Day In, Day Out

This has been the most extended blogging break I have ever had. Let's not line up excuses for why such a long break, yet, as usual, let's make promises that this comeback is the restart of a longer-lasting blogging effort. 

Every year, in schools, an amount of money is spent on mahjong paper. It has become a need of many teachers especially for presentation purposes. Though with the advancement of technology, Prezi still cannot work without an internet connection and obviously without a laptop. In Malaysia, many are teaching if not learning in classes which most of the plug points are not working as the buildings might be a decade old and its electrical wiring has been wired and re-wired for countless times, that nothing could make it work again! With or without technology, classroom presentations should go on because they are usually the proof of a learner-centered teaching approach. There are movements to ban the use of plastic, there are movements to introduce 21 st century teaching so there should be movements to ban the use of mahjong papers in classrooms.  First, mahjong papers are expensive considering its one-time use. Second, mahjong papers are weak and easy to tear. Third, i...

So this year I rename the usual English note book as Rocket Pocket Book. Why? There is no reason behind the renaming. It is just that rocket rhymes well with pocket! My year starts a bit later than usual but I am happy that I manage to catch up. So, this year, instead of having one, each student of mine has two books: a hard-covered book and a small book. This hard-covered is obviously for note-taking whilst the smaller one is for Vocabulary Bank. What is Vocabulary Bank? It is basically a book where you deposit new learnt or gained words or phrases. The vocabulary can come from teachers, books or even their surroundings. Is it important to have Vocabulary Bank? Since I have one my own, I always believe that having one is helpful. However, it is only helpful if used intelligently. And that requires practice. A lot of practice. These are how I usually use my Vocabulary Bank. 1) Replace words with its synonyms. After I have written an essay, I would go to my Vocabulary Ban...

I was having my morning drive when I listened to Teaching With Jillian Starr Podcast. I simply clicked on Episode 14. Morning Meeting The Most Important Part of Our Day because it was yeah, morning and because I like to rekindle the memories I had observing classrooms when I was a teacher student in the UK. I remember a period I spent in an elementary school. The class was busy, students were here and there, but it was structured. Perhaps it was a thing they usually did every morning. The teacher would be at the front, welcoming kids, sorting papers, checking attendance. And the teacher assistant would be at the back sitting, waiting to be greeted by the kids who sometimes came in with reply letters, money or even messages such as the father had a change of work schedule hence could join the class trip the next week. Then from the front door, came in the class monitor with a bag of baby carrots. Everyone was given one, including me who had the least interest to finish it.  ...

Respecting students is one of the classroom cultures that is less discussed among teachers. This results teachers to be inclined to treat their students at times with little to no respect. Worst, in many schools and classrooms, little commitment has been taken  either by administrators or educators to foster an environment of respect in school which should start with teachers respecting the students.  Classroom culture: a culture when the members of the classroom the physical environment, the schedule and the approaches to instruction work together in harmony (Children's Literacy Initiative, 2017) Malaysian students, for instance, are frequently reminded to give respect to teachers because many of Malaysian cultural practices which are inherited from the past emphasis on the need to look upon elders and teachers with respect . However, none is mentioned about respecting the young as the Malay saying goes; Yang tua dihormati, yang muda dis...

Parking Lot has been considered as one of the best practices in the 21st century classrooms besides the famous group seating arrangement. In Malaysian public schools especially in Sekolah Amanah, it is a mandatory  to prepare a space or an area in the class to put up a Parking Lot. Per contra , to date, teachers are having a lack of proper guidance on the use of Parking Lot as a consequence of  the non-existence of a blueprint or a printed guide from any Malaysian education departments on this practice . Worst, the knowledge of Parking Lot is succinctly dismantle to teachers while they are having courses on 21st century classroom or learning, during Professional Learning Communities (PLC) sessions or during department meetings. It is through these short sessions or meet-ups that Malaysian teachers are made aware of the benefits of Parking Lot. Even the practice could benefit both teacher and students, the lack of understanding on the practice  results failur...

The debate on the use of L1 in L2 lessons has been going on since forever. Different scholars come out with different theories and hypotheses yet no one theory or hypothesis has become the most significant. After all, it all depends on the teaching context. The use of L1 has always been a contentious issue. Teachers have choices whether to: ban L1; minimise L1; or maximise L2. Again, it all depends on the context the teachers are in. It is best to also mention that even so, teachers who resort to the L1, despite their best intentions, often feel guilty for straying from L2 path (Cook, 2001). However now, let's not talk about teacher's use of L1.  Let's look at student's use of L1 in L2 lessons.  Should we ban the use of L1 among students in L2 lessons? If not, why are there a lot of suggestions given to cut or limit the use of L1 in L2 lessons? I remember when I once made it a rule that students should only talk to me...

More people should have the courage to speak their mind out so that other people could learn and understand them better. Many love to keep things to themselves because it is pleasurable and because it is safer , and because speaking out may open up chances for people to criticise and to hurt .  Silence has never killed anybody but silence too has never healed anybody.  People need to speak out. Speaking out could be threatening, tiring, emotionally draining, yet most of the time, it is the only way out of the tensed situations we are inflicted on. Speaking out may take a lot of strengths but staying in silence could cause harm.  When at work, learn to say NO. When at home, share what and how we feel. When in public, vocalize our thoughts. When with partners, pour out your heart. When with friends, let them know. When with an enemy, make them listen. Stop assuming things.  "They should have known the pile of work I'm working on." "T...

Exposing vocabulary list to students of beginner level of English proficiency is always challenging especially when the students are at the age of 14 to 17 years old which had had an approximate 6 to 7 years experience of English language learning. Talking from experience, the group of students, despite the level of their proficiency, hate to be treated as kids as they perceive themselves as grown up and that they have been learning the same thing for years. Therefore, they expect learning to be more serious, learning aids to be more mature and learning content to be more challenging. Well, how do you make lessons on basic colours be more serious, mature and challenging?  If one is able to come out with the lesson, another question then arises; when are we going to get done exposing students with all the basic vocabulary so that we can proceed with the vocabulary that students are expected to know by the MOE in order to answer PT3 or SPM? Let's flip through PT3 or SP...

I wasn't paying attention when my name was being called. It was only when I stood up that I knew she was expecting me to answer her question which was very much unclear to me.  She seemed reluctant to repeat her question but she did. She expected me to come out with a sentence. I guessed.  I threw a sentence then I happily sat thinking everything was over ... ... yet I was wrong.  She started blabering. Saying how incompetent, how undetermined, how unenthusiastic I was.  I kept silent. Partly guessing her expectations.  Then I knew all she wanted from me was a lengthy introduction that contained all the 5W's. Phewwwww *** The task given was an  easy  one yet having to spontenously answer the question, standing up with the words being typed and was closlely observed by a troop of Grammar Nazis, made me felt  judged ,  insecurd   and  threatened .  Her aim of questioning might be to nu...

This blog has been my place since 2008. Scrolling back the years, it is crazy how things have changed. A 19 years old me was an innocent one. She shared with the world everything that was in her head - mindless. The language was absurd and the point of writing was ridiculous.  "I think throughout the years, I have changed a lot. I have tamed my tongue, at least. Have you too changed? What were you like before?" "I was a lazy freak. Glad that you've changed me." "I don't change you and you don't change for me. You are born responsible. Even if you are married to any other woman in the world, you'll be a better person. For you are a responsible man."  I change. My husband change. People change. Why? For change is the only thing constant in life. But when we change, it is not people or a particular person that change us. It takes us to change us. It takes us to rewire the connection we have already had in our brain; w...

This post was written on Sept 21, 2013. Sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak, When you feel weak, you feel like you just wanna just give up, But you gotta search within you, try and find that inner strength, And just pull that shit out of you, and get that motivation not to give up, And not be a quitter no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face. Till I collapse- Eminem There are countless events in my life when my negative inner voice implored: ' Babe, I'm tired. That's it, let's just give up .' At the culmination of my self-defeat or my depression, I also do things which people called as acts of giving up. As I am bad at handling my emotions, I spend a week or two crying and hiding under my comforter, skipping meals, brainstorming homicide notes and writing a new diary entry with advanced cursing verbs dedicated to either myself or some other people. Oh, what a typical immature girl! However, the funny activities don't go any fu...

I am frequently asked; What is the secret to good English? There is no finite answer to the question. Some may say practice while the others believe it is the quality of English heard (be the daily English used by parents or the English used by teachers). Indeed, some students do blame their English teacher's poor proficiency for their bad English.  Students have the right to blame the teachers. There are studies proving the case. Other factors contributing to poor L2 acquisition and academic achievement in township schools and rural areas are: lack of access to newspapers, magazines, TV and radio; lack of opportunity to hear or to speak English; lack of English reading material at home and at school; and poor language teaching by teachers whose own English proficiency is limited. (Nel & Muller, 2010)   In many Malaysian classrooms, class' English teacher is the students' main/sole input (English) provider making the only English they hear...