How Literature is taught in Bukit View Secondary School

In Bukit View Secondary School, the Secondary One students are doing unseen poetry and Sing to the Dawn (STTD). They just completed a Reader’s Theatre: students perform collaboratively and use appropriate vocal expressions to depict a particular character (including narrator) in the script. External instructors were engaged (one class I observed had Craig Teo as their instructor) – the school is quite understaffed; they are short of Literature teachers. Aiming to foster literary appreciation, proper enunciation and diction, reading fluency, self-confidence and listening skills, this program, with its focus on students’ comprehension of the scene and interpretation of the character, goes hand in hand with the lessons on STTD where students will demonstrate enhanced comprehension and interpretation of the plot and characters. I observed that the students were very comfortable with the idea of using drama as a response to literature; and this is the current approach adopted for the subsequent task in which students will put up a drama performance based on the scene in STTD where they will have the opportunity to think like playwrights, actors, directors and designers. The plan is to allow the students to learn and practise drama techniques and increase their exposure to more literary devices. Differentiated approaches are adopted for the express and normal academic stream. Lessons for the express classes – in particular the highest-ability class – focus more on inferential and evaluative thinking while those for the normal academic stream comprehension and sometimes inferential. The Secondary Two students will be doing Animal Farm next semester. There is only 1 class at the upper secondary level doing literature; they are currently focusing on Singapore literature.