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PSLE English & Foundation English Paper 1

Situational Writing

RANGE OF FULFILLMENT OF TASK

MARKS (6 MARKS)

Pupil shows excellent understanding and awareness of the purpose, audience and
5-6
context in providing all of the key information.

Pupil shows some understanding and awareness of the purpose, audience and
3-4
context in providing most of the key information.

Pupil shows a lack of understanding and awareness of the purpose, audience and
1-2
context in providing only some of the key information.

RANGE OF LANGUAGE AND ORGANIZATION

MARKS (9 MARKS)

There are hardly any errors in expression, grammar, punctuation and spelling.
7-9 There is also clear presentation of the key information. Ideas and facts are well-
linked and sequenced.

There are several errors in expression, grammar, punctuation and spelling. There
4-6 is also a fairly clear presentation of the key information. Ideas and facts are well-
linked and sequenced.

There are numerous errors in expression, grammar, punctuation and spelling.

1-3 There is also a poor presentation of the key information. Ideas and facts are not
well-linked and sequenced.
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PSLE English Paper 1

Continuous Writing

RANGE OF LANGUAGE AND ORGANIZATION

CONTENT (20 MARKS)
MARKS (20 MARKS)

• Fully relevant ideas • Hardly any errors in grammar, expression,

• Extremely interesting
• Thorough development in terms
18-20
of plot, characterization, conflict
and resolution
spelling and punctuation
• Varied and apt use of vocabulary
• Very good sequencing, paragraphing and
linking of ideas and facts.

• Relevant ideas • Several errors in grammar, expression,

• Generally interesting
• Good development in terms of
15-17
plot, characterization, conflict and
resolution
spelling and punctuation.
• Apt and mostly apt use of vocabulary
• Good sequencing, paragraphing and link-
ing of ideas and facts.

• Mostly relevant ideas • Several errors in grammar, expression,

• Fairly interesting spelling and punctuation.
• Adequate development in terms • Adequate and mostly apt use of vocabulary
12-14
of plot, characterization, conflict • Good sequencing, paragraphing and link-
and resolution ing of ideas and facts.

• Many errors in grammar, expression,

• Some relevant ideas
spelling and punctuation.
• Slightly interesting
• Ordinary and unimaginative use of
• Minimal development in terms of
9-11 vocabulary
plot, characterization, conflict and
• Acceptable sequencing, paragraphing and
resolution
linking of ideas and facts.

• Numerous errors in grammar, expression,

• A few relevant ideas.
spelling and punctuation.
• Lack of development in terms of
• Limited and inappropriate vocabulary
5-8 plot, characterization, conflict and
• Poor sequencing, paragraphing and
resolution.
linking of ideas and facts.

• Full of errors in grammar, expression,

spelling and punctuation.
• No relevant ideas.
• Extremely limited and inappropriate
• Reader finds the writing confusing
1-4 vocabulary
and unclear.
• Very poor sequencing, paragraphing and
linking of ideas and facts.
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Exemplar of an email in an informal register

Use an infor-
mal salutation Hi Tim,
and the name
given in the
task box. How have you been? I hope you had fun on your
Paragraph 1:
family trip to the Zoo last weekend. Anyway, • Suitable greeting.
• State the purpose
this morning, during recess, I received a leaflet clearly. In this case,
Show your Zack wanted to
concern by about holiday camps. I wanted to tell you more
inform and
asking about persuade Tim to
about them and I hope we can attend one of
your friend’s attend a holiday
activities. them together. camp with him.
T-Point Adventure Centre is organising Chess,

Art and Singing camps from 7 to 9 December. Paragraph 2:

Leave a line • Include all the
between They will be held from 10 am to 4 pm daily. The information
paragraphs. needed.
fees for each camp are $40 per child. Among
• Do not miss out
the three camps, I feel that we will find the any information
required in the
Chess Camp interesting as both of us are avid task.
chess players. The Chess Camp includes a live • Check the
suitability of the
match between two top local players and online tenses.
• Do not add
Use linking matches with overseas players of the same age unnecessary
and connect- details.
as us. Therefore, this camp will be the most
ing words such
as, therefore, interesting for us.
and finally.
What do you think? If you are keen, I can pass Last paragraph:
• End your letter
you a copy of the leaflet to you so that you can
appropriately.
share it with your parents and seek their • Here, the writer
Use exclama- ended the email
tion marks permission. Hope to hear from you soon! by asking if the
where appro- recipient is keen on
priate, usually attending the camp
to express Cheers, with him so that he
excitement. can pass a copy of
Use them Zack the leaflet to him.
sparingly. • Include a suitable
ending phrase.
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Situational Writing – What should the student look out for?

• Before stating the purpose.
E.g.
• How are you? I heard from James that you are not well and had to miss school today. Any-
way, this morning, during recess, I walked past the General Office and came across a notice
on a camp on Scratch programming. I know you have always been interested in Scratch pro-
gramming. I wanted to tell you more about the camp and I hope we can attend one of them
together.

• Number your written responses to the questions. In this manner, the student can easily check the
accuracy of his answer and ensure that no needed detail is omitted.

• Do not make up details and use overly descriptive words or phrases.

E.g.
• How are you? I was greatly saddened when James told me, during class, that you were
feeling under the weather and had to miss lessons today. In any case, I chanced upon a
notice, placed just outside the General Office, that described, in detail, an intriguing camp
on Scratch programming. It is an open secret that you have a great like for Scratch program-
ming. Hence, I wanted to be the first to share the camp’s details with you as I hope fervently
that we will be able to attend the camp together.

• Do sign off accurately to accurately show the relationship between the writer and the audience.
We tend to use Regards or Cheers for informal texts.

Essential Activities in Nurturing an Effective Writer

• Keep a Writer’s Scrapbook

Pay attention to the interactions among people and objects in the real word. Take note of the
recent events in the form of news, trending topics and articles. There are many ways to structure
the notetaking process. This will be covered in a separate article.

• Start a small collection of small objects such as a lock, receipt or a train ticket. Exercise your
imagination by creating simple stories with any one of them. E.g. One can visualize an unforget-
table train ride with friends with the train ticket and proceed to describe the train experience in
greater detail.

• Perspective Taking
An often neglected but rather beneficial activity is to imagine that you are the character in a story
that you have read and to rewrite part of the story from that character’s perspective.
E.g. Use a first-person perspective to rewrite the story of the Three Little Pigs by taking on the
character of the Big Bad Wolf. “I have finally lost my patience with the Three Little Pigs who have
not kept their word on returning the money that I have lent them.”

• Understand tension.
We are not talking about stretching a rubber band though there are similarities. We are taking
about ways to make the reader eager to anticipate what the next event in a narrative will be.

• Use 1 – 2 supporting sentences to describe a main idea.

Writers have to expand on a main idea before moving on to the next. Try to practice this men-
tally with news articles. E.g. The pros and cons of allowing personal electrical vehicles on the
pavements.