Reading Comprehension

Salam, hi friends..
One of my ways to teach Reading Comprehension in class is by telling them stories that are related to the reading passage. The stories will make them more alert and you can obviously see that they will enjoy and understand the passage better.

To Write or Not To Write

Writing a well structured academic essay may be perceived as a task which is arguably daunting to perhaps most students. This perception is justified as it can be argued that the concept of writing of this nature tends to be almost not taught and entirely ignored. This is particularly evident in most cases in the secondary school system.It is, however, relatively an easy and straight forward writing process if one is equipped with the nuts and bolts of academic writing. As such, by outlining the sensible elements of a good academic writing and providing a step-by-step process, it is believed that writing academic essay would be a breeze.
There is a set of skills that we, English teachers wish our students to develop.Our first step is to identify which skills.Then we have to decide our teaching strategy, exercises and activities that will help them develop these skills. For instance, if we assign our students to write a persuasive essay, we have to make it very
clear to them that the purpose of writing a persuasive essay is to convince the readers to agree with their viewpoints.The students also must present strong evidence that support their viewpoints. It would also be great if they can discuss the opposing views. To make it a grade A persuasive essay, the students must write a strong and impressive conclusion. Anybody would like to share their experience in teaching writing skills?

Well done!!

Hello friends,

Kudos to the English Unit for coming up with this fantastic blog. It is an avenue for us to share our teaching materials, reflect on our teaching and learning experience and basically use this blog to help improve the quality of our teaching and simultaneously help our students to get better marks. Hope more good posts will come later...

Speaking

Dear friends,

I stumbled upon this interesting website while searching for my teaching materials. You can click here to read about the teaching of speaking. The tips are useful and effective.

The many faces of English Lecturers

"It's not what happens to you that will determine how your life will turn out; it's what you do about it that will determine your life." This is a quotation taken from a reading comprehension passage. To be exact, it is from one of the passages of PSPM II WB023.I make it a point to highlight this quotation whenever I discuss this passage with my students. I want them to acknowledge that they are in control of their decisions and actions. By having a positive attitude about life in general, the students are likely to accomplish their goals. Personally, I feel that teaching English Language is not all about grammar, essays and summaries. It is also about inspiring, motivating and encouraging my students to go further. There are many people who will put them down. However, if my students' minds are constantly being fed by positive materials I am pretty sure that their life will be great. Amin..

Last day of the final semester...

Time really flies...

It seems as if only yesterday I entered the classes for the first time... meeting new faces staring intently waiting and anticipating of what you'd be saying... such a warm atmosphere full of positive vibes as the starting of the semester began to take charge...

And now... it's already the last week for T&L after which next week will be their study week and the subsequent weeks - exams...

Usually we lecturers would be discussing past years' papers and giving last minutes tips to the students in the last few weeks of T&L. And after a while, we could see that the students were rather exasperated with all the last-minute-dos' and don'ts not just for English but all the subjects that they are taking.

The last day of the semester is the day where I would not be actually teaching anything in particular. Instead it'll be the time for story-telling sessions (from me of course!) capitalising on whatever interesting / bizarre / mind-boggling themes or issues which are worth sharing. This time around, no stories - I chose to do it differently. Well, it's an old hat for most but perhaps it could be of some use to some...

The aim was to leave a positive atmosphere when the students reflect on their learning throughout the session. So I asked them to choose ONE statement from the given few below and write their responses on a half-cut  A-4 paper supplied. The statements were:

a) The most memorable English lesson that I had
b) The most difficult thing I learnt and mastered in the English lesson
c) My most noticeable improvement in English

Students were told to express themselves freely without being too bogged-down by grammatical errors and the likes. They could choose to be anonymous if they preferred. What is important was - I wanted them to be honest with themselves and their own progress.

After about 15 minutes, the students folded the paper and put it in a box. Then we sat in a circle and each one took turn to pick one from the box and read it aloud for everybody to listen and comment on. They seemed to be enjoying the session greatly where each one was very eager to share what their friend has written about the subject. Some read comments were met with giggles and nods and whispers. It was obvious that they tried to guess who wrote which comments, etc - everybody laughed. Everybody seemed to be enjoying the "reflection" session.

As from my perspective, I learned what aspects of the lessons throughout the year were well-received and enjoyed so I could utilise these and improve on them for the benefits of my future students.

I'm sure each of us has our very own favourite last-day English lesson. Would you care to share it with the rest?

Thanks.

-Rizal-

Resitting for MUET

When MUET results came out in January, there was an uproar. Suddenly, the English Wing  was a popular place for all students. All the English lecturers have to be part time counsellors and guardians to these students(wink,wink). They wanted to know if they can recheck their results. Some wanted to find out the procedure to resit for MUET in February and March. According to Azlan, The Headcount and MUET Coordinator, more than 750 students registered  to resit for MUET. Wow!! These students just want to make sure that their MUET results can help them to get the desired course in the universities of their choices. What I can do to help my own students to prepare for the second MUET examination, is to refresh their knowledge on the 2 skills; Speaking and Writing. As for Reading, I gave them exercises to do on their own. Good luck to all my angels!

Research Project.

Currently, I am swamped with students' research project. For this semester in WB023, it is compulsory for all students to carry out a mini research.Briefly, this is what I usually do.First, I will group them in threes or fours. Next, find a suitable topic and ask for their lecturers' approval. Then comes the next step, that is the Introduction. The students will have to show the Objective, Statement of Problem and Hypotheses to me. The next part is the Methodology. As for myself, I prefer my students to  design a set of questions. Upon agreeing and approving their questionnaire, these students will have to photocopy and distribute them to the selective respondents.When that part is done, the students will tabulate and analyse the data. Later , they will write their conclusion, suggestions and recommendations. At first, some students (especially my Accounts students) are struggling to understand what this is all about . However, through guidance, trials and errors, they manage to come up with decent projects. The book 'English WBO23 For Matriculation Students" which they are currently using, is a tremendous help. I would recommend for all lecturers to utilize the book.

-Yati-

Teacher talk - Lessen it...

I've been thinking a lot about this every time I carry out my P&P. Perhaps, it's me being an English teacher - the tendency for me to talk and explain is higher then the students themselves. In any language lesson (well... depending on the skills that we are focusing), we should give every opportunity for the students to talk more. I suppose every English teacher realises this. Unfortunately, in actual practice - for myself actually, I tend to talk more than the students themselves. Of course such is not done on purpose, as I like to explain and re-explain the tasks, instructions, etc - and as a result - at the end of the lesson, it's the teacher who does more talking than the students. Besides, it's not easy to remain calm and keep on encouraging the students to talk and respond when the students themselves refuse to give their views, etc. They can just pretend as if nothing happens or nothing is expected from them. I remember one instance that I actually asked all the students to stand and only those who responded were allowed to sit. And the scenario changed drastically. They responded in such enthusiasm - beyond my imagination - and the class was boisterous! I then realised that, we have to take some "cruel" measure - to the point of forcing the students to speak up. Only then would they actually want to take part...

WEEK OF SPEECHES

This week is a week of speeches for my students..they were asked to give 1) birthday speech 2) graduation speech 3) wedding speech 4) funeral speech 5) informative speech 6) demonstrative speech 7) persuasive speech...

Students really enjoyed this activity especially when their friends were doing funeral speech...they should pretend that they were at the funeral but some of them were laughing....

Most students asked their friends to be a model when they were giving speech.. for instance...they asked their friends to be birthday girl/boy...asked their friend to be husband and wife for wedding ceremony...and some of them also asked their friends to be the dead body for funeral speech...

In conclusion...well done to all my students...you have done a good job....

PSPM 2

Dear friends,
                         Since the essay writing will determine the students' grade  in English paper in PSPM 2, I've asked  the students to come up with appropriate topic sentences and elaborate them well.I've realised that they should be given ample exercises in creating topic sentences based on the essay title given and also the process of writing supporting details of each paragraph.   




                                                                                                                      by,JAM

Guess this would be my few last times writing here.:( By next semester, I'll be settling down in Kolej Matrikulasi Labuan..If I could, I wanted to remain here, to continue my service in KMPP..my heart belongs here..but who am I to ask for the impossible? Nevertheless, I'll keep on praying, begging for Almighty God's intervention, praying that I'd be back in KMPP in no time..So my dear friends, do pray for me too..Thank You.- Sabina

MUET Speaking

I had this insight after reading Kaz's post on MUET Speaking, so I would to share what I did with my students with all of you in case it can also benefit you and your students.

You remember, right, that I said MUET Speaking questions have 3 levels- personal/individual; societal/national; and international? Having known this, I make sure that before the Speaking Test, the students had attempted all these 3 types of questions.

I just brought one question, made copies for all groups (that means all groups attempting the same question) then taught them how to answer the question (in terms of what to say, what points to raise, etc). I have to warn that this takes time, so sometimes we only had time for Task A. Task B had to be done on another day. Remind yourself (I did this all the time) that we are focussing on THE PROCESS and not THE PRODUCT.

The other thing I did was to use past year questions. This also works as some of the questions are often repeated but with a new twist. However, do not take recent question, that is if for 2012, do not use questions from 2010 or 2011. Use questions that are like 5 years back as there are more chances of the questions to be repeated.

Hope this has been helpful and beneficial to you.

-Shariza Abbas

5S

Last two days I attended  a course on 5S internal audit.  Personally I feel 5S is actually a good thing but to achieve it will definitely take time.. It does not help that we face lots of constraints especially in terms of budget and time.   But I guess the biggest obstacle actually comes from us.  It is up to us to make things work - 5S should be done in phases - so work at it slowly but surely.. If we do not start now.. then when..  

FM

Reading Past Year Questions

Dear friends, we have two good news. First, if you wish to do English Semester 11 session 2008/2009 Reading Comprehension with your students, please get the copies from Puan Norhayati, Puan Wan Nor A'sikin or Puan Kazrina. The great news is we have the answers too!

Love,
Kaz, Yatie and Syikin

English Week 2012

Dear friends, these are some pics taken during our English Week 2012.

reading comp - past year questions

Hello fellow mates,
These past year questions sets are really useful. In fact, the questions are better than the book we are using for practice because the answers are controversial and some are wrong.
I think we should pool together the resources to create the questionnaire bank. It would be really helpful for both lecturers and the students.
Cheers.

Love,
Kumar.

MUET Reading past year questions

Dear friends,
If you need to use Reading past year questions with your students, I have both Mid and End 2010 Reading papers plus the answers. Feel free to get a copy from me if you wish to use them with your students.


Love,
Kaz

MUET Speaking Practice

Salam and hi everyone,
I noticed that my students perform better in MUET speaking practice in class after watching the recording of Mock MUET Speaking Test by Pearson. It shows not only the recording of the MUET speaking test but also explicit comments and marks given by the examiners.

For those who do not have this CD, feel free to come and borrow it from me.


Love,
Kaz

A Winner's Journey

Salam and hello everyone. Just want to share with all of you one of my must-do-activities in class with my students. I have shared this poem with my students since 2001 and the result is indescribably AWESOME! It has been given to me by a dear friend but too bad that both of us do not know who is the writer of this lovely poem.

When I started my teaching here, I noticed that the students always looked down, demotivated, lack of self-esteem and no self -confidence. Well, until now we can say that one of the most serious problems faced by our students is lack of self motivation and confidence! The problems seem to be more noticeable during their early few days here.The words "CONFUSED, PETRIFIED, WORRIED, PUZZLED, ANXIOUS", etc are clearly written on their faces. I hate the idea of going to class and have to teach a bunch of gloomy, depressed and somber students, thus I know that I have to do something to cheer them up. This poem, entitled "A Winner's Journey" is one of my approaches to help to motivate my students and it fruitfully works!

A Winner's Journey

Sometimes when life gets tough

as the smooth journey becomes rough

just close your eyes and pray

Tell yourself that it will be okey

Stay calm, be wise and think

Of where this journey is taking you

And the fine result that it will bring

Once your dream comes true

And if sometimes you happen to fall,

Remember, your struggle is not in vain

Remember, please, you are worth it all

For you have so much more to gain

Though the road to success may seem far

Just trudge on through with dignity

And be proud of who you are

For you are on your way to victory

And once you reach your journey's end

You can tell your foes and friends

Of what you have done, where you have gone

And proudly say....

The battle is over and I HAVE WON.....!!

This poem will definitely uplift their spirits if we can apply each of the stanza to real life experience of ours or others to be shared with the students. Normally, I will ask all of the students to read it silently before I ask for volunteers to recite the poem aloud to the whole class.Then, the most crucial part which will determine the effectiveness of this lesson is the elaboration of the poem. I will go through each of the stanza with students by clarifying, explaining and sharing experiences of my own, my friends, my ex-students, etc that are related to the meaning of the poem. I will also relate to some of the stories, experience and success of my ex-students to further illustrate the poem to the students. The elaboration part will take up to 30 minutes depending on how you elaborate the poem and relate stories with them. Of course some motivational skills are required here (ehem, ehem) And my favourite part is when I talk about their parents hope and wish that they have to fulfill.  Believe me, the whole class will be in tears including myself, hehe! 

After the elaboration, I will discuss with them the meaning of certain words and phrases in the poem such as "dignity, in vain, trudge on, worth, struggle and foes". Then, I will ask the students to write their own poem entitled " My Journey to Success". At the end of the class, I will collect the poems, mark them and return to the students in the following lesson. I will ask them to write their poems nicely on a piece of paper, laminate, and paste it on their lockers in their rooms.

Some might think that this lesson is not 'English" enough and will not help the students to answer their English paper later. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that we must help the students not only to pass the examination, but also to pass their lives successfully and meaningfully.Until now, I am proud that this simple but nifty poem has touched so many hearts and souls and most of my ex-students remember me for this poem and also other poems that I have given to inspire them from time to time during my English lesson.

Ok then, have a nice day everyone!

Love,

Kaz