Day In, Day Out

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...

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...

I don't use Malay with my students ... though it takes me all that I have just to send a simple message to them. When I started teaching in my school, my students could barely differentiate 'class monitor' and 'class teacher'. It took me a while to make students understand the difference. Yeah, it took me a while for I was explaining the difference in English, not in their native language, Malay. As I am an English teacher, the first English specialist that the school has ever had, I try to bold my presence in school by bringing in some changes. The most apparent change is the usage of only-English as the medium of interaction between students and English teachers. The first time the only-English being implemented, there was not a lot of problems except that teachers were required to constantly exercise their para-linguistics features besides having to simplify their English to suit students' proficiency level . However, after a few months, as wh...

A month ago, as a result of students coming across the word 'New Year's Resolution' in their reading text, I made them list their 2014 New Year's resolution. The fact that I am teaching creative kids has always made me prepared myself for surprises in their work, be their idea or their bombastic word usage. Though I was as always prepared to read, digest and analyse my students' wonderful work, the resolution task brought me shock in regard to the existence of a worrying resolution. It was: Having an imaginary friend.  I was in shocked particularly because I believed that kids with imaginary friends were suffering from emotional issues as a result of loneliness, lack of love and lack of attention. For heaven sake, why would a kid seek to have an imaginary friend if unlimited amount of love, affection and attention are given to them? I presumed imaginary friend as a cause for concern thus having a kid who wishes to have an imaginary friend  by the end of 2...

First, it is worth mentioning that I am a fan of Teach for America and Teach for India because the programmes are quite nice. If you have some extra time, it is worth spending your time watching the videos of the programmes on the Youtube. I find the videos are very interesting because it portrays the reality of being a teacher. As a consequence to the fame of Teach for America, can't we Malaysians come out with our own programme without being a copy cat?, the government launches Teach for Malaysia. Okaylah, at first, I was quite positive about Teach for Malaysia because I have faith on the government. However, reality strikes me when I was talking about the programme with my friend whilst we were having our dinner. The conversation started with: My Friend (MF): Have you ever heard about Teach for Malaysia? Me: Yes. Why? MF: It is a stupid programme. Me: Gulp. Wahh. So bold. Why do say so? MF: How can a teacher with little teacher training bring about changes in ...

I spend my evening analysing: No Child Left Behind (US, 2001); source Every Child Matter (UK, 2003); source Getting it Right for Every Child (Scotland, 2008); and, source Memastikan Setiap Kanak-kanak Boleh Berjaya (Malaysia, 2011). source Why do I spend my evening analysing the above bills? Basically, at my first glance, all of the above bills sound alike. Though all sound pretty much the same, my first thought is that the Malaysian bill, 'Memastikan Setiap Kanak-kanak Boleh Berjaya' is closely initiated after the Every Child Matters because if the Every Child Matters is to be translated to Malay, it will end up something like 'Mengambil Kisah Setiap Kanak-kanak'. Ok. Itu pelik. But still, Memastikan Setiap Kanak-kanak boleh Berjaya and Mengambil Kisah setiap Kanak-kanak, they sound the same kan?   But instead, I was half wrong and half right. The 'Memastikan Setiap Kanak-kanak Boleh Berjaya' emphasises on (based on my own interpretation) : Setting ...