences, there will be a deduction of one mark even if your answer is correct. Likewise, if you answer with the wrong tenses, there will be a deduction of one mark. So, don't lose these marks unnecessarily.
Comprehension means to comprehend and understand. Reading and writing skills come into play here. You have to read to understand, using the skills I taught you yesterday. After that, applying skills are needed. It will be how you apply what you have read and understand into the answering of questions using your own words.
I will build on comprehension open-ended skills in the coming weeks with more practice.
Homework for the day:
3 questions for the comprehension open-ended practice
As such, this will be how newspaper articles work. Vocabulary words, Reflection and Comprehension Open-ended extra exercise.
Remember to get your FTGP journals for those who have not gotten them. You can start bringing your newspapers each day for the mid year newspaper recycling competition. Finally, do bring your CNY decorations to decorate the class. Lets' help one another out!
Today we covered our first worksheet on newspaper article reflection. As explained, the rationale behind working on newspaper articles is to help you to gain world knowledge and be kept updated on what is going in the world. Also, newspapers are meant to help you to read and improve your English. With an increasing trend of comprehension and grammar items in exam papers moving towards adapting from newspaper articles, this is a good form of practice to help you tackle the questions.
Change the way you read. Instead of just simply reading through everything, ask yourself some questions first to make it more focused:
Who (characters) are involved?
When is the event taking place?
What is happening? Main event?
Where is the event taking place?
Sometimes, when we read, there are too much information to take note of. Being focused helps you to remember the key points much more clearly.
We discussed about how the world ushered in 2014 with a series of celebrations. The key message behind today is that no matter how we celebrate and what we do, it is the people you celebrate with that matters. Always remember your family, friends and love ones each day and treasure them.
Here is a video of the famous ball drop during the celebrations of new year eve in New York.
Homework:
Newspaper article vocabulary words research (7 words)
Article reflection
I do take a huge stand on passing up work on time and bringing your materials to school. It is part of class rules and routines. So do take note. Remember to pack your items properly the night before and go through your items.
Apologies for not being able to receive your timetables. We only managed to receive them late yesterday, not in time to hand them out. As such, I am attaching the timetable here for your reference for next week so that you know what to bring for next week and which days to wear your P.E attire.
What to expect for English Language:
Grammar Worksheets
Vocabulary Worksheets
Supplementary Worksheets
STELLAR Worksheets
Situational Writing
Composition Writing
Journal Writing
Newspaper Articles Reflection
Dictation
Spelling
Oral Practice
Listening Comprehension Practice
New components for you would include Situational Writing and for some of you, Newspaper Articles Reflection. I will go through the different components with you in class and expectations for you next week before we start the lesson proper.
Don't forget to bring your 2 exercise books and your health booklets for next week. I will start on the groups points system next week and do a bit of explanation on that. It is meant as a form of motivation for all of you. :)
Hope you enjoyed the first day of school of getting to know one another and adjusting to life in Primary 5. Primary 5 is definitely an important year and it defines your path to PSLE. As mentioned in class, you really need to work hard to get your basics right and set yourself up for next year. Do work hard and my target set for you is to have my 100% passes for English. We will work towards it and from the 100% passes, we will then aim for our As!
Important reminders:
Do bring your Health Booklets for the P5 health checkup which will take place in this month of January. Pass it up to your form teacher, Ms Sun.
Get ready 2 exercise books for English - 1 titled 'English Journal Writing' and the other titled 'Newspaper Articles'
Do bring your foolscap paper to class as we will need it for Dictation, Spelling and Composition writing.
Tips to improve your English:
The most important tip is to simply read and in reading, it means that you have to read novels, newspaper articles and world knowledge. Avoid just reading comics. Reading not only helps you to understand different perspectives (points of view of writing) but also helps you to brush up your grammar and vocabulary content.
Practise on grammar exercises (tenses and plural/singularity as one of the most important rules of grammar)
Practise on vocabulary items (especially useful for vocab cloze, comprehension cloze, composition writing)
Newspaper articles are very useful as most of the cloze passages in your exam papers are based on newspaper articles.
As mentioned, I will definitely try to lighten your homework load. I believe in going through work with you in class and having you to understand what I teach than to keep pumping you with work. You need to understand the content I teach before you apply them to your work.
Don't forget my rules for you and the routines I have set for you. Very importantly, I believe that you must have your character in place (motivation level and the passion for learning) before you will be able to improve and score well. Have a positive attitude and do not every give up. With great character, we can then learn better. As such, my 3 rules for you:
Rule #1
WE ARE A FAMILY
This is top of my list for the fact that you will be together for the next 2 years. I have seen my P6 class stick together through thick and thin and graduated as a close unit just last year. The camaraderie formed has helped them through the ups and downs. As such, team spirit is important. We work for one another and help one another. Likewise, I am in this with you and promise to take you guys through your studies and character building.
Rule #2
DO YOUR BEST, PASS UP ALL WORK ON TIME
In everything you do, it is 100% effort and nothing less. I understand that some days, we do get tired and would like to take short cuts in our lives but you have to always remember that, you need to put in your best effort if not you will not see results. There are no shortcuts in life. You need to work hard for your goals. Work given is important and helps you to grow and learn. I really seek your help to submit work on time so that I in turn can mark and pass them back to you on time.
Rule #3
LISTEN ATTENTIVELY
In terms of respect, this rule is integral to establishing good communication between you and me. A teacher's lesson is measured by effective communication in delivering my message and lesson across to the students. Focus and understand in you classroom learning. Put all distractions aside and strive for excellence.
This short week is drawing to a close and the real teaching will begin next week. Here's to a good year for all pupils and parents. :)
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