Teaching Practical

The other day when I filled up the form for my teaching practical, I did it with joy. The joy of knowing that very soon, I will be out doing my teaching practical. With the knowledge that I have gained for the pass 6 semesters, I am sure that I will be well equipped to teach in a couple of months time. Besides feeling happy about it, I have also asked myself a number of questions. How would my colleagues in the school that I will be teaching treat me? Would they take advantage of trainee teachers to do their dirty work? What type of students would I be teaching? Which invigilator would I get for my practical teaching? Would finding accommodation for 3 months in Malacca be a problem, and many more. All these questions would be answered in due time. So I have decided not to worry too much about it and enjoy. I am sure my knowledge that I’ve gained in UPM would help me tremendously.

Abolishing UPSR and PMR

Currently in Malaysia, the big issue going on in the field of education is abolishing the UPSR and the PMR examination. I do not agree with the idea of abolishing UPSR and PMR. However, if the notion is to abolish the English language paper for UPSR and PMR, I will agree with it a 100%. First and foremost, if English and Malay are being tested only at SPM level, teachers could do wonders with their lesson plans. Daily classroom activities are no longer dedicated to drilling students with countless examination activities in order to prepare them for exams. The activities could be activities that allow students to interact with the language itself. Examples of such activities are role playing activities, playing RPG card games (Magic the Gathering for example), and theater play. Furthermore, without having to prepare for examination, the stress factor is absent and therefore providing a more conducive environment for learning language. Many would argue that without examinations, it is hard to gauge students’ performance. They would also say that many would not even be motivated to learn as the subject is not tested. First, one does not need examination to gauge a students’ proficiency in the language. The teacher could evaluate them using some other measurements besides giving examination. For example, checking and monitoring their language development and providing more assistance to students who aren’t too proficient. For the second argument, exams do not motivate students to study. It “forces” them to study. Exams could work for subjects such as math and history as for those subjects, one needs tons of rote learning and plenty of exercise practice to be good at it. However, there is no way one could improve their language proficiency by rote learning. Language improvement needs learners to be intrinsically motivated and taking part in meaningful/interactive learning in the target language. Two aspects that most students are lacking in this country. In the end, there will be more workload on teachers, but in my opinion it is more than worth it. However, could language examination truly be abolished? It is quite far fetched since the society in this country always measure a person’s worth by his or her grades. I do hope that one day people could actually realize that grades does not make an individual as current examination systems does not really give an accurate measurement of one’s knowledge.

How the documentary Chalk has enlightened me?

This movie that we saw the other day is something of more substance. Chalk is a documentary about real life teachers. It has struck me a few times when watching all previous movies. Do good teachers only exist in movies? Is it really possible to change the mindset of rebellious teenagers? In this documentary, all the occupation hazards of the teaching profession have been brought into light for all of us aspiring teachers. The teaching profession is a profession where one would go through utmost stress and pressure. It will come from all parties; colleagues, students and the parents of students as well. There are also problems such as inadequate facilities and the organization of the school as well. There are so many factors that made teaching profession the least favorable career path one could undertake. Has it somehow damper my spirit in anyway from becoming a teacher. The answer is NO. When I chose TESL as my course and teaching as a career, I’ve understood the various disadvantages and hazards that I am bound to face. However, the reward of a teacher guiding his or her students towards becoming knowledgeable and useful individuals outweighs all the disadvantages of teaching, and that factor alone made me very proud and glad to have chosen teaching as a profession

To be or not to be a perfectionist?

Is it important to be a perfectionist? To me, it is an important characteristic to possess if one desires to be the best among the best. However, if one is being obsessed by it, perfectionism could self destruct a person. This could be a result of one developing fear/paranoid in doing things. By being too obsessed with everything being perfect, one will fall harder than those with lower expectations. It is good to put in your very best but allow some space for yourself just in case things do not turn out quite the way you want it to be. Personally, I don’t believe in being a perfectionist. I do not believe in competition with an outside factor. My greatest rival is myself. As long as I can outdo myself, improve myself, I don’t mind being a non-perfectionist. As long as one has already tried their best, they should have no regrets at all.

“Newspeak” in The Novel 1984

I’ve finished reading the novel 1984 (finally). It took me quite sometime but I’m really glad to have finished it. It is a fantastic book. One aspect that really caught my attention about this book is the “Newspeak” language. The language is created with the purpose of limiting the number of English vocabulary so that language could be manipulated to serve the totalitarian party’s (INGSOC) purpose. In other words, it is used to control society by controlling its language. Besides that, Newspeak aim is to make any alternative thinking impossible by removing any words or possible constructs which describe the ideas of freedom, rebellion and so on so that society would just believe whatever that is being told thus making sure of the party’s stranglehold on the people. From this novel, I have learned to appreciate language more than ever before. It also brings the old saying; “The pen is mightier than the sword,” to a whole new level. The really interesting part of it is that, newspeak is not some far fetched fiction. It is something that can truly happen to all of us. Furthermore, all this could happen in the nearby future. Just look around you and see how the mass media are used to influence our interest and thinking. If you ask me, the world of 1984 could very soon be our world. A world where society merely flips over when being told to, a world where no one could think outside the box, a world where our thoughts are being controlled, a world where language has lost all its beauty.

Toomba" by Saieen Zahoor and Lady Gaga's "Alejandro

I remember that Dr. Jaya showed us two music videos. One is Toomba by Saieen Zahoor and the second is Lady Gaga’s Alejandro. The first video is my first experience of the genre. I could not say I hate it, nor could I say that I love it. It is too traditional for my taste. However, I do respect their ability to play those instruments. Any music that requires the musician to play their own background music is a big plus point to me.
The second video was never really shown to us in class. It was Lady Gaga’a Alejandro. We were only told to listen to the song since there were “inappropriate” scenes in the music video. In my opinion, the only selling point of Lady Gaga was her sexy dressing. She has a unique voice, but that is all. I am never a fan of Lady Gaga. This is because most modern music nowadays are thrash. Lady Gaga included. They lack the passion and soul that were found in most musicians back in the 70s and 80s. I would not be surprised if no one remembers Lady Gaga 10-15 years from today. However it has been almost 50 years and the names Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones are still as big as ever. Get my point on passion and soul? Anyway, Dr.Jaya was praising the music video of Alejandro and we were given an assignment to watch it on youtube. Well, if it is on youtube, I believe it is perfectly alright to show it in class. The fact is there is nothing obscene with undergarments. Well, I don’t really like it but that is my own opinion, Go watch it and feel free to like it.

Research Fair at Dewan Besar.

Not too long ago, the class and I went to the Dewan Besar for an exhibition where researchers display their research and findings. Overall, it was a fun exhibition as many interesting products were being displayed.
While looking at the many interesting research works, I was amazed by the effort that these researchers put into their works and findings. I tried to put myself into their shoes and think about the countless hours and effort that was being put into those researches. By taking this into account, I do not have a particular favourite research, as all of it requires tons of research and commitment. To me, all of the items displayed are special.
Overall, the exhibition was fun, entertaining and knowledgeable.

Fables

Sometime ago, the class was introduced to the fable genre. According to Wikipedia.org, A fable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.
I can’t remember my first fable that was read to me but I am sure it was during my pre-school days. I remember my late grandfather buying my this Aesop’s Fable Collection book that I use to carry around all day. To me, using fables in teaching English is a fantastic idea especially when teaching low-English proficiency students. This is because there are many fables written in simple English. With the help of pictures and an entertaining story, students could easily grasp the meaning of words. It is also a good teaching tool in inculcate moral values.
We were given the opportunity to create our own fable as well. It was a fun activity. Perhaps I shall use this activity during my practical to see how things turn out.

To be rich or wealthy?

To me, being rich and wealthy are two different things. By being wealthy, it means you have buying power. One who is wealthy is able to enjoy anything money can buy. He or she could buy the fanciest of clothes, go for the most luxurious of holidays, eat the most sumptuous of meals, live in beautiful houses and drive exotic cars.
On the other hand, rich is quite subjective. One can be rich in terms of knowledge, health, moral values or family warmth. In general, every single individual would want to be both rich and wealthy.
The question is, if you can only choose one? Which of the two would you rather have? Personally, I wish to be rich. If possible, I want to be rich in terms of knowledge. The reason is because one could have all the money in the world. However, history has proved it many times that nothing fluctuates more than buying power. Imagine the stress, pressure and the paranoid that a wealthy person goes through everyday. Not a life I want for sure. I want a life that is enriched with knowledge. Knowledge that could help me become a better individual and better still, guiding others with my knowledge into becoming better individuals. Remember this, knowledge is power and the path to being knowledge rich is the path I will love to undertake.

Akeelah and the Bee

Akeelah and the Bee is s a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Doug Atchison. It tells the story of Akeelah Anderson, portrayed by Keke Palmer, an 11-year-old girl who participates in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, her mother, portrayed by Angela Bassett, schoolmates, and also her coach, portrayed by Laurence Fishburne. It also explores issues of education in the black community.
To me this is a very entertaining movie on a girl’s passion on spelling. Her passion and dedication to the game of spelling bee made her champion of the national spelling bee competition. This has taught me something that can be applied not only as being a teacher, but also as an individual. To be good in something, one needs to have a great passion for it. By having passion for it, only then can you put in your best, to become the best. In this movie, we can also learn from Dylan’s character that put in a mammoth effort in order to win the National Spelling Bee Championship. The moral behind his co-victory with Akeelah is that only through hard work can you achieve excellence.

Lean On Me

The movie “Lean on me” is s a 1989 biographical-drama film written by Michael Schiffer, directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Morgan Freeman. Lean on Me is loosely based on the story of Joe Louis Clark, a real life inner city high school principal in Paterson, New Jersey, whose school is at risk of being taken over by the New Jersey state government unless students improve their test scores. This film's title refers to the 1972 Bill Withers song of the same name.
To me, this is a very entertaining movie. However, don’t take my word for it as I am a fan of Morgan Freeman. This movie has taught me a few things though. It taught me that having too much authority is not always a good thing. By believing that an authoritarian leadership would do the school good, things went bad for Principal Joe Louise. Example, his colleague were not fond of him and there are people who would go to great lengths to get him out of the school.
This movie also taught me that to believe in your students capabilities to do well, it would do wonders to change the children’s mindset and furthermore, gain their respect. In my opinion, by gaining your students’ trust and respect is the most important tool for a teacher to have an enjoyable and fruitful teaching life.

The Ron Clark Story.

The Ron Clark Story follows the inspiring tale of an energetic, creative and idealistic young teacher who leaves his small North Carolina hometown to teach in a New York City public school.
As a future teacher of English, this movie has inspired and enlightened me in so many ways.It teaches me that to be a dedicated teacher is never simple. In the movie, Ron Clark teaches one of the worst schools in Harlem. A school where violence and racism is an everyday issue. Being a dedicated teacher, he chose to teach the worst class, believing that he could guide those students to excellence. This shows the burning passion that Ron Clark has for teaching. This passion should be shared by all teachers. By doing so, teaching will be both a fun and a very rewarding career.
This movie also taught me to believe in my students capability to learn and change. Ron Clark never lost faith in his students despite being discouraged by all parties. This result in him accomplishing what he set out to do in the first place, which is to change a batch of academically poor students for the better.
Overall, this is a very inspiring movie. This movie has taught me so so much about the teaching profession. Besides that, it has also become one of my favourite movies of all time.

Arranged marriage?? No, thank you.

This topic was brought up during class and we were told to give our opinion regarding this notion.
Personally, I am not a fan of arranged marriage due to a few reasons. First and foremost, I believe it is necessary for one to be responsible to find his or her own significant other. This will result in appreciation of one towards another. I doubt that an arranged marriage will provide the colours of a relationship process. The process of one getting into a relationship is a beautiful journey, especially when one puts in much effort to court their significant other. This will lead to a higher level of appreciation that one can have for his or her couple. Besides that, I find arranged marriage a little too easy for my taste. Our parents have been taking care of our stuff ever since we were born. I believe that we should not burden them with the responsibility of choosing their daughters/sons in law. I also believe when one gets married without any effort of their own, he or she would not be able to appreciate one another.
Although I am against arranged marriage, one cannot discount the fact that our grandparents, whom majority of them went through arranged marriage, lived a happy marriage. It all boils down to understanding, caring, loving and respecting one another.
As a conclusion, I would like to note that marriage is not something to be taken lightly. No matter the type of marriage one chooses, as long as one understand the essence of marriage, they could and should live happily ever after.

My opinion on Drow Games.

Lately, My lecturer Dr. Jayakaran Mukunden introduced to us a new method in teaching vocabulary. It is called Drow Games. It is an online game where friends could challenge one another. The best part of the drow game is the top ten players will receive a price. ( 1 IPod Touch for the top player and 1 IPod Nano for each of the subsequent top 10)
In my humble opinion, this method of incorporating video/computer games into learning will definitely result in making the learning process a whole lot more fun. It is a fact that we no longer live in an era of traditional teaching and learning method. Therefore, as teachers, we need to adept to the current trend of learning. Since teenagers nowadays are very interested in gaming, using the drow game software can make learning much more fun.
One should really develop such teaching methods so that learning would be much more fun. Once the software is being developed to include more aspects of English such as grammar and sentence structuring, teaching English will be a much much fun subject to teach and learn. By rewarding students who perform well in such games further motivates learning as well. Perhaps in the near future, the government will seriously consider including gaming into the English language syllabus.

MONA LISA SMILE

For my first blog entry, I shall write a review on a movie I have watched recently. The title of the movie is Mona Lisa smile. It is a 2003 American film that was produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles. The story is revolves around the teaching life of Katherine Ann Watson. This movie has enlightened my understanding on the teaching profession in a few ways.
First and foremost, it teaches me to never underestimate my students. The students showed in this film are very hardworking. So much that Ms Katherine is unable to teach them due to the students having read and understand the entire textbook. Therefore, it is advisable for a teacher to come up with a backup plan in case such a scenario occurs.
Secondly, it is very hard to be a good teacher and a good family person at the same time. This is due to a teacher’s dedication towards his or her work. More often than not, a good teacher would spend much less time with their family thus leading to various problems.
Finally, it is important to understand your students. It is a job of a good teacher to understand their student’s potential in order to guide them on the right path. A good example of such quality is the scene where Ms Katherine’s advice both Elizabeth "Betty" Warren and Joan Brandwyn to make the right choice.
To me, this is a very god movie. I am sure my course mates and I have learned a lot of aspects regarding teaching from watching this movie.

Doubts after simulated teaching on applying them in real life situation.

There is an unanswered question that I asked myself after my recent simulated teaching. Can the simulated teaching that I’ve went through recently be used in real life situation? This question aroused due to my realization of my course mate’s proficiency level. There is no question in my mind that my future students will not share the same language proficiency as them. Therefore, will they be able to absorb the type of activity that I have prepared. Teaching the “Smart classes” would not pose much of a problem. However students in the weaker classes are my main concern. Would they be able to understand the level of language of the text itself, let alone the questions that they need to answer from my activities. Literature components are never easy. From my own experience, I too have suffered difficulties during my school days. I guess that this simulated teaching of mine has somehow made me understand the difficulties of becoming a teacher and the commitments that comes with it. However, it has not dented my interest and determination to become a teacher. I need input from other though to solve this problem of mine. During this upcoming semester break, I shall pay my teachers (I will never call them ex teachers) a visit and ask for their input. I am confident their vast experience in teaching can help me.

My strengths in simulated teaching.

It is important to know one’s own strength in order to fully utilize it to become better teachers. One of my strengths is self confidence. I don’t have jitters or doubts when I do my simulated teaching. This is because I know what I am about to teach and how to make it flow fluently. Besides that, I can really project my voice. My voice is loud and clear enough for my students. In my opinion, it is important for the students to hear and understand the teacher in order to learn whatever that is going to be taught by the teacher. I have no worries on how to maintain the volume of my voice, however I am more worried on how to retain my confidence in teaching. In order to do that, I have to do more reading and of course, learn to be more creative. Second, simulated teaching is done in front of my course mates. Therefore it is easy in terms of not going into panic as we are already familiar with each other. It will be a different story when I face forty students who are new to me in my not so distant future. So, I guess the only way is to retain the self confidence is to really know my stuff by reading more. And that’s exactly what I’ll do.

My version of simulated teaching VS How I was taught at school.

First and foremost, this post is not to downgrade or criticize my learning experience when I was in school. I appreciate every single knowledge and effort my teachers gave me. I’m where I am today because of them. Just want to make some comparison here. The difference of what I’ve learnt in University, in terms of how a teacher should teach and what I’ve experienced from class during my school days is entirely different. My simulated teaching consist of 4 steps. Set induction, which is to stimulate the students brains and let them know about what we are to study for the day. Second is the pre-reading stage which initiated the day’s study process by reading the text and asks students to highlight significant words and lines. Third is the while reading stage which explains the need of the previous activity. Most of time, it is for students to know why are the phrases highlighted and for what reason. By this stage, students should already understand whatever that is taught for that session. The final stage is the post reading stage. This stage requires students to write out an essay or complete activities to ensure they understand what is taught. During my school days, the teaching of literature components is different. The teacher will spoon feed the students with all the information. The target is for students to be able to answer examination question by merely memorizing and not understanding it. The reason is because there is really insufficient time to teach and ensure the comprehension of students for literary components as literary components aren’t the only syllabus that the teacher needs to complete. Second, the level of English proficiency of the class isn’t high enough. There are only a handful of students that could cope with literature. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the version of set induction I’ve learnt ( and what my teachers have learnt) in classes. Therefore, it leads to the question if the simulated teaching that we all learn as future teachers in University could be applied 100% when we are teachers one day. Time will tell.

Simulated Teaching

Simulated Teaching.

I’ve done my simulated teaching a couple of days ago. For my simulated teaching, I did teaching of theme for Oedipus Rex. The theme I’ve attempted to teach is “The Reversal of Fortune”. I started my lesson with showing the class two images. One is a picture of a rich man and the other of a beggar. I used the current economic regression to relate it to the class on how reversal of fortune plays its role on the rich man reversal of fortune.(From a rich man into a beggar)
I proceed by using two extract from the play. One extract is from scene 1 when Oedipus is a king and the other one exodus when Oedipus is nobody. Before I started reading the text, I gave instruction to my students, which is to highlight the phrases that explains Oedipus’s character. Next I ask them to determine whether those phrases are positively or negatively connotated. After that, I relate the connotation to how Oedipus have fall from grace. That is more or less what I’ve done for my simulated teaching. It’s a very constructive experience as it gave me a glimpse on what my future teaching life would be like. None the less, it is also good practice in terms of improving my presentation skills.

Pros and Cons of watching plays.

An approach is used by my lecturer to teach drama. We were asked to watch plays that we are currently studying. It was fun to watch it. As I am part of a generation that will always prefer watching movies than to read the book itself. This posting is to share my opinion on the pros and cons of this approach.
Pros:
Students can absorb certain information at a faster rate by watching a play. They have a clearer picture on the setting, tone, plot and characteristics of the characters. This is because those aspects listed are quite difficult to be captured by students who are new to reading scripts of play, especially the tone of the dialogues.Watching plays is also a great way for students who possesses slow reading skills. By using the play watching method, students could more or less understand the play. This will make their life so much easier when reading the script of that particular play.

Cons:
The disadvantage of the play is that it offer little opportunity for students to analyze the play by just watching it alone. The problem will arise when students need to analyze the play in terms of choices of words used. This is due to plays being ephemeral. Once the part of a play is over, students can't just rewind and check out what is missed. Furthermore, the accent of the actors would make it hard for students of not so high proficiency to make sense of what the actor have said.

One way to counter the disadvantages of this movie watching session is to bring along the script and reading it while watching the movie. This will allow student to overcome the accent barrier and also being able to highlight the important parts in their respective book for future analysis and revisions.
For me, the advantages of this approach outweigh its disadvantages. In the end, it is up to the students to fully utilize both the movie and the book to gain the most from the movie watching session.