Mrs Sky Frank of CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity sees her English Language classes as far more than just lessons to prepare her students for their exams, but opportunities to develop them into "creative, independent and thinking individuals as well as socially responsible citizens." She introduced literary appreciation in her lessons to engage her students in discussions and debates on societal issues, creating a forum for intellectual thought demonstrated through creativity in writing, logic and reasoning.

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Mr William Anthony Grosse of Rosyth School has an undeniable passion for the English language that comes from the view that language empowers, facilitates meaning and understanding, and defines humanity. He imparts this understanding to his students through topics such as history, philosophy and culture, with the ultimate goal to motivate his students to think, reflect and be creative, and not merely be consumers of content. Mr Grosse also has his students work online using Wikispaces, which creates an easily accessible archive of work that his students can refer to and improve upon.

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Mrs Esther Chia of CHIJ Kellock believes in learning English in context and in making English Language lessons fun. To teach her students reported speech, she dressed herself up and took on the persona of Lady Gigi (Lady Gaga's fictional sister) and had them interview her and write reports of their interviews with her. Mrs Chia also takes advantage of her students' love of music, using lyrics from pop songs such as "Lucky" by Britney Spears in cloze passages and comprehension exercises.

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Ms Lajwanti Thakurdas Melwani of White Sands Primary School believes that books are an effective portal to incisive and imaginative thinking and character-building. She has spearheaded many initiatives that aim to inspire in her students a love for reading and acquiring knowledge. Parents of beginning Primary 1 students in her school are asked to register their children for National Library membership and are invited to attend her workshops that aim to inspire them to read to their child.

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Mrs Lynette Shanti Vincent of North View Primary School teaches many students who come from non-English-speaking speaking families and challenges herself to make English lessons more engaging for them. She created a Drama Toolbox for her school so that she and fellow teachers can include drama in their lessons, as she believes students should learn to be effective communicators and confident public speakers. Mrs Vincent (better known as "Mrs Siva" in school) also won an award for developing “The Literature for Empowered Living Curriculum” with her fellow teachers.

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Ms Karen Kang of Kent Ridge Secondary School believes in equipping her students not just for their examinations, but also for them to be "enlightened citizens of the world". And for her, English Language lessons are the perfect place for this. She engages her students through active participation in classroom activities where they speak out in class in debates on current affairs and participate in literary role-play to enable them to develop what she believes are two vital life skills – oral communication skills and the projection of confidence.

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Ms Rachel Poh Yi Jeng of Ngee Ann Secondary School gets her students to chat on MSN Windows Live Messenger in class. Not with one another, but with "William Shakespeare". Her students interact with the Shakespeare Bot, an online avatar, which allows them to connect with Shakespeare directly to learn about the Bard and his works. Ms Poh also uses the social networking site Ning to ignite in her student's genuine curiosity and passion for English language and literature, being a platform where they can interact and share their knowledge.

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Mdm Kamisah Bte Yusof of Pasir Ris Crescent Secondary School devised simple and effective strategies that have helped her classes achieve good results in English Language. Using easy to remember acronyms and approaches, she enabled her students to break their tasks down into distinct elements that can then be effectively solved. These strategies have resulted in high distinction rates and are now being used by other teachers to help their students in narrative writing. Mdm Kamisah also uses internet tools such as Google Documents to monitor her students' work individually.

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Ms Angela Quek of Tampines Junior College harnesses the power of information and communication technologies (ICT) to engage her General Paper students. She created WikiTP, that serves as Tampines Junior College's very own version of Wikipedia. Students look to it for information when doing research and are encouraged to contribute to the database. She also uses online platforms such as CreateDebate.com to engage students in debates with one another. Ms Quek complements her creative use of ICT with lessons out of the classroom as she believes in learning in different environments and contexts.

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Mrs Sng Mee Lian of Catholic Junior College places great importance on learning in context and creatively engages her students in analysing the ways they use English in their lives. Everyday activities familiar to her students are also used as learning material. Her students analyse their mobile phone text messages for linguistic features, and record their conversations in school and at home for research. Mrs Sng ignites the passion for learning in her students by using real life examples and situations in her English Language and Linguistics classes, making her lessons relevant and ensuring her students are fully engaged.

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