Post CA1 Feedback and Thoughts

Dear all,

Term 1 is drawing to a close and the CA1 results have been tabulated with your papers being given back for checking. Here are some feedback about the English paper.

- The target of 35 'Band 1's has not been met. Massively disappointed but I know that you can bounce back and achieve the 35 'Band 1's.

- Sections that need more focus and improvement this time around include Editing and Comprehension Cloze with Comprehension Cloze being the worst fared section of them all.

- Going back to the drawing board, I will look to focus on teaching you how and what to highlight in terms of the keywords for Comprehension Cloze. Some of you have given me the feedback that you do not know what to highlight. Taking this feedback, I will have extra focus on teaching you what to highlight so that no matter what the passage is, you will be confident of knowing what to highlight.

- You will need to brush up on your spelling and phrasal verbs which are major letdowns for the editing section. It is still a surprise to see that some of you are not able to spell simple words.

- Most of you are passing Comprehension OE but still, the marks could be better. Like I always say, you need to be aware of your tenses/singular/plural form.

Remember to not give up and press on for further improvement especially with SA1 coming up next term. This time around, you will sit for oral, listening and composition.

I know that English is in fact, very open and unlike Mathematics or Science, there are no fixed topics. Therefore, you need to make it a point to get your basics right and note down the grammar rules that I constantly go through with you in the classroom. There is a reason why I often repeat these rules because if you know them, you can apply them to any given situation and question. You need to know what verbs, nouns, adjectives, prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions are.

Reminders:
Please complete your composition corrections by this Friday.

Areas for Improvement in terms of  Composition:
Lack of explanation. You need to explain your points. How? Why? Do not just tell me that Grandmother fell. How did she fall? Why did she fall? Likewise, do explain why the characters are feeling a certain way. If not, the composition is mostly quite well-done.

Quote of the Day:
The greatest glory in life lies not in failing but knowing what went wrong during the failure and having the courage to not fail the next time around. 

We can do it!

Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong