English Language and Literature

English Language & Literature

The English Language and Literature Department is a team of caring and dedicated teachers who strongly believes in every student being a confident communicator. Our curriculum is aligned to the English Language Syllabus 2020 (ELS2020), which aims to develop each student to be an Empathetic Communicator, a Discerning Reader, and a Creative Inquirer. Our lessons and activities are purposefully designed to provide students with opportunities to be reflective and collaborative learners who consider multiple perspectives. In line with the National Digital Literacy Programme, students also engage in language learning through technology. Our teachers use e-pedagogy meaningfully to create a classroom which encourages student collaboration, teacher and peer feedback, and self-directed learning.

Department Programmes and Events

Engaging Students in Literature

Our Literature curriculum aims to nurture a deep appreciation of literary craft in local and international poetry and prose. The texts studied in class are paired with multimodal texts such as short films, songs or other literature to help students draw connections between the texts, their own experiences, and the world. In building their analytical and argumentative writing skills, creative writing tasks are assigned so that our students can better understand and explain why and how writers convey their ideas. They are also given the opportunity to peer review each other’s work to learn from each other’s strengths and areas for improvement. Upper Secondary Pure Literature students will have the privilege to watch plays, take part in debates to deepen their understanding of texts and exercise their argumentative skills, or even appreciate the poetic craft of a selected poet.

Developing a love for reading

In conjunction with Valentine’s Day, the Media Resource Library Committee organises a ‘Blind Date with a Book’ event during recess. Students can only read short descriptions of the books, which are wrapped creatively and attractively, and this arouses their curiosity as they are kept in suspense about the books they borrow. The students also have a chance to take part in a lucky dip when they borrow a book. This event allows students to explore different genres of books and expand their reading interests.

The Media Resource Library Committee collaborates with other departments to encourage students to pursue their hobbies through reading. The Craft and Technology Department collaborated on the ‘Bake-A-Cupcake-Day’ activity. Student participants had to look through recipes from the library and bake cupcakes of their choice. This activity encouraged students to read more books and develop a new love for baking!

Class library visits are also conducted every term. Students are accompanied by their English Language teachers to the library, where they can browse and borrow the latest titles or recommended books by our librarian.

Providing opportunities beyond the classroom

At Punggol Secondary School, students are given the opportunity to take part in Scrabble competitions annually. After a rigorous selection process and training sessions, the selected students participate in individual and team events, where they compete against players from other schools. Through these competitions, students are more motivated to enrich their vocabulary and improve their spelling.

Our students also participate in the National Schools Literature Festival (NSLF) debates and discussions to showcase their literary analytical skills and persuasive techniques to convince the audience of their stand. This opportunity also allows them to deepen their understanding of literary texts by exchanging ideas with students from other schools.