english language sharing 11 february 2017 - moespringdalepri.moe.edu.sg/qql/slot/u152/parents/parent...

Springdale Primary School

Parents’ Seminar English Language Sharing

11 February 2017

EL Curriculum at Upper Primary Requirements of PSLE EL

& Tackling EL PAPER 2


• Overview of Primary 5 & 6 EL Curriculum• Requirements of PSLE EL Papers• Tackling the challenging components in EL PAPER 2

• Editing• Synthesis • Reading Comprehension• Comprehension Cloze

• How Parents Can Support Children’s Learning • Q & A

Content of Presentation


Our English Programme

Springdale English Curriculum

Modified STELLARSchool-based

curriculum


P5 EL Curriculum

Coverage of 10 STELLAR books at P5 level• Pupil Handout (story)• STELLAR Learning Sheets / Companion Booklets• Student Response Log*


P5 EL Curriculum

New Spelling Format• 15 mistakes for students to

correct• Comprises 10 spelling

mistakes & 5 grammar mistakes

• Exposes students to commonly misspelt words

• Serves as practice for Editing component

• Provides reading exposure to different topics & genres


P5 School-Based Curriculum

Structured teaching programmes for the following:• Composition & Situational Writing• Oral• Grammar• Synthesis & Transformation

Component Mastery Booklets• Enables students to practise intensively certain skill sets

or strategies

Practice Papers• 6 practices to familiarise students with the new format


PSLE EL

PAPER MARKS WEIGHTING

Writing(Paper 1)

55 27.5%

Language Use & Comprehension(Paper 2)

95 47.5%

Listening Comprehension(Paper 3)

20 10%

Oral (Paper 4)

30 15%

Total 200 100%


Paper 1: Writing

WRITING COMPONENTS MARKS

Situational Writing 15 marks

Continuous Writing 40 marks

Total 55 marks

Total duration of paper: 1 hour 10 min


Paper 1: Situational Writing

Situational Writing is marked for:• Task Fulfilment (6 marks)• Language & Organisation (9 marks)

Students would need to show awareness of purpose, audience and context while supplying key information.


Paper 1: Situational Writing

Task

You are a member of the school’s Green Club.

You have been given this pamphlet about an

art competition and would like all members to

participate in it. Your friend, Paul, was sick that

day and he missed the session. Write an email

to Paul to tell him about the competition.

In your email, include the following key

information:

• who organised the competition

• theme of the competition

• how to participate

• why you think both of you should participate

You may reorder the points. Write in complete

sentences.


Paper 1: Continuous Writing

Continuous Writing is marked for• Content (20 marks)• Language & Organisation (20 marks)

Minimum number of words: 150 words

Student’s writing must • be based on at least one of the given pictures• address the given topic / theme


Paper 1: Continuous Writing


Paper 3: Oral Assessment

ORAL COMPONENTS MARKS

Reading Aloud 10 marks

Stimulus-based Conversation 20 marks

Total 30 marks

Total duration of paper: approximately 10 min



Reading Aloud • Read with good pronunciation & clear articulation of

the words• Use appropriate rhythm and stress to achieve a well-

paced, fluent reading • Read with appropriate variation of pitch and tone in

order to convey the information, ideas and feelings in the passage



Stimulus-based Conversation• State an opinion / choice • Explain rationale• Illustrate with personal experience

Students are expected to demonstrate the following:• Express oneself clearly in a conversation• Demonstrate wide range of appropriate vocabulary • Use grammatical structures accurately



1. Look at this poster. Do you agree that

you should always do your best? Why?

Why not?– Do you think having posters around the

school is good? Why? Why not?

2. What is your favourite subject in

school? Why? – Do you think homework is important? Why?

3. What is something you are very good

at? Tell me about it.– How do you spend your free time?

Stimulus-based Conversation


Paper 4: Listening Comprehension

Listening Comprehension• 20 MCQ questions• Approximately 35 minutes

Students are required to:• Practise active listening• Read the question stems carefully


Paper 2: Language Use & Compre

PAPER 2 COMPONENTS MARKS

Booklet A Visual Text Grammar MCQ Vocabulary MCQVocabulary Cloze

81055

Booklet B Grammar ClozeEditingComprehension ClozeSynthesis & TransformationComprehension Open-Ended

1012151020

Total 95 marks

Total duration of paper: 1 hour 50 minutes


Reviewing the Components in EL PAPER 2

Refer to Handout 1 -2016 PSLE English Paper 2 (Booklets A & B)


Tackling the Challenging Components in EL PAPER 2, BOOKLET B

EditingSynthesis & Transformation

Comprehension ClozeComprehension Open-Ended


Tackling Editing

Editing

• One given passage

• 12 mistakes (12 marks)

– Spelling mistakes

– Grammatical mistakes

Students are required to:

• Rectify the mistakes and write the correct words in the corresponding boxes


Hands-on 1: Editing

Correct the mistakes in the passage.


Tackling Editing

Suggested Procedure for Tackling Editing

• Read the entire passage once first before attempting to correct the mistakes

• Identify the nature of mistakes

– Spelling mistakes are words with wrong spelling

– Grammatical mistakes are those spelt correctly


Tackling Editing

Answers to Spelling Mistakes

(40) adequately

(42) physical

(44) exhausted

(45) absolutely

(46) sufficient

(48) nourished


Tackling Editing

Answers to Grammatical Mistakes

(39) competes

Clue: use of ‘is’ in 1st sentence and ‘will’ in 2nd sentence)

(41) have

Clue: presence of ‘does’ in same sentence

(43) Learning

Clue 1: the verb before and after ‘and’ must be of the same tenses’(‘Lifting … and learning…)

Clue 2: -ing noun phrase starts a sentence and is followed by a verb


Tackling Editing

Answers to Grammatical Mistakes

(47) performance

Clue: ‘peak’ is used as an adjective hence what follows should be a noun

(49) chosen

Clue: use of participle after ‘having’

(50) so

Clue 1: replacing connector with another connector

Clue 2: ‘so as to’ is used as a common phase to mean ‘in order to’


Tackling Editing

Strategies for Tackling Spelling Mistakes (Editing)

• Sound out the mis-spelt word to guess the content word

• Be aware of the common types of spelling mistakes

– Double or single consonants

– Consonant sounds with different spelling

– Vowel sounds with different spelling

– Correct order for vowel pairs e.g. ‘ei’ versus ‘ie’

– Omission of vowels or consonants


Tackling Editing

Strategies for Tackling Grammatical Mistakes (Editing)

• For grammatical mistakes, identify the grammatical category of the underlined word

• The correct answer for the underlined word should be of the same grammatical class e.g. replace a preposition mistake with another preposition; pronouns for pronouns; connectors for connectors

• Re-read the sentence of the underlined word to check for the following:

– Subject Verb Agreement

– Tenses

– Conditions for Base Form

– Word Forms


Tackling Synthesis & Transformation

Synthesis & Transformation

• 5 questions testing different structures

• Total of 10 marks for this component

Students are required to:

• Re-write the given sentence(s) using the given prompts

• Ensure that meaning of the answer is the same as the meaning of the original sentence(s)


Hands-on 2: Synthesis & Transformation

Look at the students’ answers in Handout 2.Spot the mistakes and correct them.



Did not check Subject Verb Agreement

Did not use the correct tenses



‘Do-er’of the action is not clear

Did not use -en/-ed participle



Wrong use of ‘but’ and missing commas

Wrong word order for statement



Change in meaning;

‘Do-er’of the action is not clear

Did not use correct word form



Strategies for Tackling Common Structures

• Check subject verb agreement and tenses

• Take note of the conventions governing each structure

• Take note of required punctuation e.g. obligatory commas

• Be careful with the use of upper and lower case letters

• Check meaning of your answer is the same as the given sentence(s)



Strategies for tackling Structures that Require Transformation

• Be familiar with the different word forms e.g. noun form of a particular verb

• Check subject verb agreement and tenses

• Check if obligatory commas is required

• Be careful with the use of upper and lower case letters

• Check meaning of your answer is the same as the given sentence(s).



Strategies for Reporting Direct Speech

• Check for the presence of the following and amend them accordingly:

– Pronouns

– Word order (verb-subject inversion)

– Tenses

– Time markers

– Demonstratives

• Check meaning of the answer is the same as that of the given sentence



Strategies for Writing the Indirect Speech

• Check for the presence of the following and amend them accordingly:

– Pronouns

– Word order (subject verb inversion)

– Tenses

– Time markers

– Demonstratives

• Try reporting the direct speech (your answer) and see if you arrive back at the same answer as the question


Tackling Comprehension Cloze

• One passage with 15 blanks for students to fill in Total of 15 marks for this component

• A challenging component for most students

• Introduced in P3 & P4 as Modified Cloze (4 blanks)

• Assesses students’ reading comprehension and grammar/ vocabulary skills


• Read the entire passage without attempting to fill in any of the blanks during the 1st reading.

• Understand the key idea(s) in each paragraph.

• Do repeated, close reading of the text. Look out for contextual cues, use of common phrases and word collocation.

• Decide what is grammatically correct at phrase, sentence and paragraph level.

Suggested Procedure for Students


• Highlight, underline or draw arrows to indicate plausible links and clues.

• Once all the blanks are filled, read the entire passage again to check that the choice of answer do not contradict with the main ideas and intent of the passage.

Suggested Procedure for Students



Strategies to narrow range of answers:

• Contextual Clues

• Word Association

• Common Phrases

• Grammatical Analysis


Hands-on 3: Comprehension Cloze

Read the passage and fill in each blank with a word.


Live Demonstration



Resources:

Use of newspaper articles to give students

further practice on this component


Tackling Reading Comprehension

• Another challenging component for most students

• Students need to understand the text at both literaland inferential levels

• At times, they may also be required to form an evaluative opinion and support their answers with evidence from the text

• Questions can be 1 to 4 marks

• Total of 20 marks for this component



Understanding the passage

• Read the passage at least twice and re-read parts that seem confusing or difficult to understand

• Employ reading strategies taught in class like asking questions as you read, making connections with the text, making predictions and inferences while reading, synthesizing informing in the text

• Make inferences about the meaning of challenging words, characters’ actions, feelings and events in the text


Hands-on 4: Reading Comprehension

Annotating the text A strategy to deepen students’ understanding

of the text


Annotating Comprehension Text

Annotating text means

• Making notes of any form while reading

• Making sense of what is being read

• Forming questions to parts which unclear

• Linking/connecting information while reading

Therefore, you definitely need a pencil while reading.



Why annotate?

It helps the readers to

• Formulate questions in response to what they are

reading

• Analyse and interpret elements of the text

• Draw conclusions and make inferences based on

explicit and implicit meanings in the text



Thus, annotation helps readers to

• Deepen their understanding of the text

• Be ready to answer their comprehension questions



This is definitely

NOT the right way

to annotate.

Annotation is not

mere highlighting.



How to annotate?

1. Underline the major points

2. Circle unfamiliar or confusing keywords/phrases

3. Use question mark (?) for questions that you have while reading (Be sure to write the questions.)

4. Draw an arrow (↵) when making a connection inside the text (Briefly note the connections.)

5. Make inferences and write it on top of the phrase



Important Note:

• There is no one right way to annotate as different

students make different personal connections and

interpretations to the text.

• Different teachers may choose to focus on different

annotation strategies depending on students’

readiness and needs


Live Demonstration



Analysing the questions

• Highlight the question word (e.g. who, why, what etc.) in each question

• Pay attention to the tense of the main verb in the question

• Remember that most of the questions follow the chronological order of the passage

• Study examples given, if any



Crafting your answers

• Note the expectations of the questions e.g. 4-word phrase

• Check that you have answered to the question. Do not copy chunks of information that do not answer the question.

• If it is a 2-mark question, 2 essential points would be required

• Strive for accuracy in language as grammatical mistakes hinder clear communication and understanding


Types of Comprehension Question

A Closer Look at the

Different Question Types


Types of Comprehension Questions

Which word from paragraph 1 has the similar

meaning as the word ‘confinement’? [1m]

Common Mistakes

- Citing a phrase instead of a word

- Citing word from other paragraphs

- Spelling mistakes



Match the characters to the items they had stolen.

[2m]

Scarlet • • two shirts

Fran • • three shirts and a ring

Common Mistakes

- Doing the matching without even reading the questions

- Assuming a cross pattern must be the answer



Write 1, 2 and 3 in the blanks below to indicate the

order in which the events occurred in the story. [1m]

___ Scarlet’s father took me home from the mall.

___ Fran encouraged Scarlet to go to shopping mall.

___ Scarlet had to attend counselling session in

school.

Common Mistakes

- Writing ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’ instead of ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘3’

- Not referring to the text to check the sequence of

events



State whether each statement in the table below is true

or false, then give one reason why you think so. [2m]

True/False Reason

Scarlet was eager to steal the shirt from the store.

Scarlet was not allowed to go out after school for three weeks.

Common Mistakes

- Copying irrelevant information from text

- Reason cited should be phrased in own words and answer

to the point.


How Parents Can Support Children’s Learning

• Provide opportunities for your children to share any interesting things they have read

• Take them out (shopping malls, outdoor activities, use of public transport etc.) so that they have an experience they can relate to for conversation

• Encourage your child to read widely including story books, newspapers and educational magazines (e.g. only reading Young Scientists or comics is insufficient) Compulsory reading material for P5 & P6: Little Red Dot


Thank You…

english language sharing 11 february 2017 - moespringdalepri.moe.edu.sg/qql/slot/u152/parents/parent...

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