‘The Comm Studies’ boss’ book makes passing exam easier for students
Freelance Correspondent
Vanessa Ramoutar-Singh, a teacher with 20 years of experience, has had the privilege of educating numerous President’s Medal winners and scholarship winners.
She has recently added another accolade to her resume with the publication of a book for CAPE students. The new author has written a textbook called CAPE Communication Studies Multiple-Choice Booklet, which contains ten practice tests, ten answer sheets, an explanation for each question, and many more. Ramoutar-Singh said she was the first teacher in the Caribbean to release a textbook of this kind.
“It’s the first text in the Caribbean written by a Trinidadian teacher for students across the Caribbean to help them ace this exam because there was nothing like this before, and now we have the new topics and new changes that were made to the syllabus. It is a learning resource, and it is for teachers and students,” she said.
Ramoutar-Singh was inspired to write the book when she noticed the challenges students face when doing Communication Studies. What motivated her to publish this book was the realisation of her expertise and professional growth in the subject, which she used as her guideline when creating it.
She further explained, “I have been teaching CAPE Communication Studies from the inception, and I am aware of students’ challenges over the years. There has never been a book like this before, especially with the new syllabus and with my past President’s Medal winners. I am highly reputable, so that is why I was able to use my knowledge and expertise to put it into creating this book.”
Since the book is now accessible to the general public, the St Augustine Girls’ High School (SAGHS) teacher’s main goal is to improve the students’ readiness and make sure they can complete the paper methodically and thoroughly to get a good exam grade. It may seem that writing this book was ‘smooth sailing’, but Ramoutar-Singh explained that it was no easy task.
“This book was in progress for quite some time, and when I was ready to print, CXC held a workshop at the end of August, a week and a half before school reopened, saying that they are having a revised syllabus. I decided to pause and wait to see what those changes were, and when I attended the workshop, significant changes were made to the syllabus, so significant that I had to go and revisit the book after I had created it,” she said.
This challenge put strain on her mentally, emotionally, and physically. However, she did not let that deter her as she went over everything, taking out the old questions, adding in the new topics, changing the answers, and writing over the explanations, which resulted in her coming out with the book at the end of September 2024.
Labelled by her students, ‘The Comm Studies Boss’, Ramoutar-Singh came from humble beginnings growing up in the Chaguanas area. She spoke proudly about her parents, who instilled in her the value of having an education, which made her into the strong, independent woman she is today. Ramoutar-Singh shares her knowledge with young girls, where she teaches to empower them and teach them the importance of having a sound education.
Explaining the main reason she decided to become an educator, Ramoutar-Singh said, “It’s because of my love for kids from a very young age. I actually started out teaching at the Form Six level. I had my own lessons; I started doing my own private tuition, and eventually, I started working at private institutions before I got into SAGHS.”
The respected and dedicated educator added, “I have been working at private institutions in Trinidad, doing a range of things such as CAPE Communication Studies, Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) English A, and I once did SEA English A and SEA Creative Writing. This made me look at the process of children from young to much older, and working with them helped me as an educator; that is why I wanted to become a teacher.”
‘The Comm Studies Boss’ stated she does not exactly have a favourite moment of being a teacher but said that she enjoys spending time with the children, hearing about their stories on what is going on in their lives, and seeing them succeed.
Some of her past students include President’s Medal winners Ryker Harricharan and Nishka Maharaj in 2023, Saira Mohammed in 2022, Nikeesha Nancoo in 2021, Amrit Galbaran in 2020, and Saanjali Maharaj in 2017.
She also taught students who were placed in the top ten regional merit lists in the Caribbean.
To get more info on Ramoutar-Singh, you can follow her on Instagram @vramoutarsingh_comm_studies and Facebook “Communication Studies with V Ramoutar-Singh.”
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