Project Beta and Preparation for Term 2 Week 9

Preparation for Term 2 Week 9
Submit the work your prepared for class for 12 May (Mon). Since we did not manage to have lessons that day, I will mark your work to give you feedback.

For each of your Mid Year Common Test Paper 1 questions (reproduced below for you), do a complete essay plan which includes the following:

(a) Detailed question analysis

(b) Stand written in exact phrasing (for Q1 and Q3 only)

(c) At least 3 points written in exact phrasing

(d) Examples in point form

1) The current generation of youth is often referred to as the “Strawberry Generation”. To what extent do you think this is true of the youth in your country?

2) Describe some of the green spaces in Singapore. How important are these places to you as a Singaporean?

3) Discuss the importance of values in society today.

4) Write about a time when you were treated unfairly. How important is the concept of fairness to you?

Project Beta

Project Beta is due on the last day of school for this term. Please refer to the file here for instructions. 

Preparation for Mon's lesson

Read the article on sport given out in class today. Using examples from the article, write a balance paragraph / show a balance argument for the following question:

Sport divides more than it unites. Discuss.

1. Do a detailed analysis of the question
2. Write down your stand in the exact phrasing as it would appear in your essay.
3. Write down your balance point in the exact phrasing as it would appear in your essay. 
4. For each supporting example you would like to include, summarise the relevant information needed for your point in no more than 3 lines. 

There is no need to write the Elaboration, Evaluation or the Link. You only need to write the point for one paragraph if you are raising and opposing view and refuting it. If you are accepting an opposing view as limitation to your position, you need to have points for two paragraphs to display balance. 

All work must be written on paper or printed and brought to class. 

What to do for consultation

Not everything for English can be taught in the classroom. Sometimes, it is necessary to see your teacher for consultation to go through some finer details. The most common thing that students do for consultation is to go through work that has already been marked. But that is the least productive thing to do as usually, feedback would have already been given in class. Unless you have further clarifications to make or unless you have made some improvements after the feedback which you would like to check with the teacher, your time might be better spent on other things.

Here are some things you can consider doing for consultation:
1) Checking your corrections for marked work.

2) Do a comprehension on your own from the book "Distinction in O-level English" you bought last year, mark your own work, and identify questions which you need explanation. Let me know before hand which questions these are so that I can read the passage and prepare. We can then discuss these questions when we meet.

3) Discuss your essay plans with me to check if you have analysed the questions correctly, come up with workable points and put in relevant examples for the question. In 1 hour, we can easily go through 3 plans. And one of these plans that we have worked through together might just be the question that appears for the exams.

4) Work on specific essay paragraphs with me. These paragraphs can be a correction for your written work, or it can be a new paragraph you have written. For example, the article and question I put up on the cohort Facebook group on the Menstrual Man will make a good exercise in paragraph development. You can attempt writing a paragraph and meet me to go through it. Or you can create Intro or Conclusion paragraphs based on any given essay questions and go through it with me.

5) Write a full essay and meet me to go through the essay together. However, this is not the most efficient thing to do as we will probably take the whole hour to just go through 1 essay. Even so, we are unlikely to get to talk about everything you have written.

6) For early Term 3, you would probably want to practice your skills for the oral exams with me, particularly the conversation part.

To arrange a consultation, please check my calendar (which has already been shared with you on google calendar) and drop me a message on my mobile phone. When you have arrived for your consultation, please give me a call on my mobile phone as well as I might be held up somewhere. I am usually not at my desk. So there is no point calling my extension.

Preparation for lesson on 22 Apr (Tue)

Describe some of your experiences in food courts and hawker centres. How important are these places in your life as a teenager in Singapore?

(1) Analyse the question above using the question analysis tools and brainstorming skills you have been taught in class.

(2) Come up with at least 3 points / ideas that will form 3 paragraphs that address the question above. Your points / ideas should be phrased in the exact manner as they would have been phrased in your essay.

Do (1) and (2) in the light of what you have learnt about reflective writing in today's lesson.

Preparation for Term 2 Week 5

1) Complete the VS 2013 Prelim paper before the 3rd lesson of the week
2) Analyse the 3 samples of reflective writing handed out in class:
(a) What are the kinds of information included? Why do you think they are included
(b) How are the paragraphs structured? Do you notice any patterns
(c) How are the essays organised? Do you notice any patterns
(d) What make the essays reflective essays? What are some defining features of reflective writing?

There is no Reading Task this week. There will be none until the post mid year Common Test period.

Homework and Preparation for Term 2 Week 4

Reading task
Refer to the Directed Reading Package (DRP) on the Environment found here. This is an example of how you can do your own research and gather information on a topic you are passionate about. Having the necessary content knowledge is important for expository writing.

For your reading task this week, scan through the DRP and select an issue raised in the DRP which you feel strongly about. Describe the issue briefly (in no more than 1 paragraph) and explain why you feel so passionately about this issue.

Preparation for lessons
Before the first lesson of the week, do a brief question analysis and come up with at least 4 points for each of the following questions:
1) How far is technology the solution to environmental problems?
2) Women will never enjoy the same rights as men. Do you agree?
3) Given the limited land available in Singapore, is it wise to set aside some areas as nature reserves? (Cam 2006)
4) ‘Modern technology gives us hope for the future.’ What are your views? (Gan Eng Seng School Prelim 2013)

Feedback for Reading Task on beauty (Term 2 Week 1)
Here are some possible points you could discuss:
1) People go to great lengths and huge cost to make themselves better looking (P1 Para 1).
2) Some of the methods / products used to improve one's appearance are unproven (P1 Para 1).
3) The search for beauty is frivolous and leads to a shallower society (P1 Para 3).
4) The beauty business deceives people into spending money uselessly or harmfully (P1 Para 3).
5) Until their bodies stop growing, teenagers should not be allowed to change them in permanent ways that may turn out to be harmful (P1 Para 4).
6) Big beauty companies play on people's hopes and fears (P1 Para 5).
7) Techniques and technologies of plastic surgery are more widely available than ever before (P2 Para 2). 
8) All this tinkering with facial and body types may be changing the way our brains perceive beauty (P2 Para 3).
9) Illegitimate practitioners turn out as many beasts as beauties (P2 Para 4).
10) Beauty industry turn out many same-looking standardised young people, depriving people of their individual characteristics (P2 Para 4). 

Preparation for Term 2 Week 3

Reading Programme
Read the two passages on sport handed out during assembly. Choose one point from each passage and argue if you agree or disagree with the author, citing your own examples to support your view.

Note: You should not restrict your examples to your own country. You also need not answer the question printed with the passages.

Preparation for lessons 1 and 2 of Term 2 Week 3
Look at the pictures on the handout containing the 3 oral examination papers. Based on what you were taught in the previous lesson for oral, write down 3 possible conversation questions. Prepare brief answers to the questions you have come up with in point form.

As a practice, read the passages on the handout.

File check
There are students who still have not submitted your EL file for checking. Please do so on Mon or Tue.