There is this talk by one of my senior colleagues about professionalism and ethics. I have been thinking about the same issue for quite some time especially after the incident of “minah-t-test-tak-tahu“. I am lucky that when I was called by the Dean, the late Prof Bahar, he told me to buckle up knowing how difficult it is to deal with such student. He told me to stay true to myself no matter what. His emphatic view is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life. For others who blame me for being irrational and take sides on this obnoxious student, aren’t you being hypocrites? I find this article from Psychology Today about integrity in the workplace. Yup. It is worth to have a stand rather than being “boneless” or “chameleon”.
Where do I get the grammar posters?
When I did my Latihan Ikhtisas, I was struggling to find materials for my class. Teaching university students does not require worksheets for weekly discussion. But for secondary students, you need to use worksheet for activity, most of the time. This is to save time for them to copy what you write from the white board. 😀
There are several websites for teachers by teachers which provide materials that teachers can use in their teaching like posters, handouts, worksheets and such for free (as long as you use it for teaching and not making any profit). Some of the websites require you to register. But others are not. Some of the websites are such as
To know more, you can go to this website which listed around 50 useful websites for teachers to find teaching materials, tips and ideas for their classroom activity.
https://teach4theheart.com/50-best-websites-for-teachers/
Mixed prepositions
More prepositions_Part 2
Need extra examples?
More prepositions_Part 1
More examples of preposition for time
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
Do you have the characteristics of a true teacher?
English is unique
