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Deepa C: Author and Tutor

INTERVIEWS 4 PSLE EXAMINERS

TECHNIQUES that I use while teaching my students and have seen actually PRODUCE results

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My kid doesn’t like reading – what do I do?

Relaxation + English

Any kids’ show/movie

Foreign language shows with

subtitles

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Building Vocabulary

One word, one day

➢Parent explains the meaning

➢Parent makes one or two sentences

➢Child makes a sentence

➢5 minute job

Top School QuestionImplicit

Explicit

Illicit

Elicit

Actual PSLE QuestionsDetect

Decipher

Determine

Distinguish

Unusually

Especially

Exclusively

Surprisingly

PSLE English A test of fundamentals

CORRECT English > FANCY English

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Composition – Total 40 marks

STORY20 Marks

Language 20 Marks▪ Grammar

▪ Spelling

▪ Punctuation

▪ Adjectives

▪ Adverbs

▪ Descriptive phrases/languageo Characters

o Setting

o Feelings

▪ Use of sounds

▪ Use of dialogues

My opinion – STORY is more important than language

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Problems in Story Development

Teacher’s comments▪ Off-topic

▪ Topic not addressed

▪ Plot not developed

▪ Started off well but not developed further

▪ Lost focus of the main point

STORY HOLES

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Solution 1

• No need of a unique

story

• Story should be

• SIMPLE

• SINGAPOREAN

• REALISTIC

• 45 minutes

Solution 2

• PLAN THE STORY

FULLY before you

even write the first

word on paper

• Think the story

through to the end

• Parents PUT YOUR

FOOT DOWN

Solution 3

• You practise ORAL

storytelling

• Use only one picture

• Focus on the words in

BOLD

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Shortcut for Compo practice

NARRATE THE STORY

Value

•Honesty

•Kindness

•Charity

•Courage

Nouns

•Carelessness

•Danger

•Wish

•Opportunity

•Dilemma

•Teamwork

•Surprise

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Solution 4Go back to lower primary composition writing

Example: Write a composition of 150 words or more about an act of carelessness.

The pictures are provided to help you think about the topic.

Your composition must be based on one or more of these pictures.

Consider the following points when you plan your composition:

▪ What was the act of carelessness?

▪ What were the consequences of the act?

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Solution 5Shortcut for scoring in the language component

Feelings phrases – Acronyms

Anger

Boredom

Curiosity

Disappointment

Disgust

Expectation

Excitement

Embarrassment

Fear

Illness

Irritation

Relief

Sadness

Surprise / Shock

Tiredness

Gratitude

Pride

Happiness

Worry

Gratitude

Pride

ABCDE FIRST HW GP

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Comprehension Open-ended: A test of LOGIC

Logic based, not so much English based

My kid’s Maths and Science are good,

English not so much

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Comprehension Open-ended

Problems

➢Ineffective reading - Demo

➢Incomplete reading

➢The ‘difficult’ word paranoia

Solutions

✓Effective reading - Demo

✓Ignore or cut out the difficult words

✓Do it first in Paper 2 and keep 40 minutes

for it

✓Regular, oral practice. No need to write

answers.

✓Most important UNDERSTAND THE

STORY, later, move on to the answering

techniques

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20 Day Practice Shortcut

20 minutes daily for 20 days

Parent reads the passage and gets ready

Ask the child to read the passage softly under his/her breath

TWICE.

Do the questions VERBALLY ONLY – NO NEED TO WRITE THE ANSWERS.

Mark the answers as per your understanding of the passage.

No need to refer to the attached answer sheet.

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ORAL is a test of CONFIDENCE

Conversation – An easy section to score

Section not normally practised for

Even more than of spoken English ability

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Personal experiences/opinions – Most important!

● Marking rubrics – Personal responses have the

maximum weightage

● If a child can talk fluently and confidently

about his/her life experiences

● Tense children are not good at thinking on their

feet.

● Having a stock of answers is like a jumpstart for

an average student.

● PSLE Oral themes are fairly repetitive.

Why ?

What are they

mainly testing ?

Why do children

need to

prepare?

Why bite-sized

everyday preparation

works?

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For the children

Be brave and talk about yourself

No

correction!

Good, but

not essential. Many Questions

Kind

examiner

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Viral right now ..

“I can’t put up with the guy I’m putting up at my

house, his put-downs really put me out and I’m

feeling put-upon”

“I’m doing up my house and it’s doing me in.”

Source: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160908-the-language-rules-we-know-but-dont-know-we-know

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Deepa Chttp://pslenewformat.wordpress.com

deepa@drjservices.biz

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Thank you