Literature at Swiss Cottage Secondary School

Literature at Swiss Cottage is taught to all lower Secondary students and as an Express elective subject.I am currently teaching all Sec 1s.

For Sec 1s, to make the learning more fun and engaging, the school has selected the film, Shrek to introduce literature. So they focus a lot of stereotypes, anti-fairytale, characterisation and themes about friendship, love, beauty. I think that it's a great way to start introducing lit because the kids are generally familiar with the story, so the school can focus more on skills and critical thinking instead of drilling content.

The kids are assessed through a variety of means that ultimately cumulate into a portfolio for submission. This includes things like storyboarding, dramatisation, movie poster, diary entries. All the students are given the rubrics, and the components are always explained to them clearly, so the students are aware of what they are assessed on. The final SA will be a critical analysis paper, so all the assessments are preparing them for critical thinking. For example, the students are tasked to come up with a diary entry where Shrek or Fiona reveals their real thoughts and feelings on friendship/love. We guide them through the unraveling of viewpoints (themes) and using evidence (not just actions, speech, but also non-verbal communication) to substantiate. Essay writing will be introduced to them at a later part.