English Language & Literature
Overview of the English Language Programme
Taking reference from the EL Syllabus 2020, the KC English Language Programme aims to develop effective and affective language use in students through exposure, empowerment, and enactment opportunities, nurturing students to become:
- Discerning & Critical Readers
- Inquirers & Meaning Makers
- Empathetic & Convincing Communicators
Lower Secondary EL Programme
The lower secondary programme is designed to deepen student’s speaking, writing, reading and listening skills in the English language, through a critical exploration and appreciation of a wide variety of multi modal, literary and informational texts. Students are also guided to understand and respond to purposes, audiences, contexts and cultures.
Upper Secondary EL Programme
The upper secondary programme further deepens students’ affective and effective language use and sharpens their receptive and productive language skills, so that they are able to communicate with self-expression, a sense of social awareness and responsibility, and socio-cultural sensitivity.
Overview of the Literature Programme
The KC Literature Programme consists of a lower secondary exposure programme with the option for students to offer the discipline as either a full or elective subject at the O levels.
In Katong Convent, we approach literature as a skills-based discipline that facilitates the development of empathy and perspective. Students are equipped with the aesthetic and intellectual skills necessary to appreciate, analyse and interpret a text independently, and respond critically and coherently. Through immersion in a range of local and canonical works, students develop an understanding of the human condition and the role of their own values, beliefs and biases. Students are also trained to think like a writer, a pedagogical approach to literature that utilises creative writing as a means to develop an understanding of, and sensitivity to, writer’s craft.
Lower Secondary Literature Foundation Programme
Through this comprehensive programme designed to entice and make accessible a completely new subject, students are introduced to the fundamentals of literary analysis through the close reading of bite-size unseen texts before progressing to longer, full-length work. Over the course of two years, students will be exposed to local and foreign poetry, speculative fiction, and the Shakespearean play.
Upper Secondary Literature Programme
The upper secondary programme deepens students’ critical appreciation to the artistic decisions of the literary form through a metacognitive and inquiry-based approach to texts. Students are trained to acknowledge and consider multiple perspectives whilst developing a greater acceptance for ambiguity and open-endedness. Students learn to be convincing communicators of their own interpretations in their active engagement with the text. Elective students have the opportunity to study local writing and poetry from different countries. In addition, and in counterpoint to the former, Full Literature students will also study the Shakespearean text.
Signature ELL/Library Programmes
Writers’ Lab
Writers’ Lab is an extension programme of the Literature Department’s Think Like a Writer approach where creative writing is utilised as literature pedagogy. Students with passion and promise in creative writing are identified by their literature teachers based on the creative writing done in the literature classroom. Students take part in one writer-led workshop per term covering a range of literary genres with opportunities to participate in additional workshops by invited writers during the Post-Examination Arts Immersion Programme. Writers’ Lab students are invited to the end-of-year CAP-Prep workshop series, where they are mentored by the teachers of the Writing Programme to develop portfolios for application into The Creative Arts Programme (CAP). A programme jointly organised by the Gifted Education Branch, MOE and Yale-NUS College with the aim to nurture talented young writers in Singapore.
Open Mic
Open Mic is an extension programme of the EL department to develop students who have a strong interest and passion for public speaking. Mentored by teacher guides and equipped with training in communication strategies, and audience engagement and management, students confidently own the stage at various school events, taking on the role of master of ceremonies. These students are also passionate advocates of speaking confidently and effectively and work on enacting the communicative aspect of our CPVA niche.
Book Club
The department launched Book Club to promote the love for reading. During sessions led by teacher facilitators, students read, discuss ideas and formulate opinions. They also work on understanding an author’s purpose and drawing their own conclusions, formulating personal responses to reading. Through exposure to an array of texts and participation in NLB activities, students grow as readers and step up to be ambassadors, sharing their passion for reading.