ENGLISH Vocabulary and Writing

Yours truly is in blogging mood 😊 Here's a best-selling book which Jenny Ho and I co-wrote a few years back. I was informed by the publisher (NILAM) that this book is popular with teachers. Many have asked me if this book is the same as Writing (21st century approach). No it isn't. This one deals with vocabulary which later leads to writing while the latest is solely on writing. You can get hold of this book online, in MPH or contact Mr Tee (+60 12-306 2853) 

Happy teaching!

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

21st Century Approach to Writing - writing collaboratively and creatively

Bismillah...the lazy bug has hit me for a while so I was MIA. Well, am back!  😊

Here's a book I co-wrote with good friend and SISC + , Fuziana Ali. The underlying idea behind the book is simple. Writing is a challenge for our students. It is arguably the most difficult of the four skills in language learning. Therefore we need to break down writing into manageable chunks/steps. Gone are the days when you walk into a classroom and present students with a topic, briefly discuss it and ask them to write almost immediately (I was taught writing this way in secondary school in the 70's - teachers were not creative enough perhaps due to the lack of resources at that time)  

We need to employ pre-writing strategies for our students at the beginning so that they do not view writing as something frightening and overwhelming. Through pre-writing, students gain more confidence on the topic before they actually launch into the full writing at the end of the steps. Also, in keeping with PAK21, I thought it would be good to break away from the traditional way of teaching writing by having teachers integrate some collaborative strategies into the lesson. We would like students to be able to talk/discuss a topic before they start writing an essay. Hence, you will find some practical strategies incorporated in the units. Bear in mind that not all the cooperative/collaborative strategies are suitable for a writing lesson however, hence, my co-writer and I have selected those that are relevant.

In addition, I would also like to challenge teachers to reflect on how they have been teaching writing in the classroom through this book. The book is not meant to be prescriptive and teachers being adaptable creatures can adopt and adapt as necessary. Some of the units in this book have been tried and tested in my own classrooms with encouraging results. Student motivation increased when they were given the opportunity to "talk" about a topic before writing the final essay. They felt less intimidated. 

I certainly hope the book will help teachers and students make that much needed improvement in writing. Don't rush writing teachers! You have to let students go through the process and from then on learn some good writing skills. It may take 4-6 periods per lesson before they can produce a good piece of writing depending on your students' level. With better students you can go faster and with the poorer ones, you just need to pace it well and pitch it to your students' level. Do give it a try and of course, your feedback is much appreciated. You can email me at rahmahs@yahoo.com or leave a message here on my blog 😊



You can get the book by

• contacting Mr Tee at 012-3062853 (Nilam Publication). (The book is not available in local bookshops)
• MPH
• visiting NILAM publication

Happy teaching!






Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Descriptive Writing: Shared Sensory Writing with 5 Abu Hanifah and 5 Farabi

Hi peeps! Time to add that spice to my teaching 😊😊😊 This is a wonderful mini-writing that you can try in your class. I found it here -http://secondaryenglishcoffeeshop.blogspot.com/2017/04/collaborative-writing-activities.html

Anyway here's a quick guide on how to carry it out:

1. Put SS in groups of three.
2. Get each group to describe an object e.g. a pencil, a bunch of keys (preferably have the objects ready but I didn't have them ready. I had them look around the library and choose the objects they liked)
3. Revise the five senses quickly. Then get them to choose three senses.
4. Each SS will take one sense and describe the object chosen using that sense in note form. (I used sticky notes because they are colourful)
5. Then groups piece them together and write a descriptive paragraph.

A neat writing task don't you think? I wanted to share this with the Batu Pahat teachers yesterday during the workshop but didn't want to keep them in the hot room for too long sigh...Anyway give it a try teachers.

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Mini-plots with 5 Abu Hanifah

Do your students complain of not being able to elaborate their essays? Or not have ideas to write? Well, if you have the same problems I do then you can try this lesson in your next class.

TIME: double period

MATERIALS: 

1. Essay titles ( one per group). Since I'm focussing on the narrative and descriptive essays, I give them relevant titles related to the two genres.

2. Mah jongs, marker pens, masking tape

STEPS:

1. In groups of 4, SS discuss a mini-plot for the title given. the mini-plot must consist of an introduction, development, climax, falling action and denouement.

2. Groups paste their mah jongs on walls so that you have 5 stations (depending on the number of groups you have).

3. 3 stray 1 stay: 1 member will stay to explain the mini-plot to other groups while 3 members will be going round to other groups to look for for information or learn about idea generation from other groups. After the three members return, they in turn explain other groups mini-plots to the 1 member.

4. T reviews group's language errors and recaps lesson.

5. SS individually write essay as homework.

Happy teaching!

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Forthcoming book - Writing to Score

In sha Allah...will be published by August this year. Here's a teaser: a guided writing book that incorporates 21st century learning ideas for use in the classroom. Writing is a very complex process so Fuziana (co-writer) and I are helping teachers to break down the writing process into manageable parts whilst at the same time integrating best practices from our teaching experience. The current title is 'Writing to Score' but who knows, in the process, things may change 😊May Allah accept our contribution to the ESL classroom. Ameen. 

Happy teaching peeps!






Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Writing Introductory Paragraphs - Form 5 Abu Hanifah and 5 Al Farabi

Hi peeps! Hope you're still in one piece. It's the 6th week of teaching next week...which means we've survived five weeks already 😃 💪💪 I feel rejuvenated this year. Not sure why :) Just hope that I'm well so I can prepare and teach well. It's so rewarding to be able to carefully plan a lesson and execute and see the impact (that's three 'and's by the way). Well, here's another sharing from me. This is a writing lesson, specifically on how to write introductory paragraphs. You'll find the materials below. By the way the key to the the worksheet is: 

a. dialogue

b. listing

c. question

d. personal experience

e. general statement

f. quotation

h. opinion

Try it! Happy teaching peeps 😍

1. The lesson plan
2. The Opening paragraphs worksheet





Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Do you ask your students to copy essays?

I used to be very skeptical about transcribing aka copying 😕 Does copying essays blindly for example do any good to a student's language development? To be honest I loathed the idea when I first heard about it. I googled this topic but I couldn't find anything that supports its use in the classroom. But then I realised we have different teaching situations. Some of us are lucky to have good students but the majority do not. ( I'm marking my students' trial 2 essays now and sometimes you feel like you want to cry 😢 reading their essays but I always console myself by praying for them for I believe in the power of prayer 😍)

Do I use transcribing now? Yes! But I've decided to change the way it's usually done. I've thus used two methods:

Method 1: SS transcribe stories and generate 5-8 questions on the story to check for understanding. (Mind you, the students are bad at question formation 😃😏 This can be an area for action research for those who are looking for a topic)

Method 2: Remove target vocabulary (single words and phrases....because research says we learn words better in chunks) from narrative, factual, argumentative texts and get students to copy while filling in the blanks. See the sample below.

Not innovative enough? Well, it has worked so far for my students. What works is sometimes better than what's innovative. I make sure I choose the words/phrases carefully before I delete them. Rather than copy something blindly, give them tasks based on the text (mine is usually a narrative by the way). The samples below are self-explanatory I think. Pardon the handwritten part. Yours truly have tried to type them for two months now but simple couldn't complete the task hahah! 

Give it a try peeps and tell me how it goes.

Happy teaching!

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Lesson Plan: Formal Letter

In case you're teaching formal letter next week like I intend to, you can use the following materials. Click on the image to download.

Happy teaching!

Click on the image

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

Teaching descriptive composition in 5 Bukhari

Dear all, am sharing this lesson plan that I carried out last week in 5 Bukhari. Do try it in your classroom and see how it goes. You know it would be nice to get some feedback on what challenges you face in carrying this out. It would be very professional teacher talk! Hope to hear from you :)

DAY/DATE	TUESDAY		17/1/2017
FORM	5 BUKHARI	TIME	2.30-4.00	NO. OF SS	20
THEME	People
TOPIC	Descriptive Composition
LEARNING OBJECTIVES	By the end of the lesson, you will be able to: 1. Describe a place using descriptive words in about 80 words.
SUCCESS CRITERIA	I will be successful if I can 1. Write a description of a place in 80 words in grammatically correct sentences.
TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITIES	1. Hi-5 warmer activity: T distributes a pink sheet of paper to each ss. 2. SS trace their left or right hand on the paper. 3. T sensitises SS with the five senses in writing a descriptive composition: sense of touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell and SS label them on the five fingers. 4. T writes a description of a room on whiteboard and get SS to identify words/phrases that depict the five senses. e.g. smell of urine, small and dark, loud opera music. Use red marker pen to circle the words/phrases. 5. SS individually choose from a choice of 9 topics and write a short description using the five senses. 6. Teacher evaluates SS work in the class period.
TEACHING AIDS/RESOURCES	Pink papers, Rahmah HS, English SPM Module, Nilam Publication
21ST CENTURY ELEMENTS	Collaboration / Creativity / PBL SS centeredness / Communication / Critical thinking / I-THiNK Maps Task-based /
REFLECTION

(What SS in Bukhari came out with)

Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH

First week's lesson plans

Happy New Year 2017! May this new year bring barakah and rahmah to all of us and may Allah keep us all healthy and happy!

Here are some lesson plans for my classes this week. Feel free to use and share with others!


FORM 2 KATHIR AND QAYYIM

DAY/DATE	SUNDAY		1/1/2017
FORM	2 KATHIR	TIME	11.00-12.30	NO. OF SS	26
THEME	People
TOPIC	Informal letter
LEARNING STANDARD	Writing informal Letters
LEARNING OBJECTIVES	By the end of the lesson, you will be able to:.         1. Understand the format of an informal letter 2.  Complete an informal letter in 200 words
SUCCESS CRITERIA	I will be successful if I can 1.     Write a letter to a pen pal in 200 words using the correct format
TEACHING &  LEARNING ACTIVITIES	1.     T elicits when does someone write an informal letter 2.     Group work: Label the parts of an informal letter 100% correctly 3.     Complete a letter about a trip to a tea plantation using 20/24 phrases correctly 4.     Using 5 place-mats, ss generate ideas on what they did during the holidays 5.     SS write an informal letter based on the task given
TEACHING AIDS/RESOURCES	Envelopes with task,  handouts, informal letter template
21ST CENTURY ELEMENTS	Collaboration / Creativity / PBL SS centeredness / Communication / Critical thinking / I-THiNK Maps Task-based /
SCHOOL-BASED ASSESSMENT	1 2 3 4 5 / 6
REFLECTION

MATERIALS:
1. Labels for informal letter
2. Letter frame
3. Writing an informal letter (gapped) -credit: Teacher Nuha



FORM 5 BUKHARI AND GHAZALI

Lesson Plan 1

DAY/DATE	SUNDAY		1/1/2017
FORM	5 BUKHARI	TIME	9.00-10.00	NO. OF SS	20
THEME	People
TOPIC	Writing introductions
LEARNING OBJECTIVES	By the end of the lesson, you will be able to: 1.       Write an interesting introduction based on the topic “Chocolates are everyone’s favourite”  in 70 words satisfactorily
SUCCESS CRITERIA	I will be successful if I can 1.       Understand main ideas and elaborations 2.       Write an introduction using one of the introduction styles taught satisfactorily 3.       Use the correct tense in the paragraph
TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITIES	1.      T elicits from ss what makes a piece of writing interesting to read: content, language, characters, suspense, the introduction 2.      T shows a sample essay with an interesting introduction on       screen 3.      T shows different ways to start and essay and SS guess what       techniques are used 4.      Groupwork task: SS write an introduction to the question set
TEACHING AIDS/RESOURCES	LCD, slides, coloured papers, handouts, main ideas + supporting details organiser
21ST CENTURY ELEMENTS	Collaboration / Creativity / PBL SS centeredness / Communication / Critical thinking / I-THiNK Maps Task-based /
REFLECTION

MATERIALS:
1. Opening paragraphs
2. Cats make excellent pets


Lesson Plan 2: (a continuation of Lesson Plan 1)

DAY/DATE	MONDAY		2/1/2017
FORM	5 BUKHARI	TIME	7.30-9.00	NO. OF SS	20
THEME	People
TOPIC	Writing main ideas and supporting ideas
LEARNING OBJECTIVES	By the end of the lesson, you will be able to: 1.    Write a composition in 300 words on the topic “Chocolates are everyone’s favourite”
SUCCESS CRITERIA	I will be successful if I can 1.    Provide 3-4 main ideas on the topic “Chocolates are everyone’s favourite” 2.    Provide relevant details on the main ideas
TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITIES	1.       T distributes a 5 place-mats handout to each group 2.       SS take turns to fill in the place mats with reasons  why chocolates are everyone’s favourite 3.       T distributes a graphic organiser (main ideas and supporting details) and SS choose 3-4 reasons from the 5 place-mats 4.       In groups, SS brainstorm three reasons why chocolates are everyone’s favourite and support the reasons with relevant details 5.       Using the detailed outline they have produced, SS write a 300-word composition
TEACHING AIDS/RESOURCES	Graphic organiser, 5-place mats for generation of ideas
21ST CENTURY ELEMENTS	Collaboration / Creativity / PBL SS centeredness / Communication / Critical thinking / I-THiNK Maps Task-based /
REFLECTION

MATERIALS

1. Graphic Organiser (main ideas and supporting details)
1. Article 1 and Article 2 (to help SS with ideas/reasons on why chocolates are everyone's favourite! You don't need to use this if your SS are good)

Happy teaching!



Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH