English Homework

1. Spelling
(a)The spelling list for Unit 1 has been given. The date for the Spelling Test is scheduled on 14 January 2009, Wednesday, next week.

(b) Commonly Misspelt words are marked with an * and pupils were told to higlight challenging words likely to be tested for CA and SA.

(c) The 5 words under the section, Spelling Fiesta will also be tested.

2. Strategies For Better Spelling Scores
(a) British vs American spelling. In the long run, we are preparing our pupils to sit for the Cambridge Examinations at both “O” and “A” level. Therefore, the use of British Spelling is strongly emphasised. Recognised is British spelling vs Recognized, American spelling, ised instead of ized. As our pupils are exposed to American IT products like Mircosoft Word, they must be careful as the auto-correction funtion is often switched on.

(b) Different word forms. A word, if it is a verb from the spelling listed, could be tested either in present tense, past tense or participle, e.g., the –ing form in examinations.

(d) Noun form vs Verb form from a root word. E.g. Root word, “commit” as a verb would be tested as “commitment”, which is in its noun form.

3. Unit 1 Supplementary Worksheet, Part 2.
(a) Pupils have been briefed to attempt Item No 1, Grammar Cloze and Item No 3, Editing for Spelling & Grammar.

(b) The rest of the sections, usually more challenging, will be discussed in class with the aid of PowerPoint Slides.

4. Unit 1 Supplementary Worksheet, Part 1 (MCQ)
(a) Item No 3, Vocabulary Discrete was discussed in class today. Majority of students of students checked the dictionary and took down notes of the required meanings in their worksheet. We hope that this good habit will continue.

(b) In order to provide immediate feedback, pupils were tasked to marked in green pen as the discussion progressed. Their marks, out of a total of 10 were then, recorded on the front page. Another round of marking will be done by the teacher for corrections and to ensure accuracy.

(d) There were many pupils with full marks. Therefore, pupils with a score less than 7/10 are encouraged to go back and take a second look at the questions and words tested.