When you are a PSLE teacher, every day brings about new revelations.

Teachers often urge students to read extensively, claiming that doing so will help them improve their English. However, I beg to differ when it comes to Continuous Writing. I argue that it takes a specific skill set for one to ace this section.

I find this book I’m currently reading so charming that I can’t help but record down the Show Not Tell phrases that I think would be useful for my students (and children). Take “Splotchy red rage bloomed on her sun-tanned face” for instance. I like it because we don’t often come across the term “splotchy red rage” and it’s just fun to imagine it juxtaposed against a sun-kissed face.

But will I recommend it to my students wholeheartedly? I will have to say nope because the teachers — conditioned by the Singaporean paradigm — will credit more explosive forms of anger in which students use more vivid verbs and adjectives. I will be more likely to get students to Regurgitate “My face furrowed into a scrowl, I felt like a raging bull ready to charge.”