Day #49 – 11 May 2012

Was expecting a dull lesson with 1 Buck today. Well, we were just doing exercises on Graphics and Texts, Rational Cloze, Meaning in Context and Reading Comprehension. But I guess it wouldn’t be as bad as 1 Best. Because, for 1 Best, I actually split up the entire four sections into two, dragging it on for two double-period lessons instead of one. So they were going at a muchhhhhh slower pace than 1 Buck. But I thought they needed the extra time to work on it.

Even then, some were still struggling with the first two sections, and we still didn’t get to complete the two in that two double periods T.T

But with 1 Buck, we were certainly moving at a faster pace, and we had to! I didn’t have much time left with them. They only had a single period lesson next Tuesday before they sit for their mid-year exams. How scary! @.@

They were quite alright, I think. Lesson went well in terms of time allocation. I managed to do at least one practice for each section, showed them how to answer these kinds of questions, modelled the thought process for them, worked on a lot of vocabulary! >.< Hopefully, they will be able to do the same thing I taught them for the rest of the practices on their own. They’re gonna have to anyway, for the exams

I had already told them to pay attention because I was helping them answer exam-type questions. I told them that if they didn’t want to listen, then there’s nothing I can do for them.

Most of the girls were alright, paying attention, nodding when I talked, which let me know they’re doing okay. Some of the boys too. The better ones were doing questions ahead of me, which is fine. But SOME of the boys were just playing around. Talking a lot. I reprimanded them once, twice, three times. But I went on with the lesson for the sake of the rest of them.

But at one point, Ezzul, good boy, was asking me a question, asking me to explain what “batter” meant. (He had thought it was a typo for ‘butter’ @.@) I was trying to explain to him, but it was difficult, because I did not know the BM equivalent to him. As I was explaining it to him, I suddenly realized that I could not even HEAR myself over the noise the other boys were making, and that I was practically shouting.

I tell you, I just got sooooo annoyed. >.<

I shouted, “OH MY GOODNESS, WHY IS IT SO NOISY?! I’M PRACTICALLY SHOUTING OVER YOU!!!” Then I paused and said, “I am SO annoyed right now.” Then everyone was silent. And I felt a headache coming on. Sigh. T.T

Seriously, 1 Buck is just getting worse and worse. To be fair, not the entire class. Just the few boys who take turns to be the culprits. I mean, it’s one thing to not pay attention in class. At this point, I realize there’s really only so much a teacher can do. If you’re not willing to listen, then fine, it’s your choice. But if you’re gonna disrupt the class, and make me have to SHOUT just to be heard, boy, I’m gonna be mad. >.<

After that outburst, I gave the answer for the final objective question, then told them to try the rest at home. End of lesson.

Sigh, I hate always getting mad and having outbursts like these, but sometimes I just can’t take it. Sometimes, I just can’t tolerate it anymore. I feel not respected in the class. And I feel that I’m trying so hard and they just don’t care, what more appreciate it. >.<

I feel like giving up. 😦

Day #48 – 10 May 2012

I was somehow a little lost for today’s class.

Of course I had prepared my Flipping Fantastic lesson already. It’s just that I kept thinking I should make some changes to it. >.<

So, in the end I decided not to use Handout 13A for the themes and moral values, and make them copy notes instead. This is because I was going to be using the notes for the theme to teach them how to write a short paragraph/essay for their literature component writing section. I didn’t want to repeat myself, so I changed my lesson up a bit, at the last minute.

Okay, fine, I’m a terrible teacher. I should have thought about that before 😦

Anyway, I discussed it in the class with them, but could only do one theme. I figured I should focus on the characters, since that was coming out for the exams. But that just wouldn’t be fair would it? So that’s why I made them copy all the model essays—all four of them. Two on themes, and two on the two characters.

But during discussion, we only managed to come up with points for one theme: Brotherly/Sibling Love, and discussed points and examples for the two characters James and Tristan based on their mind map in the handout. And since they had just done it last week, it was a little redundant to repeat the characteristics in this lesson. It was different with 1 Best because they had done Flipping Fantastic agesssss ago! Sigh. Again, I did not think of that till that exact moment.

Then I realized that I had wanted them to copy the model essays, and also finish the practice sheet as well. And it seemed like a lot of work if I made them write a paragraph each on one theme and one character on their own as well, which I had made 1 Best do. I thought that maybe, 1 Buck would not need that as much, and that they would be able to come up with the points, and string them together better than 1 Best would. So I skipped that.

Instead I just made them do the practice sheet and copy the model essays. I wonder if that was the right thing to do. Well, 1 Best probably needed the practice more than 1 Buck did, so making them write their own paragraphs would be good for them. Yet, I haven’t checked them yet! @.@ How do I know that they’ve done it? Maybe I’ll check their books on Monday, make sure they’ve written their paragraphs and ask them to come find me if they have problems writing them.

Sigh, I wonder if they will even appreciate that >.<

Anyway, class with 1 Buck was a liiiiiittle messy today. But alright. Hopefully they’ll be fine during exams. I have less time with them than 1 Best, so it seems a little rushed. And, like I’m giving them too much homework. But I don’t have a choice! Otherwise, they might not have enough practice to write the literature essays for exams @.@

Day #47 – 9 May 2012

Today’s lesson with 1 Best was the postponed one from last week. I was supposed to have done this with them, but they had that “Indahnya Menjadi Gadis dan Teruna” program during my lesson, and then the boys came back too late to do anything =.=

Anyway, today I was observed by my guru pembimbing or mentor, Pn. Shahril. I was just thinking that the timing was right because, even though it was already the Revision Weeks before exams, I still had this one lesson proper for her to observe me teaching. Just in time! 😀

Coincidentally though, today’s lesson was the same one that Dr. Melor had observed me in last week! 😛 Ahaha, I guess this is my Observation Lesson, then 🙂

Anyway, it was the speaking class that I did with 1 Buck last Friday. They had enjoyed it, so I had hoped that 1 Best would too 🙂

Pn. Shahril told me that she would only enter for one period, so I suggested she come in during the second one because the first one was the boring input part, while the second would (hopefully) be the more lively practising part! 🙂

1 Best seemed sleepy today, and a little blur. I took so much of my time explaining my instructions to them. Which is strange because I did not have to do that with 1 Buck. Either 1 Best is really that much weaker, or they were reallyyyyy sleepy at 8.30 am in the morning. Even asking them to copy notes from the board into their handouts required me to walk around the class and check that they had done that. Some even asked me what they were supposed to copy when I had written the examples clearly on the board!

I don’t know what was up with 1 Best today, seriously. >.<

Pn. Shahril came in just in time for the practising part. I made them to the dialogues and goodness, can you believe that they even wasted so much time just deciding who to pick as the next pair for the activity? They were uhmed and aahed and made me a little annoyed. There Pn. Shahril was observing, and they were just taking their sweet time. Sigh.

THEN, when it was the final activity—the most FUN part! 😀 1 Buck had thoroughly enjoyed this part of the lesson and the boys were all clamouring to volunteer to participate in the dialogue with me and win a prize!

With 1 Best, however, the response was not as enthusiastic. Well, yes, we had the normal few who would volunteer: Aswad and Hannah. After that, when I asked for volunteers, nobody wanted to try! And it really looked a little silly, me practically begging them to try the dialogue with me. They said they were shy and didn’t know what to say, etc. Which is just “incredible” since I had already given them all the input they would need to carry out this conversation! I mean, that was the whole point of the first part of the lesson!

While I was almost-begging Fathi to give it a try, Adrian volunteered, thank God. If not, I would have no idea how to proceed with the lesson since we had like 15 minutes left. Adrian was good, as usual. And I was grateful that he volunteered, all the while sneaking glances at Pn. Shahril to see what she thought of my incapability to control my class (T.T).

Then, all of a sudden, in the last 5 minutes, so many of them volunteered! Aina, Fatini and Fathi. Sorry for Fathi, I had given him a chance that he had not appreciated, so I told him I’m sorry, but we did not have enough time. (I do feel bad having to shoot them down for volunteering too late. But. Well, I did give him a chance, didn’t I? *looks ashamed*)

At the end of it, Aswad clearly was the more fluent one, but he was a little too cheeky and naughty for his own good. And blabbered too much during his dialogue. It was either Hannah or Adrian for the win. Pn. Shahril and I decided to give Adrian the prize—the laminated picture of an iPad! 😀

Hope he liked it! 😉

(Now he can say his teacher gave him an “iPad”!!!! hahaha~ xD)

 

btw, I received good comments from Pn. Shahril! :’) Can’t believe it, it’s really too good to be true! I thought that Dr. Melor was toooooo lenient when she said I did well, but if Pn. Shahril says it too, then I guess I must be doing something right, right? I don’t know. But I feel really good. Thank God for being with me 🙂 She said that I did a really good job with the class, although she could tell that I struggled with class control a bit (so true! T.T) but she said that she understands completely because they are FORM ONE students, who are naughty and playful and just all-over-the-place all the time! So, yeah. Honestly, I feel so very blessed to have such kind and compassionate mentors, both Dr. Melor and Pn. Shahril. I really appreciate their feedback (although there wasn’t much of it) and I hope that I can be a better teacher who is confident, dedicated and caring! WHOOHOOO~ 😀

Day #46 – 8 May 2012

I carried out the same lesson with 1 Buck today—the quiz! It was the LAST period of the day, so I guess it was rather fitting. And they too, seemed very excited about the whole idea of a quiz. 🙂

Thank God that they changed their class arrangement to a pair-seating one. Before this it was a little hard to manouveur around their tables and chairs. Maybe this seating arrangement is better than the previous one. Anyway, their new arrangement made it easy for me to divide them into groups–4 groups for each column of tables! 😛

Then the quiz commenced! 😀

They were excited and participative as well, which was good. However, they were just as calculative as 1 Best, and also very vocal about it! I could hear grumblings from certain areas of the class, and I got pretty tired of it. But what was the last straw was when Ahmad sulked and sat under the table. It wasn’t the first time he’d sat under the table during a lesson. So I told him to stay under there, since he liked it so much.

Do you know what he did?

He crawled from under his table to the other side of the class and made the whole class laugh out loud. Maybe it was the weather, maybe I was just tired, but frankly, I had had enough of all this nonsense. And it was completely disrupting my class! >.<

So I scolded him, and scolded the rest of the class as well. I said that I was tired and I was trying to help them prepare for the exams, and here they are goofing around, not caring. If they think they are that good, then I’ll just let them study for the exams on their own. They don’t need me, do they? >.<

Don’t worry, it was only a few minutes. I didn’t want to be a naggy goat! @.@

Anyway, the lesson proceeded, but unfortunately, it cost us some valuable time, and I think they did less questions than 1 Best did during THEIR quiz in class! =.= Anyway, told them to paste the handouts in their Grammar books and to try them out on their own first as practice. I hope I will have time to discuss it with them before the exams! @.@

Super tired day, today, somehow.

Day #45 – 4 May 2012

Nervous and excited for today—because Dr. Melor was coming to observe me for the second time! @.@

It was really good timing. Even if she wasn’t coming, I had something a little special planned for today’s lesson with 1 Buck 🙂 And I was really looking forward to it! So when Dr. said she wanted to come, I quickly suggested Friday! 😉

It was a speaking lesson. Dr. hadn’t arrived yet, so I decided to start off first. I asked a pair of volunteers to first just read the dialogue from the text book on page 85. Boring, I know. But I wanted them to have an idea of how a “Making Enquiries” dialogue is like, which is what we would be learning today 😀

Then I gave them handouts to fill in. We’d analyze the dialogue together to extract information on how these two participants in the textbook dialogue asked for, and gave information about a product, specifically a second-hand one. I had already given them the main headings that would provide the structure for their dialogue:

1. Introduction

2. Age

3. Make

4. Price

5. Other details

The rough outline would help them structure their dialogue. I gave them space of course to write down different ways of asking for the above information. For example, they would write “How old is it?” and “How long have you had it?” under their “Age” heading, and “What make is it?” or “What model is it?” under the “Make” heading. Ultimately, at the end of it, they would have different ways of asking for each section. We would have discussed different ways of asking for the information and I wrote them on the board for them to copy into their handouts.

Then we did the same for the “Giving information” section. At this point, Dr. suddenly arrived, and the class was suddenly very quiet. @.@ Anyway, I wrote down all the different responses, just to expose them to different ways of responding to questions 🙂

Then I divided the class into two—one group to focus on asking for information, and the other to give information. Then I called on the first pair to try it out. They were quite good! Granted, they were referring a lot to the handouts and reading from the textbook, but at least they were speaking and they knew what to do 😀 Then I let the first pair call for the second pair, and the second pair for the third and so on. I think they secretly enjoyed “getting” at their friends! xD

I had too much time on my hands, so I made as many pairs try it out as possible. At this point, I felt that the lesson was getting a little bit draggy and repetitive, but then again, it would also be a good thing for as many students as possible to try out asking and giving information about the products from the textbook as well. I wanted to hear as many of them speak as possible. So, it was a plus point as well. Though it felt a little boring by now But I was holding out on the best part—the last activity! 😀

I stuck a laminated picture of a white iPad on the board and told the students that whoever could ask me information about the iPad, meaning, carry on a conversation with me the best or most fluently/confidently, would win a prize! I even asked Dr. Melor to help me pick out the winner 😉

So, the boys were enthusiastic to try! They actually “called” me and talked to me, asking me information about the iPad. Ezzul tried first, followed by Raymond, Idzral and Hamzah. I have to say, all did a rather good job! They were quite spontaneous, and came up with some good questions to ask that weren’t in the handouts, and were quite witty too! 😀 All of us actually had a good laugh together—it was fun! 😛

But at the end of it, we had to pick a winner. Actually, I was leaning towards Ezzul, because I think he asked me many more questions. But the class felt Hamzah was better, and Dr. Melor chose him as well. So I gave him a couple of marshmallows and the “iPad”! xD

Yup, he actually got an “iPad” from me—a SPECIAL one too! 😀 I think the class enjoyed that, it was funny, but at the same time, I think he secretly liked it 😉

Had a good class with them, although some of the boys were a little noisy at the back during the dialogue presentations. I think for 1 Best I’ll maintain this, no changes. Because maybe having a longer second activity might benefit them since there are more of them, so I can get more of them to participate. And they are slightly weaker, so I can allow them to refer to their handouts when speaking. But I’ll try to make a note to tell them not to refer too much 🙂

I received good comments from Dr. Her only comment was that during the second activity they seemed more to be reading from the handouts than actually speaking, and so final activity was a good one because they were really able to try speaking spontaneously while still making use of the input that we had discussed earlier. She said that it was “well done” and those were “well-chosen activities that encouraged students to speak”, and all my objectives were achieved! So it was all GOOD 😀 Yay!

Anyway, gave Dr. our decision—to accept the A- that she’s giving us. I think I am already very grateful for this grade, grateful for Dr., just very grateful. And I think trying for the A will open me up to risks that I might regret too much taking later if I don’t do well, plus, open me up to a lot of unnecessary stress. I just want to enjoy the rest of my practicum and focus on the completion of my thesis. 🙂

I’m more than halfway there! Just a couple more weeks to the 2-week mid-year holidays, then another month before we’ll finally taste FREEDOM! 😀

 

p.s: Here’s how happy I look about my observations being done with! 😉

 

p.p.s: I forgot to take a photo with Dr. again! ARGHHHHHH~ And I remember she was wearing this lovely black long gown with gold trimmings that she’d bought from Mecca. It was really beautiful and she looked beautiful in it! Oh, how I wished I had a photo of us together then 😦 Sighhhhh~

 

Handout(s):

1. Handout 23A (Making Enquiries)

Day #44 – 3 May 2012

I wasn’t really looking forward to today’s lesson with 1 Buck, somehow.

It was a lesson on Flipping Fantastic, which I’d done with 1 Best like, aaaaages ago! And it was rather boring, I must say. Maybe I should’ve tried to make it more interesting, but somehow, for me, “interesting” means that it will take up more time, and that is exactly what I don’t have.

This short story will be coming out for their mid-year exams so, although I can rest easy with 1 Best and just focus on revision lessons, I have to rush with 1 Buck to finish teaching this short story. Thankfully, by next week I can finish the short story, but there won’t be enough practice for the exam, I’m afraid. With 1 Best, I can have lessons teaching them how to write about themes and characters. With 1 Buck, I may not have that luxury. The least I can do is give them model essays to copy at home, and hopefully that may help them with their exams.

Anyway, lesson today was the same one I did with 1 Best. I went through the picture notes with them to ensure that they really understood the story, and worked on whatever unfamiliar vocabulary there was in the story as well. Then I made them try the Plot exercise, which was not as easy as it seems. They actually had trouble with it, one that I did not remember 1 Best having. Hm

After that, we moved on to Characters and characterization. They had some trouble trying to come up with the characteristics themselves, and kept giving me answers like “twin brothers” for similar characteristics. I had to explain that that wasn’t really what I was looking for, but rather characteristics that spoke of their character like, “loving” and “caring” and “helpful” etc. So I had to give them examples, yet they struggled to give me the right keywords. Somehow, we were not really on the same wavelength today.

Anyway, once they were done with the handouts, I just gave them a final handout for them to copy the synopsis into their books because I did not want to waste time doing it in class. So it was their homework for the week 🙂 I gave them time till next Tuesday to do it—aren’t I generous? 😛

btw, Dr will be coming to observe me in 1 Buck tomorrow with my speaking class, so I informed them today that she would be coming. All I asked from them, I told them, was their kind cooperation. And of course, to respect me and the visitor we would be having in the class by greeting her, “Good morning, Dr.”

Honestly, I’m a little nervous for tomorrow. I’m so afraid I might mess up somehow, or that something might happen. Maybe it really is a good thing when your supervisor gives you a surprise visit instead of a pre-planned one. Because now, I’m a little antsy about it. @.@ But I don’t want to do anything too spectacular. I want to do something that I would have done, even if Dr were not coming, and have been doing all this while. Only then will it be a real measure of whether what I am doing in class is right. 😀

I read this today, in the Bible, and it is pretty reassuring:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 6-7)

So God, I’m requesting that You be with me tomorrow as I carry out my lesson. Help me to be honest and sincere in my teaching, and to just give my best to my students; for You, and for Dr. 🙂 Amen.

p.s: I have made my decision about whether to go for the A grade or not, which I will be informing Dr. of tomorrow when she comes to observe me. Let me hold on to it till then! 😉

Day #41 – 27 Apr 2012

Was nervous about today for one reason, and one reason only: getting the LCD projector for my lesson with 1 Buck.

Luck was not on my side today

The portable was not under Cikgu Mas Yanti’s table, and she did not know who was having it either. I asked Mdm. Gouri if she was having it (because, besides me, only she and one other teacher, Pn. Aini, uses the portable LCD quite often) but she had not seen it since the day before yesterday too!

So, I kinda panicked. I did not really have a back-up plan. I mean, I knew that this might happen, but my back-up was just to get students to talk about the activities and games they played in school—which is just plain boring! >.< The video would just be really perfect! ARGHHHHHHHHH. How frustrating when you know there’s nothing you can do! T.T

Then I had an idea to just play the video anyway, but play it only my laptop. Sure, the screen would be sooooo much smaller and they might have difficulty watching it, but I had Sun’s speakers so at least they’d be able to hear the video and the music. Anyway, the class is about 25-strong, which isn’t TOO large a class. Of course, with a class of 40 students, that would be out of the question. But 20-plus students? It might still be alright if I got the boys to sit on the floor in the middle of the classroom.

Thankfully, things went well. They were noisy, as always, and very rowdy, and kept laughing very loudly at everything and anything. But the lesson went quite well I think. The students were quite cooperative and could stand up and give me reasons why they like school.

I was able to finish the lesson early too! And also decided to play the video again for them, just to reward them 😀

Anddddd I took the chance to play the Mr. Nobody video that the others hand missed the other time round, and which I had tried over and over again to show them via the portable LCD, but was unlucky EACH TIME.

Sometimes, I really hate having to use the LCD because things like this happen. But then again, without the video, the lesson would be too dry and boring. And once in a while, they need something to look forward to, that is exciting and out-of-routine.

They really seemed to enjoy the video and laughed loudly at the practical jokes, much like 1 Best did 🙂 As long as they’re laughing at something related to the lesson, I’m alright.

It’s when they laugh at some private joke, and non-stop too, at that, that I find it reallyyyyyy annoying! >.<

I think I managed to be much clearer in my instructions for Development 2 with 1 Buck than I was with 1 Best. I think I was a little bit rushed with 1 Best the other day, and didn’t emphasize enough on the linking words. But I did with 1 Buck 🙂 Which is great!

Anyway, good lesson today. A great end to the week! 😀

 

p.s: I was really happy to be able to go back early today. No Choral Speaking practice! 😀 (Thank you, Dr. Melor :P)

Day #40 – 26 Apr 2012

I was carrying out the same lesson I had with 1 Best during my observation, since it is the last lesson on Mr. Nobody, the poem.

The first activity was Match the Meaning. I used the same ten flashcards that I had with 1 Best, and wrote the ten word meanings on the board. I called on individual students to paste the words next to its correct meaning.

I had not realized though, that there were quite a number who weren’t really sure, until the lesson. And it was only then that I remembered that many of them weren’t around during the first lesson that I had done on Mr. Nobody—the Rhyme and Meaning, in which I had also explained all of the vocabulary that I was now testing them on.

Apparently, quite a number of them did not really know the meaning of blinds, although I had previously discussed in other lessons. So I used this opportunity to discuss and explain the words that they seemed to have difficulty with, and hopefully, they’d be able to catch up. 🙂

Oh, but the great thing about today’s lesson was that, for the second activity, I had reflected on 1 Best’s lesson and had realized that I had made a mistake and that the handout was not as simple as I had thought because the students could not do a direct lift from the poem in order to fill in the blanks. Most of the 1 Best students had problems with them. They could not really modify the forms of the words in order to truly fit the blanks.

For example, in the poem, it says, “We never leave the blinds unclosed / To let the curtains fade”, which actually means that the persona is accusing Mr. Nobody of leaving the blinds open all the time until the curtains have faded. So, when the exercise in the handout says, “You never __________ the __________” it should be correctly filled with “close” and “blinds”, which the 1 Best students seemed to struggle with.

However, that was not the case with 1 Buck. They were all able to respond correctly, without me prompting them much! I had expected them to have some difficulty, and therefore was already waiting with my marker open so I could write on the board. It was not necessary at all! 😀 They were able to finish the handout fairly quickly, as compared to 1 Best. I had had to go picture by picture and ask them to first describe what was in the picture, locate the relevant section in the poem, before we could move on to the blanks.

I did not have to do that with 1 Buck. Although I started off with, “What can you see in the picture?” I realized that they were giving me the answers to the blanks, and they were correct! So I saw no need to do the same step-by-step I had done with 1 Best. Plus, after I reminded them about the SVA issue (subject altered from “He” to “You” and therefore changes the verb form from “scatters pins” to “scatter pins” etc.), they were able to provide the correct answers for all the pictures in the handout.

Unfortunately, though most were able to complete the practice worksheet, I did not have time to go through the practice and discuss it with them.

Which means that when they hand in their Literature books tomorrow, it’s gonna be a lot harder to correct (since I have to check them one by one)! >.<

An okay lesson—much easier to handle than 1 Best the other day. Had plenty of time once again to go around and check their work, as well as remind them to get all their handouts and work in order to handed in tomorrow with their journals.

Anyway, I am supposed to play the “My Generasi” video for 1 Buck tomorrow, just as I had done with 1 Best. However, when I talked to Cikgu Mas Yanti earlier today, she said that she is so sorry that she cannot really guarantee that I can have the portable tomorrow because, whoever has taken the portable LCD without her permission, has not returned it yet. So she cannot hand it to me for safekeeping.

Oh dear, I really hope that I can play the video for them tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll have to figure out a back-up plan in case there is no video. I am afraid for that, because poor 1 Buck has been missing out on all the videos  I play in class. Hopefully they’ll be able to watch this one. I’m sure they would enjoy it if they did! 😀

I’ll just pray really really hard that whoever has taken the portable LCD has at least silently returned it to Cikgu Mas’s place. Please please pleaseeeee. I would really hate to disappoint the kids. Again. 😦

Day #38 – 24 Apr 2012

With 1 Buck, I had carried out the same lesson.

But this time, because the Set Induction hadn’t really worked in 1 Best, so I decided to modify it a little bit and see if it worked better. So instead of just announcing, “I want to take my bag,” and “I am going back now,” I wrote them on the board first, and then read them out as: /aɪ wɔnt tə teɪk maɪ bæk/ and /aɪ əm goʊɪŋ bæg næʊ/. Then I asked them if it was right. Why not? “Because it doesn’t make sense!” They were actually able to provide me with the expected answer! So, YAY! I guess the modification worked and so did the set induction! 😀

I moved on to the next activity, which was reading out the pairs of words from the textbook page 73. And also for the extra minimal pairs that I introduced, like: pick/pig (they were soooooo excited to pronounce the word “pig” =.=), Kate/gate, cap/gap and lock/log.

One thing was that they, especially the boys, were just too happy in this lesson. Every time I pronounced a word and told them to emphasize the /k/ and /g/, they kept laughing and laughing and making fun of each other! I guess they were just a little more energetic than usual today and found everything funny They even laughed when I called on one of the boys and he over-emphasized on the /k/ in “lock” >.< I told them to quit it.

For this class, I was more conscious of the time, and somehow managed to write out the four sentences I had pre-planned for them that contained those words with /k/ and /g/ for them to try out, individually. The sentences were:

1. The weather is very cold.

2. My necklace is made of gold.

3. Did you take my bag?

4. We are going back now.

Everyone did rather well! 😀

Then, of course, was the singing. I also told them a little bit about the background story, but surprisingly, a couple of students from this class had actually watched, or heard about the movie. None from 1 Best had.

Anyway, we repeated the lines of the modified lyrics, then I sang for them as well. They, too, gave me applause! 😀 And, also, for the second time today, they suggested that I joined the DigiLive performance competition! haha~ Hey, if I could qualify, I just might! The grand prize is certainly very tempting! 😉

They were also excited about the idea of a FB group. Just like with 1 Best, I told them to add me, Cikgu Lisa Kwan, on Facebook so I could add them to the group. At the moment, the beginning seems a little slow. Not as many of the students have added me as I thought there would be. Strange, I thought they’d be all excited about this! @.@ It’s either:

(a) they’ve forgotten about it, or

(b) they’re really not all that interested about this as I had expected them to be

Still, it is in the early stages yet. Hopefully, when this picks up steam, this could really be something fun and interesting for them to practise their English! 😀

Anyway, from today’s lesson, I discovered that there are quite a number of boys in this class who can actually sing! Hamzah and Haris actually came forward to sing the song together with me! And, they are actually quite good! I only sang the song once and they were able to catch it! 😀 Not bad, not bad at all! 😉

This makes me feel that maybe I should incorporate music and songs into the lesson, if I can. It seems to be their area of interest 🙂 Great lesson! 😀

Day #36 – 21 Apr 2012

Yes, it’s a Saturday. But we have school—replacement for Hari Raya Haji which, unfortunately, is a holiday that we (Sun and I) won’t be able to enjoy because our practical would have ended by then. How unfair! @.@

Today, we follow the Thursday schedule, which means that I have a double period with 1 Buck.

When I entered the class, almost everyone was present, which is apparently a great achievement considering the attendance in some of the other classes (I heard from the other teachers, and in the relief class I took). Only 2 were absent, and 2 prefects were involved in the launch of the Koperasi Pendidikan Khas.

For today’s class, I decided to play a game with them. One reason is because it’s a Saturday, and I didn’t want to do something too heavy or dull; plus, they were ahead in lessons compared to 1 Best now, so it was alright if we did something light but topic-related.

In addition, they weren’t really in the mood to study, they told me. Because it was Saturday. haha~

So I came up with this game called Timetable Sudoku. Here are the details of the game:

AIM: To complete the incomplete timetable of 1 Jujur by using the written clues given.

HOW TO PLAY: Each student will be given an incomplete timetable of 1 Jujur, and a single written clue. The written clues will help you fill up the empty slots in the timetable. However, you will need all the clues from the other students to complete your timetable. You have to go around all the students and share your clues with one another. Some of the clues may be repeated, therefore, you will need to distinguish them. You are allowed to walk around within the confines of the classroom. The first person to complete the timetable correctly will win a prize! 😀

RULES: There are 3 conditions to the game. 1) You are not allowed to speak. All interactions with other students have to be silent. 2) You must hold on to your original written clue at all times. 3) You must not show your timetable to anyone else. Breaking any of these rules will disqualify you from the game.

Well, my rationale for coming up with this game is so that again, they will have to use their knowledge of prepositions of time, which they have learned, in order to win the game. They will also need to make use of their critical and analytical skills to complete the timetable quickly. And finally, I made the “No Speaking” rule because I wanted this to be a form of reading comprehension practice as well as to keep the noise to a minimum.

I took time to explain the rules to them before I started the game so that they were clear about the rules. I didn’t want confusion and chaos once the game started! @.@

Anyway, the game went well, I think 🙂 They were all walking around the class, or going off into a corner to work on their timetables. However, I kept hearing murmuring so I had to remind them not to speak or they would be disqualified. I walked around to facilitate and make sure they did not allow their friends to copy their timetables. That would completely defeat the purpose! @.@

Excluding the explanation on how to play the game, the whole activity took about 20 to 25 minutes. Some were able to complete it, a few gave up already. Those who completed it would be given a number according to the order in which they completed it. Then, after the game, we compiled all the clues together—there were 15 in all. They would need all these clues in order to truly complete the timetable. I made them copy the clues into their Reading Comprehension books. Then we discussed and completed the timetable together. 🙂

Aiman was the first to finish his timetable, but when I checked, there were mistakes! So Hamzah, who came in second but had gotten the timetable right, won the marshmallow prize I had promised! 😀

As a subsequent task, I asked them to make ten new sentences describing the timetable of 1 Jujur using all these prepositions of time: (a) at, (b) by, (c) on, (d) before and (e) after. They could refer to the clues that they had copied down because they could make sentences similar to those.

Pn. Kartini still hasn’t returned their Reading Comprehension books to them so they had to do all the exercises and work in pieces of paper first, which isn’t ideal. Hopefully, they get their books back soon. Otherwise, all their work will eventually get lost! >.<

Anyway, wasn’t too bad a class. Hope they had fun! 😉

This was what I wore today. A very comfortable blouse, but very easily crumpled! ARGH. >.<

Handout(s):

1. Handout 20A (Timetable Sudoku)

2. Handout 20B (Written Clues)

3. Handout 20A–Answers (Teacher’s Copy)