Preparation for Term 1 Week 5

Required Preparation

Please see the following links for the required preparation for next week's lesson. Some of the items require you to show evidence that you have done the preparation by the day before the lesson. So do read the instructions early.

Lesson 1

Click on the hyperlink above for the required preparation. There is something which requires a group choice. First-come-first-served.

Lesson 2

Read the material in the hyperlink above. Lesson will proceed under the assumption that you have read the material.

Lesson 3

Complete the materials from from Language Skills Lesson 1 (we did half of this in class) and Language Skills Lesson 2 on your own and prepare the exercises / practices.

Additional Homework

Please complete the post-inference lesson quiz found here. The quiz based on the additional reading article for this week's reading tasks found here. The deadline for this quiz is 2 Feb (Mon) 10pm. 

Reading Tasks

Please refer to the email sent earlier in the week which has been reproduced on the class subject blog found here. 

Admin matters

1) Requirement to upload your preparation

From next week onwards, your preparation for lessons should be ready latest by 10pm the night before the lesson, and the preparation file should be uploaded onto the respective folders. I will conduct random checks and I will record you as unprepared for lessons if I do not see your preparation there.

2) Access rights management 

To help your friends learn better, may I request that you exercise some access rights management for all your files and folders? For the files you upload on your personal electronic file and the files you upload for Homework Submission, you can restrict the editing rights to just me, the teachers in the folder and maybe just give the viewing rights to a few of your closest and most trusted friends. The rest of the class should be removed to avoid the temptation of plagiarism. 

3) Replying to my comments

I usually disable all notifications for comments on files I have commented on. If you want to respond to my comments and would like me to take a look and reply you, you need to alert me. However, please only do this after you have read through my consolidated feedback (in the case of reading tasks). 

T1W04 Reading Tasks

For reading tasks this week, please do Task 3 for the following articles

(1) The Perfect Essay

(2) The addition reading found here.

You do not have to do any tasks with the poem "The History Teacher". Neither do you have to attempt the questions that come with the reading articles. You just need to do Task 3. 

S4-08, you will receive the cohort-wide readings for this week from me in class. 

The usual deadlines and submission requirements apply.

Preparation for Term 1 Week 4

Preparation for lesson

First lesson with class

We will continue with the paraphrasing worksheet. In addition, please complete the worksheet on inference found here. Make a copy and place it in the Comprehension folder of your personal electronic file. You also have to complete a short 5 min pre-lesson quiz on inference found here before the lesson. The quiz will be graded. 

Second lesson with class

Complete the worksheet on Unpacking the text found here. Make a copy and place it in the Comprehension folder of your personal electronic file. 

Additional Homework on Editing

I have put up an Editing Exercise for your practice. Please find the exercise here. You are to complete the practice by Monday 26 Jan 2359h. The exercise will be graded. 

Reminder on Preparation for 100 min Lesson

You are reminded that you have to prepare for the 100 min lesson. The details of the required preparation were sent in an email earlier in the week. In case you missed it, you can click here. Bring your LDs for the 100 min lesson. 

Reminder on Reading Tasks this week

Details of the Reading Task this week were emailed and posted on the class subject blog here. 

Admin Reminders

1) If you are lost and cannot remember what homework was set, you can visit the class subject EL blog found here. All emails I send to you are also posted on the blog.

2) The EL blog is also a good navigational jump-page to help you get to the important folders on Google Drive you need. 

3) I also send Whatsapp broadcast reminders to everyone who has added my mobile number to your phone contacts. If you did not give me your mobile number earlier and you would like to be added to the broadcast reminder, please drop me a message. 

Reading Tasks for Term 1 Week 3

For this week's reading tasks, please do the following:

1) Do Task 2 for the article "Mind over Muscle". Apply the article to the following question:

Should girls and boys be given exactly the same type of education?

2) Draw a Mindmap (first part of Task 1 only, no need for point of view this time) for the article T1W3R3 found here. 

3) Do Task 2 for the article "Charlie Hebdo horror is not an attack on free speech". Apply the article to the following question:

Should the media be completely free?

(Hint: You may use the article in item 2 above to support you in this task as well)

Preparation for Term 1 Week 3

Lessons with the class

We will be doing revision for paraphrasing skills. Please make a copy of the file found here and place it in your personal electronic file under the folder "Comprehension". Attempt all the questions on your own. For the purpose of the lesson, you are required to use your own words as far as possible for every question even if the question did not say so. The materials will probably last us two lessons, which means it will run into Week 4. 

Reading Task submission

The instructions for the reading task this week has already been given in an earlier email found here. You are to submit your completed Reading Tasks for Week 2 in the respective folder found here. Please adhere to the guidelines and deadlines stated earlier. I will send a separate email regarding the feedback for Term 1 Week 1's reading task. 

Random Electronic File Check 

I will be conducting a random electronic file check from this weekend to the end of next week. 

For this week, you should have the following materials in your electronic file:

1) Your copy of the Holiday Homework Fun Pack Activity 2

2) Your preparation for the 100 min lesson this week

3) Photos / notes of work done during the 100 min lesson this week

4) The article for Term 1 Week 1's Reading Task on green spaces

5) A copy of the Link between Fallacies and Modes of Reasoning (for S4-08 only)

6) Your preparation for the feedback lesson for the diagnostic test as well as photos / notes of the work we did in class. 

7) Your copy of the handout for the Language Skills lesson we had. 

If you can't recall what you should have in your file last week, please refer to the email here. 

Please keep track of your work on your own. After this week, I will not be spoon-feeding you with reminders on what should be in your electronic files. 

Marking rubrics, notations and corrections

Dear students,

Please find the marking rubrics, the key to the marking notations I used as well as the format for corrections in the folder here. This folder is found under "01 Admin". 

Most of you will be expected to do your corrections on your own. You may make use of Grammarly to help you with your corrections. I will conduct random checks when I check your files (both electronic and the blue ring file). If you need help, please make arrangements to see me. 

For every assignment, a select group of students will be required to submit your corrections. If you are selected, you will receive a separate email from me.

Please note that corrections are important for your learning and you should do them diligently regardless of whether you have been selected to submit your corrections. Remember, practice does not make perfect; it makes permanent. And if you practice the wrong things, your mistakes will become permanent. 

Follow-up for T1W01 Reading Tasks and T1W02 Reading Tasks

Dear students,

T1W01 Reading Task issues

Thank you to those who followed the instructions and uploaded your work on time. And thank you Jeremiah from S4-08 for taking the initiative to organise things. Unfortunately, many of you did not follow the instructions closely enough. This is an important life skill because when you fail to follow instructions, 

(a) It can cost you your grades, your job or even your life. Even a small and seemingly unimportant detail might come back to haunt you.

(b) It affects the work of those around you. I thought through the instructions carefully to ensure that your submissions will not become to unmanageable for me. When you do not follow the instructions, you are actually giving me more work. 

Students with relatively minor infringements, I have accepted your work this time. Please make sure it doesn't happen again. Those with slightly more serious issues, I have parked you work under the "Rejected Work" folder here. Please rectify the problems and submit your work by Tue. 

T1W02 Reading Tasks

For this week, please do Reading Task 3 for both the articles distributed for your silent reading on Tue. This article here might help you sort out the difference between a claim (opinion) and reason / support (fact) 

Preparation for Term 1 Week 2

Dear students,

If you receive more than one email from me for the week, the email to look out for would be the one with the word "Preparation" in the subject line, like this one.

Reading Tasks
Please find the article for this week's reading task here. 

You are to submit the reading tasks by the deadline stipulated in the Admin Guide. Please follow closely the guidelines stated. Upload your reading tasks under the folder T1W01. (Some of you submitted the class work "The Case Against Competition" in that folder. I have removed these submissions as this article is not considered homework). 

The Reading Tasks for subsequent weeks will be given earlier in the week. 

Preparation for Lesson
Here's the schedule for T1W02:

1st lesson with the class:
No preparation needed. Bring your LDs

2nd lesson with the class: 
Do a detailed essay plan for the question you did not attempt for the diagnostic test. You are expected to be familiar with the materials in your Dec Holiday Fun Pack Activity 2 for this lesson.

You need to show evidence of your preparation.

100 min lesson:
Refer to the email I sent to the whole cohort or the post on the cohort Facebook group

Marked work
I have given feedback for the sample texts we did not manage to complete in class for the fallacies handout. You can find the file in the "Thinking Skills" folder, under the folder for fallacies.

Things that should be in your personal Electronic file
For this week, you should have the following files in your personal Electronic file:
1) The materials for holiday homework Fun Pack 1.
2) Your copy of the fallacies student handout.
3) The article "The Case Against Competition"
4) The photos of Task 1 to 3 we did in class.

Outstanding work
Some groups have yet to complete the follow-up work for the fallacies lesson which I mentioned in a previous post. Please complete the work by Monday.

For S4-08 only: Follow-up on Fallacies lessons

The purpose for this section of the lesson is to help you see the link between modes of reasoning and fallacies. People employ different modes of reasoning in an attempt to come up with good arguments. But sometimes, the reasoning becomes flawed (either by design or due to a mistake) and we end up with fallacies. 

For this task, each group is to choose 1 mode of reasoning found in the file here. No two groups may work on the same mode of reasoning. Complete the task in the file by filling in the appropriate column.

To make your choice, comment on this blog post (this email is duplicated on our subject blog) and state your group name along with the choice you have made. First-come-first-served. 

For S4-06 Only: Follow-up lesson on Fallacies

The purpose for this section of the lesson is to help you see the link between modes of reasoning and fallacies. People employ different modes of reasoning in an attempt to come up with good arguments. But sometimes, the reasoning becomes flawed (either by design or due to a mistake) and we end up with fallacies. 

For this task, each group is to choose 1 mode of reasoning found in the file here. No two groups may work on the same mode of reasoning. Complete the task in the file by filling in the appropriate column.

To make your choice, comment on this blog post (this email is duplicated on our subject blog) and state your group name along with the choice you have made. First-come-first-served. 

Preparation for EL Lesson 3 in Term 1 Week 01

Dear students,

This email will generally be sent by Friday or Saturday morning in preparation for the following week. However, this being the first week, I have to speak to you in class first before I can send this. In any case, the holiday homework should have been completed by now. 

For the 2nd EL lesson this week (Wed), you are required to complete the Fun Pack on fallacies found here. You are to come to class with the analysis of the sample texts found here. The analysed sample texts (with evidence of annotation) should be filed in your person Electronic File under the folder "Thinking Skills" by 0740h on the morning of your lesson. 

For the 3rd EL lesson this week (Thu), you are required to read the article found here and do the Reading Task (see instructions here) selected by your group. 

No more than 2 groups from each class may work on the same reading task. To select the task for your group, comment on this post (this email is duplicated as a post) on our EL Blog. State your class, group and choice of task. First-come-first-served based on the time stamp of your comment. Please do not reply this email.

Each student in the group is to come to class prepared with a copy of the task selected by group. You are to do the task on your own. 

Admin Guide and Grouping for EL lessons

Please read the Admin Guide found here. Note in particular your grouping for EL lessons. You will need it this week.

Reminder to complete holiday homework

Dear students,

You are reminded to complete the holiday homework for EL found here. We will be following up in class.