Homework and Preparation for Term 1 Week 9

Reading Programme
Deadline: 3 Mar (Mon)

The files you have submitted this week will be returned on 3 Mar (Mon). Please take 5 min to get ready this week’s reading tasks for submission by the end of the day.  You are to read the article given out in class on Meritocracy for this week's reading task and complete the question at the end. 

 

A  student's response for last week's reading task has been posted on the cohort Facebook page for your review. If you are not sure how the reading task should be done, please read the response.

 

Writing Introduction and Conclusion
After we compete the feedback for the CHIJ Comprehension Paper, we will be working on writing Introduction and Conclusion. You will need to bring your LDs to school for these writing lessons. Please analyse the samples in the handout given to you a few days ago before coming for lessons. In addition, please familiarise yourselves with the materials you worked on for the following essay questions:
1) Should the media be completely free?
2) Discuss the problems and benefits of hosting major sporting events.

3) Parents often believe that it is better to be safe than sorry. Do you consider young people to be too protected?

4) 'The way we dress reveals who we are'. What are your views?

Lessons on Speaking
After our lessons on writing Introduction and Conclusion, we shall move into lessons on speaking. As a group, you are to choose the following which we will work on in class:

(a) 1 speech found here (no 2 groups may choose the same speech)
(b) 1 photo from here (no more than 2 groups may choose the same photo. NOTE: This instruction is different from the one above!!)

Make your choices as a group and put it as a comment to this post. First-come-first-served.

For the speech, each student is to consider the Purpose, Audience, Culture and Context for the speech and write down the expected features of such a speech which will aid you in delivering the speech.

For the photo, each student is to come up with possible discussion questions which might be asked for the discussion section of an oral examination.

Feedback on Reading Tasks submitted in Term 1 Week 5

Articles:
1) Gender is no longer a helpful concept
2) How to eat ice cream

Citing the author's argument in your response
The purpose of the reading task is to get you to critique the author's arguments. Given the purpose, it should be clear that you would need to do the following:
(a) Identify the specific arguments from the author which you would like to discuss
(b) State your position on these arguments

Many of you did not identify any arguments from the text and went straight to give your own opinion on the issue in general. Such a discussion can be done even without close reading of the text and is not the intention of the Reading Programme. In real life, it is like having a discussion with someone without addressing any of his points specifically.

Several students did manage to identify arguments from the text. But for this group of students, a common problem is the presentation of your information. If you are unclear in your signalling, your reader would not be able to tell which part of your paragraph consists of the author's argument and which part consists of yours. A simple way of doing the signalling would be to use phrase such as "The author argues / points out / states that...", "One point from the author is that...", "I think that...", "I agree with the author...". You could also replace the word 'author' with the first name of the author (e.g. Lo).

Summarising / Repeating / Explaining the text
The Reading Task is an application task, not a summary task. As such, there is no need to spend an inordinate amount of time to summarise, repeat or explain the text. Just cite whatever you need to make your argument. You can assume that your reader would have read the same text as you. Having said that, do not cite blindly from the text either. You need to show some understanding, and it is possible to show understanding without needing to do a lot of explanation. In fact, much of your understanding would be displayed in your ability to make judgements on the author's arguments and draw in your own examples to relate to these arguments.

Supporting your opinion with your own examples
Many students are not providing any examples to support your opinion. What you cite as examples are often mere opinions. It would be good to review your understanding of what constitutes an opinion and what constitutes an example.

Key points in the text "Gender is no longer a helpful concept" 
Lo points out that in terms of differences in economic roles (e.g. jobs), social roles and expectations, and even biological roles, gender as a differentiating concept is becoming increasingly irrelevant. However, he maintains that the concept of gender still has an important role to play as a moral guardian.

Students may discuss any of the points raised by Lo and relate it to their society. Some students ignored the requirement to relate the points to the situation in their society and went on to write a general response about gender roles in the world, which was largely irrelevant to the question.

Key points in the text "How to eat ice cream"
Eco opines that there is a human tendency for excesses and waste. He laments that this is worsened by parents over-indulging their children and spoiling them, and a consumerist society trying to do the same to adults. He finds this development undesirable, indecent and decadent. Students were asked if they found Eco's concern still applicable in today's society (in general, not just your society).

Students may choose to discuss whether children and adults in today's society are still being encouraged to over-indulge and if so, whether such over-indulgence is indeed undesirable. A typical argument would likely point out that today's children are also spoilt with many of them being given expensive things they do not need (just like having two 2 cents cones), for example, smartphones. A valid concern would be the values and attitudes that the children would grow up with, as well as how consumerism can be harmful to the environment.  However, it is also possible to disagree with the author. Smartphones for example, could be seen as an investment in the future of the children, by getting them exposed to the technology that drives their world at an earlier age so as to give them an edge. Therefore, it might not be fair to characterise smartphones as two 2 cents cones. Moreover, consumerism is not entirely without its merits. It is the engine that drives the world economy, helping to lift many in the world out of poverty and bringing us many modern conveniences. 

Feedback for Term 1 Week 2 Reading Tasks

Admin matters for Reading Tasks
1) Do not submit reading tasks which have already been marked. You are to file them in the big blue ring file for EL according to the instructions mentioned in the Admin Guide.

2) Do not file other worksheets with your Reading Task Binder. Each week, I should only see the required reading tasks in your binder and nothing else.

3) Staple your tasks to the articles and submit them together.

4) Leave the appropriate margin in your writing to ensure that your writing is not blocked by the layout of the file when you write on the back facing side of your paper.

5) Use the correct content page, punch holes and file it on top of your reading tasks. All materials should be filed this way for easy access.

Feedback on Reading Tasks
1) The feedback for "Why a fat tax won't work in Singapore" and "The End of Serendipity" have been posted on the cohort Facebook group to benefit more students.

2) For "The Machine Stops", many students managed to see that today's society is becoming less personal and face-to-face interaction is on the decline. An often cited example is the prevalence of texting and surfing on social media sites even when in the company of others.