Front Row: (Left to Right)

Ms Petrina Tan Sze Hui, Mrs Cassandra Nicholas, Ms Nicole Moosa, Ms Michelle Tan

Middle Row: (Left to Right)                                                                                                                                    Mrs Miranda Jeyakumar, Mr Richard Armstrong, Mrs Vimala Alexander, Mrs Mah Kwok Lee, Mrs Wilma Roch, Mr Leonard Ng

Back Row: (Left to Right)
Ms Wendy Priscilla Wong, Mrs Stella Kwan, Ms Grace Yu Sau Ki, Mrs Magdalen Low, Ms Andrea Wee, Ms Josephine Teo, Ms Nicole Teo Bee Lan, Ms Jacqueline Yip, Mrs Maha Sripathy, Ms Michelle Tay

Mission Statement

English Language
To encourage creative, reflective thinkers who communicate their ideas clearly and concisely.

Literature
To cultivate our students’ sensitivity and imagination in their appreciation of literary texts.The department continues in its endeavour to improve oral competence in the school.

Drama
One of eight pilot schools supported by the Ministry of Education, CHIJ Secondary embarked on its drama programme in 2006. This year, the programme is offered to Sec 1 and 2 pupils. In 2009, the school will see its first group of students to offer Drama as an ‘O’ level subject. Click for more information.

Innovative Programmes

Photograph Project
In 2007, the department implemented the ‘Photographs’ project as part of its TLLM drive. Titled, ‘Memories are made of these’, this project had the following objectives:

• To provide an opportunity for pupils to respond creatively to visual stimuli
• To challenge highly proficient pupils with a means of expression
• To cascade the school’s principal framework of connect, venture, lead

Sec 1 – Story-telling (individual)

Pupils selected a photograph and created a story based on it. Starting off as an individual effort, each girl presented her story to her classmates. The best story-teller then represented her class at the lower secondary assembly in an inter-class competition.

Sec 2 – Tableaux (group work)

In groups of four, Sec 2 pupils acted out a significant moment. Capturing this in a photograph, they described what was happening in the picture and what the characters were thinking or feeling. STARPlus students composed a poem.

Sec 3 – Reflective writing (individual)

Sec 3 pupils selected four to six photographs that depicted their life story so far. They reflected on their lives.

Literature
Inter-class Drama competitions

In 2007, due to heavy school commitments, only the Sec 2’s were involved in this competition. As the girls were studying a new text, ‘Flowers for Algernon’, the teachers devised new forms of competition – a radio broadcast of the text and a Poetry Den.

The winning class was

The Sec 4 Inter-class Drama competition was held on 26^th January. Students dramatised their O Level Literature drama text – A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Girls from Sec 4/3, 4/7 and 4/8 worked hard to put up great performances. Sets were well-designed with authentic props.

The school was pleased to welcome teachers and students from Catholic High School, Pasir Ris Crest and CHIJ (Katong Convent).

The winner was Sec 4/7 and the best actress was Natalie Yap from Sec 4/3.

Combined IJ EL Seminar

In 2007, IJ Sec organised a seminar to share best practices among all the IJ Secondary schools. All schools shared generously and participants benefited greatly from the innovative practices employed by Katong Convent, St Theresa’s Convent, St Joseph’s Convent and St Nicholas Girls’ School.

National and International Competitions 2007

Every year, pupils participate in the Plain English Speaking Award (PESA) competition and the Commonwealth     Essay Writing Competition.

Commonwealth Essay Writing Competition 2007

Commendation

Nicole Law – C Division

Wong Yiping – B Division

PESA – Finalist

Thara Gopalan

Pen Awards (organised by Readers’ Digest) – First Prize

Sandesh Kaur Sambhi

Photo Journal Competition (organised by Asian Geographic)

Francesca Ooi, Hilary Koh

Presentations at Literature Seminars and Symposia

St Nicholas Girls’ School

Raffles Girls’ Secondary School

National and International Competitions 2008

ACJC Oratorical Competition – 16^th February

Thara Rubini Gopalan – First

Pulsate ’08 Speak! For yourself Speech Contest – 1^st March

Thara Rubini Gopalan - First 

 

Talk by Dr Cherian George

Newspaper report writing is an important unit in the English language syllabus in CHIJ Secondary. The essential skills of news report writing is taught to all students. In line with this, the English department organised a talk on 22nd September 2008 during the lower secondary assembly period. The speaker was a renowned journalist and a respected academic, Dr Cherian George.

Dr George worked for The Straits Times for ten years and is now an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. He is also the editor and publisher of What’s Up, an independent current affairs newspaper to which all the Secondary One students in CHIJ subscribe.

Dr George gave a stimulating talk on the importance of journalism and what it takes to be a good journalist. Summing up the qualities of a journalist into three main points, he said that a good journalist should, firstly, have a passion for the language, secondly, have a curious nature and thirdly, have a desire to share his knowledge with others. Students learnt a great deal from his speech. Said Nicole Law of Secondary 2/1: “He told us some things that we had learnt from our English lessons but it was good to hear it from an actual journalist.”  The English department hopes to organise more of such talks in future.

Mrs Wilma Roch (Sec.1 EL Coordinator)

 

Visitor in school:
Mr Martin Convey, a teacher from Congleton, Cheshire visited CHIJ Secondary on February 27th. These are his impressions of the school.

Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus – Impressions of a visitor

Wow! What a fantastic school! My one abiding memory from having visited CHIJ for the day will be the welcoming atmosphere of friendliness that I experienced throughout. From the security guard to the receptionist to the teachers to the students to the Vice-Principal to the Principal everywhere I was greeted with the utmost kindness and hospitality. I think you can tell a lot about a school by people’s faces. I knew CHIJ was a good school as everyone I met, staff and students, met me with a broad smile. I have written this to try and thank people for my experience.

Firstly, I must thank the students. I think you are fortunate that you go to such a great school. The two lessons I observed were Literature (Sec 1/7) and Drama (Sec 1/1). Both classes were highly motivated and focused throughout their lessons. The Literature class demonstrated their knowledge of language devices through presentations and the Drama class performed with intelligence and confidence. The students were extremely polite to me and, after some initial embarrassment, asked me some interesting questions about the UK. They were fantastic ambassadors for the school.

Secondly, I must thank the staff at CHIJ. Especially the Principal, Vice-Principal, Mrs Alexander, Mr Armstrong and Mrs Koh. The two lessons I watched were obviously well-prepared, engaging and interesting for the students. The teacher’s have a excellent relationship with the students and are professional practitioners. Mrs Alexander made me very welcome and was very thorough in explaining the English Curriculum at CHIJ. Also, Mrs Alexander displayed a passion for her job that must enthuse her staff. I must finally thank the Principal and Vice Principal for giving me some of their valuable time and answering every question I had about the school and Singapore in general.

I will never forget the day I spent at CHIJ and sincerely hope that CHIJ and Congleton High School can collaborate in the future.

Thank You.

Martin Convey
(English Teacher and Guidance Co-Ordinator, Congleton High School,
Congleton, Cheshire, UK)