Premier of the Poetry Recitation Competition in Maran

The English Carnival in Maran presents the first ever Poetry Recitation Competition. I was fortunate enough to be involved with the event in its inaugural year.  With many years of experience in English, and as a published writer, I assisted teachers with the dramatic recitations as well as during the event at the Carnival.

--Sarah Higgs, Jempol

Larain Spektra @ University Malaya

Mentors Tom James & Sarah Higgs participated in the Larian Spektra Charity Fun Run hosted by University of Malaya on 26th April 2015.  They represented Brighton Education Group at the event and all proceeds donated to local charities.  The event was great fun and we were able to promote the TELL2 programme at UM.

Tom James, Chenor

Sarah Higgs, Jempol

HOTS in English @ SK Jengka 6

Mohd Amin Bin Abd Rahman at SK Jengka 6 has been engaging his year 3 pupils with a lot of critical and creative thinking tasks in class.  This week he was teaching Unit 6, Pet's World.  Rather than drill and complete the Activity Book for this unit, Mohd Amin asked students to imagine, describe and give information about a pet of their choosing.  The activity was an excellent way to incorporate HOTS into regular class instruction and the pupils loved the activity!  Sometimes, letting pupils be a bit creative pays off with developing their higher order thinking skills!  Great job Mohd Amin!

Sarah Higgs, Jempol

English Speaking Competition: Luit sub-cluster

Monday was an action-packed day as the children from schools in Maran's Luit sub-cluster gathered at SK LKTP KG New Zealand for the annual English Speaking Competition to demonstrate their exceptional skills in Public Speaking, Story-telling, Poetry Recitation, Scrabble, and Action Songs. The competition was fierce, but everyone overcame their stage-fright and performed admirably.
SK Seri Keramat carried home three gold medals in Public Speaking, Poetry Recitation, and Action Songs, while SK Maran carried home three silver medals.
The TELL2 Programme schools in Luit also performed very well, carrying home two gold medals and three bronze:
SJK(C) Pei Min: Gold medal in Story-telling
SK Senggora: Gold medal in Scrabble
SK Chedong Jaya: Bronze medal in Poetry Recitation
SJK(C) Maran: Bronze medal in Action Songs
SK LKTP KG New Zealand: Bronze medal in Public Speaking

Congratulations to all the participants for their fine performances, a special thank you to all of our judges who presided over the events, and an extra accolade for all the gold medal finalists who will go on to the next round of the English Speaking Competition on Thursday, April 30 at SK Jengka 19!

Ho Xin Yue telling Little Red Riding Hood

TELL2 Mentee Shahrul is judge for Scrabble

ELC, Maran as judge for the Scrabble final

Story-telling Gold goes to Ho Xin Yue of SJK(C) Pei Min!

The Scrabble Gold goes to SK Senggora!

SJK(C) Maran carries home the Bronze in Action Songs

SK Seri Keramat Action Song team!

Brighton Kids English Club XV

Brighton's latest Kids English Club was great fun! We learned how to use the present continuous verb tense, ask and answer questions confidently, and practice with new and old verbs. We also did some reading (The Singing Princess), some writing, and some eating. Everyone did a great job! See you next time!

-Marshall
 ELC, Maran

Our Action-Speaking game is ready!

Guest Speaker on Language Proficiency Testing Strategies @ Jempol CPD

Shish Kushwaha, formally of the British Council, graciously donated his time to be a guest speaker for Jempol and Chenor teachers on Language Proficiency Testing Strategies.  Mr. Kushwaha informed teachers on techniques for taking language proficiency tests, as well as providing tips for improving formal and informal writing.  We would like to extend our thanks to Mr. Kushwaha for  his time and to our hosts at SK Jengka 5 for their hospitality and for providing teachers with Chromebooks for the session and to all teachers for their devotion and participation in this CPD.

-Tom James, Chenor

-Sarah Higgs, Jempol

Farewell Luncheon to M. Rofai Mokhtar @ SK Kertau

Today after completing his last day of school at SK Kertau, Headmaster M. Rofai Mokhtar enjoyed a celebratory farewell luncheon.  He has been transferred to SK Seri Mahkota in Kuantan, Pahang.  Today's programme included a speech from M. Rofai, and serving lunch to all pupils, parents and faculty.  M. Rofai's devotion to SK Kertau and to the TELL2 programme will not be soon forgotten.  Thank you sir for your hard work and I hope to see you again soon at your new school!

Tom James, Chenor

National Reading Moment @ SK Jengka 4

Today, April 21, 2015,students across Malaysia joined together for the National Reading Moment.  From 10:00 - 10:30 this morning, students showed their love of reading by participating in this event.  Thank you to Suhaiza Bt. Asiran for inviting me to take part in this special event.  I am truly moved by the students' great attitudes about reading.  Promoting reading to young people is very important, and this program can remind them of the joy of reading!  

Sarah Higgs, Jempol

Chenor Public Speaking Competition @ SK Bukit Lada

Chenor cluster had it's Public Speaking Competition today, 21st of April, 2015.  Pupils showed tremendous bravery throughout the competition and preformed excellently.  I would like to extend a special thank you to the participating TELL2 Mentees for their dedication to this event and to the Guru Besar and faculty at SK Bukit Lada for welcoming me so warmly and hosting a great event!

Tom James, Chenor

ICT Writing Class @ SK Jengka 2

Noriza Binti Yaacob has embraced 21st Century Learning, not only with technology integration in her lessons, but also with creative and collaborative activities.  She invited me to join her in the classroom for a truly amazing ICT Writing class.   You can see her lesson plan below, and hopefully we can follow her lead and use more technology and 21st Century methods in our own teaching practices!

Great work Noriza!!

--Sarah Higgs, Jempol

Year 3, Unit 6: Pet's World

Materials Needed: Download "I Have a Pet" song from YouTube; Mini-whiteboards & Markers; PowerPoint to demonstrate simple sentence construction (use other animals not on Activity book Pg 41)

Presentation:  (1) Watch the video and Sing the Song; (2) Show 1st slide of PowerPoint (explaining the name of the animal, how much it costs, it's physical features; and what it can do)

Practice: (1) Continue the PowerPoint, allowing students to come to be board and construct simple sentences using the content from the slide; (2) Mini-whiteboard activity + Activity Book p. 41:  Assign each group an animal from AB p. 41, groups write the sentences on their mini-whiteboards;  Groups present (show and read) their sentences to the class

Production: (1) students complete the sentences in the Activity Book p. 41 (2) if time allows, you can watch the video and sing the song again.

English is FUN Motivational Workshop @ SMK Jengka Pusat

Tom James and Sarah Higgs, coordinated "English is FUN Motivational Workshop" at SMK Jengka Pusat on 17th April, 2015.   After being contacted by Mdm. Nur Assyura Abdul Rahim, the Head of Panel at SMK Jengka Pusat, Tom and Sarah planned the event to demonstrate the importance of studying English as well as how English can be fun.  

The event consisted of three activities: (1) Motivational & Critical Thinking Task; (2) Brainium; (3) Cinema Club.  

In the Motivational & Critical Thinking Task activity, pupils first watched a motivational video and listened to a short talk on the importance of English in the global world. Then they completed a Critical Thinking Task that asked them to think about the importance of English and why English is difficult to learn.  This information can be useful to teachers to help address the pupils' concerns about learning English. 

Next, pupils got to play and have fun with English.  They rotated between two fun activities: Brainum and Cinema Club.  In Brainium, pupils draw word from the cup and roll the dice.  The dice tells them to either "Act It Out," "Draw It," or "Sculpt It."  The pupils try to get their friends to guess their word using the method indicated on the dice.  Cinema Club is a great website that uses movie trailers to teach English.  Pupils got to watch several movie trailers and complete the accompanying questions in a quiz-show style activity.

In addition to having Mdm. Nur Assyura Abdul Rahim assist us during the event, we had the pleasure of having Tom Hanly, TELL2 Mentor from Temerloh, and Shish Kushwaha, from the British Council, volunteer to assist us at the workshop.  A special thanks to all those who helped out at the event!

--Sarah Higgs, Jempol

--Tom James, Chenor

TPR as a Reading Strategy @ SK Jengka 3

Teachers at SK Jengka 3 have been using TPR (Total Physical Response) as a reading strategy.  Students who are not confident readers can still enjoy reading classes when we use TPR.  TPR is a technique that involves getting the student to learn with their bodies.  For example, we might do 'action reading' or 'sign reading'.  It is a great technique for not only reading lessons, but also for introducing new vocabulary, revision lessons and listening & speaking day too!

--Sarah Higgs, Jempol

PAL Reading Funfair @ SK Kertau

Despite being severely affected by the flooding this year, SK Kertau has made a huge effort to renovate the school and play host to the PAL Reading Funfair last week, on 10th April, 2015.  TELL2 teachers Muhamad Harris Imran Bin Jamaludin and Engku Aishatul Ruhi Binti Engku Arif did an amazing job assisting their pupils with PAL reading.  As Harris mentioned, "pupils at this school have a difficult time with reading.  Their reading level is lower and they are not interested in reading.  This PAL Reading Funfair can help them be more interested in reading."  Additionally, Aisha commented, "the process for PAL reading is very easy.  All the pupils can follow it.  It can really help them to learn to read, especially the remedial ones and in Year 1."

The event was a great success, despite a little rain.  The pupils, teachers and mentors all had a great time!  Thanks SK Kertau for playing host to the PAL Reading Funfair!

-Tom James, Chenor

Brighton Kids English Club XIV

Our latest Kids English Club was an relentless whirlwind of activity and fun. Actually it was like a small hurricane made of children. We did lots of reading, sentence completion, speaking practice, climbing, wrestling, swatting, and screaming, but in no particular order, and without really anything that resembled cohesion. By the time we settled down (collapsed) for snacks, we were all exhausted, but we learned a lot, and are looking forward to our next meeting!

-Marshall

ELC, Maran

 

extremely one-sided, umbrella-sword fighting

Spider-man impressions

Action

A slight lull in the action

Idiom: "done in", Informal. very tired; exhausted: "He was really done in after the Kids Club."