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5Jul 2022

Recommended Authors for Grades 1-3

STAN AND JAN BERENSTAIN – A prolific team captures the rhythms of children’s language in engaging stories.

JAN BRETT – A meticulous artist weaves subplots and intricate details into creative borders to extend the meaning carried in the central pictures.

MARC BROWN – Marc Brown presents a warm, witty and sometimes poignant look at facing a bully, losing a tooth, or accepting a new baby sister.

MARCIA BROWN – Marcia Brown adapts the art style (woodcuts, intricate cut paper, flamboyant cartoon, delicate watercolor) to enrich the special meaning of each story.

ANTHONY BROWNE – His startling images and subtle messages in art and story make us see the world in a new way.

JOANNA COLE – Superb informational books present straight facts in photo essays or combine facts with riotous humor in the Magic School Bus books.

BARBARA COONEY – Gentle stories and beautiful art touch the heart and leave deep thoughts to ponder. New England scenes are especially provocative.

TOMIE DEPAOLA – Tomie tells wonderful Irish and Italian family stories using strong black line and folk-art style.

LEO AND DIANE DILLON – Both artists work on the same piece of art often characterized by an opulent, iridescent quality.

ELOISE GREENFIELD – Poet and storyteller captures the language and melodies and strong African-American family images in her poetry and prose.

TRINA SCHART HYMAN – Meticulous art and extensive research enable Hyman to portray Arthurian England authentically or childhood memories vividly.

WILLIAM JOYCE – Broad humor in comically expressive animals and playful language make Joyce’s books fun to read aloud or alone.

STEVEN KELLOGG – A heap of comic-strip detail spills from Kellogg’s splashy, riotous, color-filled pages and causes children to pore over them.

LEO LIONNI – Deeper meanings permeate Lionni’s stories more than the elegant, sophisticated collage and design art might suggest.

ARNOLD LOBEL – Delicate and decorative art on attractively designed pages invites thoughtful probing.

JAMES MARSHALL – Cartoon-like drawings of unique characters present unexpected humor and spoofs. A pair of hippos, a substitute teacher, and a lovable prankster guarantee laugh-out-loud joy.

ROBERT MCCLOSKEY – Superb, classic works that convey the importance of small but significant moments in a child’s life.

EMILY MCCULLY – She creates wordless books in cartoon style and elaborate stories with Impressionist-style art.

JERRY PINKNEY – He paints from live models, often African-Americans, in a realistic style using full-color art and well-crafted scenes.

JAMES E. RANSOME – Talented young African-American artist portrays characters realistically in historical or contemporary scenes.

MAURICE SENDAK – A superb artist whose books invite rereading and whose illustrations beg for repeated viewing.

SEUSS (THEODORE S. GEISEL)– Creative genius whose spontaneous art and lilting lines sing children into reading on their own.

CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG – Van Allsburg gets you to think. He presents something that seems predictable but catches you by surprise when he turns it on end.

VERA B. WILLIAMS – She conveys the simple strength of multicultural families who share love and unity.

JANE YOLEN – Enchanting storyteller and poet holds a moment in time to capture past, present, or future in word songs.

ED YOUNG – Sophisticated simplicity describes the art he uses to retell Asian-American folklore.

CHARLOTTE ZOLOTOW – Gentle stories play on the heartstrings and cause children to think about their world and relationships in a new way.

 

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20Dec 2021

Effective Comprehension strategies (Lower Primary English)

Touching on the 3 levels in Comprehension

In the course of doing their comprehension, pupils tend to skim over the given passage without really understanding and digesting its contents. They can read the passage many times and still not able to understand it thoroughly.

Reading and Understanding

  1. Pupils are to read the passage at least twice.
  2. They should underline the difficult words.
  3. Find the meanings of complex words in the dictionary.
  4. Read the questions and highlight the keywords.
  5. Look for relevant and precise answers to the questions.
  6. Paraphrase each section in their own words to show they have understood it.

 

Looking for answers

There are 3 levels for answering questions in comprehension.

  1. Literal- Answers found in the text: Highlight essential information
  2. Inferential- Answers based on the use of contextual clues
  3. Critical- Answers that predict: ‘What happens next?’  Answers that employ prior knowledge: ’What do you think she should do?’ or ‘what has happened to make her react in such a manner?’

 

Examples:

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

Ali was a hawker staying in Jakarta. Very early each morning, he would push his cart of kitchenware to the marketplace. There, he would spread out a plastic mat on the floor and display all his goods.

Then Ali would call out loudly, “Knives, knives for sale!’ many people would stop by and examine his wares. Sometimes, people would buy his goods, but most of the time, they would go off without buying anything. Ali would not get angry when customers did not buy his goods. On good days, he did a roaring trade. Customers had to queue up to be served.

However, on rainy days, business was usually bad. He finished work at six in the evening. He packed his cart again to go home. By that time, he would be feeling tired and hungry.

 

Questions

  1. Literal

Q: What was Ali’s occupation?

Ai was a hawker selling kitchenware (correct)

He sold kitchenware in Jakarta(wrong)

 

Q: Where did he live?

He lived in Jakarta.

2. Inferential

Q: What did Ali sell in the marketplace?

He sold kitchenware in the marketplace. (Correct)

He sold knives in the marketplace. (wrong)

(Knives would just be one type of kitchenware sold by Ali.)

Q: In what way was Ali a patient man

He did not get angry when customers did not buy his goods

3. Critical

Q: Why was business bad on a rainy day?

It was wet and few people would go to the market on a rainy day.

 

Q: Do you think the life of a hawker is a hard one? Why?

Yes, I think so as a hawker had to work long hours every day.

Yes, because a hawker has to work long hours every day.

(The answer is not quite correctly expressed. Try to avoid using ‘because’ in your answers.)

 

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24Aug 2021

Oral Part One

The oral paper has two components: Section A-Reading Aloud and Section B- Spoken interaction

The Two sections are thematically linked

The duration of the paper will be approximately 20minutes, taking into account 10 minutes preparation time.

Section A: Reading Aloud

Students will need to read aloud a short passage and be able to identify the purpose, audience and context of the passage.

Students will be assessed based on:

  1. Pronunciation and Articulation: read a passage with good pronunciation and clear articulation.
  2. Rhythm and Fluency: read with appropriate rhythm and stress to achieve a well-paced, fluent rendering of a passage.
  3. Expressiveness: read with appropriate variation of pitch and tone in order to convey the information, ideas and feelings in a passage.

The text could be in the form of:

  1. Short narrative
  2. News report
  3. Speech
  4. Announcement

Section B: Spoken Interaction

  • Engagement in Discussion: Discuss issues that arise with the examiner stemming from the picture (which is thematically linked to the text in Section A)

Preparation for Oral

  1. Normally you will have about 5 to 10 mins to read the passage (section A-Reading Aloud) and see the visual stimulus (Section B-Spoken Interaction) before the examiner tests you. Use this time wisely for preparation.
  2. Use the first few minutes to read the passage through a few times to yourself for familiarity.
  3. Use the next few minutes to prepare yourself mentally to study the visual stimulus in detail.
  4. The spoken interaction would be related to the visual stimulus given. Use the remaining time to anticipate questions from this section and come up with intelligent responses to them.

Section A: Reading Aloud

  1. Be sure to greet the examiner politely before you begin
  2. Read the passage loudly and clearly. Make sure you read every word.
  3. Read at a measured pace.
  4. Pause at the appropriate points of the passage e.g., full stops, commas, colons, semi-colons, paragraph breaks
  5. Pronounce words correctly by stressing the correct syllables.
  6. Vary the pitch of your voice appropriately as you read so that you would not read monotonously and put the examiner to sleep.

Dos and Don’ts

  1. Even if you are unable to pronounce certain words you don’t know, do not skip the word hoping the examiner won’t notice.
  2. Make smart guesses. If you show that you are making attempts to read the difficult words, at least the examiner knows you have put in effort.
  3. Do not be too contrived or overly dramatic. Do not should. Do not put on a fake accent.
  4. Do not stress every word or every phrase. You need to have an overall understanding of the passage in order to know which parts of the passage should be stressed (e.g., the climax of a narrative) and which shouldn’t.
  5. You may speak with a different tone and pitch for dialogues between people.

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17Oct 2016

English Tutors: Parental Expectations 1

A Singapore English Tutor is crucial for the child that is struggling with any element of English.

The role of the English tutor is to provide home lessons and instruction to the student. In order for the tutor to be considered and effective they should be qualified.

What can you expect from a Singapore English tutor?

You can expect complete focus on your child. The English tutor will provide one-on-one English tuition with lessons that are tailored to the child’s requirements. The areas where the child is having difficulties will be the areas that the child focuses on.

The English tutor gives the child the special guidance and instruction that they need. She or he will work patiently with the child, ensuring their understanding and retention, and will accelerate the learning progress. The child is greatly enhanced with the English tutor. Their ability to learn and understand becomes clear and they begin to achieve and master English.

Many children when learning English are shy, inhibited and self-conscious. This gets in the way of their learning ability. Children who have the advantage of an English tutor, benefit greatly. The right tutor does make the difference between the child learning and mastering English.

Children that have the services of a private English tutor feel encouraged and motivated to learn. English is so vital to children today, as it is a language that is the most spoken language in the world. There are so many aspects in the child’s life that will require them to use English. When the child ventures into the world, for instance, he will need English to communicate.

Selecting a tutor should involve your child. The child, after all, is going to be spending a great deal of time with the tutor. The tutor should be passionate about the English language. They should also be trusting and caring.

When you interview the tutor or tutors, you should ask them to do a sample session with your child. By doing this, you will be able to see the techniques which the tutor uses and how well they interact with your child, as well as, how well your child responds to the tutor.

There are many wonderful English tutors and finding one will not be difficult. You do, however, want to find one that gets along well with your child, and does have their credentials. This is extremely important as the education that your child receives will depend on the education of the tutor.

Your child will also be spending a great amount of time with the tutor. Typically, sessions occur a few times per week for an hour or so after school. With a passionate and enthusiastic tutor, this does not make for a long day, but a day that your child will look forward to.

When your child begins to master English, they will begin to soar in their studies and have the confidence that they need in order to receive a high-quality education that will take them through life.

 

Resource Box: Usha is an English Tutor with the passion and the knowledge to help children excel in the English Language.

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