11-week English Language Programme in Brunei and Hawaii

Here's a professional development programme just for you! Do apply peeps. Closing date is in April.

Happy teaching!

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

PLC and Lesson Study

Radhika took the students for a tour
for the set induction..a novel idea!

Alhamdulillah, we had two observations and lesson studies last thursday. The first was conducted by Radhika in 1 Majah and the second was Nash's class in 3 Sina. Both of them did a wonderful job and everyone in the panel gave their support. My utmost thanks to Nash for agreeing at the last minute to have observation and lesson study at the same time. He must have been under a lot of pressure but in all honesty, he was God-sent!

This young teacher has a lot of potential and is serious about his work. I've been waiting for a long, long time for such a teacher. It was just heart-warming. English is not dead after all!!! Granted, many prepare extra hard for an observation class but that's absolutely fine. Do what you have to do to get a good mark and Nash did just that. He executed the lesson so well especially his set induction and a creative way of making students come forward to participate. The only part that could have been improved was by not having too many activities after the paragraphs were written and displayed. The error-correction part could be another single period I felt, but all in all it was a well-thought out lesson. During our post-visit discussion, everyone had something positive to say about both lessons. Focusing on the plus points was a good way to start.

The picture on 'gotong-royong'
 that Nash used in his lesson :)

As a senior teacher, the lesson reminded me of myself preparing for an observation (I'm still observed twice a year) It also reminded me of the many classes I had to observe in my teaching career and there are indeed many stories to tell...one that I remember vividly was that of a not-so-young teacher who coolly sat down while observation was taking place in her class. I blamed myself for the lack of respect she showed to me. Perhaps she had wanted an administrator to do the observation not an excellent teacher.

I  wish this young teacher the very best in his career. More often than not I encounter those who fizzle out after being posted to school- young grads who are roaring to go so to speak but somehow end up 'stunted' or 'lost' by external factors? I pray that he keeps his focus in teaching and not be swayed by co curricular responsibilities (seen too many) and other non-teaching responsibilities for the simple fact that we need good teachers in school for our children. We owe it to them!


Enjoy the picts.

Kudos to the both teachers and the English panel!


Happy teaching!

Nash' class - writing a speech

Radhika in action- the simple present tense

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

English Enrichment Project for Johor

Date   : 24th February 2016
Venue: Bilik Kesumba, JPNJ

It was really nice to be called for this meeting last wednesday in JPNJ. A little bit of action does not hurt anyone :) This collaboration between JPNJ and UTM was sealed in response to the recent call by the Chief Minister on the need to arrest the decline in English in Johor. And there we were till 5.15 p.m. with the professors and docs from UTM brainstoming on how UTM can render assistance. Further meetings and workshop will be held to fine-tune things.

It was especially great, Alhamdulillah, to meet Che Tah (of Essex days), now professor and old schoolmate in English College, JB, Dr Fauziah. Always wonderful to learn friends are doing well. May Allah keep this friendship till jannah. It was good too meeting Irene, Mr Shan, Azean, Ramesh and many more old friends. Hope all goes well and Johor will enjoy the benefits of the programmes.

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

MELTA 25th International Conference 2016

Get new ideas and network in the upcoming MELTA international conference. Click link to their facebook for more information.

https://www.facebook.com/meltamalaysia/

 
Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Happy Chinese New Year

To all friends and students,
Have a great Chinese New Year!

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

2 stars and a wish!

What we did in 5 Khawarizmi last week- a lesson in paragraph-writing.


Topic: Paragraph-writing
Time: double-period
Materials : mah jongs, marker pens, lots of post-it notes in different colours, masking tape
Procedure:
1. Get SS to recall 6-7 words studied from previous lessons. (a mix of verbs and nouns)
2. Put SS in groups of four and give them mah jong papers, marker pens. ( I had 6 groups therefore 6 stations)
3. In groups, they create a story in one paragraph (Yes, one. The aim is quality)
4. Groups must underline the words chosen to show they have used them correctly.
5. Gallery Walk- SS rotate clockwise and evaluate other group's work. They use 2 stars (positive comments) and a wish (what/how the group can do better). I learned this in the Differentiated Learning Course by ELTECs. The idea is assessment for learning can be done in the classroom while activities are taking place. Assessment need not be done by the teacher all the time but can also be done by peers.What did I do? I underlined the errors made on the mah jong papers and highlight them to the group :)


Give it a try peeps!
Happy teaching!

Today SS learn how to assess their friend's work by awarding them 2 stars and a wish ")

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Teacher Talk : Journaling

Been a while since I posted teacher talk matters. Here's one I received today :)

 

......@gmail.com>

To

rahmah

Today at 1:06 PM

 

salam puan..how are you? i hope school is better this year compared to 2015 :) remember last year i wrote to you about journaling project? i actually started it out with my form 3 students this year (on the 2nd week of school). i asked the students to write once a week (and of course they can write more if they want to) My question is that, am i suppose to read and give comments only OR should i underline the mistakes that they did (without correcting them) ? im not sure what i need to do after reading all of their entries. hihi.. so far im enjoying myself because the students need to do all the hard work while i just need to mark once a month ( at least this can the only reason for them to write outside of the classroom) if its not too much to ask, can you share how you mark your ss journals? hope to hear from you soon. May ALLAH bless all your hard work (teaching the ss, sharing materials on your blog etc etc) 

 

regards,

xxx

                                                                                             

A lovely journal by one of my girls in SMK Canossian Convent :)

 

My reply

Wassallam, i'm fine Alhamdulillah. Good to hear from you and happy to know that you are taking up journal writing ☺. Since you want to encourage ss to write, comments will be more suitable than endless underlinings. I would encourage writing fluency in this case. You can highlight some glaring errors if you want but i will not do it too often. That can be done in the other tasks you give them. I hope you dont mind me sharing this in my blog. Your name will be anonymous of course. All the best!

 Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH