GATE English Programme® – Primary 1-3
Programme Scope:
- Core Content – 30%
- Enrichment Content – 60%
- Current Affairs Content – 10%
Current Affairs Content
Our current affairs content comprises of news, information, awareness and comprehension on all that is happening in the world – it is related to every walk of life. It covers all topics ranging from business, sports, money, politics, education, employment, crime, and ethics so on and forth. It may be about rising onion prices, sugar tax, or a terrorist attack. Students are explicitly taught vocabulary within the context of each article.
Core Content
We strongly believe that a strong foundation goes a long way in cultivating a love for the English Language. Hence, we teach grammar in context to our students through a rigorous and in-dept reading curriculum. Grammar rules and conventions are further emphasized through the reading of texts and writing. Every week, new challenging words are integrated into the texts and revision is done regularly to ensure that students are building up a strong vocabulary bank.
The core content builds students’ grammar skills by exposing them to intensive practice of grammar rules, synthesis and transformation conventions, grammar cloze passages and editing exercises.
Enrichment Module
Our Gifted English programme P1-P3 focuses on the development of critical reading and reasoning skills which will enable students to use higher order thinking strategies to analyse and comprehend different genres of challenging passages which have been carefully selected from National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, and award winning books. We incorporate the best of reading comprehension strategies from experienced MOE language teachers and the Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Programme.
Jacob’s Ladder is a reading program that students will engage in an inquiry process that moves them from a lower order to higher order thinking skills. Starting with basic literary understanding, students will learn to critically analyse texts by determining implications and consequences, generalizations, main ideas and creative synthesis.
Our enrichment writing content is aligned with the latest Primary English syllabus as well as the new PSLE format. We adopt a systematic and concise approach that will expose students to a variety of writing techniques. Some of the techniques that will be taught to the students include crafting a climax, a memorable conclusion, focus on dialogues, adding meaningful twists to a story.
Specially designed for:
High-ability learners who will benefit from an effective and challenging English curriculum.
It prepares students for:
- Challenging Comprehension Cloze, Comprehension (MCQ and open-ended) and Composition
- English competitions for Specialized Language Talent Development (Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competitions, UNSW English Language, Global Assessment, Book Publication)
- GEP (Gifted Education Programme) screening and selection test
GATE English Programme® – Primary 4-6
Enable students to excel in both school exams (PSLE A* and GEP stream exams) and the DSA English subject test which focuses on advanced level comprehension and writing skills. We also encourage and support our students to participate in international assessments and competitions (i.e. Commonwealth Essay Competitions, ICAS English assessment, Cambridge Assessment).
Programme Scope:
Core Content – Builds students’ grammar skills by exposing them to intensive practices of grammar rules, synthesis and transformation conventions, grammar cloze passages and editing exercises.
Enrichment Module – Focuses on nurturing students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills through a rigorous curriculum of intensive reading, analysis of articles and application of critical reading strategies to challenging and interesting articles. Our students will hone their skills in vocabulary, comprehension (MCQ and open-ended) and comprehension cloze.
Situational Writing Exposure Module – Our current affairs content builds on the strengths of our P1- P3 program. More in depth discussion on the current affairs topics ranging from global political scene to local social issues. It may be about election, education system, or nuclear plant. Students are explicitly taught vocabulary within the context of each article.
The reading comprehension component helps students build language competency not only for PSLE examination, but also for their secondary school and junior college education. The program focuses on non-fiction texts and autobiographies together with advanced reading strategies developed by former local school teachers. To rouse students’ curiosity and piquetheir interests, students will interact with age-appropriate and thought-provoking articles. We centralise our articles on mainly:
- Current Affairs
- Historical Events and their impact on our society
- Introduction to Scientific Developments and their impact on our society
- Introduction to the Arts (literary devices in poems, short stories and novels)
Oral presentation opportunities will also be provided as students work through the reading comprehension component. This will allow student to develop analytical and critical thinking skills that are critical for a sophisticated oral presentation.
Suitable for:
High-ability learners who will benefit from an effective and challenging English curriculum It prepares students for:
- Challenging English components in school exams (both GEP and PSLE) –Comprehension, Comprehension Cloze and Situational Writing
- Literary approach adopted in Secondary school and Junior College Education
- DSA via English as Subject Test
- International & Local English Language competitions (Common Wealth Essay competitions, UNSW English Language/ICAS English Writing)