When I did my Latihan Ikhtisas, I noticed that they incorporate poems in English.  I never learned any poem when I was in secondary school.  I start to read English poems when I was at university (when I was in my early 20s).  But reading for leisure and teaching it to students formally are two different matters.   Teaching involves explanation and as a teacher, I have to make sure the students would understand and appreciate the things that I teach.  That’s not easy. 

How on earth am I going to teach poems which I never learned before?  That’s the question that going on my mind that I ask myself repeatedly.  Well, whether I had learned it or not, it is my responsibility to teach it and so I asked around how they teach poems in their class.  Basically, I taught four poems:

1. News Break (form 1)
2. Sad I Ams (form 1)
3. The Living Photograph (form 4)
4. The Charge of the Light Brigade (form 4)

I started to google some tips and having a former student who happened to be one of the SPM examiners (penanda kertas soalan) is certainly a bonus.  So, this is how I teach students poems, step by step.

First: I would read the poem once.  They have to listen how I pronounce certain unfamiliar words.  As an alternative, you can download video on the Youtube.  There are videos made about the poems (Malaysian actress, Juliana Evans did videos on The Charge of the Light Brigade and The Living Photograph.  If you want to spice up a bit your class, you can choose videos with British pronunciation like A Poison Tree and What has happened to Lulu?.  There are other videos by Malaysian teachers too! Kudos to all Malaysian teachers who are committed in their teaching!)  

Second: I would ask the students to read aloud the poem individually by taking turn.  All of them have to read. Nobody will be exempted in this case.

Third: I would ask the students to highlight the words they don’t understand.  I would ask them to write the words in their exercise book, so when we discuss the meaning/synonym/antonym of the words, they have to write it down on the exercise book.

Fourth: I would explain in general what the poem is all about, a bit on the writer and any event that related to poem.  For example, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Lord Alfred Tennyson is based on Crimean war.  A war between British and Russian army in 1863 to 1865.   I would explain a bit about the war and who is Lord Tennyson at that time.  This would set the imagination of the students about the poem itself (this is what I hope for).  

Fifth: I would explain the literal and laden meaning of the poem based on stanza.  Normally, there would be 4 to 5+/- stanzas in a poem.   

Sixth: I would give them a handout with questions that they need to answer in pair/group.  They need to discuss with others to answer the questions.  In this case, I am incorporating active learning.  Note: The handout has questions that I took from various sources and sometimes I changed some of the questions too.  I also put some of the questions on my Quizziz that I made public.  So, teachers can use any of the quiz in Quizziz without creating their own questions.  Save time.  Sharing is caring.  For example, a quiz on my Quizziz – The Living Photograph (form 4), The Charge of the Light Brigade (form 4) and Sad I Ams (form 1).  

Seventh: After every student has finished answering the questions, I would discuss the answers and they have to write the correct answer in their exercise book.  If you use Quizziz, you can get direct results of your students performance and you can even email it to their parents if you have their parents’ emails 😀 

While undergoing Latihan Ikhtisas, even though I didn’t teach SPM and PT3 students, I did tuition classes with them paired with another teacher.   For MUET, there was no tuition class though because I gave them essay writing homework almost every week.  So, I covered quite a lot with them during class and thus, I didn’t feel that there is a need for me to conduct extra or tuition class for them.  What a heck!  They are 18 years old and I consider them as pre-matriculation students.  They should be independent in their learning.  Stop spoon-feeding them.  That’s my motto.

This year, I did one tuition class early this year.  But since then, other than the yearly academic camp, I don’t have other opportunity to conduct tuition class for the students i.e. my former form 4 students.  After teaching them almost a year, I admit that I am a bit attached with them.  Some of the teacher said that I only have special preference towards certain students.  This is not true.  I am fair to all of them but it seems that some of the have certain attachment towards me and thus, it appears as if I am overly concerned towards certain students as compared to the rest of them.  Well, it depends on how others want to perceive it but my conscience is clear.  As their super-duper senior, I act like their big sister, rather than a teacher sometimes.  They could notice this when I changed my voice intonation.  So, some of them treat me differently as compared to the way they treat their other teachers.  

I do keep myself updated with their learning progress and life.  So, I know their well-being and family states as well.  When I heard the news about Rahim’s dad involved in an accident after Friday prayer last week (14 June 2019), I could not help from thinking about Rahim since then.  Later on, knowing his English performance during the recent mid term, I could not help from thinking “What should I do with him?”.  Ita (one of the English teachers) teased me saying “Well, look at who taught him last time?  Since you left, he is different.  A rebellious.  Aalia told me that she has difficult time to deal with him and some of his friends.  Perhaps he needs you to teach him again“.  I rolled my eyes as I read her Whatsapp message.  Not only Rahim, Ita also told me that Raiz is not making any progress.  I know Raiz on different level.  His dad is the one who collects the palm oil from my place.   My sister buys chicken from his dad too.  In short, he is someone that I know cum my neighbour.  I am in dilemma.  

When I looked at the list of students who got D and E for English, I notice some of familiar names from my previous class.  I vividly remember the time when I had my Zuhr prayer at the musolla and Ainsyah sat beside me.  After Zuhr prayer, with tears in her eyes, she told me how she wishes that she could perform better in English.  She seems hopeless with her proficiency.  As I held her in my arms (by this time, she was crying), I told her that as long as she is willing to learn, I would help her the best I could.  Now, it is times for me to uphold that promise.  How can I help these students?

Can I do it?   In sha Allah I will try my best to coach them.  So, there will be 6 of them under my tutelage this year (I had 8 students last year).  Ita told me “Don’t put too much hope on these kids.  They know they couldn’t get A for their English.  So, don’t put any unrealistic expectation on them“. 

I learn and teach psychology.  I don’t want to practice something that would lead to self-fulfilling prophecy in specific the Pygmalion effect and Golum effect (I know the detrimental effects of self-fulfilling prophecy and there are many research have shown it).   So, I will discuss with them their realistic target and how they can achieve their target within these few months.   That’s what I am going to do as a start.  

So, my first tuition class after Latihan Ikhtisas would be on Friday 21 June 2019.