Staff English Lesson at SK Felda Bukit Tajau

So the staff at SK Felda Bukit Tajau have, for some time now, expressed an interest in learning and practicing basic English skills. However, for various reasons, we have failed to follow through with a solid plan -until today. That's right, today was the first of the soon-to-be-many SKBT Staff English Lessons!

 We worked in groups, and learned how to greet each other properly. Then we practiced, and everyone spoke very well!

 We also discussed days, dates, ordinal numbers, and weather. Just a bit of review for those who've forgotten some of the basics.

 Everyone was a bit shy at first, not quite used to speaking freely in English, but after warming up a bit, everyone had a great time. We all spoke some excellent English, and had a lot of fun to boot!

The staff at SK Felda Bukit Tajau are all delightful students and quick learners! We had a great time, and are looking forward to next week when we will discuss FAMILY!

Jempol Storytelling & Public Speaking Competition, Hosted at SK Jengka 3, 29th April, 2014

The schools in the Jempol cluster came together today in the spirit of friendly competition for Storytelling & Public Speaking.  The event was hosted by SK Jengka 3, a participating TELL2 school.

The first event of the day was Prepared Speeches, in the Public Speaking category. One-by-one, students went on stage and gave their speeches to the audience.  Topics included “Healthy Lifestyle”, “Friendship”, “Prevention of Dengue” and even “Ice Cream”.  Students varied in age as well, Year 4-6.  I was impressed with the preparation that each student underwent for this competition.  They all did a great job, demonstrating skills such as voice projection, appropriate use of gestures and tone.  Next, the same group of students were given time to prepare for their Impromptu Speech.  The topic of the Impromptu Speech was “Children Today, Leaders Tomorrow”.  A common theme among the students’ responses was the importance of active study in Primary and Secondary school. 

Public Speaking Contestants

The second event was the Storytelling. This involved two stages: Prepared Storytelling and Impromptu Storytelling.  Most of the students, Years 4-6, presented their prepared stories in fancy dress and often had theatrics to accompany their story as well.  Students presented their versions of stories like “A Clever Tailor”, “The Boy & the Apple Tree” and “The Golden Touch”.  Although the stories varied in their plots, they all had one thing in common:  a moral.  I was delighted to hear such animated storytelling from this group of Primary school students.  Even more surprising was the students’ performance on the Impromptu Storytelling.  Believe me, this is no easy task.  Students first select a word from a box and must base their impromptu story around that word.  I was very impressed that all the students participated and generated at least a few sentences using their word. 

Storytelling Competition Contestants

Overall, the event was a success and seeing the Awards Ceremony at the end made it even more worthwhile.  The students in Jempol have worked very hard and I am honoured that they invited me to attend this event with them.

Awards Ceremony and Prize Winners

TELL2 MTPs from Jempol Sub-Cluster in attendance:

FARIDAH BINTI JAAFFAR

SITI AZURA BINTI ABU SEMAN

SARINA BINTI AB HAMID

ROBITAH BINTI YUSOF

SUHAIZA BINTI ASIRAN

MAZNI BINTI DAUD

NORAZIAH BINTI JELANI

SUZANI BINTI AWANG

NAZIHA BINTI AWANG MAHAT

NORHAYATUNNUPUS BINTI MOHD SAM

Sarah Higgs, Jemopl

Overcoming the Difficulty of Introducing a New Phoneme, A Student-Centered Activity, SK Jengka 5, 21st April, 2014

Mazni Bt. Daud, a TELL2 teacher at SK Jengka 4, developed an interesting and effective way to introduce her target sounds in a phonics based lesson.  In her lesson plan, she wished to introduce the phonemes /air/ and /ear/ and practice the pronunciation with a few different student centered activities.  She prepared word cards for the target words from the textbook and a set of 15 /air/ and /ear/ cards as well.  She began her class by having me practice the phonemes with the students, then practice the word lists she provided on the blackboard.  We took turns with the words, using the basic 1-2-3 method for phonics, saying ā/air/hair.  Afterward, I turned the class fully back over to Mazni.  Her first activity, you can see in the photographs below, continues with identifying the phonemes through a two scaffold steps.  But the procedure for the steps remained the same. 

1. 1.       Mazni made a T-chart on the blackboard with a picture card identifying the phoneme for each category (pair/fear)
2. 2.       She had the students make 2 queues leading to a single desk at the back of the room.
3. 3.       She placed two jumbled stacks of /air/ and /ear/ cards on the desk.
4. 4.       The first student in the queue takes a card, says the phoneme to the next student and passes the card to him/her.
5. 5.      The card works its way to the end of the queue, where the last student says the phoneme to me, then pastes it into one of two categories on the blackboard.

The second step in the activity repeated the process, but with word cards in the stack and /air/ and /ear/ cards pasted at the top of the T-chart.  If at any time during the activity, Mazni noticed that students were producing the phoneme incorrectly, she actively corrected them and continued with the activity.  The first few rounds were tough, but once the students figured out how to play, they had a lot of fun.  I am proud to have been a part of Mazni’s activity and will be sharing it with other teachers!

Sarah Higgs, Jempol

Brighton Kids English Club II

The second installment of the Kids English Club in Maran was a great success! Our lively group had a great time practicing last month's language skills: introductions and numbers, but we also learned words for the body -head, shoulders, knees, and toes (+eyes, ears, mouth, and nose), happy and sad, and sang songs with each! We played bingo -"10s and Teens"! Story time was also a great success -we read Shhhh!  by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross, and had a wonderful time learning SOUND EFFECTS! ( BANG BANG, THUMP THUMP, VROOM VROOM, TWIT-TER-WOOO!) Finally, we played the balloon game with our our target language -first with numbers, then with body parts, then with sound effects!
We finished the lesson with snacks and lots of smiles. Thank you to all those who came, and hope to see you next month!

Bingo: 10s and Teens

Sound effects!

A wild Balloon Game!

Snacks and soda all around!

Got a crisp stuck in my eye

Rainbow Cake, SK Jengka 6

Today at SK Jengka 6, Naziha Bt. Awang Mahat taught her Year 2 students the process of making a vanilla cake by making a Rainbow Cake!  She brought all the ingredients from home and borrowed kitchen equipment from the canteen.  Her students enjoyed the interactive activity and got a piece of cake after it finished baking.

Sarah Higgs, Jempol

Creative Lesson Planning at SK Jengka 3 & 4, 10th April, 2014

I have been most impressed with the creative lesson planning and preparation at SK Jengka 3 & 4 recently.  The TELL2 teachers at both schools are really putting a lot of effort into their lesson planning, resource development and materials creation.

Robitha's Year 3

Robitha Bt Yusof, SK Jengka 3, has been using action songs to teach the correct verbs for animal movements in her Year 3 class.  In addition to the action songs, she developed a pair work activity in which students are give either an animal or a movement card and they have to make pairs with the correct animal & movement.  Her activity was fun for the students and an effective method of instruction for her topic.

Sarina's Year 1

Sarina Bt. Ab Hamid, also at SK Jengka 3, has been teaching action verbs in her Year 1 class.   Here you can see her action sorting activity.  First she reviewed the action verbs with flashcards, and then distributed a box full of different action

verbs.  Students had to find the correct word card in the box for the flashcard she pasted on the chalk board.  Students accrued points for each correct answer.

Siti Azura's Year 1

Siti Azura Bt Abu Seman, SK Jengka 3, had a very creative lesson plan for phonics in her Year 1 class.  She introduced the letters O & G, drilled the sound of the letters, introduced the picture cards & word cards and drilled again.  This is a traditional method for phonics, but then she did something very interesting.  She selected a pair of students to come to the front of the board, whispered a phonics target word to student A, who whispered it to student B, who selected the card from the word bank on the board then placed it into the correct O or G category.  Then Siti Azura drilled the Letter-Sound-Word again as a class.  It was a creative and effective game to drill the phonics in a fun way for the students.  As we all know, phonics is difficult to teach and can be tedious, but this activity is an excellent solution.

Mazni's Year 2

Finally, Mazni Bt Daud, SK Jengka 4, has been studying “Delicious Foods” with her Year 2 class.  She began the class by giving a demonstration of the process of making Vanilla Milkshakes with realia she brought from home.  Then she reviewed the actions for cooking & the ingredients with flashcards.  After another class demonstration of the process, she invited a student to demonstrate the process while the class

tell her what to do.  It was fun and the students learned the process to make a vanilla milkshake.  Then Mazni used mini-whiteboards for students to do pair writing work.  She grouped the students then had them write the process together step-by-step.  The students enjoyed using the mini-whiteboards and it was a creative and effective way to make writing exercises interesting for the students.

All four of these teachers have impressed me this week, and I hope to share their activities with the other TELL2 Teachers in the Maran Cluster.

Sarah Higgs, Jempol

SK Bukit Bota Bids Farewell to Harris, 9th April, 2014

Sad news arrived last week when the Headmistress was informed that Muhamad Harris Imran Bin Jamaludin has been transferred to another school.  We are sad to see him go, as he is an enthusiastic TELL2 Malaysian Teacher Participant, but we hope the best for him at his new post.  Sarah Higgs and I were invited to attend his farewell luncheon in a spirit of good will and encouragement.  We looked back at the time we had together and want to remain friends and colleagues in the future, despite his transfer.  I truly feel that I have made a great friend in Harris, and I hope to see him soon.

Tom James, Chenor

"Let’s Speak English Day" at SK Batu 13, 9th April, 2014

Tom James introduces the "Let's Speak English Day" at SK Jengka Batu 13

The Headmistress form SK Batu 13 invited TELL2 Mentors from Maran to participate in “Let’s Speak English Day”.  At the event, students rotated between 5 English Activity Stations led by Malaysian Teachers in the morning before recess.  The 5 stations were (1) Phonics (Years 1-3) / Public Speaking (Years 4-6); (2) Board Games; (3) Storytelling; (4) Kinesthetic Games; and (5) Singing.  The students enjoyed all these activities and after recess divided into 3 groups to have a Speaking Skills Development Mini-lesson.  Sarah Higgs worked with Years 1-2; Marshal Peck worked with Years 3-4; and I, Tom James, worked with Years 5-6.  Sarah’s speaking topic was “Food” and the students practiced asking each other what foods they like.  Marshall’s speaking topic was “Hobbies” and students discussed hobbies and role-played a short dialogue.  My speaking topic was “Rules” and students discussed in groups types of rules and devised a list of rules on a subject of their choosing.  After the Speaking Skills Development Mini-lesson, students and teachers came together for an assembly.  At the assembly, each group went on stage and made a short presentation based on their Mini-lesson.  The Mentors led the presentations   and the students preformed excellently!  “Let’s Speak English Day” was a great success and we hope to duplicate the event in Jempol and Luit sub-clusters in the future.

Tom James, Chenor

 






 

 

SK Jengka 3, Word Jumble

Year 2 students at SK Jengka 3 have been learning about gardening with Siti Azura BT Abu Seman, a TELL2 teacher.  She introduced the new gardening vocabulary with a flashcard game and followed with Word Jumble.  She distributed packets of letters and showed the class a flashcard.  The students had to identify the word then arrange the letters into the correct spelling for each flashcard.  The students enjoyed the activity and learned the words and correct spelling in a new way.  It was Siti Azura's first time attempting this activity and it was a great success!

Year 2 Girls Group, Word Jumble

Year 2 Boys Group, Word Jumble

Meanwhile, Sarina BT Ab Hamid, a TELL2 teacher, has been teaching Parts of the Body to her Year 1 students.  They loved "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" but Sarina wanted to supplement the vocabulary from the song with a more comprehensive list of words to describe the body.  She first introduced the new vocabulary with flashcards, then had students arrange on a large boy poster she prepared in advance.  Afterward, she had students come to the front of the class and present a part of the body to their classmates.  You can see students holding their cards up after presenting them to the class.  Her activity was an effective way to involve students and introduce new vocabulary for Parts of the Body.

Year 1 Students, Parts of the Body

SK Jengka 6, Using a Variety of Teaching Aids

At SK Jengka 6, TELL2 teachers have been making and using a variety of different teaching aids.  

Year 1, Norhayatunnupus

Norhayatunnupus BT MOHD Sam, TELL2 teacher, made a lot of effort to help her Year 1 students understand the concept of and prepare them to complete a crossword puzzle in their Activity Books.  She prepared a large poster with the sentences from the Activity Book with removable picture/word cards and she drew boxes on the chalkboard that mimicked the crossword puzzle.  After a guided class practice, she asked groups to provide answers to the crossword, then called individuals to the board to write the word in the boxes.  The activity was a great success and the students were able to independently complete the crossword puzzle afterwards.

Year 2, Naziha

Year 2 students have been learning about Delicious Foods with Naziha BT Awang Mahat, TELL2 teacher.  Naziha prepared flashcards a variety of delicious foods to supplement the vocabulary from the KSSR Year 2 textbook.  She decided to have students practice speaking by asking for different foods from each other.  However, the class has 35 pupils and pair role play is difficult to manage.  We solved this problem by dividing the students into 8 groups, giving them one flash card each, and had them role play in small groups.  Student A held the flashcard, and student B asked "Can I have the ___ please?"  to elicit the response "Here you are!" and student A passes the flashcard to student B.  And the process repeated until all students were able to ask and answer.  Then each group passed their flashcard to the next group and repeated.  The role play was difficult at first because the students are less comfortable speaking English to each other, but they had a lot of fun with the activity!

-Sarah Higgs, Jempol