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Experience Sharing fromCarmel Divine Grace Foundation Secondary School

Strategies for Cateringfor Learner Diversity in the

New Senior Secondary (NSS) English Language Curriculum:

Reflections and Thinking Forward

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Overview

Reflections on the first year of implementing the NSS curriculum at S4

Plans to cater for learner diversity

Conclusion

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Reflections on 2009/10

Areas of progress

School-based junior English curriculum

Teachers’ capacity enhancement

Major area for improvement

Catering for learner diversity at classroom level

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Current Measures to Cater for Learner Diversity

Split class arrangement

Plan for 2010/11 Adopting a more structured

approach in teaching practices to maximise benefits to students of all ability levels

Pulling out 12 students from the weakest class

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Approaches and Strategies to Be Adopted Varying degree of teacher support

and appropriate scaffolding (e.g. through prompting and questioning)

Tiered / Graded activities

Suitably challenging activities (e.g. open-ended questions, creative work)

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An Illustration from the Elective Module on Short Stories

Text:

“The Dance” by Tara Millican

[page S12 of Learning English through Short Stories (Secondary 4-6): A Resource Package]

Summary of the Story

A girl sits nervously around the dance area, watching people dance.

She anxiously hopes someone will invite her to dance.

She is disappointed when a

boy walks towards her but invites the girl sitting next to her instead.

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Learning Objectives and Activities

Learning Objectives:

To understand the main character through interacting closely with the text

To understand the character’s thoughtsand feelings through considering her appearance and behaviour

To express personal response to the character and the way she is created

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Learning Objectives and Activities

Activity:

Complete a graphic organiser on the character’s appearance/ behaviour, thoughts and feelings

Answer some open-ended questions to express personal views

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Strategies to Cater for Learner Diversity

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Strategy 1: Varying Degree of Teacher Support and Appropriate Scaffolding

Vocabulary

Pre-reading support: information search, glossary, other relevant warm-up activities

While-reading vocabulary strategies: guessing meaning of words from context; identifying main ideas and skipping difficult vocabulary that do not affect understanding

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Providing support through:

examples

clues

options

Strategy 1: Varying Degree of Teacher Support and Appropriate Scaffolding

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Demonstration and illustration Read Paragraph 1 with students to

show how to select relevant information to complete the graphic organiser

Guide students to start considering how the character feels as they examine her appearance / behaviour to help them formulate their own opinion or judgement about her

Strategy 1: Varying Degree of Teacher Support and Appropriate Scaffolding

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Guided / Supported Reading

Simplifying or blocking out parts of the text if necessary

Dividing the text into chunks for students to read

Guiding students to understand the plot and character with the use of prompts and questions

Strategy 1: Varying Degree of Teacher Support and Appropriate Scaffolding

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Less advanced:

What is the main character doing with her chair(Paragraph 1)? (Teacher might mime if necessary)

What are the others doing while the main characterstays lonely and cold in her seat (Paragraph 1)?

What happens to her body? We are also told thatthere is _______ (something that looks like beads)on her forehead (Paragraph 4).

What does the main character say to herself(Paragraph 5)?

Examples of Questions and Prompts to Help Students to Understand the Plot and Character

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Average:

Where is the main character in the story?

What is she doing while other people aredancing?

Does she feel comfortable and relaxed?Why or why not?

Examples of Questions and Prompts to Help Students to Understand the Plot and Character

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More advanced:

The main character undergoes a change inthe story. What is this change and how doesit add to our understanding of her as acharacter?

Do you find the main character interestingand life-like? Explain your answer.

Examples of Questions and Prompts to Help Students to Understand the Plot and Character

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Note:

The questions asked should becarefully sequenced so as to guidestudents to explore how detailsand descriptions in the storycontribute to their understandingof the character’s feelings.

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Strategy 2: Tiered / Graded Activities

Reducing the number of gaps forless advanced students

Varied level of difficulty for Part3 on “Feelings”

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Part 3 of Activity Sheet for Less Advanced Students

Students are asked to circle the appropriate adjectives and choose an appropriate reason

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Part 3 of Activity Sheetfor Average Students

Students are asked to come up with adjectives additional to options provided and give reasons in their own words

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Part 3 of Activity Sheetfor More Advanced Students

Students are further challenged to compare the feelings of the character at the beginning and end of the story

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the connection between the threeblocks (i.e. appearance andmovements, thoughts and feelings)

how the writer uses theseelements to make the characterinteresting

Note:

The graphic organiser should notbe taken as a gap-fill exercise.Students should be guided to see:

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Strategy 3: Suitably Challenging Activities

Using activities to stretch students, helping them interact with the story and express their personal views (Experience Strand of English Language learning)

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Examples

Guided Questions and Reponses Suitable for the less advanced students

If I were the main character, I would have the

same/different feelings because __________________

____________________________. What I will do next

is to _________________________________________

because ______________________________________

_____________________________________________.

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Suitable for average to more advanced students

How would you feel if you were the maincharacter? Why?

If you were the main character, how would youhandle the situation?

What advice would you give the main characterif you were her best friend?

Open-ended / Free Response Questions

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Suitable for the more advancedstudents

Is the main character’s problem resolved atthe end of the story? Continue the storywith two more paragraphs to show what isgoing to happen to her.

Creative Work

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Conclusion

Appropriate scaffolding is important for alllearners. It enables the less advanced studentsto interact with the story and understand thecharacter, and the more advanced to achievebeyond the target objectives and connect whatthey have learnt to a wider context.

Activities for tapping students’ potential arenecessary for all learners. Even the lessadvanced could also be suitably challenged by,for instance, open-ended questions thatrequire them to express their personal views.

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The End