Siew In is in the building

I love the clip on drunk driving which you showed us in class. First class! And I like the foreign language used at the end of it. It is not usual for people to use phrases in foreign language to make a statement. Some do. For instance, 'Mi Casa, Su Casa' which is Spanish. Why do native speakers or good speakers of English insert some foreign language use in their spoken language? What about this: 'Et tu Brutus'. What language is this and when do people use it? (hint: read up Julius Caesar). We CAN use some phrases in another language in the English language classroom. BUT hey, I'm not talking about Manglish, okay! That is horrible, horrible. You may, though, use some Malay in your lessons ESP for local products or culture: Nasi lemak, songkok etc, I don't think it is necessary to change Nasi lemak to coconut rice when writing about what Mak cik Kiah is selling at her stall. Get what I mean? I hope I'm making sense. Oh yeah, back to Siew Siew. There were some mistakes in her written and spoken language: 'many of us are not really care about this', 'iregular' etc, you're killing me, Siew In when you use these.....! Et tu Brute?

 Aaaaa..

No doubt you have improved somewhat in your pronunciation but you need to really use the language a lot more to improve further. We had a very good discussion on car accidents and drunk driving. A very good audio clip for listening. Well done, I don't know where you resourced it but it was good. The grammar activity was also in context as it was about a car wreck too. A point made by your one friend for us to ponder: her pre stage was not consistent with her while stage, I fully agree. If in pre, you made students discuss the factors and solutions to car accidents, in while, you need to follow through and have sme sort of discussion on the factors and solution to the car accident from the audio you played. The questions you gave in the worksheet were good. Just remember this: in a lesson, consistency and coherence are keys.

Georgie (who was sick and had a temperature but still came to class because of his dedication) suggested that the reflection at the end of the lesson should be replaced with something to do with factors and solutions or causes and solutions. Card making? Awareness poster? So, we now understand the importance of having flow and consistency. I'm pleased. ;-)

Rou Jin's Revelations

Rou Jin's lesson was on health and she provided huge cards of fruit pictures with descriptions of the fruits at the back of the cards. At first I thought flash cards were a little too childish for teenagers, but somebody (I think, Cherry) didn't know what a cauliflower was. Seriously, Cherry? Thus, Now I'm thinking maybe not all students know their vegetables.

Hmmm....She made her students read aloud these descriptions...Although you can use the read aloud technique in class, it is not as rewarding, they say, as silent reading. We must expose to our students the art of silent reading for understanding. Therefore, a reading skill is usually taught through silent reading. Remember reading aloud is not 'reading' but has more to do with 'pronunciation, intonation etc' and those skills are NOT reading skills. I particularly love all her mind maps. She drew samples of them on the board. I love them! Be careful, though, of sentences which are separated to a few key points. E.g., 'Exercise - stimulates thinking, repairs the body, and improves blood circulation'.

Most of the time, students like yourselves forget to read them as 3 different sentences. Exercise stimulates....Exercise repairs the body...Exercise improves... When you forget to check a sentence and be thorough in your proofreading, you tend to miss out and make grammatical mistakes. Forgotten 's'es for plural or singular forms are usually the case. Be THOROUGH. P/s this is not a proficiency class. Sigh sigh

Wendy's Trend

 Wendy brought in the topic 'pet dyeing trend' smoothly.

The pictures were wonderful for Set Induction. And she immediately showed the topic 'pet dyeing' to ensure that students do not confuse it with 'dying'. Good thinking. She discussed with students the difference between the two words and later gave phrases for students to express their opinions: in my opinion, if you ask me..., I believe...,' Her speaking class needed the students to discuss about the dyeing trend. Very good flow in the lesson. The clip was also interesting as there were people who own such pets discussing with the host about it. However, Wendy could have instructed the students to focus on something before playing the clip. Having a reason to look for something is always a must before playing a clip. Wendy speaks slower now and because of that has incorporated very good intonation in her speech. Previously she was a bullet train and now, as someone in the class said, she is an lrt. She was also more relaxed and smiley. She was laughing and looked comfy in the class.

A passionate teacher is always happy to be in class, to be interacting with students and to be concerned over everything big or small. Hehe well done!

Effandi...?

Where are you Effandi...? Please let thou enter class again, else thy lesson and thyself shalt not get better. Lest thou thinkst that thy expertise surpasseth ours, mere learners, thou shant have to enter and may have peace as thy pleaseth. Adieu.

Hawt n Spicey

My, my how much Phyl has improved. Her voice doesnt trail off into thin air. She shows a lot more confidence (and skin) in class. Her activities are meaningful and interesting. I love the sorting of rubbish into the right colour-coded bins. the clip was enjoyable. most importantly she has improved. very proud of her (*and her skin). remember though that you can improve your interactions with the sts and smile more.

Hmm I wonder what these people were focusing on...

A chart instead of questions...interesting..

Pei Pei's notes on Phyl's teaching.

Is it hawt in here, or is it hawt...?

*Dont say I didnt warn u...

The Overly-friendly Vampire

My, my how friendly and generous you are Hemah. Some questions you posed were beautifully phrased but some needed work. for example, who don't understand? rephrase please. repeat needs not be used with again for example, repeat again. Hemah's lesson was enjoyable and fun. From the song, I had a dream, to getting a topic from a box to speak in front of the class, to rearrange jumbled up words to form proverbs, to creating postcards. Remember though that sts may step over you if you're waaay to nice. Have I missed anything?

Mr President, yes you can.

My, my how handsome you look Mr President. Georgie must calm down and let his students take the stage esp for a Speaking lesson. The debate and sample structures for a debate were well taught. Students could practise their debating skills. However, the pre- stage was used to explain about the meaning of debate. too long and dry. might bore the sts. need to remember that the pre stage must be used for discussing and brainstorming about the topic. in this case whether using paper was better than plastic. overall though Georgie has improved. his task sheet is suitable and not as difficult as the ones he used in the last lesson. Any other comments?

Georgie's angels

A long passage is divided into parts and given questions as subtitles. I think this is great and helps students not to feel overwhelmed in a Reading class

Wang Lin 2.0

My, my how she has improved. There was consistency in her lesson activities. The topic: sleep habits was meaningful....definitely better than the way she presented 'ecofarming' in the last class. She was more confident with a louder n clearer voice. Any suggestions for improvements?

Notice that she provided the paragraph number for each of her questions. The para numbers become guides for the students. Good.

SCRIBBLES AND SKETCHES

I found a blog which I really enjoyed reading. The writer is a brilliant one and focuses on random thoughts of his life, reviews of books, a poem here and there...sometimes, intelligent ramblings. Really funny, this guy and his literary prowess is amazing. Try reading his posts and see if you can use these posts as materials for teaching English. Check out his blog here.

P/S If you have similar sites worth looking through, do share.

Love,
AA

Online Love Birds: Si Ting

Si Ting....Si Ting...i love your lesson. your peers enjoyed it too. your lesson was clear, structured, and interesting. from the part where you divide the class into pros and cons, to the passage on the dangers of online dating, you had us glued. (you had us at 'online dating') ;-) one thing you can work on is to give a sample writing that is similar to the essay structure you require sts to follow. do not give a narrative as a sample and ask sts to write something factual. remember to stick to one GENRE at a time.

Da Jacky Code

Jacky 's choices of materials were splendid. love the ads used and the idea of the code which hides meaning. i love codes and so do many people. but you must use these materials accordingly. lesson stages should flow well from one to the other.
you see, Jack showed a pic with a tag: addicted to drive. and then he showed these wonderful ads on youtube. and then he asked students to create tags. this was a writing lesson. Number 1. there wasnt enough writing. Number 2. if the only thing students needed to do was create an ad tag, what was the purpose of showing those beautiful clips? Jack said that there were tags in the ads. but somehow he didnt focus our attention to them. he asked us our feelings about those ads. i think he needs to work on his instructions. his wordings of words need to be clearer. remember, we are all here to help each other improve. i am in no way saying anything otherwise. i believe you need these constructive comments to improve for your next presentation.

Five Meals a Day: Ideally Joy

Joy's lesson on healthy meals is meaningful and well scaffolded (Vygotsky, 1978). the clip on food types could be clearer. Cudnt really hear the words. some spelling mistakes- beacon, soya, and lollypop. it would also be great to have an actual good pyramid with lots of colours to dhow in class. her activities for sts to choose food types and select according to importance and portion were very interesting to her sts. well done. anything else?

The Lady in the Wolf Mask: Ashilla

Ashilla is ready for school. Her lesson was beautifully conducted. She gave a new version of three little pigs. the idioms were interesting to her sts esp 'kick the bucket' i wonder why...she gave the passage part by part n asked the sts to write to a newspaper. This makes her lesson easy to follow n meaningful. her explanations were clear n teacherly. she knew who wasnt paying attention-wendy (tummy ache). the only thing i could think of to improve her lesson is for her to make her instructions for essay writing clearer. Anything else?

Impressive!

I have to admit. Im deeply impressed today! I was moderating the newer comments and I see that some of you have improved in your writing of the comments. Your writing is good, clear, provides reasoning, and argues for very good ideas in support of your friends' work! I bet you edited and proofread your written comments before publishing! See what you can do with more focus and proofreading! Your ideas and arguments were brilliant! I'm a happy cookie! You should be too!

Ting Ting: A Serious Bar

Ting Ting needs to open her mouth wider when speaking. She mumbles....and mfmhgfbblles. The poem she chose 'Health is wealth' was related to the topic and meaningful to her students BUT had caused 'serious' confusion among us in class. Remember to adapt what you get from the web. Always check, edit and adapt your metairls to suit your students. In this case, it was the 'serious bar' issue which nobody really understood. For the higher proficiency students, they could discuss and guess as well as bring in their background knowledge: for example, musical notes/bar, or a bar that serves alcohol etc etc/ Get students to argue for their opinion. Weaker students, however, would find it tough to provide their opinion on the meaning of 'serious bar'. Keep that in mind.

Glasses, Ting Ting!

Shahrul: Continuity is key

Well done on your presentation. It was clear and you presented passion in your teaching. The roleplay was fun but try connecting the activity with the previous pre-speaking activity on adjectives. Get students to use adjectives in the roleplay. You asked the students to write about the effects of smoking for the Post stage. You should therefore connect the roleplay to the effects of smoking. Get students to include the effects in the roleplay. You kept asking if the students could follow what you were teaching. Good.

Wang Yi: Puzzled

I like the fruit pic for the Pre stage but I think it shud be used for Set Induction stage. P53 and the isowhatchamacallit are scarying the students. Unless you have a fun game using the words. The worksheets were too difficult and should be made easier. Remember do not cut the sheets in different sizes as the students were piecing the puzzle pieces instead of reading to rearrange the paragraphs given. Check your sheets. Ensure that there are no mistakes in task sheets.

Jia Xin: Roaring loud

Must be louder and more confident in front of the class. The cartoon clip on deforestation is very attractive. Her activity where words were shown and read in chorus by the students left me wondering though. Secondary school students might think that the activity is a lil too childish. Please think about this when you visit the school for observation. Remember also to arrange answer choices for MCQs in order of shortest to longest or vice versa. we dont want students to pick the odd one out. Also, your friends and I were wondering whether the persona was a tree or an animal or others. You need to have extensive discussions of the poem you gave.

Alwana: Taste You

love the clip from the King and I. The exposure to the English from the clip is refreshing. Be careful of your pronunciation of some words. Taste vs test you. Alwana's presence as usual, is comforting and pleasant. Her instructions can be improved though. Remember. When you have a new game which might be too complex to explain, you use demonstration. It gets easier for you n your students. Ashilla suggested that Alwana should ask students to write a description of a lost friend or pet rather than to describe a friend without a reason. Good. It's all about making lessons meaningful to the students.