English Language and Literature

We are a team of language lovers and enthusiasts raring for literature and language to make a difference in the lives of young men and women who pass through the gates of Outram Secondary School. While aiming to sharpen the tools of our learners enough to add value to their academic results at the end of their term with us, we really hope to nurture young people who are confident, articulate and proficient users of the English Language. Find out about us!

Programmes

We are a team of language lovers and enthusiasts raring for literature and language to make a difference in the lives of young men and women who pass through the gates of Outram Secondary School. While aiming to sharpen the tools of our learners enough to add value to their academic results at the end of their term with us, we really hope to nurture young people who are confident, articulate and proficient users of the English Language. Find out about us!

Oral Skills Programme

The department’s spirally progressive oral skills programme aims to build confidence in young speakers from Secondary 1 to 3 to represent themselves, represent others and represent issues in fun and collaborative ways:

• Representing Self (Personal voice) through Drama Pedagogies in Secondary 1
  

• Representing Others (Empathy by listening, paraphrasing and summarising) through Broadcast Journalism in Secondary 2
  

• Representing Issues (Social concerns) through Debate in Secondary 3

Multiliteracies Programme

In today’s world where technology and media reaches its arms into every aspect of our daily lives, bimodal and multimodal texts (Chan & Chia, 2014) such as advertisements, posters, brochures, billboards, moving pictures, animation, social media platforms such as blogs, facebook, video games, picture books, digital news and the like proliferate at an unprecedented speed. At OSS, students learn to appreciate and review multimodal texts through:

• Principles of Advertising (Bimodal sources) in Secondary 1
  

• Film Review (Multimodal sources) in Secondary 2
  

• Understanding Visual Texts through Mirror Reading and OUI Thinking Frame in Secondary 3
  

ARP@Outram (Applied Reading Programme)

Since 2020, the department embarked on an integrated skills acquisition program named the ARP@Outram. An applied reading program, this department-wide initiative aims to provide a platform for students to share their reading interests with their classmates who will respond to the stories they hear from their peers. Students also learn about pertinent general affairs and topics of relevance through monthly multimodal presentations. These activities throughout the year will activate interest in reading, writing and learning through multimodal media such as videos, images, texts and audio resources.

• Weekly Opening Read
  

• Monthly News-in-Class Presentations
  

Creative Writing Activities
 

• Guided Imagery

• Whose Story is it?
  

Outram Ink Blog

Read our students’ published works on the students’ blog:  Outram Ink

LitE Up!

The Literature and English teams join hands to organize an annual day of fun for the Secondary 1s and 2s. Games include Spelling Bee, Running Idioms, Caption This!, Act Up, Choral Reading and the finale, Character Parade.

Enrichment and Learning Journeys

Secondary 1 (2023)

Literature Drama Appreciation Learning Journey to Act 3 International

Secondary 3 Literature

Jurong West Secondary School Literature Symposium

Selling Dreams Exhibition at the National Library

Watch-a-Play! Drama Appreciation

Visit to the State Courts

Competitions

ACJC Orator’s Trophy (2023)

Certificates of Participation

• Aisyah Binte Sazali from Sec 3/3, and

• Poh Keng Leng, Mark from Sec 2/4

  

Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (2023)

Certificates of Participation

• Evangeline Huang Sec 2/4

• Chloe Sidney Hakim Sec 3/4

• Goh Ting Shuen, Vera Sec 3/4

Live On Festival (Writing Competition)

2023

The Live On Festival is annual competition that encourages participants, in particular youths, to express their thoughts on organ donation and transplantation through art and writing. It is organised by the National Organ Transplant Unit (NOTU), Ministry of Health (MOH).

Jaiaree Rattawit (Special Mention, Junior Category)

Read online https://www.liveon.gov.sg/essay-showcase.html?Essayid=322

2022

Heidi Teh Elie (Special Mention, Senior Category)

Read online https://www.liveon.gov.sg/essay-showcase.html?Essayid=243

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (Anglo-Chinese Junior College)
 The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition is the world's oldest international writing competition for schools, established since 1883. For 2021, the Competition theme was Community in the Commonwealth, and the essay topics were centered round the Covid-19 pandemic.

We are pleased to announce the following good results. Bravo, Outram writers!

Orator’s Trophy (Anglo-Chinese Junior College)

National Schools Literature Festival (NSLF)

OSS Speakability Award

Write for Kindness Competition
Poetry writing

'Kindness Makes Us Stronger' Sharvin Sekar (Sec 2/4), Koh Chen Soon (Sec2/4)

https://www.kindness.sg/news/congratulations-to-the-write-for-kindness-2020-winners/
Poetry Writing 2019
‘A Helping Hand’ - 2nd place ‘A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed’ - Consolation Prize

2018 Poetry Writing 2018
‘The power of Kindness’ – Champion ‘At the Playground’ – 3rd place

Story Writing

Andrea Seng Jun Xin (Sec 2/3), Adriana Batrisyia Binte Steve Arifianto (Sec 2/5), Briones Cheyanna Carlyn Javier (Sec 2/5), Diana Hue (Sec 2/5), and Tan Swee Ling (Sec 2/5)
Singapore Secondary Schools Debating Championships (SSSDC) 2019

In our first foray into SSSDC, the team won 2 out of 3 rounds in the preliminaries and Justine Hari Muruga (Sec 4/5) won Best Speaker in Round 2.

Debaters: Maria Reyes (Sec 32), Basil Hia & Brendan Lim (Sec 4/5)

Scrabble Competition 2019

A team of Secondary 4 students took an enjoyable Sunday afternoon out for intense rounds of scrabble at Jurong Green CC.

Tales of ‘S’ (Civica) 2018

Winning Entry from William Wang Silang (Sec 4/4).

ICAS Writing Competition (University of New South Wales)

30 students took part in 2018 and received certificates of Credit, Merit and Participation.

Oldham Cup (ACJC) 2017

The team comprising Zander Widjaja, Nguyen Hai Duong (Sec 4/4) and Shyanne  (Sec 4/5) won 2 rounds out of 8 in their inaugural outing.

Outram Times

English Resources

For Students
Video Resources

	How to Capture PAC in Reading Aloud O & N Level English Oral Examination
	GCE O & N Level Persuasive Writing Part 1 Overview English Language (Argumentative Essay)
	Persuasive Writing Part 2 Constructing Arguments & Introduction O & N Level (Argumentative Essay)
	GCE O & N Level Persuasive Writing Part 3 Language Features & Hedging English (Argumentative Essay)
	GCE O & N Level Persuasive Writing Part 4 Types of Supporting Material (Argumentative Essay) English
	GCE O & N Level Persuasive Writing Part 5 Checklist & Idea Map (Argumentative Essay) English
	O & N Level Oral Exam BOAR Oral Thinking Frame Part 1
	O & N Level Oral Exam BOAR Oral Thinking Frame Part 2
	O level English Comprehension Visual Text Purpose & Intended Effect Questions Part 1
	Updated O Level English Comprehension Visual Text Purpose & Intended Effect Questions Part 2
	O & N Level English Paper 2 Understanding Visual Text through Mirror Reading

Website Resources

Online Reading

Suggested Reads

Sec 1 Sec 2 Sec 3 Sec 4 Sec 5