Bytes by Marshall Cavendish Education: Fall in LuV with English!

To the digital generation of today, reading physical copies of books and penning down notes to improve ones vocabulary and grammar may not be an appealing idea. How then, should one motivate today’s connected youth and ignite his passion for the English language? MC Online provided the answer to this at its inaugural LuV English Sharing Session on 27^th September 2013.

Held at Intercontinental Singapore, the sharing session was attended by 58 English language educators from 30 Secondary Schools. Featuring LuV English, an innovative multimedia courseware jointly developed with MediaCorp, the session was hosted by MediaCorp artiste, Miss Belinda Lee, and was based on the theme “Fall in LuV with English”.

Bubbly emcee, Miss Belinda Lee, kicked off the session with a bright and LuVely smile

With the aim of instilling in students, an interest in the learning of the English language, LuV English encompasses a wide selection of themed activities that utilises captivating videos and discussion-based online practices to engage students and encourage them to explore learning English on their own.

The session kicked off with an insightful keynote presentation by Miss Shobha Vadrevu, Doctoral Candidate and President’s Scholar from the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore. Speaking on “Teaching and Technology in the English Language Classroom”, Miss Vadrevu illustrated her thoughts on how the usage of digital media can facilitate and enhance classroom instruction. Through relevant school-based examples, she highlighted the link between ICT and pedagogy, and demonstrated the best strategies of harnessing technology to facilitate communication and the development of a “pedagogical imagination”.

Miss Shobha Vadrevu, President's Scholar & Doctoral Candidate, Department of Communications & New Media, NUS, delivered a comprehensive keynote presentation that drew the link between ICT and pedagogy

Having given the participants present many a thought to mull over, the session continued with a sharing of lesson plans by two teachers from Coral Secondary School and Yuhua Secondary School.

Attentive attendees were thoroughly engaged during Miss Vadrevu's stimulating presentation

First up was Mdm Ramona Sidek, English teacher from Coral Secondary School, who shared her experience of using LuV English’s writing exercises to motivate her students to practise and hone their expository writing skills. Using examples of how she integrated LuV English’s videos and MC Online’s collaborative platform, Social Learning Wall, into her lesson plan, Mdm Ramona explained how she encouraged her students to engage in essay-writing on their own.

Mdm Ramona Sidek, English teacher from Coral Secondary School, illustrated her experience of using LuV English to help motivate her students to practise writing expository essays

Miss Gena Ang, English teacher from Yuhua Secondary School, also shared her insights and knowledge gained from using LuV English in class to engage her students in learning English. Through incorporating LuV English’s video clips into her lesson plan, she explained how the videos could be used as an effective teaching tool to make lessons more interesting and engaging for both teachers and students.

Miss Gena Ang, English teacher from Yuhua Secondary School, explained how she incorporated LuV English videos into her lesson plan to make lessons more interesting for her students

The informative session concluded with an engaging presentation by Mr Richard Tan, Senior Manager at MC Online, on the latest additions to LuV English. With Secondary 3 and 4 content now available, LuV English aims to nurture and hone students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, and help them excel at the O-level oral and written English language exams.

Mr Richard Tan, Senior Manager, MC Online provided an illuminating presentation on the new enhancements and additions to LuV English

The event ended with good cheer as attendees enthusiastically participated in a fun quiz and partook in a networking exhibition that saw the demonstration of LuV English content to the interested participants.