English Language and Literature

Vision

Every student a learner who uses language with Impact, Effect and Affect.

Mission

English Language is a language of beauty and power.

It is our goal to empower students to become proficient and confident users of the language, as well as to enjoy learning it. To complement the explicit teaching of language skills, we design close, extensive and critical reading and viewing experiences to immerse students in a rich language environment. We value thinking and use frameworks like Thinking Hats to promote diversified thinking in a language classroom. Students will also be given ample opportunities to use the language effectively in a variety of contexts through collaborative work with their peers and oral performance tasks.

Key Programmes

BLSTV

BLSTV was conceptualised as a language programme aimed to facilitate authentic learning experiences in language classrooms and beyond, and create opportunities for students to develop 21^st century competencies and outcomes, ie. confidence, creativity, collaboration and communication skills.

Students are empowered to take the lead in creating and hosting various types of content, including live news broadcasts and interviews. Leveraging the affordances of IT, school news, events, and achievements are presented in a fun and attention-grabbing format that revolutionises the way students perceive morning assemblies and engage with its content.

Students also hone new media literacies which are crucial in the digital age. Each production stage provides a real-life context for students to apply their individual skillsets to the roles and tasks assigned to them.

Reading Programme by Ex-Libris

Across the 4-5 years, students get to read different genres and topics through customised reading materials. They also have access to curated articles and stories which are followed up with reading activities. They read so that they can actively respond to current issues and topics through reading circles, online discussions or creative tasks in the form of videologues and podcasts. 

The school’s library has been revamped to become a learning hub of the future. In this new inviting environment, our students not only open new doors to a world of knowledge through reading, but also use the different learning spaces to engage in various social and informational activities. Our students love to frequent it as the different spaces allow them to connect with their peers, or simply enjoy individual quiet time where they can read and recharge.

Oracy: Stand and Deliver from dialogues to speeches

Students participate in different performance tasks and oral enrichment activities each year so that they gradually develop confidence to communicate effectively to different audiences. The Lower Secondary students will get opportunities to express themselves through language and motion by participating in activities like Choral Reading, Readers’ Theatre and Theatre. The Upper Secondary students will be introduced to debating and public speaking to develop as persuasive speakers where they also hone their communication skills such as pronunciation, fluency and rhythm in their speeches.

Aspiration: Exploring their futures in English

As part of the Student Development programme, we run various workshops for students ranging from journalism, emceeing to film-making. Through these workshops, students explore their dreams of becoming journalists, emcees and filmmakers. School events like Total Defence Day, Aspire and Achieve Day are platforms for these students to do professional emceeing before a live audience. Aspiring journalists also get a chance to conduct interviews and contribute to the school’s newsletter, Arise. Beyond what they are exposed to in the classrooms, students are encouraged to join these workshops to explore how English holds the power of communicating ideas and shaping minds.

In Literature lessons, students will develop a deeper love and appreciation of the written words through drama, journal writing and creative tasks to enhance their interaction with rich literary works.

2021 remains exciting for the students as local writers and poets connected with the Upper Secondary students at Words Go Round 2021. A group of Lower and Upper Secondary students also took up the challenge of participating in the following events organised by the National Schools Literature Festival (NSLF) 2021:

• Lower Sec Choral Reading Speaking competition 

• Upper Secondary Unseen Debate 

• Flash Fiction

4 of our Sec 3 students participated in the Unseen Debate Competition in the National Schools Literature Festival 2021. They have done BLS proud by putting forth strong, well-supported arguments and emerging as the winners!

As the saying goes, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.” Yes, indeed this competition is a treasurable memory for me! Being chosen as the debater for BLS was quite a huge burden on me, but I’m grateful for my teammates as well as my teachers who truly motivated our team to keep going. In the end, this perseverance paid off, we won!
Anagha Vijay (3-MT)