English

Overview of ALPS English Curriculum

The English Language Department’s Articulation of the ALPS 

Vision, Mission and Values

• Articulation of the ALPS Vision  
  Language is needed to shape thoughts, express emotions and even define the world view of individuals. To be a Reflective Learner, language is needed to encode what one is thinking and reflecting on. To be an Empathic Designer, understanding the language is required to understand others. To be an Inspiring Leader, a good grasp of the language is needed to communicate ideas.

  Therefore, the aim of the English Language Department is to develop our students to be Competent Users of the English Language so that they can be Effective and Confident Communicators. 

• Articulation of the ALPS Mission 
  The department sets its mission to create an engaging curriculum that will stimulate students’ appreciation of the English Language (EL) so that they can acquire necessary language skills to be competent and confident users of the language to support life-long learning.

  An engaging curriculum means one that will allow students to cherish and value the learning of EL. In order for students to cherish their learning, they will need to enjoy it. And for them to value the learning, they need to find meaning in their learning. With that as the mission, the department developed the ALPS EL Curriculum: LAMP.

• Embracing of the ALPS Philosophy
  The ALPS EL Curriculum is built based on the ALPS Philosophy.

The ALPS EL curriculum uses LAMP as a metaphor to signify the importance of having an effective grasp of the English language. Language lights up the way for students to acquire and create knowledge, and at the same time connect and communicate with others.

• Programmes to Promote LEARNING
  ALPS adopts the Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading (STELLAR), a national pedagogic framework, in the teaching of EL. The Modified Language Experience Approach (MLEA) is one aspect of the STELLAR pedagogy. 

• Modified Language Experience Approach (MLEA)
  ALPS provides students with shared experiences that are linked to the Big Book that they have read together in class. The shared experience (see examples below) provides the context and content for students to think, discuss and write, using the target language structures and vocabulary that they have been exposed to in their reading of the Big Book.

Primary 1: The Giant’s Ice Cream

After reading how much the giant in the book that they have read enjoyed ice cream, the Primary 1 students get to enjoy their own yummy ice cream after adding sprinkles and chocolate fudge.

Primary 2: Bubble Trouble

Students read the book, Bubble Trouble, and found out their bubbles could be trouble. They each were then given a bottle of bubble liquid to test it out on their own. They discovered that bubbles were more fun than trouble!

• Programmes to promote APPRECIATION of the language
  In the teaching of EL, it is important to inculcate in our students an enjoyment and appreciation of how language conveys information and emotions, and enable the visualisation of the scenes created by words.

• Reading Programme
  Students Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R) between 7 a.m. and 7.30 a.m. and have about ten minutes of silent reading before the start of the EL lesson per day. This provides opportunity for students to engage in reading and develop a love for reading. 

• Theatre Experience
  Theatre experience provides P1 to P3 students with the opportunity to appreciate the language in action and have a deeper understanding of story plots through the depiction of the actors.

Primary 2 students watched The Ant and the Grasshopper presented by iTheatre.

• Literature Is For Everyone (LIFE) Programme
  LIFE aims to allow students to learn from good literature. Through a guided approach, students pick up language models from the books, build experiences vicariously through the characters in the stories, appreciate the elements of good stories and develop meta-cognition skills to encourage empathy.

• Programmes to promote MASTERY

The ALPS EL curriculum aims to develop our students’ proficiency in the 4 language skills, Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and the 2 language components, Grammar and Vocabulary. Mastery of the language lays the foundation for our students to gain access to learning of the other subjects such as, Mathematics, Science and to be more encompassing, learning about the world. One way to help students attain mastery is through reviews and assessment. Data collected from assessment will help inform teachers on how to further support students’ on their literacy acquisition journey.

• PERFORM: Use the Language in Authentic Settings

Opportunities are built into the EL curriculum to enable students to see the value of their learning of the  language.

In P1 and P2, the focus is for them to understand that they are able to acquire knowledge when they have good grasp of the EL. They are taken to places of interests for example, the Singapore Zoological Garden and the Jurong Bird Park respectively to learn about animals and birds through the written information at these two places. 

In P3 and P4, the focus is for them to create and communicate knowledge through the use of EL. Students are taken on learning journeys for example the Tiong Bahru Heritage Tour and the Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve walk. Students have to put together a presentation of what they have learnt and share it with others.

In P5 and P6, the focus is for them to experience EL as the lingua franca to communicate with others in different cultural context from theirs.