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The aims of the syllabus are to:
Ethical
• raise awareness of timeless issues concerning society
• promote the appreciation of multiple perspectives; and
• build empathy and global awareness.
Aesthetic
• inculcate the habit of close reading
• promote heightened appreciation of nuances of language; and
• sensitise students to artistic decisions made by writers.
Intellectual
• cultivate metacognitive habits of mind as students pay attention to the impact of language on one’s thoughts and feelings
• develop greater acceptance for ambiguity and open-endedness; and
• equip students with the skills to convince others of their interpretations, based on sound reasoning with evidence

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Candidates will be assessed on their ability to:

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Candidates will be assessed on their ability to:

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(i) demonstrate, through close analysis, knowledge of the literary texts studied
(ii) respond with knowledge and understanding to literary texts from the genres of prose, poetry and drama
(iii) demonstrate understanding of the ways in which writers’ choices of form, structure and language shape meanings
(iv) communicate a sensitive and informed personal response to what is read; and
(v) express responses clearly and coherently, using textual evidence where appropriate.

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Section B: Unseen Poetry [25%]
• There are no set texts in this section.
• There will be a choice of two unseen poems with one question set on each poem.
• Candidates will answer one of the two questions [25%].
• For every year of examination, one question will be set on a Singapore text.

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It is not a vacation

from your life

when you weary of meetings and rain,

waiting for the bus

and cursing your luck.

It is a vocation

that curses your life

and can’t wait for luck

but must meet head-on

the bus weary and rain.

It is not to scribble

a granted sky

by a tree

in the evening park

with your dog running free.

It is to run the dog inside,

scribble the evening

into the sky and park

your tree between

the granted and the free.

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Chinese too
skin as yellow as loess
shining like good gold
my eyes surely black
dark mirror black well
limitless unlike
my tun-tun-tu-tu vocabulary

english speaking
cursing dreaming moaning in it
waist deep chest deep
in over my head
i eat these words
a whole thesaurus
stuck in my throat

stuck like sweet treacle
or glutinous rice, you say
why does the teacher strike
me with her wooden pipa
as i sing whitney houston for you?
my tongue feels kinda funny
i think i’ll go eat worms

mr neither-here-nor-there
doing a slow limbo rock
lower and lower straddling two halves
there’s a smell of joss
and the crowd is crunching ritz
something’s about to dislocate

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Please complete the two paragraphs in your exercise book and submit on Monday. Thank you.