Double Benefits
Everyone you speak to, whether it's someone who went through school at a time when Lit was a compulsory subject or a student who gets to choose from an enviable menu of possible subjects will tell you that Lit. is the obvious choice. The obvious choice to "drop", that is. Let's go through the reasons:
too unpredictable, depends on whether you like the text,
too unpredictable, depends on whether you like the poem (whatever you face in the exam),
too unpredictable, depends on whether you like the teacher,
too unpredictable, depends on whether the teacher likes you,
too unpredictable, depends on whether you like the questions,
too unpredictable, depends on.... well, you get the point.
I mean, why bother to study something that unpredictable? Waste of time!
Well what if I tell you it has a doubled-barrelled effect? Get your grades up for this and you will surely get an A for something else?
That's a good deal, you say.
Well the relationship works this way:
If you can get an A in Literature, your A in English Language is in the bag.
If you get an A in English Language, your A in Literature is not a done deal... YET.
So Lit. A = Eng A but Eng A = ?
Why? to get a Lit. A, you probably took this route:
Read your texts well, studied the characters, thought about them deeply, sifted out important extracts, considered the themes and their relevance to mankind and society, learned the fine art of weaving quotes into your writing.
What does that make you?
What about the writing skills and thinking skills you need to get an English A? Go figure.
"Buy one and get one FREE!"
What's more, you've got the spin-off effect of entering JC with a bang - the Literature A grader is going to find General Paper a breeze.
But surely, you say, if you are good in English, you should be able to tackle Literature.
Not the way we do it in Singapore or if I can be allowed to bring in some social dynamics here.
We have an assessment book culture in Singapore. And this practice of working on past problem sums has paid off handsomely for Maths but filtered down to every single subject. So it is pretty standard to see pupils working on English past year papers. Passage after passage of comprehension papers. It's the same grind every year.
Can you get your A for English this way? You bet! What's more, some schools have gone ballistic about nailing the As for Composition. (The story goes that some expat teacher trainer many years ago spouted the theory that it was far easier for the average local kid to practise answering the "story" questions than to master true essay writing.
So you can imagine what the all-out effort to get As through story writing led to when these English A graders had their first General Paper assignment to complete. From Heroes to Zeroes. Now that's predictable.
So think again, especially if you are still in lower secondary levels.
Tip No 1
(for tackling a Literature text, such a novel or a short story)
Reading your text ain't the same as Harry Potter. Enjoying Sci-fi ain't the same either.
Read everything in one sitting. No writer consciously writes with any breaks in mind - food, toilet or otherwise. Every time you stop midway, chances are when you get back to it you will be reading from the start again. Worse you will have no sense of the main character's journey, no idea of the significance of the action and change of scene and setting.
You have to get into the world of the story.
Read it with your right brain but study it with your left, but more of this another time.
too unpredictable, depends on whether you like the text,
too unpredictable, depends on whether you like the poem (whatever you face in the exam),
too unpredictable, depends on whether you like the teacher,
too unpredictable, depends on whether the teacher likes you,
too unpredictable, depends on whether you like the questions,
too unpredictable, depends on.... well, you get the point.
I mean, why bother to study something that unpredictable? Waste of time!
Well what if I tell you it has a doubled-barrelled effect? Get your grades up for this and you will surely get an A for something else?
That's a good deal, you say.
Well the relationship works this way:
If you can get an A in Literature, your A in English Language is in the bag.
If you get an A in English Language, your A in Literature is not a done deal... YET.
So Lit. A = Eng A but Eng A = ?
Why? to get a Lit. A, you probably took this route:
Read your texts well, studied the characters, thought about them deeply, sifted out important extracts, considered the themes and their relevance to mankind and society, learned the fine art of weaving quotes into your writing.
What does that make you?
What about the writing skills and thinking skills you need to get an English A? Go figure.
"Buy one and get one FREE!"
What's more, you've got the spin-off effect of entering JC with a bang - the Literature A grader is going to find General Paper a breeze.
But surely, you say, if you are good in English, you should be able to tackle Literature.
Not the way we do it in Singapore or if I can be allowed to bring in some social dynamics here.
We have an assessment book culture in Singapore. And this practice of working on past problem sums has paid off handsomely for Maths but filtered down to every single subject. So it is pretty standard to see pupils working on English past year papers. Passage after passage of comprehension papers. It's the same grind every year.
Can you get your A for English this way? You bet! What's more, some schools have gone ballistic about nailing the As for Composition. (The story goes that some expat teacher trainer many years ago spouted the theory that it was far easier for the average local kid to practise answering the "story" questions than to master true essay writing.
So you can imagine what the all-out effort to get As through story writing led to when these English A graders had their first General Paper assignment to complete. From Heroes to Zeroes. Now that's predictable.
So think again, especially if you are still in lower secondary levels.
Tip No 1
(for tackling a Literature text, such a novel or a short story)
Reading your text ain't the same as Harry Potter. Enjoying Sci-fi ain't the same either.
Read everything in one sitting. No writer consciously writes with any breaks in mind - food, toilet or otherwise. Every time you stop midway, chances are when you get back to it you will be reading from the start again. Worse you will have no sense of the main character's journey, no idea of the significance of the action and change of scene and setting.
You have to get into the world of the story.
Read it with your right brain but study it with your left, but more of this another time.
Comments
shaoning here! pleasantly surprised to receive your email! wow. haha. anyhow just popped by to say hi! :D
suggestions: have a guestbook or smthg? tagboard?
that's presuming you wont mind any possible random comments in affecting the nature of this blog cos i wont know :P take care!!! *waves*
I responded days earlier but did not realise that the comments were not successfully published. I definitely remember you. I even remember telling you that you have an unfair advantage in life. I thought of you as "the one most likely to be cast as Snow White in the school production". And you must have even avoided killing vermin in your previous life cos you are brainy as well!
I welcome random comments - creative abuse of overrated celebs plus grumblings and mumblings of discontent about teenage life ranking especially high on my list.