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Key Changes to the English GCE ‘O’ Level Syllabus from 2023

How Creative Campus can prepare your child

Creative Campus is up-to-date with the O level English 2023 curriculum. 
The key changes pertain to (1) the Visual Text and (2) the Oral component.

Time to Embrace Earth!

April 22nd is the annual celebration of the Modern Environmental Movement in 1970. It is known as Earth Day, or International Mother Earth Day.

ORIGINS OF EARTH DAY 

On 22 April 1970, 20 million people gathered in the streets of the United States to protest against environmental destruction. This protest was sparked by the Santa Barbara oil spill and its devastating impacts on the environment. In December of the same year, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency, which was dedicated to clean up the nation’s natural resources. Rising awareness of climate change and the need for a clean environment grew amongst many American voters. 

“It took this basket of issues that we now call “the environment” and elevated them spectacularly in the public consciousness.”

~ Denis Hayes, organiser of the first Earth Day

WHY IS EARTH DAY IMPORTANT?

On a broader scale, Earth Day teaches the importance of conserving and protecting the environment. As society progresses into a more technocratic one, we have to remember the importance of protecting the Earth for future generations. 

The rapid development of society has only caused air pollution, global warming and deforestation to worsen, causing the temperature of the Earth to rise and multiple animal species to go extinct. 

Here are some reasons why having an environmentally conscious society is important:

WHAT CAN WE DO TO LEAD AN ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS LIFE ?

Being environmentally conscious for one day is a step in the right direction. However, small changes in our lifestyle can reduce our carbon footprint, making Earth Day everyday! 

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!

Questions to Consider:

1. What other reasons can you think of to save the Earth?

2. What other changes can you make to your lifestyle to make the world a better place? 

Tips on the Comprehension Component

In the recent examination, our teachers found that students have problems sourcing for answers in the Comprehension Open-Ended component. Students tend to make the following mistakes:

* They cannot identify the correct source in the passage for an accurate answer;
* They give incomplete answers; or
* They do not answer the question required.

In the Comprehension Open-Ended component, practice is key. Students must show that they ‘comprehend’, and therefore, understand the passage and the expectation of each question.

The following aspects are suggestions to improving Comprehension:

Tips on Composition Writing and the Oral Component

After poring through the examination papers, our teachers have noticed the following problems students face:

1. During Essay Writing and Oral Practices, many students have memorised certain key vocabulary words and phrases, and try to force-fit these words and phrases. Sometimes, this can come off awkwardly. (e.g. John was over the moon to be punctual for school).

2. During Essay Writing, students conclusions tend to be cliched (e.g. I learnt that honesty is the best policy.)

3. During Oral-picture practices, while the students would give short and direct responses, they were unable to elaborate or think wider than the teacher’s initial question or prompts.

The following are suggestions to improving essays and orals:

The new PSLE syllabus has a stringent rubric. By applying the essential skills and techniques, students can break that 35-mark barrier in essay writing, thereby having the added advantage of clinching that AL1 in the English paper.

Here are more exam tips from our specialist teachers

Primary Elite - Cloze Passages

Primary Elite - Comprehension

Come one, come all and witness the amazing Harry Houdini!
Fill in the blanks with a suitable word. Each word can only be used once.

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz) was  Hungarian-born American illusionist and stunt performer. He was first noticed in vaudeville, a Q1. ________ genre of entertainment born in France and later became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until early the 1930s.

Houdini began his career in 1891 but had little success until he began experimenting with escape acts. Three years later, Houdini met his wife and performance partner, Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, or simply known as “Bess”. 

Houdini’s big Q2. ________ came in 1899 where he performed at top vaudeville houses in the country. By 1920, Houdini had appeared in theatres all over Great Britain, performing escape acts and illusions.

He also toured the Netherlands, Germany, France and Russia, becoming widely known as “The Handcuff King”. In each city that he performed in, Houdini would challenge local police to Q3.________ and lock him in jail cells to perform escape routines.

In Moscow, he had escaped from a Siberian prison transport van, claiming that he would have had to travel to Siberia for the key if he was unable to escape. 

From freeing himself from jails to ropes and straitjackets, Houdini began to expand his Q4. ________. This began with escaping from a locked, water-filled milk can.

Possible failure and death was Q5.________ to Houdini’s audience. Such dangerous routines became part of his act, where he would be trapped in nailed packing crates, riveted boilers and even the belly of a whale that had washed ashore in Boston. 

Houdini passed away from peritonitis, the Q6.________ of the linings of abdomen walls, in 1926 and was buried in Machpelah Cemetery.

Answers

Remembering Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was a seamstress by profession and was also the secretary for the Montgomery chapter of NAACP, a civil rights organisation working to advance justice for African Americans.

Known as the “mother of the freedom movement”, Parks was born on 4 February 1913. She was given this title due to her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott and the fight against Jim Crow Laws in the USA. 

To further understand her as a revolutionary figure, we have to understand the history of racism, slavery and segregation in the USA.

Slavery in the USA: The legal institution of human chattel enslavement

From its founding in 1776 to 1865, slavery existed in America. The rapid growth of the cotton industry in the south of America increased the demand for slave labour. This caused the United States to become polarised (and not so united) over the issue of slavery, where the Northern and Southern states were split into free and slave states, respectively.

This consequently resulted in the American Civil War beginning in 1861, leading to the end of chattel slavery in America. However, the end of slavery did not mean the end of oppression for black people in America.

Jim Crow Laws on Public Transport Systems

Laws were created in some states to separate people of colour (mostly black people) and white people. This meant that some public services like restaurants, schools and even drinking fountains were exclusively serving white individuals, disallowing black people and people of colour from entering the premises.

Racial segregation laws were enforced on public transport systems. For example, white people were allowed to fill seats from the front to back while black people would fill seats from back to front, until the bus was full. If a white person boarded a crowded bus, everyone in the black row nearest to the front half of the bus would have to stand so that a new row of white people could be formed.

Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

One afternoon in 1955, Parks was seated in the foremost row in which black people were allowed to sit. When a white man boarded the bus, everyone in the foremost row was told to move back by the bus driver. She refused and noticed that the driver was the same man who stopped her from boarding his bus from the front door a few years prior. Parks was later arrested for failing to obey the driver’s orders.

The arrest of Rosa Parks spread outrage throughout the black community in Montgomery. An impending boycott was advertised at black churches where an organised system of carpools was created. Black taxi drivers began to charge a fare equal to the cost of a bus ride in support of the boycott. 

From white housewives driving their black servants to and from work, to individuals hitchhiking, cycling and driving horse-drawn buggies, the boycott proved to be extremely effective as it caused the city transit system serious economic distress. After 381 days, laws were finally amended and black people were allowed to sit anywhere they chose on buses.

This history of resistance and protest for equal rights is seen throughout Black history. Rosa Parks is one of many heroic figures who helped ignite such passion for change in future generations.

Let's Discuss

The passion for change and justice can be seen though figures like Rosa Parks who stands for the civil rights and freedom of her community. What kind of changes (environmentally, socially, politically...) do YOU feel passionate about?

A New Years’ Party: The 5 Senses

2021 is here! It’s time to say farewell to 2020 and usher in the new year by celebrating with our loved ones. What can you see? What can you hear? What can you smell? What can you taste? What can you feel?

One of the best ways to describe our surroundings is through the five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. This is collectively known as sensory imagery. Through involving the use of descriptive language to create mental images, the writer is able to engage the reader, making the scene come alive in the mind’s eye. Can you identify the specific sensory word(s) in the phrases below?

Test Yourself
Exercise 1: Here are some celebratory idioms. Can you explain what they mean?

Exercise 2: Using the party-related sensory imagery and idioms shared above, describe your own New Years’ party!

Even as 2020 presented us with unprecedented challenges to learning—thanks to the virus that shall not be named—our students rallied, mostly online, and worked with resolve and efficiency.

I dare say, we made it work unexpectedly well and the groups were so cohesive that the experience turned out to be an enriching one. I could not be more proud, nor ask for better students.

GP 2020 graduates comprised a mix of students who journeyed with Creative Campus for over 6 years, and those who spent their JC years with us.

Each had personal areas to work on, be they improving essay structure, content development, or refining vocabulary and linguistic intricacies. Most went above and beyond, especially in the final weeks leading up to the GP papers!

I will dearly miss the individual personalities who were the highlights of my Thursdays and Saturdays. It has been an interesting and rewarding year with a graduating class who each adapted, worked hard and persisted right up to ‘go’ time.  

Most thought both Papers 1 and 2 were manageable except for paraphrasing of answers required in a couple of SAQs [comprehension Short Answer Questions].

Weighing in on Paper 1

Answer one question. Answers should be between 500 and 800 words in length.

1.How reliable are statistics as a guide for planning the future?

2.To what extent is human life in general about the survival of the fittest?

3.‘Individuals achieve sporting success, not nations.’ Discuss.

4.‘We shape our buildings, but then our buildings shape us.’ To what extent is this true of your society?

5.To what extent can any society claim to be great?

6.Examine the view that the scientist is concerned only with knowledge, not morality.

7.Given greater levels of international cooperation, how necessary is it for countries to engage in the arms trade?

8.Should politicians pursue the popular viewpoint or their own convictions, if they conflict?

9.Is modern technology a benefit or a threat to democracy?

10. ’An appreciation of music is vital for a fully rounded education.’ How true is this of your society?

11. ‘In a free society, there should be no restrictions on freedom of speech.’ Discuss.

12. How far can prosperity and uncontrolled population growth go hand in hand?

Paper 1 2020 was another fair paper offering a good range of topics and themes for candidates to choose from. The key to acing the GP essay is in the candidate’s evaluation and analysis of criteria and issues related to the question asked.

Hence, those who merely listed factors, and/or went about essay topics in a 'pros and cons' manner, would have presented limited arguments. These scripts would not score well in their content; neither would scripts that presented example-driven arguments.

The more popular questions, according to a poll of our students were (in order of popularity): 6, 9, 3, 5. The honorable mentions were: 12, 4.
__________________

Below is a quick summary of points that candidates could consider in regards to Question 4:  ‘We shape our buildings, but then our buildings shape us.’ To what extent is this true of your society?

Candidates must be mindful to evaluate whether and how our buildings shape [influence, impact] Singapore and Singaporeans. They should not merely expound on what our buildings reveal about Singapore and her citizens.

Possible Points of Argument

Weighing in on Paper 2, the Application Question

The single passage was on the topic of apologising. This year, the SAQ [comprehension Short Answer Questions] required much paraphrasing of answers and several carried 3 marks. Because the passage was fairly easy, paraphrasing of answers in the SAQ and Summary sections would require a good range of vocabulary.

According to feedback from several of our students and other sources, the AQ asks:

In the passage, the author discusses the constituents of successful and less successful apologies. How far do you agree with the views expressed by the author, based on your experience in your society? [10]