Preparing for Oral Exam

Dear Parents,

Your child will be having his/her Oral exam this Wednesday, 27 April. We have been practising the necessary skills in class. This post contains some tips for their preparation at home.

I will also return their books for preparation this week.

There are 2 parts to Oral -- Stimulus-based Conversation (10m) and Reading Aloud (6m). In the 5 minutes preparation time, start with passage first. Spend 3 minutes on it. The remaining time is for you to look carefully at the picture for SBC and think of the related topic and vocabulary you can speak about.

SBC (10m)

Pupils will usually be shown a picture and the examiner will ask three main questions (prompts).

General Tips:
1. The first question is solely based on the given picture. Use the picture to help you start the conversation. Think about the broader theme and the possible questions that will be asked. You may use descriptive vocabulary related to your five senses to improve your responses.

2. Try to share a similar experience to what is shown in the picture. If possible, give suggestions or opinions related to the topic. Example: with a picture of different types of food, pupils can think about their experience eating at a food court.

3. Speak clearly and confidently during the conversation. Speak in complete sentences as much as possible.

4. Try to maintain eye contact as much as possible.


Reading Aloud (6m)

1. In the 2-3 minutes preparation time, first scan the passage for potential difficult words.

2. Secondly, read again and pause where necessary (look out for commas and full stops). If the sentences are too long, please pause at appropriate places so your reading makes more sense.

3. Pronounce all words clearly, especially at the ending sounds. You may read at an appropriate pace, not too slowly or quickly.

4. Be expressive and try to vary your tone, especially where there is direct speech. Look out for the emotions the character is conveying, i.e. for someone who exclaimed, you may speak in a slightly louder and excited voice.


Hope this helps!


Sincerely,
Ms Cindy Chan

[Writing Tip] Avoid using boring words

Dear parents,

We have learnt in class that we can avoid using boring words in oral exams and composition writing Emotion words like 'happy' or 'sad' can be replaced with synonyms with different extent to accurately convey what we are feeling.

As a class, we listed out different words that can replace 'said' after working in clock buddies.



After that, pupils did a Word Cline in class (pair work). A word cline is a way of building vocabulary for them, by looking at words that all fit into a particular category, and arranging them in order of strength, or how strongly they represent the idea.

Some examples done by pupils:
Arranging by volume of voice (soft to loud)





Arranging by emotions:




I have found some synonym posters online to help your child expand on his/her vocabulary choice.

You may want to select a few words from each list for your child to learn, and consolidate learning through creating their own word clines. There is no right or wrong answers for word clines as they are based on the child's understanding of the words. However, it will be good if they understood the meaning of the words selected before attempting the word cline.

Poster credits to writeathome.com.



I will keep you posted with more resources and exam tips!


Sincerely,
Ms Cindy Chan

[Notes] Subject-Verb Agreement (SVA)

Dear parents,

I found a site online that explains Subject-Verb Agreement quite clearly.
This will be useful in your child's revision for grammar.

NOTE

We will use the standard of underlining subjects once and verbs twice.

Being able to find the right subject and verb will help you correct errors of subject-verb agreement.

Basic Rule. A singular subject (she, Bill, car) takes a singular verb (is, goes, shines), whereas a plural subject takes a plural verb.

Example: The list of items is/are on the desk.
If you know that list is the subject, then you will choose is for the verb.

Rule 1. A subject will come before a phrase beginning with of. This is a key rule for understanding subjects. The word of is the culprit in many, perhaps most, subject-verb mistakes.

Hasty writers, speakers, readers, and listeners might miss the all-too-common mistake in the following sentence:

Incorrect: A bouquet of yellow roses lend color and fragrance to the room.

Correct: A bouquet of yellow roses lends . . . (bouquet lends, not roses lend)

Rule 2. Two singular subjects connected by or, either/or, or neither/nor require a singular verb.

Examples:
My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today.
Neither Juan nor Carmen is available.
Either Kiana or Casey is helping today with stage decorations.

Rule 3. The verb in an or, either/or, or neither/nor sentence agrees with the noun or pronoun closest to it.

Examples:
Neither the plates nor the serving bowl goes on that shelf.
Neither the serving bowl nor the plates go on that shelf.

This rule can lead to bumps in the road. For example, if I is one of two (or more) subjects, it could lead to this odd sentence:

Awkward: Neither she, my friends, nor I am going to the festival.

If possible, it's best to reword such grammatically correct but awkward sentences.

Better:
Neither she, I, nor my friends are going to the festival.OR
She, my friends, and I are not going to the festival.

Rule 4. As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.

Example: A car and a bike are my means of transportation.

But note these exceptions:

Exceptions:
Breaking and entering is against the law.
The bed and breakfast was charming.

In those sentences, breaking and entering and bed and breakfast are compound nouns.

Rule 5. Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by such words as along with, as well as, besides, not, etc. These words and phrases are not part of the subject. Ignore them and use a singular verb when the subject is singular.

Examples:
The politician, along with the newsmen, is expected shortly.
Excitement, as well as nervousness, is the cause of her shaking.

Rule 6. In sentences beginning with here or there, the true subject follows the verb.

Examples:
There are four hurdles to jump.
There is a high hurdle to jump.
Here are the keys.

NOTE:

The word there's, a contraction of there is, leads to bad habits in informal sentences like There's a lot of people here today, because it's easier to say "there's" than "there are." Take care never to use there's with a plural subject.

Rule 7. Use a singular verb with distances, periods of time, sums of money, etc., when considered as a unit.

Examples:
Three miles is too far to walk.
Five years is the maximum sentence for that offense.
Ten dollars is a high price to pay.BUT
Ten dollars (i.e., dollar bills) were scattered on the floor.

Rule 8. With words that indicate portions—e.g., a lot, a majority, some, all—Rule 1 given earlier in this section is reversed, and we are guided by the noun after of. If the noun after of is singular, use a singular verb. If it is plural, use a plural verb.

Examples:
A lot of the pie has disappeared.
A lot of the pies have disappeared.
A third of the city is unemployed.
A third of the people are unemployed.
All of the pie is gone.
All of the pies are gone.
Some of the pie is missing.
Some of the pies are missing.

NOTE

In recent years, the SAT testing service has considered none to be strictly singular. However, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage: "Clearly none has been both singular and plural since Old English and still is. The notion that it is singular only is a myth of unknown origin that appears to have arisen in the 19th century. If in context it seems like a singular to you, use a singular verb; if it seems like a plural, use a plural verb. Both are acceptable beyond serious criticism." When none is clearly intended to mean "not one," it is followed by a singular verb.

Rule 9. With collective nouns such as group, jury, family, audience, population, the verb might be singular or plural, depending on the writer's intent.

Examples:
All of my family has arrived OR have arrived.
Most of the jury is here OR are here.
A third of the population was not in favor OR were not in favor of the bill.

NOTE

Anyone who uses a plural verb with a collective noun must take care to be accurate—and also consistent. It must not be done carelessly. The following is the sort of flawed sentence one sees and hears a lot these days:

The staff is deciding how they want to vote.
Careful speakers and writers would avoid assigning the singular is and the plural they to staff in the same sentence.

Consistent: The staff are deciding how they want to vote.

Rewriting such sentences is recommended whenever possible. The preceding sentence would read even better as:

The staff members are deciding how they want to vote.

Rule 10. The word were replaces was in sentences that express a wish or are contrary to fact:

Example: If Joe were here, you'd be sorry.

Shouldn't Joe be followed by was, not were, given that Joe is singular? But Joe isn't actually here, so we say were, not was. The sentence demonstrates the subjunctive mood, which is used to express things that are hypothetical, wishful, imaginary, or factually contradictory. The subjunctive mood pairs singular subjects with what we usually think of as plural verbs.

Examples:
I wish it were Friday.
She requested that he raise his hand.

In the first example, a wishful statement, not a fact, is being expressed; therefore, were, which we usually think of as a plural verb, is used with the singular subject I.

Normally, he raise would sound terrible to us. However, in the second example, where a request is being expressed, the subjunctive mood is correct.

Note: The subjunctive mood is losing ground in spoken English but should still be used in formal speech and writing.

Taken from: http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp
Hope this helps!

Sincerely,
Ms Cindy Chan

T2W4 - Science Update

In the past few weeks, we have covered the topics of Fungi & Bacteria, as well as the Diversity of Materials.

Fungi & Bacteria

Pupils carried out an experiment to find out if water affected the growth of mould. Pupils observed their bread in the classrooms for a week before recording their observations in their Science journals. Pupils were all excited about the experiment and were eagerly checking on their bread daily. For ideas on an extension of this experiment, pupils can also try out similar experiments at home (eg: using biscuits/rice) but with the use of other changing variables (eg: varying the presence of light, varying temperature etc).

While carrying out the experiment, I also introduced concepts of “aim of the experiment” as well as “changed/constant” variables.

One answering technique tip for the concept of variables is that the answer that pupils give should be measurable. For example, for the fungi experiment conducted in class, pupils should state that the changed variable is the “presence of water” and not just “water”.  I will be going through more examples of such questions with the class in future.

Diversity of Materials

Pupils engaged in a series of experiments to discover the properties of given materials. Pupils should be able to identify the type of test that is used to test for a property of material.

Pupils should also be able to explain (using the properties of materials they have learnt) why a certain material is used to make an object. For example, given that material X absorbs water and material Y does not absorb water, pupils should be able to identify and explain that the material Y is more suitable to make a raincoat as it is waterproof. 

Revision

We will be starting on revision for SA1 in the next few weeks, and I will be focusing on answering techniques with the class to better prepare them for the upcoming examination.

Some revision techniques for Science (which your child can do in his/her own time) include: Mindmapping, drawing concept cartoons, making concise notes & revising / understanding previous mistakes and how to improve on them.

Thank you.

Ms Natalie Chan