Briefing for Parents Qifa Primary School April 2014

To share with you:

Weighting & Duration of the papers

Selected Components (P5 & 6)

Sample Questions

Assessment & Marking

Preparation for PSLE – strategies / concerns

Components Weighting

Paper 1:

Writing

55 marks

(27.5%)

Paper 2:

Language Use and Comprehension

95 marks

(47.5%)

Paper 3:

Listening Comprehension

20 marks

(10%)

Paper 4:

Oral Communication

30 marks

(15%)

Paper 1

Writing

Duration: 1 hr 10 min

Paper 1 Marks

Part 1:

Situational Writing :

a. Content

b. Language ( presentation / context )

15 marks

6 marks

9 marks

Part 2:

Continuous Writing

(One of 2 given topics)

a. Content

b. Language / Presentation

40 marks

20 marks

20 marks

A situational context given Examples: • Pictures e.g. scenes of an accident • List of information e.g. Planner, Notes • Graphic Stimulus with information e.g. Advertisements, brochures

• A piece of narrative writing of at least 150 words.

• Based one of 2 topics:

• A picture • A situation

• Points given (Reorder, add other relevant points)

• e.g. What you and your friend did

• Content

- inadequate development of ideas

• Language

- Use of tenses - Structure / expression

• Vocabulary - Limited - Mundane, repeated

Writing in the Classroom : • Explicit instruction on the writing process

• Models of good writing

• Feedback from teachers

The Writing Process

Generate Ideas

Revise and Edit

Develop and Organise

Rapid writing Brainstorming CUBing – 5 W 1H

Clustering / Webbing Generalising Relating

Adding details Stretching ideas Reorganise ideas

Paper 4

Oral Communication

Preparation Time: 5 min

Components Marks

Reading 10

Picture Discussion 10

Conversation 10

Paper 3

Listening Comprehension

Duration: 40 – 50 min

Paper 2 Language Use

and Comprehension

Duration: 1 hr 50 min

Component Marks

Grammar & Vocabulary 50

Grammar MCQ 7 Qn x 1 mark

Grammar Cloze 10 Qn x 1 mark

Punctuation MCQ* 3 Qn x 1 mark

Synthesis/Transformation* 5 Qn x 2 marks

Editing for Spelling & Grammar* 10 Qn x 1 marks

Vocabulary MCQ 5 Qn x 1 mark

Vocabulary Cloze* 5 Qn x 1mark

Component Marks

Comprehension 45

Graphic Stimulus 5 Qn x 1 mark

Comprehension MCQ 5 Qn x 1 mark

Comprehension Open-ended 10 Qn x 2 mark

Comprehension Cloze 15 Qn x 1 mark

Comprehension : Common Errors

• giving incorrect answers ( pupils do not understand the questions )

• giving impartial answers

• tendency to give answers lacking evidence of

having referred to the passage

• not quoting correctly / transfer

Area of Weakness

Common problems faced by the pupils :

•Do I understand what I’ve just read?

•Do I know the main idea of the passage?

•Do I know what the writer is trying to communicate?

•Do I know the answer?

•Do I know how to ask questions while reading?

Visible Thinking in an English Language

classroom.

How do we make thinking

visible in EL teaching and

learning

Annotation

Visualisation

Teacher Modelling

Making connections when reading…

When one apply our background knowledge as we read, we guide students to make

connections between their experiences, their knowledge about the world and the text they read. Connecting what readers know to new

information is the core of learning and understanding.

Harvey and Goudvis

Annotating

Without allowing students to interact with the text in a meaningful way, we

miss the chance of allowing them to see the value of what they are reading and to form new ideas about who they are

and how they fit into the world on which we live.

Brown, Matthew, D

« I’ll have mine annotated, please: Helping students make connections with text »

Annotation : Why annotate?

When you annotate, you add in extra information by :

• asking yourself questions

• writing notes to help you understand

better

• draw arrows to make inference

What to annotate ?

5 W 1 H

WHO - CHARACTERS

WHAT - ITEMS, EVENTS…

WHEN - TIME, SETTING…

WHERE - SETTING, CONTEXT…

WHY - REASONS FOR EVENTS…

HOW - WAYS THINGS ARE DONE…

What to annotate ?

• Main point in each paragraph

• Connections within and between

paragraphs

• Definition of words, phrases ( in bold )

• Contextual clues

• Writer’s choice of words …

Refer to excerpt adapted from « Little Women » by Louisa May Alcott

The types of questions asked :

•Recall / Literal

•Inferential

•Application

A recall / literal question :

Who was Hannah ?

She was the Marches’ servant.

For answer, Meg began piling the bread into one big plate. Amy picked up the cream, whilst Jo and Beth brought napkins and a basket. In no time at all the good Samaritans were on their way. Hannah, who had been the Marches’ servant for years,

went too. They were soon in the miserable attic room where the poor family lived.

An inferential question :

What do you think the author means when she says “good Samaritans”?

She means those who help others in need.

For answer, Meg began piling the bread into one big plate. Amy picked up the cream, whilst Jo and Beth brought napkins and a basket. In no time at all the good Samaritans were on their way. Hannah, who had been the Marches’ servant for years, went too.

They were soon in the miserable attic room where the poor family lived. Hannah set about making a fire, while Mrs March made tea and gruel, comforted the mother and promised to help her sick baby.

An application / inference question :

“no stockings hung at the fire-place” but it was still a special Christmas to the family. What made it special

When Christmas morning dawned there were no stockings hung at the fire-place, but there were home-made presents to be given out and the Christmas breakfast to be prepared. As the girls ran downstairs to greet their mother, they were surprised to see her just coming in.

CUBing

C – circle the crux of the question ( 5W 1H )

• interrogative pronouns – ( WHO, WHAT,

WHY, WHEN, WHERE, HOW )

Example :

Who was Hannah?

How many children did the lady have?

CUBing

U - underline the verb

Example :

Why did the boys run away?

(ran)

Quote the sentence which tells you that she was a filial child. ( tells )

CUBing

B - bracket the possible answer found in the passage

Example : What birds did the fishermen do?

Soon all the fishing boats were a good distance away from the shore. The fishermen began to release their birds. ( Opening the basket, Koji felt under the half-raised lid. His hand found Ichi-ban, their number one cormorant, and eased it out. ) He felt a metal ring around Ichi-ban’s neck. Next, he fastened a cord around its breast and fastened

Adapted from PSLE booklet (1993-1997)

(1) Reading Skills

a) First reading - Read passage quickly to get the gist. Do not fill in the blanks. Activate prior

knowledge

b) Second reading – more deliberate. Read till end of each sentence and paragraph before filling in the word. Use contextual clues

c) Third reading – after filling in blanks. Check for clarity, logic and accuracy (meaning / form of word)

(1) Reading Skills

Jerry walked to school by himself because he liked to (1) ____about things on the way to school. Sometimes the things which he thought about were not important. However, today he was thinking about something that was very (2)_________.

d) Read forward and backward to pick up clues and ascertain the tense and form of word.

e) When unsure, read on – answer may be in rest of passage

think

important

(2) Reasoning Skills

•Identify connections between ideas, people and events in the passage •Use contextual clues

Snakes can swallow animals bigger than themselves. How are they (1) _____ to do so? Snakes (2) _______ greatly in thickness. Some are as thin as a cord but others may be as thick as a man’s

leg.

able

vary

(3) Micro-linguistic skills • Sentence structure and grammar clues & rules

->> Connectors/linkers eg. “but” -> contrast Snakes vary greatly in thickness. Some are as thin as a cord but others may be as (2) ____ as a man’s

leg.

Example:

Preparation for PSLE

• READ & LISTEN to good models

• Write , Speak

• Time Limit

• Build up competencies , skills

www.seab.gov.sg

www.moe.gov.sg

1. PSLE 2. Subject Information

1. Parents 2. Education System 3. Subject Syllabuses

PSLE BOOKLETS - Samples