Describe how Literature is being taught in the school you are posted to for Teaching Practice

Hi all,

Here in Sembawang Secondary, there is no English Literature at the upper secondary levels. From what I understand the school likes to focus on subjects that they are stronger in (eg history) and hence, Literature is given a back seat.

I am co-teaching in the Sec 2 Express classes (2 out of 3 of them) and I stepped in during their revision period as they are almost done with poetry. Despite their lower standards of English, the students have been exposed to Daren Shiau's Kaleidoscopes, Jackie Kay's Names, war poetry by Boey Kim Cheng and Wilfred Owen, and a small sampling of Yeats, Robert Browning and Blake poems.

My CT has very high standards for her class, and her introduction to poetry for the students do not include just the explanation and listing of literary devices. She gets students to articulate logical thinking through scaffolded questioning. Because there is no O level syllabus to follow, there is pretty much anything the teacher can do to expose students to the wide array of literature out there-which explains her choice in poems. For my part on doing the revision class for the students, I incorporated Dennis' activity on writing their own poems, and cross-marking. The kids had fun and I think it went pretty well, as they have not tried writing one on their own before.

Next sem, we will introduce a drama, Emily of Emerald Hill to them, and have been informed by my CT that we can go wild with it. :S