English Language

Key Focus

The department is committed to "Empowering the Mind, Engaging the Heart, and Extending the Hand". Our primary objectives include:

• Developing Literacy Skills: Building strong competencies in reading, writing, speaking, viewing, and listening through authentic tasks.

• Confident Communicators: Nurturing students to become confident, effective, and reflective users of the English language.

• Global Citizenship: Through Social Studies, we aim to help students understand the interconnectedness of the world and their role within it.

Pedagogical Approaches

We employ a "spiral" approach to learning, ensuring that skills are revisited and deepened as students progress through the levels:

• STELLAR (Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading): The core framework used to develop a strong foundation in literacy through shared reading and experiences.

• Differentiated Instruction (DI): Tailoring lessons to meet the diverse learning needs and profiles of our students.

• Making Thinking Visible (MTV): Utilizing thinking routines to help students document their thought processes and improve comprehension.

• Oratorical Progression: A structured developmental pathway for public speaking, moving from foundational Dramatisation at Lower Primary to various presentation opportunities both in and out of class from Middle to Upper Primary.

• Collaborative Learning: Encouraging peer-to-peer interaction, such as the kidsREAD program where lower primary students engage with buddy readers from a secondary school.

Key Programmes

Our programmes are designed to create a pervasive and vibrant language environment:

• EL Alive!: A signature annual event where the school community dresses up as favorite story characters (e.g., Snow White) as part of Character Day to participating in interactive activities at recesses like spelling bee challenges with tech tools and reciting of tongue-twisters.

• Reading Culture Initiatives:

  • DEAR (Drop Everything And Read): A dedicated school-wide time for silent reading to build stamina and habit.

  • Share-a-Story and I Love Reading with our Reading Parents: Involving parent volunteers who visit classrooms to share stories and to listen to our young readers read a snippet of their story books during recess to foster a love for books.

  • NLB Molly Bus: Bringing the National Library Board’s mobile library into the school for an immersive browsing experience.

• Oratorical Signature Series:

  • Primary 1: Show & Tell, Dramatisation

  • Primary 2: Dramatisation

  • Primary 3 – 6: Spark Box presentation platform.

• PILOT Programme (Pushing Individual Limits Of Talent): Targeted enrichment for selected high-ability learners in P4 through Reading Circle and P5 through Creative Writing workshop to stretch their creative potential.

• Writers’ Festival: A celebration of student authorship with exposure to writing and creating different types poems to posters or flyers.