Team of English Teachers bags Outstanding Contribution Award

Team of English Teachers bags Outstanding Contribution Award for their Design of the EL Oracy Curriculum

Imagine a classroom of confident speakers who love to speak and share their views and thoughts with their classmates. This is a classroom which a team of teachers envisioned in the design of the BRPS English Language (EL) Oracy Curriculum.

In 2021, the English Team came together as a Professional Learning Team to develop a more coherent and comprehensive EL Oracy Curriculum, taking into account three anchor curricular and pedagogical principles: spiral progression, formative assessment and differentiated curriculum. In the process, the teachers developed and implemented alternative assessments according to the above mentioned three pedagogical principles. Show and Tell, Literature Dramatisation, Broadcast Journalism, Debate, and Oral Exam Booster are just some of the few oracy interventions designed across Primary 1 to Primary 6 levels by the team of English Teachers comprising Miss April Goh, Mdm Kimberly Koh, Ms Usha Rani, Mr Zaini Daud, Ms Uuchi Mashida, Mrs Janice Tho, and Ms Esther Teo.

These alternative assessments augment students’ oracy skills through multi-sensorial learning and boosting their confidence in speaking. Although some of these strategies had already been implemented in EL classrooms prior to 2021, the team reviewed all oracy performance tasks and studied how to consolidate them as a total oracy curriculum informed by formative assessment principles and spiral progression.

The team considered a few crucial factors in devising this package. First, the oracy skills, strategies, attitudes and behaviours (SSABs) should be coherently articulated from Primary 1 to Primary 6 in alignment to the MOE EL2020 Syllabus. This was clearly articulated in the rubrics designed by the teachers and catered to each level. Second, the oracy skills should be imparted in an authentic and experiential manner, bringing the pupils’ learning of the English language more purposeful and fun through the joy of learning. Third, and most importantly, it was intended that this package would equip pupils with long-term skills that could be applied even after graduating from the school.

“I am happy to be part of this journey to help shift the focus of teaching oracy for exams to teaching it in an authentic, fun and hands-on fashion. All at the same time, helping teachers to be keenly aware of the building blocks of skill sets that we are equipping the students with,” shared Mrs Janice Tho.

Mdm Kimberly Koh also reflected, “Children need to learn that "silence is NOT golden" and that we need to teach the younger students that they have their own voice. Starting them right at their foundational level is important!”

For their effort, the team was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award (Team).
Bravo, English Teachers!