The syllabus is changing again! Over the years, my little website has gotten attention mainly for my essays, but I’m feeling a little bit uncomfortable with them now that the syllabus will change for those taking the O-level exams in 2023 (though 5N and repeat 4E students will be taking the old 1128 syllabus in […]
Take care of yourself for optimal performance
Hi there! Before you continue reading, just take a moment to see if you need a little bit of water, or if you need to visit the toilet, or anything else like that. For those of us who are stressed out about our work and our lives, it’s very easy to forget that we don’t […]
Tackling student sleep issues (Book recommendation!)
For a number of my students every year, one of the first things I have to do is to make sure they are sleeping properly. The signs are easy to recognise: when they are trying to solve a particular problem (let’s say, figuring out how to respond to a question), their eyes sometimes glaze over. […]
I’m sick and tired (and why I write more effectively than you)
I mean it literally: I’m sick, I’m tired. As I sit typing this, I feel like I’m coughing my throat to shreds, and the lethargy has left my eyes half closed. I just turned my head to look to the right for awhile, and I was surprised by a sharp throb in my head. Ugh. […]
One way Singapore’s schools make you stupid: the fixed mindset
Which do you believe to be more true? Consider the two statements while you read the post below. Statement 1: Intelligence is set in stone at birth. (If a person is really stupid, he can work hard to learn new things, but he will never be very good at anything.) Statement 2: Intelligence is dynamic, changeable, and […]
General Paper tips for private candidates without GP teachers or tutors
So you’re staring at your A-level certificate, wondering how on earth two years of JC grinding got you such shitty grades. Then you realize: oh, it was all that playing around with so-and-so and such-and-such. You decide to retake the A-levels, with all the enthusiasm and determination that you can muster (THIS TIME I WILL STUDY HARD), and […]
What should I read to prepare for argumentative essays?
On 29 January 2016 at 17:04, XXXX wrote: SUBJECT: Greetings from Vietnam! Hi Kevin, I have recently discovered your blogs and I’m truly grateful for all of your advice and tips on English essay writing. My 13 years old younger brother is revising for a scholarships offered by the Singaporean government at the moment and your blogs […]
Creepy lullabies and close reading
Last night, I tried to illustrate what close reading should feel like to my student, and I used the example of our childhood lullabies. Do you remember the lullabies from your childhood? I give you my personal favourite: Rock-a-bye baby on the treetop, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock, When the bough breaks, […]
Life is tough. So learn how to play the guitar, you’ll be better for it!
(Watch the video first, it’s relevant to my post) Reading all the articles about the tuition industry in the past few days, it has become ever clearer to me that Singaporean parents view life here as an intensely competitive thing (“$1 billion spent on tuition in one year”; “Tuition no enough”). The strange thing is, […]
Doing away with a Singaporean accent (Improving your pronunciation and enunciation for oral examinations)
Short answer: Use the Oxford Dictionaries‘ pronunciation guide. Select “English (UK)” if you want to sound more British, and “English (US)” for the American version. Keep your Singaporean accent, but develop a new one if you need to. Long answer: I’m an English Literature graduate, and I entered NUS with a very, very heavy Singaporean accent. […]