Online workshop on pedagogy and assessment in Off Centre by Haresh Sharma

Tue, 21 Jul 2020
1 min read
Add Comment

I had the privilege, a fortnight ago, of conducting a bespoke online workshop for teachers on pedagogy and assessment in Off Centre by Haresh Sharma.

For participants who signed up, I got a sensing of what they wanted – and needed – to know before designing the workshop to meet their needs.

The eventual workshop objectives:

  • To use reframing as a strategy to creatively employ pedagogical strategies when teaching Off Centre in the classroom.
  • To consider diagnostic methods that identify both students’ learning gaps for national examinations and appropriate learning interventions.

An overview of what was covered:

  1. Introduction
  2. Pedagogy in Off Centre
    1. Sharing of ideas
    2. Activity 1: Brainstorming
    3. Activity 2: Discussion
  3. Break
  4. Assessment in Off Centre
    1. Sharing of ideas
    2. Activity 3: Discussion
  5. Conclusion

Off Centre: A Necessary Resource

Mon, 20 Jul 2020
2 min read
6 Comments

OFF CENTRE: A NECESSARY RESOURCE
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY ALVIN TAN, LAREMY LEE AND AKANKSHA RAJA

Off Centre: A Necessary Resource is the much-awaited guide to Off Centre, one of Singapore’s most celebrated plays. This resource guide comprises material that will greatly benefit all educators and students of Off Centre. It features pedagogical notes, insights on the play, as well as a question and answer section with the playwright, Haresh Sharma.

Off Centre made history in 2007 by being the first Singapore play selected by the Ministry of Education to be offered as a GCE O- and N-Level literature text. The play, best remembered for presenting an honest and unflinching look at mental illness and the social prejudices surrounding it, has been back on the syllabus since 2018.

Off Centre: A Necessary Resource also features:

  • Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage, Alvin Tan shares his insight on directing and staging Off Centre
  • Educator Laremy Lee provides a useful guide on approaching narrative, characters, themes, and theatrical and stylistic devices in the play
  • Journalist Akanksha Raja reflects on her experience studying Off Centre

Off Centre: A Necessary Resource is available at The Necessary Stage and other select bookstores.

Email admin@necessary.org to purchase a copy now.

Retail Price: $16.00
ISBN No. 978-981-11-8956-2

Hands Down at Going Local 4

Mon, 15 Jun 2015
1 min read
Add Comment

Going Local 4 (2015)
Going Local 4 (2015)

My play, Hands Down, will be staged as part of Buds Theatre Company’s Going Local 4.

Hands Down is a comedy about a married couple that finds themselves facing off in a challenge to see who can keep their hands on a car for the longest period of time in order to win it.

The catch: whoever puts his or her hand down first loses the car – and the marriage to boot.

This year’s Going Local comprises four short plays, including Dressing Up by Gwendolyn Lee, Don’t Colour Outside Of The Lines by Jaryl George Solomon and The Untitled Funeral Play by Luke Vijay Somasundram.

There are four shows, as follows:

  • Fri, 26 June, 8pm, Tampines Primary School Black Box
  • Sat, 27 June, 7:30pm, Toa Payoh Central Community Centre
  • Fri, 3 July and Sat, 4 July, 8pm, Zhenghua Community Centre

Standard tickets are $20 while concession tickets (for students, senior citizens and national servicemen) are $15.

And if you’re a PAssion Card Holder, you get 10% off ticket prices.

Book your tickets here. If you’d like to, you can read the 2012 version of Hands Down here.