Ellina's Addiction

Today, Ellina taught about Drug Addiction.

 She was sleepy and admitted it. Wake up...

Her lesson flow was good. I like it. However, instead of getting students to only point out and identify the type of conjunctions (subordinating etc), you need to get students to point out in the text, these conjunctions. Discuss briefly also how they are used. We also had a thorough discussion about the use of 'because' to begin a sentence. Are we allowed to begin a sentence with 'because'? In the above, the sentence in the 3rd line begins with 'Because of this'...I somehow think that the conjunction 'because' is used as a connector here. Sequence connector. I believe that you should stay very far away from beginning your sentences with 'because'. If your text has this, you need to adapt the sentence and change. 

We also spoke about leaving a meaningful background on the screen when using the projector. If you're using the projector, your background becomes a backdrop like in stage productions. Humans are affected by their surroundings and if you have an opportunity to 'paint' your classroom, why not? Rather than leaving the screen at 'Windows Files downloaded', why not have a background like the above to discuss 'Drugs Addiction'

Cherry Merry

Her Set Induction would surely capture her students' attention because it caught your friends'. 

Love the activity where you got friends to write descriptions of the two in front and paste these descriptions on the students. Just think about how you would do this in a co-ed school. Boys describe the boy in front and girls describe the girl? No, boys should not paste descriptions on Wang Yi. :-) 

There were some mistakes in the sample passage. As much as I love samples before a writing activity, we must ensure that the samples are clear of mistakes. MUST make sure of this, okay?

I like the part where she got the students to exchange their writing. Peer checking is a very good way of reducing teachers' load. Remember, we learned about peer scaffolding by van Lier as one type of scaffolding developed from Vygotsky's (1978) Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). I hope you still remember this. 

Of course, this type of error list will have to be given to students early in the year. As they get used to what you mean by 'Wrong Form', 'Wrong Tense' etc, they would have no problems checking their friends' work. Remember to include the use of symbols to represent these. e.g., Wrong tense: T, Wrong spelling: SP. You can choose to create these symbols but stick to simple codes. We do not want your students to suffer when deciphering your codes. There have been cases where some teachers got too ambitious and ambiguous with their codes, that nobody could understand them. 

Pei Pei's Idol Finale

I love her activity on the board. You could get students to think of their own words and write on blank sheets of paper to paste in the two columns.

I love the guide she gave to her students.

Her students used her guide to speak in detail about their Idol.

She discussed with her students and presented very positive ions around her, you couldn't help but like her.

She is cute BUT stern and she can make you really listen to her without raising her voice. She exudes command in her manner. She managed to make Ashilla and Ma Ji present well in her lesson. Ma Ji, you have a romantic voice which we didn't know about until you sang that Ethan Chan song. hehe Close your mouth Pei. I think she will do well for Teaching Practice. Amen.

Bunmi Against Bullying

Bunmi continued his theme in his second lesson on Tuesday. In the last, he taught about women battery and this time his lesson was about bullying. The flow of his lesson was clear. 

 The clip used was effective, except that something went awry with the audio system. Not your fault.

We discussed about the suitability of the task: Four 3rd graders fighting over a turn with the football. Bunmi claimed that he has experienced the same situation with teenagers he coached. It is wise to cater to the need of the students and their context. BE mindful that in an all girls' school bullying can take many different forms, aka Facebook gossips, photo spams, chat threats, etc. As long as the context of the students is related to the task, okay?

I was at first confused with the next tasks you gave them: to create a stand up card and the other card on bullying. I wasn't sure of the difference at first. Some students may be confused as well. As long as you explain when asked, you should be alright. 

Your friends seemed to enjoy your lesson fully. Here's Zhou Chen doing the matrix in class. 

Lovely materials used in your lesson. You were as usual, attentive and gentle with your students. 

Well done.

Growing Trees: Why Observation at School is Important.

In case you do not see the importance of having this experience esp before your Teaching Practice at school next semester, I'd like to remind all of you that:

Korthagen and Kessels (1999) criticize teacher education programs which focus solely or a lot on theories rather than applications or practice. Loughran and Northfield (1998) agree stating that the complexity of teaching, classroom dynamics, school contexts, and people’s beliefs and experiences could be understood in real context rather than in artificial ones.

These are among many reasons why I organized this 'experience' for you. You will be able to see how students interact with teachers and the types of strategies used by the teachers. You will also see first hand the types of tasks/exercises provided for these students. I need not remind you, i hope, about age appropriacy or suitability of tasks to level of proficiency.

A Hawk's Eye: Bukit Bintang

An old pic of BBBS

You are provided with a beautiful opportunity (a rare one) to observe an English lesson at school this coming week. After organizing with the Department of Education, KL, and getting a letter of approval for you to go to Bukit Bintang Boy's School, Jalan Utara, Petaling Jaya, I look forward to hearing what you discover from the observation. I've written in Spectrum (University Malaya's online instructional support system) the things that you need to take note:

The lesson stages, teacher's classroom management, students interactions with teacher, activities in the classroom, the scaffolding done in the classroom, age appropriacy, suitability of activities with the students' level of proficiency. weak vs good students, good points and aspects to work on.

Please reflect on all or some of the above. Most importantly, what you've learned from a lesson conducted by a real teacher in a real classroom setting.

An Eagle's EyeView: Observation at Samad

You have had a beautiful opportunity (a rare one) to observe an English lesson at school last week. After organizing with the Department of Education, KL, and getting a letter of approval for you to go to SMK Sultan Abdul Samad, Petaling Jaya, I look forward to hearing what you've discovered from the observation you did. I've written in Spectrum (University Malaya's online instructional support system) the things that you need to take note:

The lesson stages, teacher's classroom management, students interactions with teacher, activities in the classroom, the scaffolding done in the classroom, age appropriacy, suitability of activities with the students' level of proficiency. weak vs good students, good points and aspects to work on.

Please reflect on all or some of the above. Most importantly, what you've learned from a lesson conducted by a real teacher in a real classroom setting.

*Update*
Some photos from Samad School shared by Hemah and Shahrul

 Sample advertisements on the board

 A very attentive teacher. Hemah shared that she moved around all the time: a good way to lose weight..

 The students like they really enjoyed being in the classroom

 An adverstisement created by students

Hemah, Teacher Jegateeswary and Shahrul