When I taught Subject Verb Agreement (SVA) for the first time last year, I received this flowchart from a teacher named Ms Wu Huishan.

I initially wondered why she had to go to such an extent, conjuring superheroes into the mix.

Then, I realised SVA is the hardest thing to teach because the kids just don’t remember the rules. So, since I was teaching 13-year-old students, I thought I would use role play.

I would be the letter ‘S’ and force an unwilling male student (Student A) to hold my hand to illustrate SVA.

I would then ask another student, Student B, to hold hands with Student A. Student A would then release my hand, thus making me sad.

I expected them to recall the rules of SVA easily because 1) they are at the age when they are experimenting with relationships, 2) seeing their classmates hold hands would send them into explosive guffaws. I assumed that I had created an indelible memory.

Their lackluster results proved otherwise.

This year, I wasn’t about to go down the same route since role play wasn’t that effective. I thought I would try chanting. It seemed like a juvenile method, but emboldened by my experience as a Science teacher, I thought I would give it a shot. In a previous life, I would get kids to chant “Mound On Bread, Yeast Make Bread” whenever we encountered a question on fungi.

So, my experience with regard to chanting is that there should be two parts, each part comprising three words.

I have a total of 4 chants. And this is how I apply them:

Yes, I force them to recite the chants every other lesson. I think it is working out better than role play.