how to make a singapore teacher (first semester)

basic stuff:

Module 1: using IT in education (following MOE’s Masterplan to “prepare our students for a different future” using computers, internet and all things fancy)

Module 2: the social context of teaching and learning (to learn the what, why and what else about the infamous “singapore education system” – a bit of propaganda here? :O)

Module 3: the psychology of pupil development & the learning process (the “educational psychology” course – aka “how to handle kids of all shapes, sizes, values & behaviours in your class” course)

Module 4: use of English in teaching (we learn to say “the stork ate the pork with a fork” – not the stock ate the pock with a fock)

for english teachers:

Module 5: grammar (nouns? verbs? adverbs?? interjections??? participles????), reading, writing, listening & speaking (oral communication).. stuff like that..

Module 6: language study (bit of an overlap here, but mainly to teach us how to teach english, so we say jargon like “the use of a pronoun here is inappropriate” vs. just saying “it’s wrong ‘cos.. err.. it’s just sounds wrong, ok???)

for economics teachers:

Module 7: basic approaches to teaching economics (learning how to make shifting demand and supply curves sound fun to a class.. umm… HOW IN THE WORLD DO WE DO THAT??)

this is for all the people who have been wondering what I’m doing in NIE.. there you go, that’s the stuff they want us to learn before allowing us loose in the schools.. :) .. umm... doesn’t look all that much, eh? but gee, quite a lot of assignments, no kidding!!