Shalni, founder of Simply English, describes her journey into teaching as entirely accidental. In this interview, she shares what keeps her passionate about the English language, what she has learnt from years of working with students and parents, and why she believes that confidence and consistency matter far more than any secret formula. It is a candid and refreshing conversation about language, learning and the long game.
Hi, Shalni. As the founder of Simply English, you’ve mentioned your journey into teaching as accidental. So what first drew you in, and what kept you there?
I understand and love English. To me, that was the most natural area to teach really. I generally love languages and like to learn them. So teaching English, a language 🙂, seemed like the most natural thing. I never really considered anything else. Let’s just say English was my strong suit!
In your experience, what does “success” in studying English look like?
Success is when the work becomes “not work” 🙂 Success is when you understand inference or try to, you pick up words and improve vocabulary. Success is when you want to find out more just for the sake of it and can say you like it.
What are some of the most underrated but important values to keep in mind when studying English?
Consistency – always consistency. Keep at it – read, note the words, take them down, build vocabulary.
Many people expect there to be a “secret formula” to performing well in English examinations. In your experience, how different is the reality from that expectation?
I know many say that there is. Sure, when it comes to exams and stuff, definitely there are answering techniques and concepts and rules to follow. Again, though, as with everything, it is about effort and consistency.
What would confidence look like when students face an English examination paper?
Confidence is when you look at the paper and don’t immediately panic! It doesn’t mean you know everything. It means you stay calm, read carefully, infer meaning from context, and just attempt it. That comes from practice. Always back to practice.
Consistency sounds simple, but it’s often hard to maintain. What does real consistency look like in practice?
It is doing some work on English every day – some grammar or vocabulary MCQ, writing down words they don’t know the meanings of and finding the meaning, reviewing the growing collection of vocabulary and using the words, reading a page or two at least 2-3 times a week. Basically, look at it every day for about 15-20 minutes. Believe me, it makes a big difference and competence will grow.
Language learning is a long game – not many quick wins but when the wins come, they stay 🙂
What are the most common struggles you see among your students?
Writing and having ideas of what to write about, keeping to theme. Understanding what theme is another one.
For someone who feels stuck, what small habits would you recommend they start with?
Just keep at it every day. Read, do a word search, play boggle or scrabble, speak properly (not Singlish), work on pronunciation… Nothing is easy at the beginning. My advice for consistency is the advice for this.
How do you help students stay accountable and maintain momentum over time?
That is a tough one, because I only see them once a week for 2 hours.
I give small pieces of homework every week. I try to give different sections, such as MCQ, synthesis, comprehension and I advise them to do 1 section a day. 10 grammar MCQ takes you 7 minutes or so; practising and reading out an oral passage takes 5 minutes… they have the time. They just don’t think of homework as doable in chunks. They think they have to tackle it in one go, and then they believe they don’t have the time.
Of course, Composition and OE comprehension do need more time and need to be done in one sitting. When I assign those, I don’t give other work.
What are some common myths about studying English that you wish more people would unlearn?
The myth is that we do not need to work at it and that speaking broken English or speaking Singlish all the time is alright. What we need to learn is to code-switch – speak according to the context or situation.
Like everything, you need to work at the language to master it. And if we can’t speak broken Chinese, broken Malay, broken Tamil etc, why is broken English acceptable?
How important is reading outside of the school syllabus, and what kinds of materials would you recommend?
Well, I think it is quite important to read, to explore words and worlds and ideas. Most people will strongly disagree with me on this, but I think let them read what they like first – within reason of course.
For those who have it in them to sit and read, the popular comic-like books, books with humour, picture books are a good start. Then slowly grow from there.
For those who do not like to sit and read a book, “listen” to them instead – the world of audiobooks is HUGE and amazing! You can get a good selection through the NLB’s Libby app and it is free! Better than that, it is automatically returned on the due date so you don’t incur fines haha. This was a lifesaver for me with my second child – not a reader, very active. I had these books playing in the car, at home, at bedtime. Even now, when he is much older, he listens to the old books and now he reads in moderation 🙂
The short format of news and articles nowadays are also actually good for non-readers – they get the gist of the issue without having to get through a whole tome. They learn some contextual vocabulary and walk away with something rather than nothing.
We need to be a little flexible and go with what works. The bottom line is that we read – in whatever format.
Do you think creative writing and oral communication are given enough emphasis in schools today?
No I do not think they are. However, again, there really isn’t enough time to do everything! There is an awareness of the importance in the syllabus, but then the syllabus is very dense and there is not enough time to do everything. That is my opinion 🙂 Children should be made to present and speak often. We have frameworks, but frankly, the children don’t “get” the frameworks. They don’t understand that PEERS, PEEEL, OREOS etc are frameworks for logical explanation and speaking to persuade.
For writing, children need to be able to just write without having to worry about “good” words and phrases. Then they will see the fun in writing, the joy in writing because they can create a world of their own through writing.
Unless they are given the time, our students will have only scratched the surface.
Education is a tripartite relationship in my opinion – Student, Parent, School.
This is where family comes in – to create the environment for exploration and fill in the gaps. Schools can build the foundation, but they cannot do everything.
If you could give just one piece of advice to students struggling with English, what would it be?
Understand that like Math, Science or any other subject they study, English needs time and practice too. We may speak English at home, but that’s not the same as an exam situation. So please give it time. It is something you will speak for the rest of your life! English is not just to pass exams – that’s the immediate or short term view of it. Look at it for the long term!
What mindset would you like every student at Simply English to carry with them on their academic or personal journey?
Curiosity – ask questions, find out, think. Don’t just accept or even “switch off”. For example, if they come across a word they do not understand, they will try to infer and then also look up the meaning.
Consistency – be regular – don’t just intermittently get to something when you have an exam. Write these words down in a vocab book (this is something we do in class) no matter what and try to use the words.
Courage – to try new things, to feel uncomfortable, to understand and accept that you do not know everything and then do something about it.
For more on Simply English and our approach to English tuition, visit simplyenglishsg.com.