Let's Use Hot English Magazines in Classroom

I have been using the articles and activities from the HOT English Magazines for quite sometime now. My form 4 and 5 students like the activities from these magazines very much. This is because the activities and articles are close to the hearts of teenagers. Besides learning the language, students definitely get to expand their knowledge in various issues. I have also used the materials from these magazines to design writing tasks. All the tasks were proven to be successful. 

I am sharing some of the magazines here so that all teachers and students can benefit from them. 

Please click on the links below for different editions of Hot English Magazines. 

Hot English Magazine issue 90 
Hot English Magazine issue 91 
Hot English Magazine issue 92
Hot English Magazine issue 93
Hot English Magazine issue 94
Hot English Magazine issue 95
Hot English Magazine issue 96 
Hot English Magazine issue 97
Hot English Magazine issue 98
Hot English Magazine issue 99 

Let's make our lessons hotter with Hot English Magazines...

Directed Writing : Informal Letter

Informal letter has not been tested in SPM for quite sometime. I think students need to get prepared from all aspects rather than spotting questions ( I have never spotted questions). Here I would like to share a sample.I hope this will be helpful to those who are preparing for SPM English this year. 

The Format 

Students are to write an informal letter, describing their holidays. This piece of work requires students to use descriptive words. It would be easier for students if they are exposed to some examples of descriptive words before they are given the writing task. 

A brief introduction will do 

The first content point is elaborated with precise descriptions

It is always important to have some background knowledge on the topic that you are working on. Students who have better knowledge of the topic will have more things to write. Therefore, it is important for students to read more to develop their knowledge on different things. 

You do not need to use proverbs and idioms in your essays if they are irrelevant. Proper elaboration with good structure and choice of words are the most important. I have noticed, some students are too obsessed with idioms and proverbs that they use them for the sake of using them without even knowing the meaning. 

Also remember to 'call a spade a spade'...

That is all for now,....

Happy writing!

'HEBAT' MODULES

Here is the compilation of HEBAT modules. HEBAT stands for "Hayati Eksplorasi Berfikir Aras Tinggi. This module is developed to develop higher order thinking skills through reading activities. Each unit comes with lesson plan and also relevant materials. I think they are quite useful. 

There are 20 modules altogether and every module is developed for students of different level. The one thing I like about this module is, they are all focusing on issues and topics relevant to the current generation. Honestly, I do not use textbooks anymore as they are very outdated and I don't think the contents are relevant anymore. I use to make my own worksheets and I find this modules to be interesting and will be able to arouse students' interest if  the lessons are planned carefully. 

Thanks to my friend Aishah for sharing this.

UNIT 1
UNIT 2 
UNIT 3
UNIT 4
UNIT 5
UNIT 6
UNIT 7 
UNIT 8 
UNIT 9
UNIT 10 
UNIT 11
UNIT 12
UNIT 13
UNIT 14
UNIT 15
UNIT 16
UNIT 17 
UNIT 18 
UNIT 19 
UNIT 20 

Sing to the Dawn...Made Simple

I have compiled some notes and sample answers to make things easier for students to understand the novel Sing to the Dawn.At times, students may not be able to understand the gist of the story due to the lengthy and wordy elaboration, Therefore, to make students understand the story better, I have compiled a simplified version of the novel which I compiled from various sources. Please click here and here for the module and sample answers.  

Sing to the Dawn by MinFong  Ho

Shadowing the life of an American Student.......

This is Dawson and Me with Macy

Today instead of doing my normal school routine I decided to shadow a student to all his classes to experience the life of an American student. It turned out to be an exciting and learning experience. The student whom I shadowed was Dawson, an 8th Grader ( 14 years old). He was handsome and had blue sparkling eyes.... He was warm and very respectful in his own ways. I got along very well with him within a few minutes.. The classes he had today was English reading (Honors), Mathematics, Social Science( History), Science, English writing, music and Bible Studies. 

  

Technology made the lessons easier to understand

I followed  him to all the classes and had great opportunities to observe different teaching styles of different teachers.  Different teachers had different styles in handling their students and all of them had the aura of their own… some teachers made sure the students remained quiet throughout their lessons, some had amazing group activities and made sure students were engaged and some had great ICT skills that they made learning so simple. One similarity I noticed among the teachers was, they were all using technology during their lessons and I am sure they were not doing it because I was there as the teachers were not aware I was shadowing Dawson and gave a surprise look when I showed up in their classrooms with Dawson, however they were very welcoming. They did not use any specific software, but exploited whichever software  or online tools which was free and available. It was easy for the teachers as these softwares/tools were not so complicated and made their lives easy.

Dawson, do not have fixed classmates, his classmates differs from one lesson to another lesson based on their ability and the previous year’s results, and the school do not have uniformed lessons as well. The lessons differ from one class to another depends on students’ learning ability. For example, If a student is in English Reading(honors) class, it means this class is for students who have higher level of understanding texts where at this level they learn to study literature deeper. They study  Charles Dicken's, Great expectations which is meant for higher level, where as the weaker ones will not study Charles Dickens but a simpler one which help to build their ability to understand texts better.

I did not shadow Dawson to his bible studies as it was conducted in a church nearby; in America religious studies are not allowed to be conducted in the school compounds as to respect and not influence students of other religions and it is not compulsory. They truly practice 'respect all religions' policy.

Different lessons at different classes

My day ended with a happy note......

Using Songs in the English Classrooms

I believe in making my lessons as interesting as possible in any ways which are possible. One of the ways are using songs to teach language skills to our students. Here are a set of worksheets which are based on songs sung by Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Christina Arguilera and so on... I have been collecting and using them for years so now I think it is time to share some of them.... However, I don't have the links to the vevos  as I downloaded the songs a long time ago using Youtube...you can do the same as well....Click here to download the worksheets.

Malaysians' Ways of Lives to the Eyes of American Children...

Today was another interesting day for me as I had the opportunity to carry out my first lesson with the 8th graders at Riverside Middle School and the topic of my lesson was Introduction to Malaysia and the Malaysian culture. During my lesson I shared several things about Malaysia with the students. I talked about the Malaysians’ ways of greetings, their festivals and the sumptuous food found in Malaysia.

Besides, I also shared some information about the two schools that I have worked with in Malaysia; SMK Bintulu and MGS, Ipoh. The students were very excited to learn about something that was completely alien to them.

The Traditional Malay Ways of Greeting

I was taken aback when the students did not know anything about Malaysia. They had a lot of questions about our food, people and also culture. I had weird response from them too when I told them that we also celebrate Christmas in Malaysia….a student stated “ You celebrate Christmas in Malaysia?”…They did not know that we have Christians who celebrate Christmas.....

The students seemed to enjoy the lesson as I did some demonstration on how to greet the people here during their festivals and the traditional Malay style of greeting. The students were active and inquisitive learners, so they bombarded me with so many questions, the one hour lesson was just not enough to describe everything about Malaysia...….

All together I had five hours lesson with five different classes, repeating the same thing about Malaysia, at the end of the day I was very tired, but at the same time I was very happy as I had a sense of achievement….the experiences that I have gained all these while through various courses and training sessions as well as my debating skills has helped me to brave through my lessons today.

I am looking forward for my next lessons to see what I can learn from the students and also teachers at the Riverside Middle school who seem to be very excited to have us with them… at least they get a break from their 5 or 6 hours lesson routine that they have every day…  I will soon share about the teachers’ routine in US…

see yaa....!!

First Day Teacher Internship in an American School........

It was a bright sunny day, the sky was a soft shade of blue and there was a slight breeze in the air. I stepped out of the cab that was sending us for our teacher internship right in front of the entrance of  Riverside Middle School. I did not know why, my heart was thumping really hard that it could jump out .. perhaps it was because that was my first day in a completely different environment as a teacher,,,, other teacher interns were equally nervous as all of them we very quiet in the cab. 

       Once we were inside the school building, we were shown our way to the office to meet the principal Dr.Kevin Black, a charismatic man in his forties who has shown high leadership skills in Riverside Middle and gained the highest esteem from the teachers there. I did notice at my first glance that he was a man who lead by example. I saw him running the school with great care and concern. He was rather very friendly and warm to the students. One thing I noticed about him was when he needed some students to arrange the chair at the assembly hall he called them in and arranged the chairs with them ( something that I have never seen in Malaysia, where principals only give orders and never lifted a finger.......,oppps no offence).  His exemplary acts are followed by the teachers as well. 

            During the assembly we were asked to introduce ourselves, we did but the students did not seemed to respond while we were introducing ourselves, there was a pin drop silence at the assembly hall and all their eyes were on us.. Despite the jitters, I  put a brave front and introduced myself to the students... I think they were told to keep quiet and watch their manners as they were all very quiet( we used to do that in Malaysia when we have visitors right?)....hahahahahaha

After the assembly ended we were approached by some students and they welcomed us in their american accent and asked more things about our countries till they were shooed away by a disciplinarian.. One thing I notice during my first day was the students do not greet their teachers with a 'good morning' or 'good afternoon' but with a simple 'hi' or 'hey' and the teachers seem to be okay with that.( In Malaysia, the "goods"is a must to show respect right? well that's our asian culture)

I was then approached by Miss. Wendy Hawkins and she informed me that my teacher partner Ms. Sharon was unable to come to school and  she will be my teacher partner till Ms. Sharon comes back. So I followed her to her class. Since it was my first day of internship, all I did was introducing myself to the students and sit and observe Ms. Wendy Hawkins. It was a great experience to be with Miss. Hawkins on my first day of internship because Ms. Hawkins has won the ‘Teacher of The Year’ award several times in the district and state. She shared her files, her lesson plans, the syllabus and also her modules generously, she even allowed me to make copies of her materials.... Such a great generosity!!!!!!!!!

Ms.Hawkin's Awards 

Ms. Hawkins teaches writing to 8^th grade students (Form 2 in Malaysia). Her teaching style is completely different and in USA they are definitely using the 21^st century teaching skills and she limits her role as a guide and facilitator in the class and allow students to explore the ideas on their own using laptops and other gadgets. Her writing lessons start with a simple short journal writing activity related to the topics/theme that they are learning and she continues her lesson with her current lesson. Currently she is piloting project based learning, where students are required to read, adopt and adapt articles form certain sites on the internet. Students are required to complete a four paged guided report based on their research on internet and their final work will be composition based on the knowledge that they have gained from their research they did on the internet. It was really, really interesting…In Malaysia, we have always seen that teachers including me  can start and complete one essay writing activity in just two - periods but here in US one writing lesson can be stretched to weeks, they really stress on the quality of writing by making sure students know what they are writing. Right now I am thinking of adapting this project- based learning activity in Malaysia once I am back and it is going to be exciting to bring back something worth it … at least for those who are thinking that I am having a holiday now they know that I am actually doing something beneficial here…hahahaha…..

American textbooks and teacher guide manuals 

Back to the American classroom, Ms. Hawkin’s classroom is very organised and she loves blue, so she decorated her classroom in blue which was eyes - soothing. I loved the arrangement. The number of her students in her class is about 20 to 25. I was told that a maximum number of students she supposed to have is only 25 and cannot be more than that. Being a teacher for 18 years she organizes her classroom so well and her students seem to love her so much… I did not see any errand offenders on my first day.. the kids seem to be very loving and fun. I saw some cheeky ones too who seem to be excited to see us and tried to crack jokes….I just laughed although I did not know what they were saying…hahahaha

The American classroom is so cool.........

 My first day was really  awesome and looking forward to go to school again and carry out my 1^st lesson which will be about Malaysia…I am excited and will share once I am done with it…..

Fun- Filled English Language activities

All of us become bored with the same exercises that we give to our students at times. Students as well hope that their teachers will give them something which is more fun rather than the same typical English language practises which bore them. So here I would like to share a book which has English Language activities which are fun and can be done in the classroom and at the same time students will also learn something in a different way. I have tried some of the activities in my class. so click here to download the book and do something different in you language classroom.

Test Your Proverbs Now!!!!

I would like to share one part of my proverb module.This part is the test part where I require my students to do once I complete the module. It takes 3 weeks for me to complete all the aspects in my module as I have to integrate the proverbs with the theme and topic that was being taught. I do the test after I have complete teaching the module.click here to download the Proverbs test.

Around the world in 80 days...

This is a videobook of the novel Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne...the printed version will be used in Sabah, Sarawak, Pahang, Johor and Labuan..However, the videobook and the books circulated in the schools are different because the printed version is the edited one and the videobook is original...I am thinking of using this videobook in my class and I will ask my students to differentiate the content of one of the chapters in the videobook and the printed version...This videobook which I have published here is only chapter one ,, if anyone is interested in downloading the rest of the chapters you can visit youtube.com

English Language Syllabus

Hi there,
These are the English Language Syllabus used throughout Malaysia....Do not forget to thank me after you have downloaded it from here....hahaha...Happy Teaching....!!!


Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran Peralihan
Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran Tingkatan 1
Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran Tingkatan 2
Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran Tingkatan 3
Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran Tingkatan 4
Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran Tingkatan 5
Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran EST Tingkatan 4 dan 5

A Picture Says a Thousand Words.

The students of class 3B were given a project few months ago. They were divided into 5 groups and were required to identify 30 proverbs with their meanings and were asked to use pictures to convey the hidden meanings in the proverbs. The students really had fun doing this project. These are the outcomes of the classroom project. They have put a lot of efforts in completing their project. The best was Amanda's group. They used newspaper cuttings as pictures for their proverbs instead of printing out pictures from internet...

Kudos to them!!!.

How to teach English

how_to_teach_english.pdf

This is a book which is very useful for teachers of English as a Second Language. Especially for beginners. How to teach English offers :

a) ideas of what makes a good teacher and what makes a good learner.
b) descriptions and examples of language teaching methods.
c) an essential intoduction to grammar.
d) teaching sequences for Grammar, vocabulary and the individual language skills.


Happy Teaching.....Taaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Teach Preposition

I use some of the materials in this book to teach preposition..Trust me it's very useful

Older Than Me or Older than I ???

Students often ask me which usage correct, either he is older than me or he or he is older than I am....Which one is correct???? This is the answer...

a) She/He is older than me.

b) She/ He is older than I am.

c) I'm older than her.

d) I'm older than she is.

the four aforementioned usages are the most correct usages. So make sure you say 'am' if you end your sentence with 'I'.

Happy learning!!