ELL Facilities

Primary English Language (PEL) Classroom

Located in the basement of NIE’s Block 3, the PEL Classroom is one of the English Language and Literature department’s special rooms. Designed as an ideal classroom for the lower primary, the classroom presents to student teachers what an engaging teaching and learning environment for lower primary school children can and should be.

The room features the different literacy areas of English, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Oral communication is critical in the early years, and this can be seen in the way the room has been designed to offer opportunities for children to listen and speak in a variety of literacy activities. Immersion in a print rich environment is also critical for early literacy where children are at the foundation stage of language acquisition and are learning to read before they subsequently progress to reading to learn. The PEL room has been designed with that in mind. A large collection of books (big books, small books, audio books), children’s writing, posters and labels are found in the room. Children learn to read from big books and read to learn from the learning centres for English, Mathematics and Science. The learning centres and literacy activity areas have been arranged to integrate seamlessly with the classroom design. Apart from functioning as a “model” classroom, the PEL classroom is also a resource room for teachers. The room displays different types of lower primary teaching and learning resources that teachers can use for their lessons.

The PEL classroom has, over the years, hosted a number of international and local visitors. This is definitely one of the ‘must-visit’ special rooms during a campus tour. The room has been thoughtfully designed with a central theme in mind. Should you get a chance to visit the room, do see if you can figure out what the theme is.  

Upper Primary Classroom

 Located in the basement of NIE’s Block 3, the Upper Primary Classroom is one of the English Language and Literature department’s special rooms. Designed as an ideal classroom for the upper primary, the classroom presents to student teachers what an engaging teaching and learning environment for upper primary school children can and should be.

In keeping with the English Language Syllabus that advocates developing a solid foundation in English, the room has been designed to feature the different literacy areas of English: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Avenues for developing language through vocabulary and grammar can also be found in the room. The room additionally features a print rich environment suitable for the upper primary grade levels where children have progressed from the learning to read to the reading to learn stage. Books, children’s writing and posters suitable for the upper primary grade levels are found in the room. Literacy activity areas have been arranged to integrate seamlessly with the classroom design. Additionally, furniture within this room has deliberately been chosen for its movability to allow for a variety of configurations from teacher-centred to student-centred arrangements with a variety of permutations from teacher fronted to small group instruction to all group or group plus some individual work possibilities. Apart from functioning as a “model” classroom, the Upper Primary classroom is also a resource room for teachers. The room displays different types of upper primary teaching and learning resources that teachers can use for their lessons.

The Upper Primary classroom has also been thoughtfully designed with a central theme in mind. Should you get a chance to visit the room, do see if you can figure out what the theme is. Do visit this special room should you have the opportunity to do so.