Category: Teaching

Grammar oh grammar_Part 2

One of the things that I find it difficult to teach is preposition (grammar).  Why?  In Malay, the word “di” could be used to refer to location/place in generic form.  But in English, “at” can be used to refer to a location/place and time.  “At” is used when you are referring to a location/place which is in a smaller scale as compared to a place like where you stay.  “At” is also can be used to refer to time which is specific (hours).  

For “in” (which is not included in the diagram), it can be used to refer to generic place and more specific place.  A more specific place like room, kitchen, store, veranda, toilet, classroom, office.  For example, “See me in my office”, “Where is your mom?.  She is in the kitchen” 

I found this on this website 


When I teach them preposition for place, I made some adjustment.  I made my own handout.  There are other examples of prepositions for time, and movement.  

 

My second tuition class after Latihan Ikhtisas

I had the 2nd tuition class today with them.  The first one was two weeks ago.  Only three of them submitted the homework.  The other two did not but I noticed that Raiz did his (the best his could) but Aiman, he only wrote less than five sentences (what should I do with him?).  These kids need lots of TLC apparently.  

I bought 2 tins of biscuits yesterday.  Guess what?  Yup.  It is nearly finished.  A small portion left for the teachers 😀   Opsiee….  Well, to be honest, I never thought the form 3 would also had their tuition class today with Ida.  So, I offered some to the form 3 students as well.  

The boys requested that we did a rationale cloze exercise today.  Well, well, well, this is the first time they asked to do an extra work.  Normally, they are not this willing.  They also asked for a homework.  They requested to do a Directed Writing composition.  What should I do to retain this desirable behavior?  

Before the break, we did a quick revision on the literature part.  Aalia did continuous writing with her class (Advanced class).  Ita did Captain Nobody’s discussion as well on themes.  

For rationale cloze, one of the trickiest parts is to use preposition accurately.  Rationale cloze is easily known as “fill-in-the-blank” thingy.  Students would either have to fill in the blank (by choosing the most appropriate word) with words either a verb, preposition, noun, adverb or adjective.   For example, students would be given a short text with incomplete sentences.  You have to choose one word to make the sentence complete.  

It is not easy to select the accurate answer especially we are not native speakers.  Even I would be confused sometimes 😀  But, there are some principles that we can follow.  Knowing the principles of tenses, prepositions and whatsnot make things easier.  😀 (Easy said than done, huh?)   Well, it is all about practice.  

Everything was normal until 9pm.  Then all of a sudden, the night __16__ extremely quiet.  All we could hear __17__ the sound of flowing water.  A few of us noticed the sudden quietness and were bewildered __18__ it.  But my brother who has the most experience in the jungle, cautioned us to be quiet and __19__ still.  __20__, everyone was together at the campsite.

16        A         become            B            became            C            becomes          D         is becoming

 17        A         is                     B            are                   C         was                  D         were

 18        A         by                    B            at                     C         with                 D         about

 19        A         stays                B            stay             C         stayed              D         is staying

 20        A         Happily           B            Obviously       C            Surprisingly    D            Fortunately

Answers: 16. A,  17. C,  18.  A,  19.  B,  20.  D

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.  😀 .  

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