Going on air using the school's PA system.

Headed by teacher Mrs Xenna Abdalla, the Princess Radio Educational Station Speaking (PRESS) programme is a radio programme for pupils, by pupils. Broadcasting over the school's public address (PA) system every week during curriculum time, the radio station showcases pupil broadcasters who inform, entertain and interact with listeners through stories, news and quizzes. They also encourage listener participation in the form of article contributions, comments and questions which can be placed in a dedicated mailbox in school.

Mrs Abdalla explains, "As the radio programme is presented 'live', we select pupils who take pride in speaking the language well, are proficient in both oral and written English, and have the confidence and spontaneity to carry out their tasks." Pupil broadcasters must be able to select materials that would interest the audience, write the script or dialogue, and ask probing questions on the air.

A team effort

Pupils are fully expressive during rehearsals.

Each radio broadcast lasts between five and 10 minutes, and is scheduled for a different time slot and day of the week. The PRESS programme started off as a fortnightly broadcast in 2007, but it's been so popular and effective that it's now a weekly affair.

Pri 6 pupil broadcaster Kassandra Tan Xue Qi gives the lowdown on how a radio broadcast is developed. "Two of us work together as a team, and we choose suitable articles and reports from the newspapers or the Internet. They can be based on themes like school life, National Education, being kind to animals or people, good health habits, interesting events happening in the world, or natural disasters."

Mrs Abdalla then vets the materials and practises with the pupils before they go on air. Pri 6 pupil broadcaster Amanda Tan recounts her experience. "I felt confident as I had practised many times with my partner, as well as once in front of the class. When we spoke over the PA system, there was no audience looking at us, so I had nothing to fear. All the expressions had to be in our voices as our listeners cannot see our faces. I learnt to be very expressive in my oral presentation."

Her on-air partner and classmate Sherry Sun adds, "I like the programme as it's an opportunity for us to practise fluency in public speaking and reading aloud. I was somewhat nervous at first, but I also felt proud that I was given the responsibility to put my best foot forward, to be a role model in good reading and speaking."

For the school's listening pleasure

With good language skills, the pupils are able to independently make changes to their scripts before broadcast.

The benefits aren't just for those pupils who make the broadcast. Listeners can pick up a lot from the PRESS programme too. Pri 6 pupils Saiful Mumin says, "It's interesting and helps me in my listening comprehension." His classmate Chong Yih Xuan agrees. "It's a form of relaxation to listen to this programme. This is good after a morning of studying." Most pupils say they learn to pronounce new words, read aloud with expression and find out more about the world from the broadcasts.

The PRESS programme has also inspired listeners to go on air too. "I'm quite shy about facing an audience, and I think being on a radio talk show will help me overcome this fear gradually," shares Pri 5 pupil Gan Li En. His classmate Kumaran s/o Selvaratnam chimes in, "Being on the radio programme will improve my speaking skills. I also want my parents to be proud of me."

The school is happy with what the PRESS programme has achieved. "Our analysis of examination results revealed a quantum leap in the key performance indicators for the listening and oral components of the language assessments," says Mrs Abdalla.

So bigger plans are afoot. "In 2009, the objective of the PRESS programme is to provide a platform to hone broadcasters' writing and oral presentation skills through script-writing and role-reading," says Mrs Abdalla.

This term, pupils are working in groups of five or six to adapt narrative texts into scripts with dialogues for role-reading. Mrs Abdalla explains, "This can help to hone expressiveness in oral delivery and to give meaning and purpose to reading aloud." It will also inject more fun for both the broadcasters and their audience, and get them to actively learn and use the English language.

On one of the PRESS programme's broadcast, five pupils gave a captivating narration of a story called "Shark Attack". Click on the clip below to listen.