Secondary School Literature

[D3-n]

Hardworkpaysoff:

Hi. Do you have any tips for unseen poetry prose?

When you tackle any unseen poem, you need to know what is the theme of the poem, and show how effective (or not) is the poet in presenting this theme.
Based on the evidence from the poem, use the structure, the tone, the rhyming pattern and the vocabulary as your arguments. You also need to know your list of Literary Devices well and use them to show how effective (or not) the poem is in bringing across its theme.
Just make sure you adopt your PEEL structure for your body paragraphs and don't make sweeping statements.
Expose yourself to different types of poems.
And practice is the key to heighten your sensitivity to poems.
All the best!

[TKC]

Hi D3@n,


I would like to find out more about your lit tutoring. Can you send me some info and details including your charges ?

[cherrygal]

What percentage of students can score A1 for Literature at O levels or A levels? Is it very hard to score?

[sharonkhoo]

cherrygal:

What percentage of students can score A1 for Literature at O levels? Is it very hard to score?

Because it's shunned by many students except those who are genuinely interested, apparently the A1 percentage is higher than other humanities subjects like History and Geog. This is from a friend who teaches O level Lit at a neighbourhood school, but I don't know the number.

[cherrygal]

Thanks slmkhoo. That sounds reassuring. Most of my kid’s classmates are avoiding Literature.

[sharonkhoo]

cherrygal:

Thanks slmkhoo. That sounds reassuring. Most of my kid's classmates are avoiding Literature.

Another good thing about taking a subject with low take-up is that the class size may be smaller, and the student may get more individual attention for that subject. And from the \"whole-life\" perspective (which I mentioned in another thread), taking Lit at least to O level gives the person greater breadth and is important developmentally. That's the perspective of my husband who took O level Lit and then went to study physics and maths! I, of course, am biased as I took Lit to A level and have been involved in \"bookish\" things ever since.

The difference between Lit and Hist/Geog is that the latter are social sciences, more factual, requiring analysis of data etc. Those are skills that will be developed later on in many other subjects. Lit requires reading \"between the lines\" more, looking at character development, themes, analysing language use etc. Those who don't take Lit at A level may never get that chance to do this kind of study again.

That was why we encouraged my younger daughter to take Lit when she was choosing her humanities subject for upper sec. She was quite sure she would want to pursue 2 sciences at A level but couldn't decide which, so she decided to take triple science at upper sec, leaving only 1 slot for a humanities subject. She was interested in Lit, but was also concerned that many others were avoiding it, but we told her to follow her interest. She hasn't regretted it.

[D3-n]

slmkhoo:

taking Lit at least to O level gives the person greater breadth and is important developmentally.

Totally!

Aptitude/Performance aside, I'd like to add that Literature is actually a \"lighter\" subject compared to Geography and History.
You only need to read one book for both Secondary 3 and 4 if you choose it as part of Combined Humanities; and 2 if you do it as a Pure subject. Of course there is the unseen poem element, but no textbooks or content-heavy notes to memorise.

[D3-n]

TKC:

Hi D3@n,


I would like to find out more about your lit tutoring. Can you send me some info and details including your charges ?

Thanks for your interest.
PM sent

[sunny]

DD just finished her psle. Can anyone recommend lit books that lower sec should read?

[6thisnthat9]

Lord of the flies

Animal farm
Local stories by local author Catherine Lim