OUR BEGINNINGS IN 2007 & 2008
Read about our High School and Elementary School division beginnings.
In the English Department, we aim to instil in students a love of Literature and Language. Our students are introduced to Literature in all its forms and from around the world. We study Poetry, Drama, Prose, Short Stories and Non-Fiction texts, allowing students to understand and enjoy how writers create their works and learn how to analyse and evaluate language and meaning. We allow our students to explore how language is used for various purposes: to inform, persuade, instruct and entertain. Students are also given various tasks to explore and develop their linguistic styles and skills.
Curriculum Overview
In Grades 7 and 8, we introduce students to various literary and linguistic genres and text types. Students of both years study Poetry that will allow them to engage with different cultural experiences or explore aspects of social injustice in the world. They also study a Media unit that introduces them to the world of mass communication. Appreciation of the Novel and the Graphic Novel is a key focus, as is the study of drama - both in terms of local plays or plays from further afield, as well as a work of William Shakespeare. We try to widen the literary reach through diverse classical and modern works that span time and space.
The skills developed led to the Cambridge IGCSE English Language and English Literature curriculum in Grades 9 and 10. Students are awarded two grades: one for Literature and one for Language. In the Literature course, students explore a poetry anthology, a novel and a drama text.
By studying these texts, students develop their analytical skills and ability to respond personally to Literature. In the Language course, students practise key literacy skills, including reading for meaning, summarising, identifying writer’s effects, and writing texts of different genres.
The culmination of the English programme is the study of the IB Diploma in Grades 11 and 12, where native speakers of English choose a Language ‘A’ course in either English Literature or English Language and Literature. Both Higher and Standard levels are offered. Students study texts through three key areas of exploration: Readers, Writers and Text, Time and Space and Intertextuality. This curriculum is also available for study at both Higher and Standard levels.
Our Approach to Learning
In Grades 7 and 8, we focus on skill-building, including study skills, to equip students with the tools needed to succeed in the examined courses. Across all grades, close reading, analysis and evaluation are embedded into the teaching of each unit.
Drafting, editing and proofreading are instilled as part of the writing process. Our students are encouraged to read widely to develop the skill of reading and appreciate the language and its ability to convey a range of meanings.
Experiential Learning
Grade 7 classes study a novel based on a dystopian future, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. As part of their study, they create a perfect society and produce presentations and videos to promote the idea of their perfect, utopian society. In ‘The Hawker Heritage’, a Project-Based Learning Unit, English teams up with History, and we send the students to study different aspects of Singaporean heritage in the hawker centres.
The students learn how to speak and write persuasively, then design their infographics, leaflets or public service announcements, using the persuasive techniques learnt to educate their audience about the great worth of protecting a part of Singaporean culture. The students are engaged in different ways, leading to a greater understanding of the issues raised by the curriculum.
