SPM Talk in SMCC

Date: 21 July 2010
Time: 2-4 p.m.
Venue: Block B, SMCC

Today I gave a talk on SPM English to the students from 5P1, 5P2 and 5S2. 66 students attended the two-hour talk.  My own classes were excluded as I had imparted all the necessary during class lessons. It was a really hot afternoon but the students were great and attentive. All the best in your upcoming trial girls!! May God be with you!

EnglishSMART Programme

Date: 17 July 2010 (Saturday)
Venue: Kluang Lake

The ELDSS of SMK Canossian Convent organised a programme called EnglishSMART today at Kluang Lake. We invited five schools to participate- SMK Teknik, SM Belitong, SMK Tun Husein Onn, SMK Tinggi Kluang and SMK Bandar T6. Altogether, we had 60 students and 26 facilitators. My biggest fear was the rain but I already had a contingency plan for that with the cooperation from the city hall of course. It did rain the night before. Awakened by the rain at 4 a.m., I couldn't sleep anymore thereafter!!  Talk of anxiety...But all praises to God when we arrived at 7.20 the next morning. The rain had stopped and we could run our five activities smoothly till 12.30. We had the front of Dewan Tunku Ibrahim, Kluang Lake all to ourselves as the tai chi group had finished their routine. We had five activities lined up: Ice-breaking, Wordsmith, My Story, Puzzlemania, Find Me. I was impressed with the groups' presentation for 'My Story' particularly.

Overall, I was very pleased with the programme and I must thank the ELDSS committee members, some of whom deserve mention- Abby (president), Chandrika (secretary), Balkees (treasurer), Farah Yasmin (Vice-president), Dewi, Sahsirekah and all the 26 facilitators. Good job girls!!  The evaluation we received was positive and encouraging. Thanks to all participating schools and to Mr Cheng Meng Ang (GPK Co Curriculum) for kindly consenting to give away the prizes and not forgetting Pn Nur Atiffa Atim (Head of Panel, SMK Belitong) and Cik Farhan  (a young and enthusiastic English teacher from SMK Tun Hussein Onn) for assisting me as judges that day. It was all worth it! I hope the ELDSS committee members picked up some very valuable skills on how to organise a district event such as this in the future and of course leadership skills too. With a little bit of imagination, anything is possible. Bravo to all!!

Who snapped this one? I love this!!

My lovely facees!! Girl power!
 

SPM Excellence Seminar for Felda Southern Zone

Date: 10 July 2010 (Saturday)
Venue: Hotel Sri Malaysia, Mersing

A total of 28 selected SPM candidates from the southern zone Felda scheme invited me for a talk. This was arranged a month earlier and I couldn't refuse as it was jointly organised by JPNJ. The number of participants was ideal, as usually one has to cope with over a hundred students.  I asked the students to write down their grades in the PMR and the recent mid-year exam on a piece of paper so as to know my clients and to pitch the talk at the right level. Despite the claim by the organisers that they were 'cemerlang' students, many obtained 50% and below in the mid year exam. I did what I could but I couldn't help feeling that I haven't quite achieved what I wanted to achieve...However, I wish them all the best in the SPM.

I have some issues though for thought. I think it's time organisers and counselors rethink their programmes.  Little can be achieved if you want an exam techniques talk for low proficiency students. What they need is a lot of practice with the language in the classrooms- emphasise on what teachers do in the classrooms. What happens in the four walls of the classroom is most important. You will agree with me that if students are proficient in all the four language skills then they are ready to sit for any exams. The MESSAGE is teach for proficiency. Exam techniques is secondary, as a  way of polishing their performance. I know some of you out there may disagree with me but we really have to change the way we do things. Doing the same things over and over is a definite recipe for failure! Counselors, don't do things for the sake of  doing things... Think for a moment- can such a talk really benefit low proficiency students?  They are already  struggling with the language and do you really want to give them exam techniques? Why not have regular language workshops where target groups are given a lot of language practice in schools instead of a one-off exam techniques talk? Focus on the low and average groups and get teachers to do workshops for them in school. 

British Council Connecting Classrooms Meeting

Date: 15 July 2010
Venue: PPD Kluang

Today we had the second meeting to discuss the state and national seminars for the BCC programme. I really had to drag my feet to this meeting...as I was very unhappy at the way the tasks were allocated in the earlier meeting. I felt 'cheated' as my school had not been registered and therefore technically we shouldn't even be in the committee. Being given the task of MC for this state event was unfair as this is a specialist job. Not everybody can be a MC!!! My suggestions for an experienced MC was rejected despite the fact that she comes from one of the 10  original member schools in the programme. And what has my DG got to do with the whole thing? I found this most annoying!! The 10 original schools should  have been given the most important and challenging tasks (as they had enjoyed the perks from the programme) but I guess they didn't have much confidence at emceeing in the first place :)) This was the reason why they volunteered for 'JK Persiapan Tempat', 'JK Pendaftaran' and the likes.. and guess who got away with many things? In addition, I couldn't stand the passivity of some members of the committee, hardly saying anything and contributing anything. They seemed afraid to voice out their feelings and ideas. It was as if they needed some sort of approval from someone before they could say anything. It was only half-way through the meeting that the magical word  'help', yes that's the right word I'd been waiting for, appeared. So they needed 'help' from my school!! Say so lah from the beginning!! So they finally acknowleged that my school had not been registered. and that's why they needed 'help'.  But why the heck were we given MC and not say registration???

Web 3.0- Move over Web 2.0!

(credit-http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/)

 

Web 3.0: The way forward?

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Thanks to one and all...

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My Newspaper Story

With my students' permission, I'm uploading their photos on the activity we did yesterday. This was a double period lesson on 'My Newspaper Story' in 5S1. You were awesome girls! Here are some notes on the lesson:

Focus: Listening-speaking, writing, creativity
Duration: double period
Materials: newspapers, marker pens mahjong papers, masking tape, scissors, glue
Group work orientation
Procedure:
1. Put ss in groups of 5-6.
2. Give each group a newspaper, mahjong paper, marker pen, scissors and glue.
3. Groups choose, cut and paste pictures that they like (5-10 pictures).
4. Groups create a story based on the pictures.
5. Group reps tell story to the whole class.

Top pict: Jia Hui and her group
2nd from top: Winnie and her group
3rd from top: Mei Xin and company
4th from top: My story in progress
5th from top: Poh Yee and her story
3rd from bottom: Jia Hui, the master storyteller :)
2nd from bottom: After the presentation, display on class walls
Bottom: Qiao Wen, cooking a story

Tuesday's Date with PS (Public-speaking) Programme

This is the second year the English Panel is  running this programme. Last year, we won the Quality Awards from the PPD for the programme. In line with the English Month, the programme is  conducted to give the opportunity to Forms 3-5 students to improve their speaking skills. Bravo girls!! Keep it up!

 

 

Top : Mr Cheng (GPK Koku) picking the names at random.
2nd from top: ss anxiously waiting for the draw
3rd from top and bottom: Form 3 public speakers showing their talent

English Month, July 2010

The launching of the English month and 'Bulan Membaca' took place today in the main hall. I was in charge of the multimedia presentation. Took me a whole Saturday to put those video together. However, the technical glitches spoiled the multimedia presentation. If only we had a good PA system!! (am asking for the moon I know sob sob..). A splitter would have done the job. I was amazed to learn that all these while, the prefects actually coordinated using signals!! But launched it we did. We had the helium-filled balloons as planned. For the 'Bulan Membaca' launching, we had a choir presentation fand awards  for  NILAM . Thanks to  Li Ching and Joyce for helping out! We will do better next time. Here are some of the activities lined up:

• World Cup Soccer Quiz
• Talentime
• Spelling Bee
• Public-speaking
• Merdeka Mesage Competition
• 20-mins activities at the English Zone (Quizzes, Puzzles)

Excellent Teacher's Application

Application for excellent teacher's post is now open: Click the following link:

http://www.moe.gov.my/jnjk/

 

Professional Development Course, Segamat

Date: 1 July 2010 (Thursday)
Venue: SMK Sri Kenangan, Segamat

Young teachers rejuvenate me and I love to be around them! This opportunity presented itself when I ran a half-day course on assessment in Segamat district today. The long journey was all worth it as I was met by a group of about 50 enthusiastic teachers. I was impressed with what they accomplished. Pleased to meet GCs and trainers, Girija, Ngiam and many others. Thanks to Faizah (secretary of Segamat English Panel) for the invitation- the presence of a microphone would have been great though wink wink!). Driving to Pasir Gudang  for the MGC Johor convention after the talk was a different story altogether..rain and thunderstorms, falling trees and lamp posts on the road in Chaah and Yong Peng. Traffic was at a crawl...a big branch actually landed on my wiper but luckily it didn't stay there. I thought of pulling over by the roadside but there were just too many trees. What if they were struck by lightning? I plodded on to Pasir Gudang confidently and arrived safely late in the afternoon only to find out tea was not provided :). Well, the next best thing to do was to check in and take a nap before the night session. I did just that :)

 

MGC Johor Convention 2010

Date: 1-2 July 2010
Venue: Hotel Selesa, Pasir Gudang

I arrived from Segamat for the MGCJ convention 2010 in Pasir Gudang. The opening ceremony was officiated by En Hasidin Zaini (Head, School Sector) from JPN Johor. I missed many input sessions as I coudn't be there earlier. On the final day, our Special Grade C excellent teachers, En Azizul Rahman  Abdul Rahman and En Yap Poh Lai shared their experiences in becoming Special Gred C Excellent Teachers. The convention was closed by Tn Hj Sufaat Tumin, Director of Johor State Education. Prior to that, he delivered input on 'GC Peneraju Inovasi', encouraging GCs to spearhead innovation in schools.

State Level, English Panel Meeting

Date: 30 June 2010
Venue: SMK Sri Lalang, Kluang

This meeting was chaired by En Shanmugananthan Suppiah , Principal Assistant Director (English Unit, JPNJ) to discuss the programmes planned and conducted by all district English Panels in the state. As the vice-chair, of the Kluang District English Panel, I represented my principal  and shared the programmes for the district. We also discussed the programmes JPNJ has lined up for 2010.  New English officers seconded to the PPD from all districts also attended the meeting.

Principals from Johor Bahru (Pn Sallina Hussain) and Muar presenting their district programmes.