Pentaksiran Pusat - Bahasa Inggeris Tingkatan 3 (The Format)

It is confirmed that there will be centralized assessment under the current PBS system. Whether the name is PBSMR or something else I do not know. The MOE has released a circular on the format of the assessment for all the subjects. I am very delighted to share the circular here. Assessment for all the subject will be different. For English language there will be listening, speaking, reading and writing assessments. The questions will be from the Examination Board (MPM). However, I do not know in detail the format of the questions for any of the assessments. Please click here to download the circular.

Materials from ICELT 2013

During the conference I promised to the participants that I would share the materials and my module here so that they can download and use them as reference. Unfortunately I am unable to share the complete module here due to copyright issues but I have uploaded a few parts of the module and teachers can use them as a guide to develop ideas for their lessons. Please click on the links below to download the presentation and materials.

http://www.4shared.com/office/qKW8BTTy/Presentation_.html
http://www.4shared.com/office/MRdSuC5g/the_activities.html

Thank you and Happy Holidays....

ICELT 2013

ICELT 2013 was a success and made a difference in my life especially after the nerve - wrecking presentation on the 3rd day which I had been preparing for the past 3 months of my life after my proposal was accepted by the ICELT secretariat. Preparing for the conference was not a joke. I had to make sure that I prepared well as I had no idea who will be attending my sessions and if some big names were to be there the humility would be a bitter lesson to swallow. True enough professors and associate professors from whichever universities were there in my room watching me presenting in such an amateurish manner. What were they doing in my session!? "Hello there are other presentations going on, go to the next rooms not mine please!!!" My heart shouted out loud! I didn't know who were they until they came to me and patted on my shoulder after my presentation, congratulating and honouring me for giving such a wonderful presentation!!! I was shocked, speechless, stunned and nobody knew how I felt at that time!!!! Well I wouldn't say my presentation was the best presentation I did make a few grammatical and pronunciation slip being nervous and being Mohana..... I did notice some glaring grammatical errors on my slide which was not suppose to be there, I WAS IN AN ELT CONFERENCE and GRAMMATICAL ERRORS! NO FORGIVENESS FOR ME!!! OMG I saved the wrong powerpoint slide! gosh!! Well, all went on well at the end of the day!! And all the praises I got on that day has brought my confidence to a greater height....I dedicate all the praises to GOD. I also learnt that I should be extra careful the next time to avoid such glaring mistakes...People may seem to be good but what they talk behind you only GOD knows....

That's enough with my story. ICELT conference 2013 was a fantastic event organised this year with some big and interesting names such as Pearlly Chua, Valerie Bloom Jane Blake and Carolyn Graham.. These were the 4 sessions that I enjoyed the most during the conference. Carolyn Graham being the founder of Jazz chants presented some of her work and made us sing together with her... Jane Blake being a professional story teller brought us to the world of imagination with her wonderful stories and of course Pearlly Chua the icon of Emily of Emerald Hill acted a few scenes from the monologue which left me mesmerized with her talents, she never got bored playing the same role over and over again for the past 20 years and now am waiting for her next show which is in April 2014...am taking my drama students for her play. What would I say about Valerie Bloom who shared her poems and her Jamaican culture as well as language with us during her sessions... these people are goddesses of talents and I was glad I chose to go for ICELT as I was suppose to go for a module building workshop organised by the District Education Department...after attending their sessions I realized that I made the right choice.

During ICELT I felt blessed when I met some lecturers with Dr. and Phd. title at the beginning and end of their names. Some of them were really down to earth and friendly and that reminds me to be humble and friendly no matter where I reach in life and dear participants, I will upload my powerpoint and worksheets as I promised during my session....just be patient and bear with me..I am facing some problem with 4shared.com. Once I have sorted it out will share them here....all you need to do is be patient....

Best Ways to Introduce Vocabulary.....

Reasons for You to Think English is a Crazy Language

Happy Aidiladha to all muslims around the world

PMR TRIAL 2013 - ENGLISH LANGUAGE PAPER 1 AND PAPER 2

I have been receiving emails and text messages requesting to share a copy of our school's PMR trial paper ( English Language), so therefore I have decided to upload the test papers here so that everyone will get to download them. Please click the link below to download http://www.scribd.com/doc/166195851/englishvibesblogspot-Mgs-Pmr-Trial-2013-Englishthe
englishvibesblogspot Mgs Pmr Trial 2013 English

What Kind of Teacher are You???

Authoritative Style

The authoritative teacher places limits and controls on the students but simultaneously encourages independence. This teacher often explains the reasons behind the rules and decisions. If a student is disruptive, the teacher offers a polite, but firm, reprimand. This teacher sometimes metes out discipline, but only after careful consideration of the circumstances.

The authoritative teacher is also open to considerable verbal interaction, including critical debates. The students know that they can interrupt the teacher if they have a relevant question or comment. This environment offers the students the opportunity to learn and practice communication skills.

Ms. Smith exemplifies the authoritative teaching style. She exhibits a warm and nurturing attitude toward the students and expresses genuine interest and affection. Her classroom abounds with praise and encouragement. She often writes comments on homework and offers positive remarks to students. This authoritative teacher encourages self - reliant and socially competent behaviour and fosters higher achievement motivation. Often, she will guide the students through a project, rather than lead them.

                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                         Laissez - Faire

The laissez - faire teacher places few demand or controls on the students. 'Do your own thing' describes this classroom. This teacher accepts the student's impulses and actions and is less likely to monitor their behaviour. Mr.Jones uses a laissez - faire style. He strives to not to hurt the student's feelings and has difficulty saying no to a student or enforcing rules. If a student disrupts the class, Mr. Jones assume that he is not giving that student enough attention. When a student interrupts a lecture, Mr.Jones accepts the interruption with the belief that the student must surely have something valuable to add. When he does offer discipline, it is likely to be inconsistent.

 

Mr. Jones is very involved with his students and cares for themvery much. He is more concerned with the students' emotional well - being than he is with his classroom control. He sometimes bases classroom decisions on his students feelings rather than on their academic concerns.

 

Mr. Jones wants to be the students' friend. He may even encourage contact outside the classroom. He has a difficult time establishing boundaries between his professional life and his personal life.

 

However, this overindulgent style is associated with students lack of social competence and self - control. It is difficult for students to learn socially acceptable behaviour when the teacher is so permissive. With few demands placed upon them, these students frequently have lower motivation to achieve. 

Regardless, students often like this teacher.

 

Indifferent

The indifferent teacher is not very involved in the classroom. The teacher places few demands. If any, on the students and appears generally uninterested. The indifferent teacher just doesn't want to impose on the students. As such, he/ she often feels that out of the question. This teacher simply won't take the necessary preparation time. Sometimes, he/she will use the same materials, years after year.

 

Also, classroom discipline is lacking. This teacher may lack the skills, confidence, or courage to discipline students.

 

The students sense and reflect the teacher's indifferent attitude. Accordingly, very little learning occurs. Everyone is just 'going through the motions' and killing time. In this aloof environment, the students have very few opportunities to observe or practice communication skills. With few demands placed on them and very little discipline, students have low achievement motivation and lack self - control.

 

This teacher can't control class and students never learn anything in there. There is hardly ever homework and people rarely bring their books. Mrs. Johnson is a good example of an indifferent teacher. She uses the same lesson plans every year, never bothering to update them. For her, each day is the same. She lectures for the first twenty minutes of class. Sometimes, she will show a film or a slide show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Power of D & D

My Rising Angels (MGS Debate Team)

I never thought once that I will have passion for drama as I was always involved in Debate and thought that I would never do anything else accept debate. However, my debate team was defeated by a horrible team this year which I have never aspected to happen in my wildest dreams. It happened because of the chief judge who thought she knew everything but in actual she does not know anything about debate. I had a heated argument with her as she refused to explain anything......I was fuming in anger...all I could do  was to wait for next year to take revenge..I couldn't even write in to the PPD as I did not have any evidence to support my case...the organizing

committee promised to do the recording but they did not do so....It was difficult to accept the defeat as we were beaten by a team who could not even speak in proper english and has no case at all!!! They did not have definition and stand...and worst of all they did not even offer any POI....!!!my girls were really down but they were strong enough to vanquish the dissappointment....they received the recognition they deserve in competitions organised by private schools and colleges..

The Power of Drama

After the debate competition, I felt some thing was amiss...I was not busy anymore and felt that things were not just right and at this time I was called by Pn.Helena to contribute some ideas for the drama team, I looked through the script and worked with her to improvise it...I gave her some ideas ( Which I think was not good actually but she accepted it and made it impresive) and she actually accepted it and worked with her students. I couldn't be there with them all the time but whenever I had the time I would go to the trinity hall to see how they were doing.....the drama turned out well and I got excited seeing them in action..in between this I was invited to judge drama competitions in other zones....when I judged the competitions I learnt a large deal from the senior judges who were more than willing to share the judging criteria. Being involved in the drama training and competitions has brought me to a new dimension which I have completely  ignored all these while...and without realizing it, I started enjoying drama as much as I enjoy doing debate.  Drama is a fresh breathe that came into my life......our drama team has won the zone level drama competition  this year and will be representing the zone for the district level competition in June.....will keep everyone updated...

 

 

Respond rather than react..

I can't believe that I have left my blog left unattended for one whole month...seriously I was busy with so many things that I could barely be able to breathe.....now that I have time to breathe why don't I blog something to motivate you guys out there ( Teachers).....

Fire drills in schools are a goodthing. They enable you to respond rather than react to an emergency. Anger, embarrassment and fear - these are reactions. Clarity, decisiveness, and action - these are responses, there's a difference.When you react, you're out of control. When you respond, you exercise control.

Disruptive behaviour, passive aggression, abusive language - these are the 'emergencies' that you can expect in classroom. Most often thay are symptomatic of a greater problem that the student is dealing with personally. At other times, the student is merely reflecting the behaviour he or she has witnessed at home.

How will you face those emergencies? Will you respond, or will you react?If you react, you may heighten the disruption. If you learn to respond, you may quell the disturbance. Think about your strategy. Go through the drills in your mind. " If action A happens, then response A will be employed." Prepare your mind to control your actions. Bring the situation under control by, first, getting yourself under control.
Plan for your own emergencies, and when they happen, you'll respond accordingly.

Been there done that!!!! so you can always try this...especially when you are teaching the real problematic ones!!

adapted from,
Minute Motivators for Teachers  

My First Lesson 2013

I call this activity 'New Year Resolution'

I carried out this activity as my first lesson for the year 2013...

Materials Needed :
Mahjong Papers/Manila Cards and Marker Pens

Activity :

a) Students are divided into groups ( five in a group)
b) A leader for each group will be chosen
c) Students will be required to discuss in their groups,
                       -  things they want to achieve in 2013
                       -  things that they want to stop doing in 2013
                       -  things that would want to start praticing in 2013.

d) group leaders from each group will present their resolutions to the class.

Post - activity :

Students will be required to write an essay entitled ' My New Year Resolutions".

I carried out this activity with all my form 5 and form 3 classes. This can be done and goes along with the theme 'People' in the textbook....

 

Ice - Breaking Activity 2013

It may be too late for an ice - breaking now, well dear teachers you can always save them for the following year. I tried out this activity in all my classes last week... as it was the first time I was entering their class I wanted to do something different instead of the same lame 'introduce yourself' activity...this is what I tried...I call this activity as introduce your friends activity...well this is how it goes.........

Introduce your friends

the activity starts from the monitor....the monitor will be asked to pick a friend in the class and introduce her by saying something that she knows about her....and the person she chose will choose the next person and it goes on. The last person will be introducing the class monitor. there are two rules that the students should adhere here :
a) students should not be introducing the person sitting next to them
b) students are not allowed to introduce the person who has introduced them.

My Reflection :

I carried out this activity in class 3 Partridge, 3 Oriole, 3 Eagle and 5S5... I did not carry it out in 5V2 as I taught them last year and I know all of them quite well. I find this activity really breaks the ice as when the students introduce their friends they tell whatever they know about them and teacher gets more input about his/her students on the first day itself.. If I were to ask them to introduce themselves they would have talked about the same lame things such as hobbies and ambitions..but when the students talk about their friends it was fun as they will talk all the good things and also some bad things about their friends...As a teacher we also have to set boundaries on what they can talk about in order to avoid conflicts among students in the classroom.