Asian Primary & Preschool Teachers Congress

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Asian Primary & Preschool Teachers Congress

Saturday 26 May 2012

Creating Competent and Creative Readers & Writers

Teaching a child to be a competent, critical and creative reader and writer is one of the greatest gifts a teacher can give a child. Yet in several schools, especially in Asia, skills and drill worksheets are emphasised rather than teaching, reading and writing strategies through the use of good stories. Research findings show that very young children are quick at learning to be critical and creative readers and writers. They do not just mimic the words on the page without paying attention to the meaning of the words and the text. They are able to understand the meaning by figuring out the content and the unknown words.

Teachers should be equipped with the relevant skills, techniques and strategies to groom children into readers and writers. Besides using comprehension strategies, they can also teach children the craft of authorship and encourage them to apply these skills when creating their own original writings, as competent young writers consider themselves as authors.

To provide teachers with the relevant skills and knowledge, the speakers and workshop leaders at this Congress will provide theoretical and research evidences to demonstrate the importance of reading comprehension, process writing to children including those who have special needs. They will showcase best practices and techniques of using good books for teaching children to be competent critical readers and creative writers.

Conference Directors:
Dr Chitra Shegar, Asst Professor, National Institute of Education, Singapore and
Dr Susan Harris-Sharples, Professor Emeritus of Education, Wheelock College, United States

9.30am – 10.15am

Keynote 1: Developing a Reading Culture in Asian Schools

by Dr Chitra Shegar, Asst Professor, National Institute of Education, Singapore.

This paper examines possible reasons why in Asian schools, even though children learn how to read at an early age, are often reluctant readers. It focuses on how children’s interests in books can be rekindled so that they can be nurtured into avid readers.

10.15am – 11.15am

Presentation: Developing a Reading Culture(A Case Study)

by Yvonne Boey, Head of Dept, English Language, Evelyn Huang, Level Head, English Language, Thila Dinesh, Teacher and Anthony Chua, Teacher, Clementi Primary School, Singapore

In this symposium, four teachers will examine and evaluate the task of developing a reading culture in a local Primary School. They will provide a description of the theoretical framework adopted for developing a reading culture in schools, issues related to reading motivation and the strategies employed to increase this aspect.


11.30am – 12.30pm Play Den	Using Picture Walks Before Reading to Create a Context for Fluent Reading by Dr Susan Harris-Sharples, Professor Emeritus of Education, Wheelock College, United States Children appear to be fluent readers because they can “word-call” words rapidly. However, if they do not understand what they are reading, they are not really reading at all. Teachers, who take picture walks through stories, can help children connect with what they know to what they will be reading. Picture walks can also introduce unfamiliar vocabulary to children. This workshop demonstrates ways to use picture walks through books so that children can understand the meaning of what they are reading.

11.30am – 12.30pm Gallery	The Use of the iPad in Literacy Education by Dr Tamas Kiss, Asst Professor, National Institute of Education, Singapore With the availability of mobile technology for educators, it is important to explore how this can be best utilised in literacy education. This session will demonstrate some of the possible uses of iPad for developing language skills. Selected iPad apps / tools will be introduced which aim to boost learner engagement and motivation. Participants will be asked to work in groups and brainstorm further possible use of the apps in their own educational contexts.

11.30am – 1.00pm Living Room	Workshop: Flair and Panache in the Classroom: Drama Strategies for Teaching and Learning by Jeffrey Tan, Drama Educator/Theatre Director, Singapore Drama offers numerous engaging teaching and learning opportunities. This practical workshop will demonstrate some basic drama strategies to engage participants to play with their imagination and discover about themselves and others. Most importantly, it is to learn about the community and world we live in, making meaning through drama.

11.30am – 12.30pm Screening Room	Picture Books as Portals to Enchantment and Imagination: Choosing PictureBooks that Challenge the Mind by Dr Myra Garces Bacsal, Lecturer, National Institute of Education, Singapore/Philippines This 60-minute presentation will showcase and highlight amazing picture books from around the globe (with a special emphasis on Asian-themed books) and some of the elements that teachers can look for out in selecting picture books inside the classroom. Teachers would also discover how picture book biographies, fractured fairy tales, as well as wordless picture books can be used with students in class. A collection of online resources would be provided for exploration.

2.00pm – 2.45pm Chamber	Keynote 2: Importance of Continuity in Teaching Strategies from Preschool to Primary by Dr Susan Harris-Sharples, Professor Emeritus of Education, Wheelock College, United States Developmentally appropriate early childhood classrooms are learning environments where young children learn about their environment and the larger world through play and interacting with new experiences. This paper emphasises the importance of primary teachers need to use the developmentally appropriate teaching strategies as those used by early childhood teachers. This is crucial with children who are at the early stages of emergent reading and writing and language development.

2.45pm – 3.45pm Play Den	Is the Storyline Enough? Using Content to Motivate Children To Become Better Readers by Ken Spillman, Author, Australia This session examines how authors create stories in books which engage and motivate children to read them.

2.45pm – 3.45pm Gallery	How Illustrations in Children’s Books Provide Contexts for Understanding Stories by Marjorie van Heerden, Author / Illustrator, South Africa Illustration, through visual impact, draws the young reader into the world of the book. The pictures introduce a world where the child will experience in imagination and/or in reality. This talk will explore the relationship between word and picture, some of the functions illustrations fulfill, their role in mood and attitude, their multi-layered communication and impact.

2.45pm – 3.45pm Living Room	Re-thinking Boundaries – A Box is Not Always A Square by Faizah Ahmad, Librarian and Zulkifli bin Amin, Children’s Librarian, National Library Board, Singapore The Singapore Public Libraries captivate young minds through innovative, impactful and user-centric programmes. Creativity is injected in the conceptualisation of programmes to inculcate the love for reading. Some of these are Quest, Conquest, Code Read and 101 things for teens by teens that have successfully engaged their readers. In this session, the successful programmes will be highlighted.

2.45pm – 3.45pm Screening Room	How Young Learners Acquire Language – Effectiveness of High Frequency Function Words by Ong Seng Kim, Teacher, Innova Primary School, Singapore In this session, the speaker examines the extent to which the Primary One learners have mastery of the high-frequency function words in Fry’s list and sheds light on the function words that most Primary One students are unable to identify. The final part of session, examines the implications of the findings for reading instruction in schools.

4.00pm – 5.00pm Play Den	Language and Literacy Development in Young Children: Helping Children with Difficulties in Learning English by Leong Pik San, Senior Specialist, Education Services Division, Ministry of Education, Singapore This session will give an insight into pre-school education in Singapore, focusing on language and literacy development in young children. The presenter will also share on FLAiR or Focused Language Assistance in Reading, a programme that is targeted to help children with difficulties in learning English.

4.00pm – 5.00pm Gallery	Writing in Response to Literature by Dr Nancy Johnson, Reading/Language Arts Teacher, Singapore American School; Professor in English/Language Arts and Children’s Literature, Western Washington University, Singapore/USA Writing about literature, both during and after the process, allows readers to think, wonder, create, and explore their interpretation while serving as an avenue to comprehension. This session explores the way to nurture response through writing, beginning with open-ended prompts as scaffolds, then moving to student-selected responses. Two key questions are addressed: Why write in response to literature? How can we teach response that deepens understanding and appreciation of literature?

4.00pm – 5.00pm Living Room	The Instruction of Comprehension Strategies Using Basal Readers by Dr Chitra Shegar, Professor, National Institute of Education, Singapore and Nithya Rajamohan, Early Childhood Educator, Singapore The instruction of comprehension strategies is fundamental to the development of comprehension competence in children. Children can be taught these strategies progressively from a young age. In this session, participants, apart from being given a clear notion of comprehension strategies, will also be given hands-on demonstration of how young children can be taught these strategies using basal readers.

4.00pm – 5.00pm Screening Room	Developing Reading Skills and Habit through Room to Read’s Local Language Publishing Program by Mahesh Pathirathna, Regional Program Manager, Book Publishing Programme, Room to Read, Sri Lanka Acquiring reading skills and the reading habit are both necessary for children to become independent readers. Room to Read partners with Education Ministries in developing countries to supplement gaps that exist in the standard reading and writing curriculum—providing resources, in-service teacher training and classroom enhancements and creating alternative reading materials. This presentation provides an overview of the development and usage of those materials.

5.00pm – 6.00pm Play Den	Putting the I.T. Back in KidLIT: Using the World Wide Web as a Classroom Resource by Dr Myra Garces Bacsal, Lecturer, National Institute of Education, Singapore/Philippines In this presentation, teachers will be introduced to web 2.0 tools and how they can make use of the book blogging network (Kidlitosphere and the YA Blogosphere) as a possible resource in the classroom. Teachers will also discover other useful tools such as Pinterest, Shelfari, Goodreads, LiveBinders to supplement their teaching. Through these technological tools, it is easier for teachers to be part of a larger community of book lovers, librarians, and other educators from all over the world.

5.00pm – 6.00pm Gallery	Effective Story Writing Using Interactive Methods by Elizabeth Meredith, Part-Time Lecturer at National Institute of Education & Singapore Institute of Management (University of Buffalo), Singapore At the lower primary level, a key genre that is explored in the language classroom is narrative writing. In this session, the presenter will demonstrate how story writing can be effectively taught to young children. The session will introduce 5 key elements (character, setting, conflict, plot and theme) that go into story writing using familiar children’s stories as a platform. It also explores how these key story elements can be taught using interactive methods.

5.00pm – 6.00pm Living Room	Developing Preschoolers Literary Skills Through Instruction in Science and Technology by Dr Mahendran Maniam, Senior Lecturer, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia A great avenue for developing children’s literacy skills is through content instruction. It allows for meaningful engagement with language in authentic linguistic contexts. In this workshop, participants will be shown several picture books on science and technology appropriate for developing pre-schoolers knowledge of literacy in science and technology.

5.00pm – 6.00pm Screening Room	Developing Children’s Reading Confidence through Meaningful Phonics by Julia Gabriel, Founder and Director, Julia Gabriel Education Group, Singapore Using her signature Rainbow Bear storybook series, the author will demonstrate how young children can develop confident and expressive reading. This colourful and interactive talk will also illustrate how engagement in the arts brings together cultural, critical, communicative and aesthetic knowledge, allowing children to actively enjoy the process of learning.

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