Homework

English Practice Paper 10 (Due next Tue)
Once again, pls bring Practice Paper 8 (Do not do) next Tue. It will be used as a mock exam

Homework

Practice Paper 9 (Due on Wed)
Practice Paper 8 is to be used as a mock exam next Tue

What to Hand in on Monday

On Monday, please remember to submit:
1) Situational Writing (5)
2) Vocabulary Builder if you have not already done so

Have a good weekend.

Vocabulary Grabber

We went to the lab and learnt new words like "abdicate".
Please complete and hand in the vocabulary worksheet by Monday.

Homework:
1) Situational Writing 5 (Letter of Complaint)
2) Spelling tomorrow. Bring spelling book, do your corrections.

Conditional Tenses Revisited

We went through the answers to p. 85, 86. Please complete p. 86 and 87 for homework today.

I learnt about the annoying orange today! It's amazing how a little orange can entertain the whole class so much. Gives me an idea for a lesson......... if only I have 30 hours a day.

Please submit your compositions tomorrow. Don't forget that there is spelling on Friday too.

Groups that have not submitted the printouts of your stories, please do so asap. This includes Groups 1, 4 and 8. I am very impressed by the stories I have read so far. I am thinking of compiling them into a book. Will discuss more in class.

Good evening.

Oral, Punctuations and Other Matters

Oral
In class, we saw how a simple picture could be elaborated on. Any logical inference will be accepted, so do not be afraid of saying too much.

The pupils who sat for the oral exam today performed acceptably, but I feel there is room for improvement, given your usual eloquence and intelligence.

Points to note:
- Two pupils forgot to greet me.
- Do make extra effort to pronounce all the words carefully and do not be afraid of reading expressively.
- The picture discussion was quite well-done, but there was still more description than interpretation and personal opinions. Some of you used appropriate words such as "encasement", "fragments", "brute force" etc. That was commendable.
- Eye contact is important during the conversation segment. Please try to speak animatedly too.
- Thank the teacher after the exam.

Punctuations
We also attended a course on punctuations conducted by the Master Yoda. I hope you earthlings will remember never to connect two complete sentences with commas.

E.g.
Wrong - It was a fine Friday, I skipped happily to school.
Correct - It was a fine Friday. I skipped happily to school.

Remember how important punctuations are:
A panda eats shoots and leaves.
A panda eats, shoots and leaves.

A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: Without her, man is nothing.

Please bear the rules of punctuations in mind whenever you write.

Other Matters
Please hand in the corrections for Practice Paper 7 tomorrow.

Homework:
1) Composition (Practice 4 Composition B) - due on Thursday

Rest well.

What We Were Up To

We went through Q1-50 of English Practice Paper 7 today.

We also did a Mad Lib. You can find more Mad Libs at http://www.eduplace.com/tales/. :)

Homework:
1) Vocabulary Phrasal Verbs Test 1 - 5 (p. 151-155)
2) Keep practising for the oral exam!

Friday the 16th and Batam

We had spelling on Friday and a huge number of you did not do your corrections.

We also had a battle of "wits" between the boys and girls and the girls won! The quiz contained many simple questions (like "What does the acronym DIEO stand for?") and it showed who have been revising his / her work and have been paying attention in class. Do keep doing both. For the oral exam this week, look through all the handouts that have been given. They contain many precious tips.

You did well during the Batam trip. I was happy to see many people trying very hard to make friends with the orphans even though communication was not easy. You included them in the planned activities. I hope they had fun. Keep shining.

Today's Menu

Oral
- 5 of you read the designated passage
- We went through i-ROPE and other things to take note of in conversation. You were asked to write down your responses to "Would you like to go to an exhibition" and identify if your responses are i, R, O, P or E.

Spellcast
We watched an excerpt from Spellcast 2007. The words learnt were:
1) Mediterranean
2) Dachshund
3) Bougainvillea
4) Pronunciation
5) Mozzarella
6) Anaesthetic
7) Fluorescent

Conditional Tenses
We went through the worksheet and you did a test after that.

Homework
1) English Practice Paper 7 Q1-50
2) There is spelling tomorrow. Bring your spelling books and remember to do your corrections.
3) Hand in your storybooks and printout of the story tomorrow
4) Also, please hand in your situational writing (4) corrections tomorrow.
5) Please bring the lyrics of the Indonesian song tomorrow.

Norway

We went to Fairfield Sec today to watch a video on Norway. Some secondary school students also introduced us to Norwegian culture and famous people.

Situational Writing 4

Dear Dr Lim,

I am Alicia Tan, the person-in-charge of Best Primary School's Young Readers' Club. We would like to invite you to be our guest speaker at one of our weekly meetings on 25 April 2010 (Saturday). The talk will take place at the school library conference room.

We would like you to speak on your new titles and other books that you have published in the past. The purpose of the talk is to cultivate the love for reading. We have chosen you to give the talk as you have an interesting personality, are lively, young at heart and popular with young people.

The members of our club are between six to eleven years old. Their interests include reading storybooks, comics, watching movies made from stories, story-telling, listening to stories, dramas, poetry recitals and activities related to books.

I will be very happy if you can accede to our request as you are a renowned writer. We look forward to your favourable reply. Thank you.

Best regards,
Alicia Tan.

Pointers:
(1) Remember to introduce yourself sufficiently such that the recipient knows who you are and is able to reply you.
(2) Remember to ask for a reply politely.
(3) Paragraphing is important. Do not cram all the information into one paragraph.

Homework:
(1) Corrections for situational writing
(Write the whole letter if you scored 12 and below / Correct your mistakes if you scored 13 marks and above)
(2) Spelling on 16 April (Phrases 1-15 from "Anger" list)

Homework

Complete English Practice Paper 6

Fractured Fairy Tales

Task: To create a fractured fairy tale, illustrate the story and make a storybook containing the tale and illustrations. You need to submit both the storybook as well as a printout of the story.

Deadline: 16 April (Fri) - 3 periods have already been allocated for this. You need to complete the rest of the task at your own time.

Looking forward to your submissions. Have fun!

More on oral

We watched 3 video clips again - an interview with Ms Ris Low, an interview with Phua Chu Kang and a training video featuring Steve Jobs. We saw how it was important to speak good English and to make impactful presentations.

When conversing with your oral examiners, remember the following points:

1) Be enthusiastic

2) Speak in complete sentences and try to use appropriate and good words and phrases

3) Be proactive and offer as much relevant information as possible

During picture discussion, do not simply give a description of the picture. Interpret and give your own opinions. Language is also assessed here, so remember to speak in grammatically sound sentences and use phrases such as "in my opinion" etc.

Today's homework:

1) Practice Paper 6 Questions 1-50

What we did today

Oral

We went through tips for oral reading. Remember to pronounce all words clearly, paying attention to end consonants. Also, read expressively and fluently. Take note of speeches as that is where you can modify the tone of your voice.
The oral exam is on 20 and 23 of April, as reflected in the Newslink.

Fractured Fairy Tales

We had a trivia on fairy tales. We read from Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes and you were asked to write your own fractured tales. Please bring materials for the book creation tomorrow.

Homework
1) English Homework Book p. 51 and 52

Subject-verb agreement

Every - always singular
E.g.
1) Everyone in my class has his own notebook.
2) Every member of the committee attends the meeting every week.

All - depends on whether the noun is countable or not
Countable - singular
Uncountable - plural
E.g.
1) All the salt has been used up. (Salt is not countable, so the singular verb is used.)
2) All the pupils in my class are present today. (Pupils are countable, so the plural verb is used.)

Conditional Tense

The following summarises the rules for conditional tenses:

CASE I
Clause 1: present
Clause 2: will (not) + infinitive
Example: If you try hard, you will succeed.

CASE II:
Clause 1: past
Clause 2: would (not) + infinitive
Example: If you misbehaved, you would be caned.

CASE III:
Clause 1: past perfect
Clause 2: would (not) have + past participle
Example: If you had been there, you would have seen the President.

You try:
1) If Ryan had come earlier, I ______________ (not need) to set up the projector on my own.

2) If it __________ (rain) tonight, we will not go to the Night Safari.

April's Fool

Happy April's Fool! I must admit that the "freeze" was quite well-coordinated. I should have taken a picture. From where I stood, the view was classic.

What we did today:

1) Went through elements of formal letter writing

2) You heard various sounds (thunderstorm; waves; gunshot; space shuttle launch; baby screaming) and wrote descriptive sentences based on the sounds.

3) Mad Libs

Homework:

1) Situational Writing (Practice 4). Remember to number your points.

Happy Easter! God loves you. :)