An English lesson out of the classroom

In our current unit of work for English Language, we are learning about recipes and instructions: how to read and write them. One of the reading comprehension passages we will be doing requires understanding of a recipe for making a metaphorical 'pizza'. To integrate literacy strategies into content learning, today's lesson was taken out of the classroom and into the kitchen of Al Fresco's in Phu My Hung.

With this experiential learning session, the class got a chance to put into use an actual piece of procedural text through scanning for details, constructing meaning using meaning-based strategies and recognition of features of the text. With a specially crafted worksheet, the students were also expected to recall the use of grammatical items and structures relating to procedural texts, such as quantifiers and prepositional phrases, which were taught earlier in the week.

At the end of the session, we left with
1) many bags of take-out, as we could not finish all our food!
2) a better knowledge of instructions in procedural texts.
3) better friendship in all that sharing : )

The Class Terrarium

Over a course of two weeks, we have successfully built up and maintained a mini garden terrarium in class. A terrarium is an artificially created mini-habitat for plants and animals. During the process of putting this terrarium together, we are taught several subtopics of ecology. These include: components of a habitat, physical parameters of a habitat, interactions between organisms, gaseous cycle, water cycle and cycling of nutrients.

While we are unable to put together all the materials as suggested and stated in our Activity Book, we tried out best to get our hands on as many organisms as we can to contribute to this terrarium. Some of us spent a weekend catching bugs of all kinds; some of us gave chase to amphibians and lizards. The result? A tank full of creepy stuff which gives Miss Serene goosebumps every time she goes near, if she goes near!

To ensure the survival of the organisms in the terrarium, we have been taking turns to bring it home with us after each school day. So far, the greatest survivor is this gargantuan toad. It is unbelievably MASSIVE!

A Science lesson out of the classroom

9 March 2010. Today's Science class took place at a pond in a compound inside of the Phu My Hung residential estate. Learning about organisms in their habitats and communities can be quite tricky in an urban city where nature is either
1. too far away from us, or,
2. limited to the handful of species of insects and pests.
To be precise, we have combed the area in and around our school and found nothing we could use to put into the class terrarium. Even in our attempt to map out the habitats around the school was a great challenge - other than people, ants and pests, there was really nothing to map. Hence, we have had to venture afar into another area not too far from school to try our luck.

Although the pond we visited did not offer a wide array of organisms for observation and study, we were contented to have had the chance to handle water snails, watch dragonflies in flight and observe how pond skaters behave on water surface. The most interesting sight must have been that little terrapin which swam solo among all the other organisms in that pond. It looked so out of place!

Miming Songs

This came about as we were doing a lesson on vocabulary - the use of homophones. After viewing the ever popular mime song made famous via Natalie Imbruglia's 'Torn', the class was tasked to invest some thoughts and planning to creatively express their choice of pop songs. The end result was simply fun and funny.

Assembly Presentation on 1 December 2009

Let's start the first blog with this: our proud video production on personal hygiene which we choreographed, scripted and directed all by our own effort (well, almost, as Miss Serene helped to generate some quirky ideas to make the plots more attention-grasping and put the final product together using Windows Movie Maker). The result was overwhelming and definitely successful. Students in school now remember us as the recipients of the 'Golden Glove Award' - a title specially bestowed upon us as we successfully drove home the importance of personal hygiene and community awareness to both the junior and senior school students. And indeed, Mr Robert (the academic coordinator in the senior school) even invited us to make a special appearance at the senior assembly. We couldn't possibly have been more grateful for the opportunity and honour!