National Institute of Education

English Language & Literature Academic Group

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Brown Bag Lunch Seminar

23^rd January 2002, Wednesday

NIE3-B1-16

Weighing Theory and Practice in Reality:

Teaching English Language in a Singapore Secondary School

Lawrence Jun Zhang

Having worked in a Singapore neighbourhood secondary school almost full-time Monday to Friday from 7:20 AM to 1:30 PM teaching English Language to two different classes (Sec 1, Normal Technical and Sec 2, Academic Express) for 6 consecutive weeks, Lawrence would like to share what he perceived to be important agendas and priorities in a neighbourhood secondary school in English Language teaching and learning. He would also like to relate his personal experience to issues in EFL/ESL teacher-education in general and NIE ELL teacher-training courses in particular. Come and share his experience and help solve his dilemmas with your lunch boxes to be filled with stories seldom heard before.

I. The School

• The Principal
• The HOD/English
• The Teaching Staff
• The Pupils
• The School Discipline

II. My Experience

• My Previous Teaching Experience and Its Facilitating Roles
• School Weekly Calendar (theme-based) – Westwood Bytes

• Monday – Staff Notes
• Tuesday – Rev Up
• Wednesday – Home at Westwood
• Thursday – Stand and Deliver
• Friday – In Touch
• CCA – Equal Opportunities for All

• School Routine – Morning Assemblies, Staff Meetings, etc
• Teaching – 1 Normal Tech (Sec 1) + 1 Academic Express (Sec 2)

• Reception, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Farewell Lunch
• Focus On Learning In Use (Study Skills) across the Curricula
• Principal’s Initiatives in Staff Development based on:

• Bloom’s taxonomy 

1. Knowledge – Cal learners recall? 
2. Comprehension – Can learners explain information?
3. Application – Can learners transform information?
4. Analysis – Can learners separate information?
5. Synthesis – Can learners combine information?
6. Evaluation – Can learners make judgements?

• Teacher Responses/Feedback

1. Positive
2. Lukewarm
3. Negative

III. Theoretical Issues for Exploration

• Materials Development /Textbooks

• Cultural Relevance/Intimacy
• Content Utility
• Varieties/Types of Exercises
• Socio-political context
• IT Integration In ELL Instruction
• Other Factors

• Demystifying L1 and L2 Definitions for Trainee Teachers

• English in Singapore
• Mother Tongue Languages in Singapore
• Target Language Input/Environment

• Pupil Exposure to Englishes

• Pupil Awareness of Varieties of English, esp. British and other varieties
• “Nativeness” vs “Non-nativeness” in Speaking English
• Confidence vs Not Knowing 

• Teacher Preparedness

• Content Knowledge (DipEd, PGDE, etc.)
• Psychological/Affective Considerations (context-dependency of humanistic approaches)
• Pedagogical Orientations

• Teacher Images in the Classroom

• Teacher Charisma
• Imparting Knowledge vs. Facilitating Learning 

• Language Teachers’ Approaches to Instruction

• Teacher-Fronted/Teacher-Centred Activities vs. Learner-Centred Curricula
• Issues in Assessment 
• English Language Syllabus (2001)

• Agendas and Priorities

• Nurturing a Love for the Language & Its Literature (written by both British, American, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, Malaysian, Indian, Singaporean writers of English)
• Developing Graded Remedial Reader Series to Help Pupils Form a Reading Habit and then Enhance Their Reading Skills (USSR could be one of such approaches; cf. KWL)

IV. Practical Considerations

· Materials Development

· Offering Consistent Professional Services

• Enhancing Pupil Morale (my letter to my pupils c/o the Principal)
• Maintaining Contacts and Links with the School
• Reminding NIE Trainee Teachers of Realities in Neighbourhood Schools (myriad of issues)

• Classroom Teachers’ Rapport with Pupils
• Voice-Projection in Noisy Classrooms 
• Discipline Matters Arising Herein
• Striking a Balance between Teaching and Discipline
• Juggling with Multiple Tasks 
• People Skills in a Competitive School Environment
• Implementing the New Syllabus (2001)

• Grammaring in English Classrooms

• The E-factor
• Efficacy
• Economy
• Ease

• The A-factor
• Appropriacy
• Adequacy
• Eg. Use of Realia
• Use of Materials Which Are Easily Accessible
• Use of Materials of Immediate Cultural Relevance (e.g. used textbooks - Social Studies; Geography; History) 

V. Towards an Expanded Dimension in Teacher Education

·PGDE (Singapore, as discussed above)

·PGDELT (NIE’s Foreign Tertiary EFL Teacher-Education Programme)

·Linguistic/Professional Skills

·Accuracy + Fluency

·Sociopolitical Concerns

·Sociolinguistic Interests

·Teacher Beliefs/Pedagogical Philosophy/Pursuits (e.g. CLT [Communicative Language Teaching] vs. Eclectic Approach)

·Materials Development

·Teacher-Education Programmes (Normal/Teachers Universities/Colleges + Institutes of Education)

Some Other Thoughts:

Language Teaching Methods: A Retrospect

If we look at what C. E. Eckersley (1956) said in his Essential English for Foreign Students, we will realise what little, in fact, has changed (Thorbury, 1999). 

Lesson 5

Parts of Speech

MR. Priestley:  There is a difference between "learning English" and

“learning about English."Now I want you to learn English, and I believe that the best way to learn to speak English is by speaking it; and that is why in our meetings, instead of talking to you about English grammar, I try to get you to talk about all kinds of things.

              Pedero: Excuse me, sir, but haven't there been some new ideas in

English grammar teaching about "structures" and "sentence patterns"?

MR. Priestley:   Yes, there has been quite a lot of work done, both here (UK)

and in America, on the structure of English, and next year I'm going to introduce you to those ideas. Some teachers get rather carried away by any new idea and think that it is the answer to all their difficulties. In language teaching I don't think this is ever true. A friend once said to me, "You can learn to talk by sentence patterns and 'structure', but you can't learn to write without studying grammar"—and I agree with him; so I'm going to give you from time to time some ordinary straightforward English grammar.