Week 1 Recap

Dear all,

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. 

Have a good weekend,

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong