My Letter to Editor......

Have you tried writing a poem with your students ??

I adapted this idea from a creative writing workshop conducted by Alan Maley during MICELT Conference 2013.

This is how it goes....

Firstly, ask your students to make a list of the following :
(please make it clear that they can only write one for each)

a)  Favourite food
b)  Favourite animal
c)  Favourite flower
d)  Favourite place at home
e)  Favourite drink
f)  Favourite clothes
g)  A person you like the most
h)  Favourite climate/month/

Next do the following, step by step :

Ask your students to fill in the first line with the name of the food in their list. For example, you are the curry of my noodle.  

Move to the second line, only after they are done with the first line, if you have a below average/ weak students you can actually help them out.

Let us go to the second line now.

Once you are done with the second line you can move on to the third line; 

Now move on to the next line, and fill in the gaps with the favourite place at home and it characteristics.

You are done with the first stanza and now let us move on to the second stanza, and you can start with a favourite climate/month. 

Then, continue with your favourite clothing, 

and then with you favourite pet animal.

The last line should be the person you love the most,

You are done with the poem and this is how it should look now,

Sample 

Here is one of my students' work. She dedicated the poem to her favourite teacher....

Be ready for crappy poems as

sometimes mischievous students like to make it interesting with crappy ideas, reward them for their creativity rather than reprimanding as this will motivate them to do better but be clear  that they should not include racially or religiously sensitive and sexually explicit lines in their poems.

The Living Photograph's'

I started my literature lesson this year with my form four students by introducing the poem 'The Living Photograph' by Jackie Kay. The poem somehow reflects our own childhood as some of us have had very special moments with our grandmothers which will be cherished live long and I wanted to add this as an element in my lesson.

With that in mind, after introducing the poem, I asked my students to write a memoir of their own grandmothers with their 'living photograph' attached to the memoir. It was true enough that each and everyone of them have had different moments with their 'grandmas'. Some of my students had never seen their grandparents as their grandparents passed away even before they were born, so these students had to ask their parents about their grandparents to know more about them. I am sure relating the poem to their own lives had definitely made a way to build stronger bonds among family members by appreciating their elders. The video below shows some examples of my students work. 

English Language Classroom Posters

It was a dream come true when I was given a room to set up our English Language Lab last year. Despite being a premier school, we did not have much space at school as most of the rooms were being utilised. It was a blessing when I was given a small dungeon to be turned into an English Lab. Thanks to our former principal, Datin Mungit  who took this matter seriously and worked hand in hand with me. It took so much time for me to set up the limited space into a classroom which could fit at least 35 students. 

Lesson in Progress 

Today, the English Language Lab is still going strong and being utilised for various activities related to the English Language Panel. Besides, we could also model the 21st century teaching and learning activities in this room. The setting of the room is designed for student centred teaching and learning. However, due to limited space we could not change the setting from time to time, we hope to get a more spacious room once the new school building is ready (probably in another 3 years...haha). One set back about this room is we do not have any technology in this room except for a computer and an LCD Projector. 

Charts about 21st Century Teaching and Learning 

In the midst of setting up the English Language Lab, I downloaded learning charts and posters from Pinterest and Tumblr that can be used in classrooms. I have compiled and saved them in folders. If you are planning to set up your own 21st century classroom and are looking for posters and charts, you may click here and here to download them.

Lesson for the First Day of School

Tomorrow will be the first day of school in some parts of Malaysia and I am very sure, the likes of me are very excited to get back to work and catch up with your colleagues and students. I am sure with 5 weeks of holidays we are fully 'charged' and energized. Probably this is not the sure thing for those who were marking SPM 2016. I gave up marking this year last year so I had so much of time lazing at home and enjoyed mum's cooking. Also, I had some visits to the gym not to get a 'six - pack' but just to stay healthy. 

By the way, if you are planning to start your lesson tomorrow and not sure where to begin with,  I am sharing what my lesson is going to be like... 

I am actually planning to start with writing as I am sure some of our students never attempted any writing during the holidays.So, just to bring them back I thought of starting with as simple writing lesson. For those who  are teaching form 4 and 5 you can try this simple activity by asking them to write elaboration using the 5 W's and 1 H. Many of us are aware of this activity but it would be better if a proper worksheet is prepared for the activity so that students will be able to put their ideas in proper order. I made this activity as my first day activity so that students will be able to remember how to do elaboration for directed writing for the rest of the year. If you are interested please click here to download the worksheet. 

The 'task' 

The table for elaboration  

  

Memories of 2016........

Life is not a bed of roses,

Year 2016 was a mixture of  everything and I believe I have braved through it with my signature smile as I believe that God has always been on my side provided I did the right thing without breaking the law of nature and believe in being good. With that mantra in mind and heart I managed to overcome every single challenge and problem.  I did not have much time to update this page as I was always on the go one after another throughout the year which left me with no time for myself and if you wonder what I was up to in  2016,  the pictures in this posting is a summary of everything I did in 2016. I hope I will have more time to share teaching strategies, worksheets and ideas in 2017.  

Creative Writing Workshop @ MRSM Ghafar Baba, Malacca

Training of National Cadres of CEFR Master Trainers 2016 at
English Language Training Centre (ELTC), Negeri Sembilan. 

Trainer Validation, Connecting Classrooms By British Council at
Swiss Otel Nai Lert Park, Bangkok. 

Presenter @
Kinta Utara, District Educational Colloquium
'21st Century Teaching Practices'

Group Exhibition on 21st Century Teaching Practices
Kinta Utara, District Educational Colloquium 

In action as CEFR Master Trainer, @
Teachers Training College, Ipoh 

I was humbled to have won a consolation prize for the, Report Card of Happiness,
Teachers Day Competition, Thanks to Belinda Lawrence for her entry. 

Presenter@ English Breakaway
Hosted and jointly organised by Methodist Girls' School, Ipoh and
SMK Bukit Merchu, Kuala Kangsar. 

Course Participant @
Advanced Specialist Certificate in Teaching Reading and Writing
@ Regional Language Centre (RELC), Singapore. 

Video recording of one of my lessons incorporated with the
ideas of 21st century teaching practices. please click here
 to watch the video.

Chief Adjudicator@
Perak State Level Debate Competition 2016 

Speaker@
Lawas District English on Camp for
Students and Teachers, Lawas, Sarawak. 

My Baby Project which I worked tirelessly for a year,
The MGS International English Language Academic Heptathlon 2016,
(INTELAH) 

My Baby Project 2, English Across Boundaries. Had this at the school level.
Students were required to put up a display on given themes and present them in English.

Phewwwwww...... 

That's not it,...anyways its just I could not find the pictures... 

I hope I will have more time in 2017 to keep this page alive....