Category: Latihan Ikhtisas

Using song to teach grammar_Part 1

When I did my Latihan Ikhtisas, I used songs to teach grammar.  It is normal in other schools, but in my school, the teachers are skeptical to use English songs to teach grammar.  Why?  This is a school which emphasises on religious studies.  But, what a heck! 

This is not a love song.  This song is famous (well, coincidentally, the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” was premiering at the time when I taught the form 4 using this song).   Alhamdulillah I am not the typical teacher and they never consider me as one so when I did something “unusual”, the GPK and principal just let me off the hook   😀 That’s the perk of being a lecturer-cum-teacher at school.   

But, I am not the Miss Goody-Two-Shoes teacher.  So, I did use a breakup song and “motivational cum uplifting” song to teach grammar.  😀 .  

Things that I produced when I did my Latihan Ikhtisas_Part 2

Other than posters, I also produced lots of reports during Latihan Ikhtisas.  One of the reports that I had to submit is through online i.e. HIPS report.  For the HIPS report, it is a bit tricky because you have to create a survey that needs to be distributed to students, teachers and parents.  I need to plan the preparation well by collecting evidences based on activities that we organised at school.  It is all about planning. 

When I asked someone who is undergoing her Latihan Ikhtisas now, she said that she does not assign to do any reporting like that.   In this sense, I am lucky because I got first hand experience of what teachers have to do on regular basis (well, there are other many reports that they have to complete, and I was spared from those reports because I am not a teacher).  I can emphatise with teachers in Malaysia who are bogged down with documentation thingy.  Kudos to all teachers in Malaysia!

Things that I produced when I did my Latihan Ikhtisas_Part 1

 

There are so many things that I did while undergoing my Latihan Ikhtisas.  One of the things that I like to do is to create posters.  Here are some of the posters that I made.  Well, basically, it is grammar and whatsnot.  So, being a non-native speaker, of course I have to take the content such as idioms from elsewhere.   😀 

 

 

 

 

 

What did I do while undergoing Latihan Ikhtisas_Part 5

I have to teach poetry and literature while doing my Latihan Ikhtisas.  With zero background in TEASL or BENL (Bachelor in English Language and Literature), I admit that I was struggling to get myself familiar with the poems and short stories.  I start to read poems when I was at university for leisure reading, so I don’t feel the need and pressure to understand it accurately.  I had never learned poems at secondary school (for English).  So, it was a bit stressful for me to teach the students the literature part. 

Some of the poems and literature that I have to teach are as follow.  

For form 1

  1. News Break (poem)
  2. Sad I Ams (poem)
  3. King Arthur (graphic novel)
  4. Fair’s Fair (short story)

For form 4

  1. The Living Photograph (poem)
  2. The Charge of the Light Brigade (poem)
  3. Leaving (short story)
  4. Tanjong Rhu (short story)

I constructed quizzes using Quizziz and also worksheet that I used for class activity.  Nothing much though.  For the Quizziz and worksheet, they have to do it in pair or group.  It depends on the situation.  Sometimes I used the computer room if I wanted to give them a quiz using Quizziz.  It is an element of gamification and active learning that I tried to incorporate in my class.  

Well, at least even though I am not trained in TEASL, but I just gave my best shot.  That’s my motto.  Sometimes I guess we have to be impostor.  A good one to succeed in whatever thing that we do.  In this case, to make sure that I could deliver well my lesson to the students, I become an English teacher impostor.  😀

Poems that I have to teach during Latihan Ikhtisas (and after)_Part 6

This is the first poem that I taught my form 1 students last year when I did Latihan Ikhtisas.  I taught this before the mid term examination.  I did not have the time to revise it before the mid term examination with the students.  Some of them could not answer it well.   So, I didn’t have a quiz on Quizziz on this poem.  I only used a worksheet as an activity which contains the following questions.  

Exercise: News Break

Paste this worksheet on your Literature exercise book.  Write the answer according to the questions given.  You do not need to rewrite the questions again.

  1. What is this poem about?
  2. What does the word ‘crease’ mean in stanza 2?
  3. What animal is the child compared to?
  4. In stanza 4, who does the parent think the child is?
  5. What is the actual reason for the change in the child’s behavior?
  6. Why do you think the child was behaving himself? Give a reason.

Poems that I have to teach during Latihan Ikhtisas (and after)_Part 5

This is the second poem that I taught my form 1 students last year when I did Latihan Ikhtisas.  I taught this after the mid term examination.  It was included in the final year examination.  I have a quiz on Quizziz on this poem too as an activity that I did using the computer room as formative assessment. 

I sent the results to their parents.  One parent replied my email telling me that she is thankful with what I do in class.  She knows her son performance.  But for the son, when he knew that his mom got an email from me, he was “grounded” and he has to read book instead of browsing the internet or watching the TV.  He later said “Teacher, jangan la hantar email pada mak saya.  Saya tak boleh tengok TV lama-lama atau tengok Youtube bila balik wajib.  Kena baca buku sebab mak kata teacher beritahu dia saya kurang membaca“.  [Translated: Teacher, please don’t send email to my mother.  I was grounded and cannot watch the TV or Youtube for long.  I have to read book because my mom said you told her that I don’t read a lot]. 😀

 

 

 

 

 

Poems that I have to teach during Latihan Ikhtisas (and after)_Part 1

There are several poems that I have to teach while undergoing Latihan Ikhtisas.  Two poems for form 1 [Sad I Ams and News Break] and another two poems for form 4 [The Living Photograph and The Charge of the Light Brigade]. 

For my form 5 tuition class, I teach the students two poems – What has happened to Lulu by Charles Causley and A Poison Tree by William Blake.

I don’t know how my teaching is effective when I was teaching the form 1 and form 4 students because some students could answer questions related to the poems well whereas some were still struggling.  But, with the CEFR curriculum, there will be no poem section in PT3 next year.   So, let’s wait and see then.  

Note: The implementation of CEFR curriculum has its own criticism.   Some research has been done relating to the implementation of CEFR.