BEYOND CHALK & TALK

KSSR and the Modular Approach

2011-10-13T15:13:00.000+08:00

'Stick Puppets' for Language Arts

Next to Phonics, the Modular Approach or Modular Configuration is one aspect in KSSR that seems to be inviting a lot of scratching of the heads among Malaysian teachers. What is this ‘Modular Approach’ all about?

Before we continue, I need to set this straight: I am no expert on KSSR, or Phonics, or Modular Approach or anything related to education for that matter. It’s just that when people around me start questioning things, I can’t help but try to read up and find the answers to those questions as best I could. And all these things that I put in this post (and all the posts before this) on KSSR are merely what I managed to gather from my little reading of books, documents, articles and some Internet researches. Some of the things that I write could probably be a bit inaccurate, and if that is so, I humbly and sincerely invite you to enlighten and correct me. I like to share, sharing is my passion, and I believe that sharing is equal to caring. Heheh! ;-) This is important to be established before I move on because I don’t want my readers to assume that I have the slightest pretension that whatever I write here may have any authoritative value whatsoever. Please bear in mind that this is just a simple blog by a small and insignificant primary school teacher in a remote town called Kunak. I’m only putting down my thoughts and reflections on matters that interest me. My main aim is to provide one medium for us to share our thoughts, opinions and knowledge – and nothing more beyond that. Please feel free to leave comments about the topic below my blog posts if you like, or if you prefer, you could always send me a message through Twitter or Facebook and we could continue our discussion on the topic from there.

Having established that, allow me to move on to the topic that I’ve chosen to write about today: The Modular Approach in KSSR.

Modular?

The word ‘modular’ is an adjective that comes from the noun ‘module’. According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (2003), ‘module’ is defined as:

1. one of a set of separate parts which, when combined, form a complete whole;
2. one of the units which together make a complete course taught especially at a college or university;
3. a part of a spacecraft which can operate independently of the other parts, especially when separate from them.

We can see the connection of Definition 1 and Definition 2 with education and KSSR, and although Definition 3 is directly related to a spacecraft (heheh!), I decided to include it here because it does have its relevance to KSSR.

'Module' is the noun, and 'modular' is the adjective. Describing something as 'modular' means referring to it as having separate units that when combined together make a complete whole. Therefore, we could roughly interpret 'modular approach' in education as an approach where different units (or skills) taught separately or individually make up one whole complete curriculum when they are combined together. Furthermore, using the spaceship analogy, learners subscribed to this curriculum are also expected to be able to use (or 'operate') the individual skills ('parts') independently of the other skills, even (and especially) when separate from them.

Modular Education in International Learning Institutions

Modular education is still new in Malaysia education scene, especially in primary school context. Yet, the idea itself is not entirely new. Internationally, a lot of education or training institutions worldwide have adapted the modular approach in their curriculum or system. This is especially true in higher learning institutions, such as universities and colleges and also in professional trainings conducted by professional boards in the medical, economic or legal fields.

In a modular education, learners would learn topics, skills and units separately or by 'modules'. TVETipedia, the online portal for the exchange of information on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) hosted by UNESCO-UNEVOC explains modular education as "a training made up of a determined number of modules" (read more here). The two requirements for a training module: 1. It should be 'get on touch' in an independent way. 2. It should have its own internal coherence.

To make the idea of 'modular education' clearer, it would be helpful to take a look at how some education institutions run their modular curriculum. The Ramkhamhaeng University in Thailand, for instance, when describing their 'Modular Course System', explains to potential students that:

In the traditional university system, each subject (course) is stretched over the whole semester period with usually three lecture hours a week. In the modular course system, in contrast, each course is usually two days a week for four weeks.

The modular course system makes understanding much easier since it is more intense than the traditional system of teaching one course over a whole semester.

(http://www.iis.ru.ac.th/iis/modular_course_system.html)

YWAM Finland which also adapts the modular education system states some of the benefits of the modular education system that they apply in their institution:

1. It provides students with intensive and focused time on each topic.
2. It allows mobility for both students and teachers (faculty).
3. It allows for different learning strategy.
(Read more here).

Curriculum Organisation in KSSR

So how is the curriculum organised under this new KSSR? According to the official Standard Document for KSSR published by the Curriculum Development Department of the Ministry of Education, primary education is divided into two stages: Stage One refers to Year 1, 2 and 3 and Stage 2 refers to Year 4, 5 and 6. In Year 1 and 2, there will be four modules:

Module 1: Listening and Speaking
Module 2: Reading
Module 3: Writing
Module 4: Language Arts

In Year 3 to Year 6, grammar is added to the above four modules:

Module 1: Listening and Speaking
Module 2: Reading
Module 3: Writing
Module 4: Language Arts
Module 5: Grammar

Modular Approach in KSSR

Based on the four (for Year 1 and 2) or five (for Year 3 to 6) modules for KSSR English language, teachers are expected to teach these modules separately and individually, and in sequence. This differs greatly from KBSR where all the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are not expected to be taught separately. In KBSR, the four language skills should be integrated in a thematic and topical lesson. Language arts and grammar are incorporated (most of the time in a covert manner) throughout the curriculum as part of a lesson activity. On the other hand, in KSSR, teachers are expected to teach the skills separately and in sequence, starting with Module 1 (Listening and Speaking), then move on to Module 2 (Reading), then Module 3 (Writing) and Module 4 (Language Arts). For Year 3 onwards, after Module 4 the sequence will continue with Module 5 (Grammar).

According to the KSSR Standard Document, through the modular curriculum, "pupils will be able to focus on the development of salient language skills or sub-skills under each module through purposeful activities in meaningful contexts" (KSSR Standard Document, page 7). The Standard Document itself is quite clear in explaining the policy on which the modular approach in KSSR is built on, yet it doesn't seem to hinder questions upon questions being piled on one after another, by teachers and educators all over, especially those who are directly involved with the dissemination and implementation of the new curriculum known as KSSR.

KSSR Modular Approach FAQ

As I've stated, questions upon questions have been asked. I think the best way to discuss this matter would be to list down the frequently-asked questions on KSSR Modular Approach, and I'll attempt to provide my views on the matter as best I could.

Question 1:
Under the modular approach, ONE and ONLY ONE skill should be taught in a particular lesson. There should be no integration of skills. A reading lesson must strictly be a reading lesson. No other language skills should be involved. TRUE or FALSE?

Answer 1:
I would answer with a big FALSE. To all teachers and JUs (!!!) who have been advocating the above to other teachers, I would like to humbly invite you to please refer to KSSR Standard Document page 7: "This modular approach does not exclude integration of skills. However, skills integration is exploited strategically to enhance pupils' development of specific language skills as described in the content and learning standards in a module." If I understand what it means correctly, I believe the CDD is hoping that the new curriculum that they've designed would manage to focus and emphasize on one individual language skill only at one time in a particular lesson. However, it doesn't mean that integration of skills should no longer be practiced. Integration of skills is still as necessary in KSSR as it is in KBSR, the only thing that differs here is the approach used to integrate the skills.

One example would be integrating listening and speaking in a reading lesson. The main focus would be on the skill of reading, yet the listening skill is also incorporated when the teacher points to a word and does the segmenting for instance, and asks the pupils to listen carefully. The speaking skill is used when the pupils blend the segmented sounds to form the correct word. It is a reading lesson through and through, the teacher is teaching the pupils to relate the letters to the sounds by segmenting the individual sounds in the word, and the pupils practice their phonemic awareness by blending together the sounds of the written letters they see to form a word. Yet, as I've demonstrated in the example, listening and speaking skills are also actively involved in the lesson.

English is a language, and we don't need a diploma or a degree in language or teaching to understand that restricting to only ONE particular skill exclusively and in isolation from other skills in language teaching is not only impossible, but also 'not very smart' (to put it as 'nicely' as I could). All we need in order to know whether the above statement is 'True' or 'False' is pure common sense; nothing more, nothing less.

Question 2:
We understand that under the KSSR modular configuration, lessons need to be carried out in sequence. It means that Listening and Speaking must precede Reading and so on and so forth. Let's say I've conducted the Listening and Speaking module, and upon assessment, I realize that I need to repeat the lesson because my pupils still don't manage to achieve the stipulated learning standard. What would be the best way to do it? Should I repeat the lesson straightaway the next day (and hence using up the slot for Module 2, which is Reading), or should I carry on with the reading lesson and only repeat the Listening and Speaking during the next cycle?

Answer 2:
If a teacher sees a clear need to repeat his/her lesson for whatever reason, why should he/she wait for whatever? If it's up to me, I would repeat it straightaway! One of the reasons behind the modular configuration is to provide a 'scaffolded learning experience' for our pupils, and therefore it means that Module 1 should provide the scaffolding for Module 2, Module 2 should provide the scaffolding for Module 3 and so on. If a stipulated learning standard in one particular module is not achieved, then moving on to the next module would defy the scaffolding purposes.

If we, as teachers, see the need to repeat a lesson, don't wait for the next cycle, repeat it straightaway! Take as much time as needed for the module we're working on with our pupils, take the whole week or even the whole month for one module if we think that's necessary. KSSR applies the Mastery Learning approach, and hence we as teachers should ensure that our pupils are able to master the skills needed, before moving on to the next level.

Question 3:
Why teach the skills in sequence? Why must Reading come after Listening and Speaking? In KBSR, we can teach listening and speaking on the first day then straightaway jump to writing on the next day. It doesn't seem to create any problem. Our pupils still learn.

Answer 3:
There are a couple of problems with the argument above. First of all, in KBSR, we were not expected to teach listening and speaking or writing or reading on the first day or any particular day. KBSR is all about integration of skills, and although a teacher can still focus on only one skill in one particular lesson if he/she wants to, no one expects the teacher to follow the lesson up with any one skill in particular on the next class. This is because in KBSR, lessons are generally structured using the Whole Language approach, where the main objective is for learning of skills to be experienced in context. Unlike KSSR, lessons in KBSR need not be organized in sequence, because each lesson, although still related with one another, does not necessarily provide the scaffolding needed for the learning of the skill in the next lesson.

Secondly, the Modular Approach in KSSR is not proposed by CDD because 'the old ways of doing things doesn't seem to work.' Personally, I don't believe this is the case. Whether learning happens or not does not depend entirely on a particular approach or system. Learning is influenced by a combination of a variety of factors: psychological factors, socioeconomic factors, and the 'teacher effect', among others.

I don't have an 'inside knowledge' on why CDD has decided to adopt the Modular Approach in KSSR, replacing Whole Language. However, after studying a few KSSR materials and conducting some 'little research' of my own, I've come to these conclusions:

1. The design of the Modular Approach in KSSR provides a 'scaffolded learning' experience. Skills should be taught in sequence because the previous skill provides the scaffolding for the next skill that follows.
2. The Modular Approach in KSSR gives all skills a 'fair chance'. In the former KBSR, although integration of skills are very much emphasized by the CDD and also the Nazir, situations such as 'all English lesson is a reading and writing lesson' and 'all English lesson is a grammar lesson' are very prevalent. Listening and Speaking as well as Language Arts are almost always forgotten. Why? Because in UPSR, reading and writing and grammar are the only skills being tested. The Modular Approach in KSSR is an attempt to rectify that.
3. The Modular Approach in KSSR is an attempt to give all pupils a 'fair chance'. During the KBSR era, we can see an education system that was so heavily examination-oriented. Because of that, many teachers fell into the temptation of teaching what was only needed to pass the examination. Pupils were not given enough opportunity to truly learn the language, to explore the beauty of it, to enjoy it. One of the modules included in the KSSR Modular Approach is the Language Arts module, and when I first learned about that, my first thought was: "Yeay! Finally!" Although we did have the Children's Contemporary Literature Program in KBSR (which will still be continued under KSSR, I presume), most of the time teachers wouldn't spend a lot of time on it with their pupils because the contents are not directly related to the syllabus content. And although the program is compulsory, many teachers would just gloss over it because the organisation of the KBSR was such that teachers were not 'forced' to bring it to the classroom. In the Language Arts module under KSSR, we could see an attempt to maneuver these whole thing towards the opposite direction, a positive direction, that is.

So, why must skills be taught in sequence under the Modular Approach? Because it seems to be the best way of teaching the skills if we want the Modular Approach in KSSR to work. It isn't because not teaching in sequence is not good or doesn't work, it is because the Modular Approach in KSSR is designed that way, and it needs to be conducted that way in order for it to work. And we are not talking about any other Modular Approach under any curriculum in any other country. We are talking about the Malaysian KSSR Modular Approach, implemented in Malaysia in 2010.

More on this in my next post.

Question 4:
Wouldn't the modular approach cause problem for our pupils to use language in context? After all, language is used by combining more than one skills at any one time. Teaching the skills separately would train the pupils to use the language skills separately, and they wouldn't know how to use all the skills together in real-life context.

Answer 4:
As addressed previously in my answer to Question 1, the Modular Approach in KSSR does not exclude integration of skills. What should happen in Modular Approach in KSSR is a particular skill being emphasized more, or magnified, compared to other skills, yet not with the absence of other skills. Would this approach cause problem for pupils to use language in context? In my humble opinion, that shouldn't be the case. In addition to "purposeful activities in meaningful context" and "skills integration exploited strategically", in KSSR, "language input is [also] presented under themes and topics which are appropriate for pupils" (KSSR Standard Document, page 7).

While it is true that only one skill is being magnified in Module 1 to 3, Module 4 which is the Language Arts module would be 'The Module' where the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing can come together and the English language may be experienced and explored through enjoyable, fun, creative and most importantly, meaningful activities.

And don't forget that KSSR isn't all about Modular Approach. There are various other elements of the curriculum that may provide meaningful and contextual learning for all pupils. The educational emphases that include thinking skills, mastery learning, ICT skills, multiple intelligence, constructivism, contextual learning, learning how to learn, values and citizenship, knowledge acquisition, creativity as well as entrepreneurship all contribute towards making learning meaningful and relevant to real-life context for all our pupils.

The Spacecraft Analogy

Referring back to Definition 3 of the word 'module' according to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (2003), we could think of an individual language skill (listening, speaking, reading or writing) as an individual part of a spacecraft (which is also known as a 'module'), while the English language itself is the spacecraft. The spacecraft wouldn't work well if the individual 'modules' are not in working order. To ensure that the spacecraft is able to do its job of flying and exploring the outer-space, each and every individual module must be able to function properly. How do we ensure that each and every module is functioning properly? By taking the individual module apart from each other and by testing whether it is able to function properly when it is separate and independent from one another. If an individual module has a problem, we should go to the root of the problem, and fix it. And we should test it again and again, until we are satisfied that every individual module is in its tip-top condition.

When everything is ready, we put the modules back together to form a complete and whole spacecraft.

And then we take off.

Next Post

This has become longer than I initially planned it to be, and there are still many more things that I believe I need to cover. I know there are lots more questions that are still unanswered; well, as far as KSSR is concerned I believe everyone is still in the process of learning.

I hope all my teacher friends would not hesitate to share your thoughts, opinions or questions regarding KSSR and the Modular Approach. I would be working on a continuation of this post to deal with several of the matters that haven't been discussed in this post, and if I have encouraging feedback, I would attempt to address the issues raised by the responses to this post, too.

Till then, thanks for reading and happy teaching. ;-)

'Look and Say' vs. Phonics - The KSSR 'Debate' (Part 5: Resolving the Debate)

2011-09-30T14:28:00.000+08:00

Image source: flippasecret.com

Previous posts on this topic:

Part 1: Some useful links on teaching reading methods and general info about the debate.
Part 2: Comparison between KBSR and KSSR, Whole Language and Phonics.
Part 3: History of both approaches and the controversy involved.
Part 4: The general concerns of educators and practitioners about both practices from international and local perspectives.

And so we finally come to Part 5, where I hope to resolve this whole 'Look-Say' versus Phonics debate.

My Unsuccessful Attempt

I remember trying to think hard of a solution to my pupils illiteracy problem a few years ago. Many of my Level 2 pupils at that time were still struggling with basic reading skills, and I found that very alarming and worrying. Then, my colleague who was a BM teacher informed me that another BM teacher was using a BM phonics readers to teach reading in BM to ten illiterate Year 4 pupils, and apparently after just 3 months of learning to read using the program, all ten of the pupils were able to read fluently in BM. Another teacher told me that she had been using the same program with her 4-year-old daughter, and now the toddler was beginning to read with little difficulty.

Needless to say, I was greatly impressed. I began to search for the English equivalent of such program, and I managed to find one that was published by the same publisher. I made some homework and was greatly impressed and convinced by the panel of authors' credentials. I was ready to invest on that program because I had a lot of faith in it.

After a month of doing paperwork and raising funds, I finally managed to have the program available in my school. I was extremely excited and ready to bring the program into the classroom and get my pupils read in English as soon as possible (or so I thought). Unfortunately, I discovered that no matter how much faith and hope and effort I put into the program, I didn't seem to be able to make it work. My poor pupils made very little progress, and I was truly demotivated. The BM teacher who had done it so successfully with her pupils was not able to give me any word of advice. Devastated and disappointed, I decided to give up. The expensive phonics readers now sat on the shelves next to my desk in the staffroom, collecting dust.

Phonics Revisited

Since that 'bitter' experience, I gave phonics very little thought, until in 2010 when KSSR came into the Malaysia education scene. Through courses and workshops, I had the chance to unlearn and relearn everything that I know (or thought I know) about phonics. My interest in the subject was rekindled, and I began to do some reading and reflections. I finally came to the conclusion on why my first attempt to teach reading through phonics had failed. The whole experience could actually be summed-up in just three words:

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

I could easily point my finger and blame the program for my failure, but something in my heart tells me that phonics is a good program, simply because it had worked for BM. Some of my friends tried to comfort me by saying that BM and English are two totally different languages and what works for BM may not necessarily work for English, and as much as I want to agree with their view, I find myself wanting to give phonics another chance, another try.

The Debate is Over

During the recent training on English KSSR Year 2 in both Kunak and Semporna, I told my teacher friends that reading through MoE's documents and the new textbook and Teacher's Guide for the new KSSR, one might have the impression that phonics seems to be the 'official' method for teaching reading in KSSR. However, I also gave my suggestion that as teachers, we shouldn't restrict ourselves to one method of teaching reading only. Each and every child in the classroom has unique and individual needs and abilities, and limiting ourselves to only one type of instruction would not only be ineffective, but in some cases, could be detrimental to our pupils' learning and development.

I grew up during the KBSR era, and I understand the sentiments that some teachers may have towards phonics, because most of us who went to school in the same era learn to read through the 'look-say' or the whole language methods. I went to teachers training college in KBSR era, too, and the training that I received on teaching reading instruction was also pretty much 'look-say'. Therefore, I understand very well the 'discomfort' and reservations that some teachers may have towards these whole 'Sesame Street' thing.

Having said that, I also urge my teacher friends to be more courageous and step out of our comfort zones. Phonics may still be an unfamiliar territory to us for now, but perhaps if we are willing to open up our minds and try to learn as many things about it as we can, we may be able to see the benefits of it and how it can help us to teach our pupils to read more effectively.

For me, to use phonics or not to use phonics is not the question. At least not yet. Get to know phonics first. Try it out. Experiment with it. Combine it with other methods. Discuss it with others. Share your experiences with others. Reflect on it. Practise it. Improve on it.

'Should I use it or not?' should not be the question. Instead, the question should be: When should I use it?

A Bagful of Remedies

I came across this article from the Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking entitled "Phonics versus Whole Language: Why Whole Language Teachers Don't Think It Is Much of a Debate". I'm attracted by the concluding statement: "Not phonics versus whole language, but phonics within whole language!"

Many education experts and practitioners have observed that phonics does exist in a whole language program, and the same is also true vice versa. Elements of both whole language and phonics are needed in reading instructions, and good teachers, whether they realize it or not, do bring in both. It is a matter of emphases, and poor teaching can be done under any label.

I think Starret (2000) sums it up the best in the introduction of his book 'Teaching Phonics for Balanced Reading' (Skylight Professional Development) when he writes:

"A teacher should be like a general practitioner to the extent that not all patients get the same medicine. Some may need an aspirin. Others may need rest. A few may need surgery. When the patient (student) is healthy (can read independently), teachers should stop the medication. A teacher, like the old-fashioned country doctor, should carry around a bagful of remedies. Phonics ought to be one of the many remedies."

Till the next post, thanks for reading! ;-)

References

http://www.celtlink.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50:phonics-versus-whole-language-why-whole-language-teachers-dont-think-it-is-much-of-a-debate&catid=34:fact-sheets&Itemid=57

http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/Phonics.html

Starret, Edmund V. (2000). Teaching Phonics for Balanced Reading. Skylight Professional Development: Illinois

'Look and Say' vs. Phonics - The KSSR 'Debate' (Part 4: The General Concerns)

2011-09-29T15:25:00.000+08:00

Image source: englishbaby.com

...and this is Part 4. Yeah! Heheh. If you'd like to read my previous posts on this topic, these are the links:

Part 1: Some useful links on teaching reading methods and general info about the debate.
Part 2: Comparison between KBSR and KSSR, Whole Language and Phonics.
Part 3: History of both approaches and the controversy involved.

For Part 4, I'd like to concentrate on the general concerns that educators, teachers and practitioners have on teaching reading using both the phonics and the whole language methods. When discussing general concerns, I think the best way to do it would be to look at it from two perspectives, namely the international perspective and the local perspective. Let us concentrate on the international viewpoint first.

The International Perspectives

Though I choose to use the term 'international', in this post it generally refers to the English speaking nation like UK and the USA, where the phonics versus whole language debate first started and spread out. Some of the concerns mentioned here may also be the common concerns of educators and practitioners in other countries that teach English as a second or a foreign language in schools, yet it is important to note that 90% of the references materials that I've gathered on this matter all come from sources originating from nations where English is the first or native language.

To give an overview of the 'conflict' between phonics supporters and whole language supporters, we can imagine an exchange between them that may go something like this:

(Jack - Phonics Supporter
John - Whole Language Supporter)

John: The phonics approach is so old-fashioned.
Jack: Old-fashioned or not, it works. With whole language, they never really learn to read.
John: How can it work when it is so boring? With whole language, children can learn how to read in a fun way, and more importantly, in context.
Jack: That is probably true, but the method would work only with the best pupils. The less motivated ones would certainly flounder.

From the viewpoint of some practitioners, besides being boring, phonics instructions would also put the better pupils in an unnecessary position. They may still have to learn all the preplanned drills necessary in phonics instructions although they have already mastered the skills. Whole language supporters also argue that learning to read through phonics offers a less meaningful learning experience since it relies too much on rote-learning or memorization. In whole language, language is taught through the integration of various skills and reading is always taught in context. Whole language proponents express the concern that when a child has to learn all the skills separately under the phonics instruction, he/she may have trouble using them together. More than that, through phonics, a child is trained to always analyze each and every word. Those who are against the phonics method state that a mindset towards always analyzing every word could lead to slow reading speed. Perhaps the most important argument that phonics skeptics have against phonics is that the English language is not entirely phonetic. There are words in the English language like 'through' or 'one' that do not comply with the phonics rules. These words are known as non-decodable words, or tricky words. When it comes to teaching children to read words like these, phonics instruction is certainly not one of the options.

The whole language method, on the other hand, is always seen as the 'fun' way of learning reading. However, skeptics point out that vocabulary in a whole language program is always not 'controlled', i.e. presented in a preplanned sequence. Therefore, it would be hard to know what words will come along. Whole language proponents advocate the individualized characteristic of the whole language method. Phonics proponents rebutted this by saying that the more a program is individualized, the more the teacher must keep track of individual mastery of skills. It is easy to let this slip. Though the whole language supporters like to point out that learning reading through phonics leads to rote learning and meaningless memorization, phonics proponents believe that it is more meaningless for a teacher to leave word-analysis skills too much to circumstances. No one child learn to read by 'accident'. There must be some rules applied, either consciously or unconsciously.

The Local Perspectives

And by local I mean home, my home. By home I mean the place where I teach. I don't know how much these information could help other teachers who are teaching in Kuala Lumpur or Sarawak or other places further, but I do believe that the situation could be more or less the same in Kinabatangan, Tawau, Lahad Datu or even Sandakan.

I'm teaching in Kunak, and I've had the chance to talk to some Semporna teachers, and I managed to compile some of the teachers' sentiments towards phonics instruction. In Part 3, I've listed four general views hold by the teachers in my area. Let us look at them one by one.

1. Teachers have some knowledge about phonics, but they don't know how to use phonics to teach reading in their classes.
     Most of my teacher friends have some exposures to phonics. They learn about phonics and phonology in college or university, and they have some theoretical background on it. But when asked to use what they know to teach reading using phonics, many find themselves stumped.

2. Teachers try to teach reading using phonics materials, yet the method they use is still 'Look and Say'.
     Teachers are so used and comfortable with the 'old' ways of doing things, they find it hard to step out of their comfort zones. Some English panels in some schools I know have invested a lot of money on phonics materials, but the teachers themselves admit that they've never really used those materials to do blending and segmenting. "Does that mean you don't use them at all?" I asked. They always replied with a laugh. "We do use them, Cindy. But I wouldn't do all those 'Sesame Street' thing you're saying. I just feel stupid doing that." Heheh. "So what do you do?" "Well, the usual. I show the flash card or the word card, say the word and ask the pupils to repeat after me."

3. Some teachers who are interested to try the method out are non-optionists and less proficient English speakers, so they are less confident with their pronunciation of words, let alone doing blending and segmenting.
     In the recent training that we conducted in Semporna, the non-optionists teachers asked me, "Cindy, how are we going to teach the pupils the sounds when we ourselves are not sure how to sound out the sounds?" Hmmm. Sound question.

4. Proficient English teachers don't know how to do blending and segmenting.
   "Blending and segmenting? What's that? Cindy, can't we just teach reading the usual way? We show the words, say the words, spell the words and ask the pupils to repeat. Can we? Can we?"

Not New, Just 'Strange'

As I've pointed out in the three previous posts on this topic, the phonics instruction itself is not something new. We have phonics as one of the language contents in KBSR, better known as the 'Sound System'. Some schools have the Ladybird Series, and the Sound Start Program. These two programs are phonics-based reading programs.

What makes phonics seems 'new' is the unfamiliarity of the 'sound-talk', or the blending and segmenting activities that need to be conducted in the classroom. Many local teachers still feel awkward doing the 'sound-talk' in the class, and some of them think that doing the usual 'look-say' would be much easier.

To put it in the words of one of my teacher friends, "Cindy, I know phonics for a long time already. I don't think it's new at all. It's just, well, strange."

Next Post

I'll try to work on Part 5 as soon as I can. Thanks for reading! ;-)

(Part 5 is completed. Read it here. ;-) )

References

http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr14/Issue3/f140307.html
http://teachingtreasures.com.au/homeschool/reading-methods/reading-methods.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonics

'Look and Say' vs. Phonics - The KSSR 'Debate' (Part 3: History and Controversy)

2011-09-28T16:13:00.000+08:00

Image source: flbreading.wikispaces.com

This is a super-long overdue post, I know. I posted Part 2 sometime in November last year, and since then I have had some people sending me messages on Facebook, demanding: "Where is your Part 3, Cynthia????" Well, I didn't intentionally delayed composing this post actually. Along with all the busyness and craziness of life that I have to deal with (Heheh!), along the way, I've also gained a lot of new information and knowledge on Phonics that I think I need to delve into more deeply before I can get myself ready to sit down and type Part 3.

So, here goes.

We have conducted our English KSSR Year 2 training in Kunak about two weeks ago, and now the PPD of Semporna has invited us to give the same training in their district. My fellow colleagues have assigned me the task of delivering the presentation on Teaching Reading through Phonics, and I have gathered some very interesting and useful feedback from teachers in Kunak and Semporna on the issue of teaching reading through Phonics. After talking with my teacher friends in other parts of Sabah as well as in West Malaysia, I realize that most Malaysian teachers have more or less common views and opinions about the teaching of reading through Phonics and what Phonics is all about. Through the interactions that I've had with my teacher friends, these are what I've gathered:

1. Most teachers have some knowledge about Phonics, and in some cases, a lot of knowledge about Phonics actually. However, many of them are still in the dark about how to use the knowledge that they have to teach reading through Phonics in their classroom.

2. Many teachers have invested on and produced materials and resources for teaching reading through Phonics, yet the method that they use to teach is still very much 'Look and Say'.

3. Most teachers that I've met and spoken to are eager and enthusiastic to learn more about Phonics and to try the method out in their classroom, yet many of them also express the concern that their proficiency level and ability to sound out phonemes and pronounce words correctly may become the biggest hindrance to using the Phonics method to teach reading to their pupils. These problems are normally experienced by English teachers who don't major in English in college or university.

4. Teachers who are proficient English speakers also have some reservations on teaching reading using the phonics method. Although they are able to pronounce the words that need to be taught perfectly, as far as blending and segmenting and phonemic awareness go, many teachers are still in the dark on what it is all about.

There are many more issues that the teachers have raised, yet these four are the ones that I found the most prevalent.

We'll deal with those four issues later, but I choose to mention them early in this post because I want them to be the basis for our discussion on this topic from here onwards.

In my last post on this topic, I've promised to deal with three things:

1. the history and controversy of both approaches ('Look & Say' versus Phonics);
2. the general concerns about both approaches;
3. THE approach and
4. my personal conclusions.

In this particular post, let's deal with the first one: the history and controversy of both approaches.

When Phonics was 'Denounced'

Compared to the 'Look and Say' method, phonics is undoubtedly an older method used to teach reading. In 17th century England for instance, instructions in alphabet and phonics was always stressed first. To learn reading, children would normally first and foremost learn letters, then they would move on to learning syllables, then the spelling of sounds and finally they would learn to read text.

In mid-1800, Horace Mann a.k.a the Father of Modern Education came into the scene. Horace Mann was so impressed by the Prussian education system, which was apparently so orderly and universal at that time. As the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, Mann "publicly denounced phonics and advocated the whole-word method of teaching reading" (Starret, 2000). This whole-word method advocated by Mann was the method that we now know as the 'Look and Say' method. Through this method, children learn reading by stressing on appropriate sight words according to grade levels and followed an organized plan that controlled sentence length and vocabulary to match the developmental level of the [children] (Strickland, 1998).

Since then, many respected reading authorities had supported and advocated the whole-word method, and to put it in the words of Starret (2000) "helped push phonics further into oblivion." Some of the most authoritative are Arthur Gates and William Gray. Arthur Gates, who was so against phonics and favour the systematic and sequential study of words better had published a popular colourful basal readers series called the Work-Play Books. William Gray, who shared the same sentiments towards phonics and referred to phonics as 'old mechanical drills' and 'dull content' authored the famous Dick and Jane readers, published by Scott Foresman and Company.

And so, beginning from the 'public denouncement' by Horace Mann in mid-1800, teachers, educators and reading authorities were beginning to be influenced by the view that the whole-word or the 'Look and Say' method is a much better method than the phonics method when it comes to teaching reading to children. According to Starret (2000), over a period of seventy years, the whole-word method and controlled vocabulary readers gradually became the dominant types of reading instruction.

And why can't Johnny read?

In 1955, Rudolph Flesch published a book entitled 'Why Johnny can't read', which attacked and ridiculed the whole word method and called it the 'great destroyer of democracy and the American dream'. Although rejected by most educators for its lack of research, the book became bestsellers and widely quoted by critics of the education system of that time.

In the mid 1970s, the whole language method was introduced. Whole language, which was the basis for Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah (KBSR) first implemented in Malaysia in 2001, was a method of teaching that advocates the teaching of the language skills when it is needed, and in context. In the whole language method, listening, speaking, reading and writing are taught when children have the need to learn them while engaged in real-life tasks. In whole language, phonics is one of the component in teaching reading, but it is only used when needed and in context, rather than as a prerequisite for reading (Weaver, 1990). In KBSR, phonics is taught under the language content known as 'sound system'.

In 1960s, Jeane Chall conducted a 3-year research on the best method for teaching reading which led to the publication of 'Learning to Read: The Great Debate' (1967). Chall's research discovered that the phonics method leads to higher achievement compared to other methods of teaching reading. Subsequent studies and publications like the study by Bond and Dykstra (1967) and the publication 'Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading (Anderson et al, 1985) supported and affirmed Chall's findings. Commercial programs like 'The Phonics Game' and 'Hooked on Phonics' had 're-popularized' phonics, and as a result, many educators were beginning to rethink the role and value of phonics instructions in the classroom (Starret, 2000).

The Swing of the Pendulum (Again)

To put it in the words of Starret (2000) again, "As the pendulum of change once swung from phonics to look-say to whole language, by the close of the twentieth century it was now swinging back to phonics."

In my last post on this topic, I have stated the lingering unspoken question: Has KBSR failed? To answer that, I think we need to find out whether the whole language method that was so emphasized in KBSR had succeeded in producing a generation of fluent readers throughout the period of time when it was implemented or not. Apparently, after becoming the basis of our education system for 10 years, the Ministry of Education sees the need to switch from whole language to phonics.

And there must be a good rationale behind that decision. Don't you think so? ;-)

Part 4

I hope to be able to post Part 4 as soon as possible (Heheh!). In that post, I'll try to discuss the general concerns about both Look-Say or Whole Language and Phonics.

Till the next post, thank you for reading. ;-)

(P/S: I've posted Part 4. Read it here).

References

Adams, M. (1990). Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Cambridge: MA M.I.T. Press

Anderson et al (1985). Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading. Champaign: IL Center for the Study of Reading

Starret, Edmund V. (2000). Teaching Phonics for Balanced Reading. Illinois: Skylight Professional Development

Thoughts on TOT

2011-08-16T00:52:00.000+08:00

Teacher vs Trainer - (courtesy of Marzin Omar)

The term Jurulatih Utama (Main Trainer) or JU for short is not an unfamiliar term among Malaysian teachers - it is a title supposedly given to teachers acting as trainers or coach for other teachers in a district or state.

     In some districts, teachers who are JUs are normally those who have years of experience in teaching, and in many aspects are considered more skillful and knowledgeable in many areas of the teaching field compared to other teachers. That's why they are appointed as trainers to train other teachers through courses, workshops and etc.

     Having said that, there are also' instant' JUs sprouting everywhere around the state. Teachers who went for a particular training at the state level are usually required to conduct an 'in-house training' for teachers in their respective districts, and as such, would automatically be appointed as JUs for their districts. While this in itself, in my humble opinion, isn't a bad thing, a recent training called 'Training of Trainers' (TOT) that I've attended recently had opened my eyes on some issues and aspects of being a JU that I have never really given much thought before.

     Initially, my idea (a very narrow idea, admittedly) of being a JU is similar to being a messenger. That includes attending a training that your PPD or JPN has asked you to attend, participating diligently in all the sessions, digesting the new information, copying everything in your pen drive or external hard disk, then conducting an 'in-house training' in your district or school where you will convey all the information that you've gained throughout the training to your colleagues, exactly or almost exactly in the way they have been presented to you. Whether the participants of the 'in-house training' that you conducted are impressed or amused or are able to digest whatever that you've conveyed is a totally different matter. As long as you've imparted the knowledge and information as accurately as you remember it, you're good. You've done your part as a messenger - or a JU.

    Though as a JU I have always tried as best I could to do my homework before conducting a training for my colleagues in my district, the extra effort that I usually take is limited to providing some extra information and materials that I have required through extra reading and personal research. As far as making my training session a memorable and enjoyable experience through the participants perspectives - as far as I can remember - those rarely become my first priorities. My main concerns always focus around the 'whats', I rarely prepared the 'hows', - the 'how effective?' Almost never.

     I'm very grateful for the opportunity to attend the Training of Trainers (TOT) Course for Guru Cemerlang (Excellent Teachers) and Jurulatih Utama (Main Trainers) under the MBMMBI Policy conducted by the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) - the 'Harvard' for Malaysian TOT for teachers. The TOT was conducted at De Choice Hotel, Tawau from August 8 to August 12, 2011. It was a packed four-days training that had served as an eye-opener for me. During the introductory session, one of the speakers said that many JUs and GCs, though very experienced and reputable in their field of expertise, are not necessarily effective trainers. The reason for this is that JUs are normally teachers who are selected to attend a course for JUs and being appointed the responsibility of conducting 'in-house trainings'. Normally the criteria for such selection is based on the teacher's direct relation or connection to the subject of the training, i.e. if the course is an English KSSR Year 2 course, an English teacher who teaches Year 2 and who is willing to go for the training will be selected. Whether that particular teacher can shoulder the responsibility of training other teachers is almost always a secondary factor.

     What about the GCs? Well, according to the same speaker, GCs are normally teachers who are experts in their respective subjects, but the expertise is almost always restricted to classroom teaching - not many GCs, with the exceptions of a few outstanding ones of course, are experienced teacher trainers.

     A JU or a GC might be an excellent, popular and well-loved teacher in the school and particularly in the classroom, but he or she can also at the same time be a boring trainer who reads directly from the Powerpoint slides or conducts a 'lifeless' training session for other teachers. Through this training, the misconception I had about JUs being merely messengers was busted and shredded to pieces - a JU is actually highly responsible in making the training session that he or she conducts an effective one. After all, the effectiveness of the training sessions conducted play extremely important roles in ensuring the success of a nationwide policy for instance - if important curriculum contents are not properly disseminated through those 'in-house trainings' supposedly conducted by the district JUs, it would surely lead to confusions and misconceptions especially at the grass root levels, the most important level of all. And making a little extra effort to make the training as interesting and memorable as possible can go a long way in ensuring the information that is supposed to be conveyed be properly digested, comprehended and received by all.

     I've conducted dozens of trainings in my district, and as much as I like to pretend that my CPs (Course Participants - another term I learned from the TOT) had loved me (hehehe) and that they had enjoyed my training sessions (*rolling eyes*), the truth is, I honestly believe that most of the trainings that I've conducted are rather bland, lack creativity, lack originality, in other words - simply boring. Looking back, I believe that I've relied too much on my oratory skill (which is rather mediocre), and my 'in-house' training sessions are more often than not copy-cats of the 'master' training that I've attended. I've been very lucky to have such nice and cooperative CPs in Kunak. In my 7 years of serving my district as a JU, I've never been thrown any rotten tomatoes yet (thank God!). I've learned from the ELTC speakers that in other places CPs can be quite scary. We actually had a particular session on 'Managing Difficult Clients' during the training - a very interesting and useful knowledge for me.

     If before this I have no interest in andragogy because I thought that it is only useful if I want to be a university lecturer, I have now changed my mind. Andragogy is a useful field to master if you're a JU or a GC. Knowledge in the principles of adult learning as well as developing confidence and interpersonal skills, management and leadership qualities, creativity, originality and a lot of other things are essential if one is to be an effective trainer.

Just a little thought on TOT! ;-)

The 'Manga' Fruitcake Special: The Pictures That Paint a Literature Work

2011-06-23T23:53:00.003+08:00

     I met Fen Fen for the first time yesterday, as a fellow adjudicator for the Sabah State Level Choral Speaking Competition for Primary Schools at Sandakan Hotel, Sandakan. After the event, she passed around some books to some teachers around her, me included. "Are you teaching Form 4?" I remembered her asking. I explained that I'm actually teaching in a primary school. She didn't push the subject much further when she learned that, but her book caught my attention. It looked vaguely familiar.

     "I think I saw it on Facebook," I quipped, and Fen Fen brightened up immediately. "Yes, I asked my husband to post it on Facebook for me," she said. Then I learned that Fen Fen is actually Perry Lim's wife (Perry Lim is a fellow member of Sabah English Language Teachers Group). I have seen the book being advertised by Perry Lim on the Sabah English Language Teachers group on Facebook. I remember being impressed by it, and by the teacher who has worked on it, and now there she was, right in front of me. I bought the book, Fen Fen sold it to me for RM5.

     I felt the urge to share Fen Fen's effort with everyone, because I think what she has done is greatly impressive. The KBSM syllabus for Form 4 Literature Component includes a short story by Frank Brennan entitled 'The Fruitcake Special'. It is actually one of the stories in Brennan's collection of short stories published under the title 'The Fruitcake Special and Other Stories' by Cambridge University Press. Fen Fen has retold the story, making it simpler, then worked together with one of her Form 4 students, Charlene Chee. Together, they have turned it into some sort like a comic/anime/manga book. The objectives of doing so, among others, are to help her Form 4 students understand the story better and to attract their interest in learning the literature.

     Charlene Chee, Fen Fen's student who has done all the illustrations in the book is clearly a very talented artist. She has drawn the characters and the scenes in the story in anime-style illustrations, making the book resemble one of those Japanese-manga comic books that are so popular among teenagers her age.Using her own fund, Fen Fen has printed and self-published the book.

     So, teachers, when you stumble upon the book anywhere, please do not mistaken it as a cook book. Hehe. It is not a recipe book for baking fruitcakes. ;-) If you happen to be teaching English Form Four, I hope you would take sometime to browse through the book, and see if it is suitable as a resource for your literature class. If it is, then I hope you would support Fen Fen and buy the book. I strongly believe that efforts such as these should be supported and encouraged. So teachers, let's all support each other! ;-)

The book cover

Tok Fen Fen and Charlene Chee

Tok Fen Fen has been teaching in secondary schools for 11 years. She had always wanted to be a teacher and she finally realised her dream when she graduated from the University of Kent, England. She is a very visually-orientated person and tries to translate that into her teaching. She lives in Kota Kinabalu with her husband and daughter. She can be contacted at tokfenfen@yahoo.com

Charlene Chee is currently a Form 4 student. She enjoys drawing and cosplaying and also has an interest in kodona fashion. She lives with both her grandparents, parents and brother at home. She aspires, one day, to be able to pursue her ambition of becoming an illustrator. More of her works can be seen at www.unlogical.deviantart.com

A snapshot of the content

For ordering details, pricing and etc, please contact Fen Fen at tokfenfen@yahoo.com, or you may also send a message to Perry Lim through his Facebook here: Perry Lim's Facebook.

'Unity in Diversity' - The Story Retold

2011-06-19T22:19:00.001+08:00

       Ever since I attended a workshop conducted by the Sector for Humanity Development on English language co-academic activities in 2009, I have been particularly enthusiastic in these kinds of activities. Don't get me wrong, I still love classroom teaching. But co-academic activities, especially English co-academic activities, have a special place in my heart. I think this can be attributed to the fact that I myself had been an active participant of English co-academic activities during my school years. I have put down my sentiments on co-academic activities in my writing on that matter (read here).
      Therefore, whenever I have the opportunity to get my pupils to participate in these activities, either voluntarily or involuntarily (when being 'hand-picked' randomly by the co-academic unit), I seldom refuse. I would really love to give my pupils the similar kinds of experiences: the 'euphoric sensation' that often comes after winning, the new-found motivation to do better after losing, and most importantly the learning process experienced throughout the preparation stage - the practice, the rehearsals, the seemingly endless 'soul-searching' process. The activities manage to bring out the best in a pupil, and give him or her the confidence, the motivation and the healthy competitiveness that I believe would last through a lifetime.
     This year, my school has been selected (or 'hand-picked') by the co-academic unit of our District Education Office as the participant for Action Song. Though I did express some reservations and concerns, deep inside my heart I was actually looking forward to the challenge. Our English Panel, with the help of several other teachers from other panels had worked hard to get our pupils ready for the competition.
     As time went by, the supposed date for the Zone level competition was getting nearer. Yet, still no news from the supposed organising district. I made calls, sent text messages, but the only answer I received was: Just wait. We will inform you when we are ready. This dragged on for weeks on end, and we were getting restless and impatient. Our pupils were getting restless and impatient. The parents were getting restless and impatient.
     To cut a long story short: there was no zone level competition. The date for state level competition at Keningau came and went, and the South-East Zone did not send any representative. My pupils were wondering: Teacher, are we going? When? We are ready to go!
     I begged and plead. I begged and plead that there would be a competition. Never mind the state level, we never had any intention to go anyway. I just want my pupils to be given the opportunity that they deserve. The opportunity to compete. The opportunity to learn.
     Fortunately, Lahad Datu district had become the 'angel of light' that had saved us. When I announced to the pupils that we would be going to Lahad Datu for the competition, there was a jubilant cry. There was joy in their faces. To me, that was all that matters. No matter what, I knew in my heart that we had already won. My kampung pupils could finally go to Lahad Datu and compete in the Zone-Level Action Song competition. Thank you, God! And thank you, Lahad Datu, for making it happened.
     Here is the rest of the story:


My colleageue, Puan Norainah Arif and the pupils a few days before the competition. We were doing the final costume fitting. Due to budget constraint, my colleagues and I had to use our creativity and imagination to put together the bits and pieces that we had.

The props. Due to limited budget, we had to make do with what we had. Including what we managed to find and beg and steal from the storeroom and toilet, on the streets, in the drain and from the garbage bins. Hehe. (Kidding. But the toilet and storeroom part is true. It is a new toilet being converted into a storeroom. Hehe). ;-)

Practice session. We don't have a hall, so the students had to practise the moves on the rocky ground.

They had to kneel on the rocks. Ouch.


Cik Zuhaila Zakaria, the sweet choreographer trying to make a 'stern' face. Ahem!

The Year 1 students, mimicking the moves. (By this time, they already knew every move by heart!)

The adoring spectators.

The cute little Year 1 students mimicking their seniors from behind.

Competition Day. Ready to depart to Lahad Datu. Yeay!

Cik Hafsah went straight to work with the make-up immediately upon arrival to SJK (C) Siew Ching.

Puan Sabturiah Abbas, the head of the make-up artist. I am so thankful that she was around. I wouldn't know what to do. Hehe.

Puan Norainah Arif and Puan Hayati Saida, busy with the hair-do.

The result after the touch-up. Tada!

The ever serious Puspa. We have been trying to get her to put on a more cheerful face for weeks. This was the best that she could come up with.

My pupils, getting ready to go up the stage.

The performance: 'Unity in Diversity'

Yes, we won!

It was unexpected, but we managed to beat Lahad Datu, the only other participating team. We expected to go back to Kunak with the second place trophy, and we were more than happy if that did happen. But it did not.

First place? That was like the wildest dream came true! Hahaha!(Tawau did not participate, that's why. Hehe).

In our opinion, this called for a celebration. We dragged the pupils to Kentucky Fried Chicken right after the competition ended.

Frankly, I must confess that this was my first experience chaperoning and managing Level 1 pupils for activities outside the district. And this was 16 kids we are talking about! Oh my. My colleague, Puan Norainah Arif was forced to lead them out and back to the bus when a cup of Pepsi spilt and a bottle of tomato ketchup fell to the floor and broke into pieces. My, my.

After everyone was filled up with Kentucky Fried Chicken (burp!), we decided that it was time to go home.


On the way back to Kunak. The kids sang all the way during the almost two-hour journey. I guess many of them were not used to such long journey. I was being asked the same question over and over, every 15 minutes. "Teacher, are we there yet?" "Not yet. Sit down." "Teacher, are we there yet?" "We're close." "Teacher, are we there yet?" Glare. "Teacher, are we there yet?" Wargh!!!!

Hmmm, she had been drinking way too much Pepsi. She asked whether we could stop the bus every twenty minutes, because she desperately wanted to pee. Oh my.

The most behaving girl. She slept all the way on the bus.

     It all happened almost a month ago, and today I decided to record it here. Someday, I may want to look back at this moment and see how far I have come. Hopefully.

     We missed the State level, but it was okay. Perhaps next year? (Finger crossed, finger crossed). Hehe.

     The theme of the Action Song was Unity in Diversity. But for us, it was Unity in Adversity, too. ;-)

     I could never wish for better team members.

     Thank you all! ;-)

Of Punching A Hundred Noses and Putting a Stop to the Boo

2011-04-30T01:09:00.006+08:00

I.

My students participated in the Zone level Choral Speaking Competition two years ago, 35 of them. We got the third place, out of three participating team. I was extremely proud of my students despite the loss and I still am proud of them to this very day. They had lost in the competition, but in my heart, they had won. It was not easy for my kampung kids to get this far. They had done enough. I was really proud, no doubt about it.
     However, something else happened that day. Something that I have never told anyone before, not even to my colleagues. I heard a boo. A faint boo. I thought I was the only one who heard it, so I kept silent. I did not want to upset my students. We came from afar. My students had struggled hard to be able to stand there on the stage alongside the other English-speaking city kids. They did not deserve a boo, not even a faint one. I wanted them to know that they had made me proud. I did not want a faint, insignificant boo to upset my precious ones and hurt their feelings.

     We were having our lunch when one of the students approached me.

     "Teacher," the boy said. "They booed us".
     "I know. I heard."
   "We are not good enough."
     "You've tried your best. I'm proud of you."
     "I want to punch their noses."
     "No. You don't want to do that."
     "Yes, I do."
     "I know. So do I. But you shouldn't."
     "Why shouldn't I? They've been rude."
     I put aside my meal and had a gulp of mineral water to clear my throat. Then, I looked at the boy in the eyes and said, "You may be able to punch one nose, but I don't think you would want to punch a hundred noses."
     "A hundred noses?"
     "Believe me, my boy, that boo you've heard just now was not going to be the last boo in your entire life. All throughout your life people will boo you. You can't punch the noses of all the people who boo you."
     The boy was quiet for a while. Then he said with a hint of desperation in his voice, "Then, how do I stop them? I don't like being booed."
   "Be better. Learn English. The boo will stop."

II.

A few months later in the same year, I attended a workshop for English co-academic activities in KK. We discussed all the concept papers for all the English co-academic activities, and I must say that I had enjoyed myself tremendously throughout the course. I was bubbling with enthusiasm, I could not wait to get back to Kunak and shared all my newly acquired knowledge with my fellow teachers. I was ambitious. I wanted to conduct all the co-academic activities at district level, select our district's representatives and send them for zone level competitions. I wanted to have fun, I wanted my students to have fun. I wanted them to learn English the fun way.
     When the workshop ended, I headed straight back to Kunak. I went to PPD to inform my bosses of my enthusiastic ambition. They told me matter-of-factly, "Cikgu, we have to postpone all the co-academic activities for this year because we don't have money. There has been a budget cut. (Chuckle, chuckle). Well, I bet you've heard all about it, Cikgu. It's all in the news. Politics, politics."

III.

Let me put this as straight-forwardly as I could. Kunak teachers, please tell me: why do you think our students fare poorly in UPSR English paper - despite our endless efforts - extra-classes, weekend programs, night classes, centralized workshops and etc, etc - year after year, our subject, the English language will always reside peacefully at the bottom of the rank. Is it because our students are that stupid and thus impossible to be taught? If they really are that stupid, how come the results for Mathematics and Science are significantly much, much better? Please do not tell me that Mathematics and Science are easier than English. NO! Who are we kidding here?

IV.

This week has been a crazily busy week, but also a crazily happy week. The secondary schools in Kunak are having their English carnival, and due to the lack of English teachers (there are only three secondary schools in Kunak), the primary school teachers are invited to help out, mainly as judges for competitions. I was involved as a judge for debate and drama. Needless to say, I have had a lot of fun.
     The best moment was seeing my former students participating in the competitions. I saw my ex-students whom I had trained as public speakers and choral speakers when they were my students in primary school, now becoming debaters and drama players in secondary school. How much they have improved. Best of all, they still love English. In fact, one girl told me that she loves it even more now. "Learning English is so much fun, teacher," she said, with a laugh. "I hope to be an English teacher someday. You know, like you." Ahahaha. I just could not stop smiling. Flowers, flowers, blooming in my heart.
     Needless to say, she had made my day. ;-)

V.

Less than a month ago, I was complaining about the way our co-academic coordinator handled the selection of participants for zone level competitions. Apparently, the Senior Assistants for Co-curriculum for all the schools in Kunak gathered for a meeting with the chief coordinator and discussed amongst them who should participate in what, and guess what? Our school got Action Song! Lucky us!!!
     I was grumbling and grumbling for a few days. How could they do that to us. How could our Senior Assistant agreed that our school would represent Kunak in the Zone level for ACTION SONG (oh my goodness) without consulting me first. What a heavy responsibility.
   I talked to my colleagues about it. Fortunately, my fellow English teachers were all very positive about it. "You do the music, Cindy. Don't worry about the moves. We'll take care of it." Great! Music is okay, but don't ask me to choreograph the moves and actions, I told them. I told them again and again: Don't ask me to do anything that requires me to move my 'robotic' body gracefully. We had a good laugh about it, and amazingly, after three weeks of laughing and working and practising with our kids, I am now more than ready to go. We are ready to go. Our kids are ready to go.
     Then came the text message from hell: "The organizer for the Zone level Action Song competition has decided that there will not be any competition held at the zone level because their PPD is too busy to handle it. They have volunteered to represent our zone for the State level."
     "Teacher! Teacher!" the little ones shouted gleefully as they gathered around me in a circle. "Do we have practice today? Do you have our costumes ready? When are we going for the competition?"

   I always believe that as a teacher, it is a SIN for us to not teach our students. But a GREATER SIN than that would be to DENY our students the OPPORTUNITY to learn.

VI.

     As straightforwardly as I can: Kunak teachers, our students are NOT stupid. They fare poorly in UPSR English because they do not have enough opportunities to LEARN English.

     But we teach them a lot of English. We teach them every day.

     Teach them what? We teach them HOW to answer EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

     Answer me: Do we teach them English? Do we ACTUALLY teach them English? I bet many of our students, especially the Year 6 students are able to write complex and compound sentences based on a picture stimulus (Sentence Construction - Paper 2, Section A) with all the proper adjectives and adverbs, like this for example:" The committed teacher is teaching enthusiastically in front of the classroom while the hardworking students are listening attentively and writing diligently in their notebook." Wow! Impressive, don't you think? But try to ask them a simple question such as "Why do you like Justin Bieber?" and they would answer "Because Justin Bieber best lah, teacher!"

VII.

     Ayang and Mimi were two of my favourite students. Both got A for their UPSR English paper. But I did not remember giving them a lot of exam drills.
     What I do remember is dragging them along to every public speaking competitions, both district and zone level, every year. I spoke as much English as I can with them. I asked them to keep a journal where they could write anything they wanted in English, and handed the journal to me every Friday. I would read their writings and wrote my responses to them in English.
     I encouraged Ayang and Mimi to read a lot of English books. We would read novels and discussed the characters and the plots. When we had time, we would watch English cartoons and movies. Both Ayang and Mimi kept a small vocabulary book that they brought with them everywhere.
     Both Ayang and Mimi aced their UPSR English paper in 2008. They are in Form 3 now. And they still love English. Mimi sent me a message in FB recently, her English was flawless. I saw Ayang participating in public speaking and drama competitions at secondary school level almost every year. Both are confident English speakers, and I am very proud of both of them.

VIII.

Exams are important. UPSR is important. But not nearly as important as Education.

     I am no education expert. I am just a small, simple teacher. But I want to do my job. I really, really do.
     I love English. I love teaching English. I want my students to learn English and to be good in English, but I do not want just that. I also want my students to LOVE English.
   More than that, I also want to be an educator. Of course, I do not possess all knowledge and I cannot provide my students with every knowledge that they need to know. But as a teacher, my biggest role would be to provide my students with the opportunity to know it. The opportunity to learn.
     I become who I am today - an English teacher who loves English and loves teaching English - not because my teacher had drilled me a lot of exam answering techniques. My English teachers had done a wonderful job in teaching me grammar and reading and writing inside the classroom, but I gain my confidence to speak English mostly from my participation in co-academic activities outside the classroom. I used to be an introvert teenage girl when I was in secondary school, but Miss Gertrude had forced me to join the debate team when I was in Form 1 (for full story: click here). Though I am still unable to eliminate the shyness in me (it is in the gene, okay), but if it was not because of Miss Gertrude, I doubt that I would have the confidence that I have now as a teacher, and also as a speaker. More than that, I think Miss Gertrude had succeeded in opening up doors for me, providing me with the opportunity to learn and gain the knowledge and experiences that I may otherwise would not be able to get had I not join the debate team in my secondary school years.
     I am not against examination. To tell the truth, I love exams. Exams give me the challenge that I need as a student. Exams give me a sense of accomplishment. Exams motivate me. I love getting straight As in exams, I love scoring three pointers or four flats in college. If you ask me, I think exams are good. I would not agree with those who want exams to be abolished.
     Having said that, I also think that education is much, much more than just passing exams with flying colours. Consider this quote by Albert Einstein:

     "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."

IX.

I was walking through the corridor at SMKKJ earlier this week, I was on my way to judge one of the debates when a handsome student greeted me. "Hi, teacher."
     "Syahril! How you've grown. You're so handsome."
     Syahril blushed. "Hehehe. Thanks, teacher."
     "Are you one of the debaters?"
     "No, teacher. But I participated in choral speaking last week. I looked for you."
     "I was not involved in choral speaking. So how was it? Did you win?"
     "No. But nobody booed."
     "Nobody booed?"
     "Nobody. I learn English, teacher. And I want to learn more. I want to be really, really good."
     I smiled. "Why, Syahril?"
     "I don't like being booed."

     I gave Syahril a pat on the back and moved on to Room 1. I have a debate competition to judge.

X.

Malaysia National Education Philosophy:

"Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, physically and socially balanced and harmonic, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards and who are responsible and capable of achieving high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large."

The Creation of The Teacher

2011-04-25T22:51:00.000+08:00

The Good Lord was creating teachers. It was His sixth day of 'overtime' and He knew that this was a tremendous responsibility for teachers would touch the lives of so many impressionable young children. An angel appeared to Him and said, "You are taking a long time to figure this one out."

"Yes," said the Lord, " but have you read the specs on this order?"

TEACHER:

…must stand above all students, yet be on their level
... must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject being taught
... must run on coffee and leftovers,
... must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time
... must have more time for others than for herself/himself
... must have a smile that can endure through pay cuts, problematic children, and worried parents
... must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are not supportive
... must have 6 pair of hands.

"Six pair of hands, " said the angel, "that's impossible!"

"Well, " said the Lord, " it is not the hands that are the problem. It is the three pairs of eyes that are presenting the most difficulty!"

The angel looked incredulous, " Three pairs of eyes...on a standard model?"

The Lord nodded His head, " One pair can see a student for what he is and not what others have labeled him as. Another pair of eyes is in the back of the teacher's head to see what should not be seen, but what must be known. The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as he/she 'acts out' in order to reflect, " I understand and I still believe in you", without so much as saying a word to the child."

"Lord, " said the angel, " this is a very large project and I think you should work on it tomorrow".

"I can't," said the Lord, " for I have come very close to creating something much like Myself. I have one that comes to work when he/she is sick.....teaches a class of children that do not want to learn....has a special place in his/her heart for children who are not his/her own.....understands the struggles of those who have difficulty....never takes the students for granted..."

The angel looked closely at the model the Lord was creating.
"It is too soft-hearted, " said the angel.

"Yes," said the Lord, " but also tough, You can not imagine what this teacher can endure or do, if necessary".

"Can this teacher think?" asked the angel.

"Not only think," said the Lord,. "but reason and compromise."

The angel came closer to have a better look at the model and ran his finger over the teacher's cheek.

"Well, Lord, " said the angel, your job looks fine but there is a leak. I told you that you were putting too much into this model. You can not imagine the stress that will be placed upon the teacher."

The Lord moved in closer and lifted the drop of moisture from the teacher's cheek. It shone and glistened in the light.

"It is not a leak," He said, "It is a tear."

"A tear? What is that?" asked the angel, "What is a tear for?"

The Lord replied with great thought, " It is for the joy and pride of seeing a child accomplish even the smallest task. It is for the loneliness of children who have a hard time to fit in and it is for compassion for the feelings of their parents. It comes from the pain of not being able to reach some children and the disappointment those children feel in themselves. It comes often when a teacher has been with a class for a year and must say good-bye to those students and get ready to welcome a new class."

"My, " said the angel, " The tear thing is a great idea...You are a genius!!"
The Lord looked somber, "I didn't put it there."

(Author Unknown)

One Little, Two Little Things That Matter

2011-04-14T13:41:00.001+08:00

Little Thing Number 1: Don't forget to reset the dial on your washing machine when you fill it up.

I decided to do my laundry, so I turned on the water pump and tried to fill up my cute 6kg 'mini' washing machine, filled to the brim with one-week's worth of dirty clothes. ( Water pump? Yeah, yeah. We have water problem here in Kunak, along with a long list of other problems like Internet access, telephone lines, mobile phones coverage and etc, etc). The water trickled (rather than flowed) through the super large hose (somehow I thought the larger the hose, the greater the water speed, so I bought it - I was wrong), and I was yawning and yawning, waiting for the tub to fill up. I thought I might have pumped half a tank of water, but the machine tub was still not full. Not even half full. I checked and double-checked. It turned out I had forgotten to reset the program selector. The dial was set to 'drain'. There went my precious water, all flowed (trickled) into the drain.
As a teacher, sometimes I feel the same way. I teach and teach and teach and teach and teach and teach and teach, but teach as I may, I never seem to be able to fill up the 'tub'. Is there something wrong with the 'machine'? Is it broken? Does it need repairing? Perhaps the water is too slow. Or maybe my large amount of 'clothes' absorb the 'water' too much, so it does not have enough capacity to fill the whole tub. Maybe? Oftentimes it turns out that the problem lies in the control dial. Reset the control dial, Cindy, reset, reset, reset! If you set it to 'drain', all the water will go into the drain. No doubt about it.

Little Thing Number 2: Pets have feelings, too. Food is NEVER a substitute for TLC.

     I have rat problem (Yeah, yeah, I know. It is in the 'list'). A very kind friend of mine tried to help by letting me adopt one of her kittens. She called her Miss Fifi. I called her Fifi, or sometimes Gigi, Didi, and even Cindy. Why the many names? Well, my best friend's daughter is named Fifi, so to avoid confusion, I tried to change the kitty's name, but couldn't decide on which name. I love Fifi/Gigi/Didi/Cindy. She had been a doll. Cute, adorable and naughty. She didn't solve my rat's problem (she's afraid of rats!), but she had given me so much joy.
    However, I was always busy. I only had time to play with her early in the morning before I went to school and in the evening when I got back, in between completing school work in front of the TV and surfing the Internet, till I collapse on the sofa in exhaustion. Many times, Cindy/Gigi/Didi/Fifi/Zizi would bite and pounce on my feet or my face (ouch!) to get my attention, but I just ignored her. I was always either too tired, or too busy for her.
   One sad day, when I got back home, she was nowhere to be seen. I called and called her many names, but she failed to show up. Lili/Mimi/Kiki/Riri/Nini was gone.
   Why would she go away? I have fed her enough. I have loved her enough (or so I thought). (As I am typing this, the rat runs across the floor, wagging its long, ugly tail. It even has the gut to stop for a while and look at me! Do I sense mockery in its eyes? Eeeew...!!!)
    I have been a very bad pet owner. I have not given Gigi/Lili/Didi/Mimi the love that she deserves. I couldn't even give her a proper name! I have been sinful, please forgive me. ;-(

Little Thing Number Three: I am not a Robot.

     I go to work before 7 am and go back home from work before 7 pm, almost every day. At home, the work continues, albeit Facebook and Starworld in between, I rarely get to go to bed ('go to couch' would be more accurate, I sleep on the couch in front of the TV) before 2 am. And people say teachers are lucky because we only work half day. ;-(

     School - Teaching - Planning Lessons - Making Teaching Aids - Completing Reports - Updating Files - Attending Meetings - Hosting Workshops - Organizing School Programs - Training Action Songs - Kelab Doktor Muda Mini Convention - Item Building Workshop - Preparing Materials for Pintar Saga Program - Editing Question Papers - Monthly Tests - Marking, Marking, Marking - Extra Classes - Cleaning My House - Doing the Laundry - Worrying about Money - Worrying about my Family - Studying during the Weekend - Assignments - Flights - Delayed Flights - Worrying about Delayed Flights - Chores - Helping People with Chores - Worrying - Worrying - Worrying - Working - Working - Working - Worrying about Working - Working about Worrying - Worrying about Worrying -

     I collapsed face down due to extreme exhaustion in the staffroom last week. It was not a pretty sight, I am sure of it.

Little Thing Number Four: There is nothing that LOVE cannot solve

     Need I elaborate? Heheh! Go figure! ;-)

The Tools of My Trade

2011-02-24T23:30:00.000+08:00

Do you have a favourite teaching tool or teaching aid? Apart from the basic marker pens (or sometimes the traditional chalk), the whiteboard (or blackboard) eraser and occasionally a super long wooden ruler (hmmm...), the overworked laptop computer and of course the faithful red ballpoint pen (for marking and correcting, of course), I am sure that every teacher must have at least one or two things that he/she would never be seen without every time he/she goes into the classroom. In this post, I would like to share a few of my own favourite.

1. The 'Magic Box'

This box is my faithful teaching companion, I would never go into the classroom without it. It contains everything I need, and so far it has never let me down. The 'Magic Box' has gained quite a reputation, almost all my pupils know it and know its name. Some of them can even remember every single doodle I made on the lid. There was one day when I forgot to bring the 'Magic Box' and one boy asked, "Teacher, where is the 'Magic Box'?"

Actually, it is just a common tool box that I got from Giant Superstore for RM10.90. I love it, because apart from having a large main compartment that can fit even my giant scissor, my whiteboard eraser and my long ruler, it also has a smaller upper compartment where I can put smaller things like staples, paper clips, erasers, a handful of 'Tack-It' and sometimes my pen drive. It makes my things look so organized, it would please me so much that I can stare at the 'Magic Box' and its contents the whole day and smile like a crazy person (Hehehe).

2. Faber-Castell's 'Tack-It'

I get to know about the wonder of the 'Tack-It' when I was doing my teaching practical at SK Timbang Dayang, Kota Belud. When my lecturer, Miss Lee Sow Ying saw me trying to stick my word cards on the blackboard using double-tapes, she recommended the 'Tack-It' to me. I went to the book store and bought some, used it in my next lesson, and needless to say, fell in love with it. And still in love with it to this very day.

3. The Vicker Speakers

This is a cute little pair of computer speakers that my brother Ian got for me at Karamunsing for about RM50++. Do not judge it by its size though, the sound quality totally blows me away. It is loud enough to be used as an audio aid in the classroom, and portable enough to carry around. Ever since I have it with me, I become addicted to producing audio aids for my listening classes. I play recordings of reading passages, jazz chants and songs with it in the classroom, and my pupils love it and keep asking for more.

4. The Paper Clips (lots and lots of it)

It is a very small and often insignificant everyday object that we often ignore, yet it is also one of the most useful thing on the Planet of Teachers. It helps me divide the pupils' worksheets into categories and put them together, organize my documents, and keep everything neat and orderly. I have a box of it every where. On the office desk, at home, even in my car.

5. Mr Kapok

     Ten years ago when I was still a young, thin and pimply-faced uni student, I bought Mr Kapok from a tiny guitar shop a few blocks away from Komtar, Penang after months of saving up my allowances. I took the crowded bus to Sungai Dua and had to struggle to balance myself on my feet (the seats were all taken, even the standing space was also crammed) while at the same time holding the box that contained Mr Kapok as tightly as I could so that it would not fly away as the bus maneuvered and swerved left and right at every corner and turn. I remembered the moment when I took it out of the box, tried to tune it, and tried to play my first song on it. It was a magical moment.
     It had been more than ten years since I brought Mr Kapok back from busy Georgetown to my lonely small hostel room at USM campus in Sungai Dua, yet the ever faithful little guitar still serves me like the most reliable companion to this very day. Throughout the years I have had about 6 or 7 guitars, one or two of them are a bit more expensive than Mr Kapok (I bought Mr Kapok for only RM80 ten years ago), yet Mr Kapok remains one of my favourite guitars ever - simply because Mr Kapok was my first. Mr Kapok had started it all.
After ten years, Mr Kapok has shown some signs of deterioration and worn, with the out-of-place buzzes and twangs and sometimes impossible to tune strings, but whenever I bring him into the classroom, my pupils would stand on their feet and clap and roar with joy.

6. The Sketch Pad

For making picture cards and other visual aids, obviously. When I am in a hurry and need some teaching aids ASAP - a quick pencil sketch, some doodles and a few oil pastel or crayon touches would always do the trick.The products are anything but Picasso, but my pupils do not seem to mind. The uglier and more ridiculous the sketches look, the more they love it. And the easier for it to stick in their minds.
     Apart from sketching some doodles to use in the classroom, I would also use the Sketch Pad to do meaningless doodles and sketches - I doodle and sketch a lot. It calms my nerves on hectic days and helps me when I am stumped and in need of some fresh and new ideas.

I have several more, but for now these are all that I could share. I hope you would share some of your favourite teaching tools with me, too. Feel free to share them here, I am very interested to know what other teachers would prize as their favourite tools of the trade. ;-)

GloCall International Conference 2010

2010-12-04T19:07:00.000+08:00

I have had the golden opportunity to attend the Globalization and Localization in CALL (GloCall) International Conference 2010 which was held at the Le Meridien Hotel Kota Kinabalu on the 1st to 3rd December 2010. The conference was jointly organized by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), APACALL and PacCALL.

The aim of this conference is to "share knowledge, research and experience on how to use computer and technology to make language learning more effective and pleasant; to explore how the technology can be adapted to better meet the local needs of students and teachers while at the same time providing global perspectives on computer-assisted language learning (CALL); and to bring the technology within the reach of local teachers who wish to develop their professionalism in CALL". I learn that this conference that was held in Sabah was the fourth in the series of GloCall conferences held. Before this, it had been held in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.

Overall, it had been a really enlightening and rewarding experience. I have had the chances to listen to presentation of papers by educators and professors from all over the world on how computers and technology can be used to assist language teaching in the classroom, and many of the information and ideas that I have gained are in fact useful for me and also for my students.

The next GloCall conference is going to be held in 2011 at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.

So, would anyone join me to Manila next year? ;-)

Some snapshots during the conference


Associate Professor Dr. Son Jeong-Bae (JB), President of APACALL.


Professor Jozef Colpaert, University of Antwerp, Belgium.

My friend Annete Tsen with Prof Thomas Robb and Prof Leslie Opp-Beckman.

A symposium on Digital Storytelling.

"The Power to make a Point" - A presentation by a group of educators from De La Salle University, Manila.

A presenter from Korea.

Poster presentation.

Yeay! I was there! ;-)

'Look and Say' vs. Phonics - The KSSR 'Debate' (Part 2)

2010-11-14T22:07:00.001+08:00

We have just finished our district level KSSR course for both BM and English at Seafest Hotel, Semporna. It was a four-day course (8th to 11th November) with only 30 over participants for both subjects (Kunak is a small town, comprising of only 15 primary schools). I cannot speak on behalf of the other participants, but as far as my humble observations go, everything seems to be in order. We had a group of very committed and hardworking teachers as participants, and all the facilitators were very happy about the outcomes. But more on that in my next post. For now, I would like to concentrate on a continuation of my previous post on the above topic. (You may read it here: Part 1).

KBSR vs. KSSR

After the course, I believe that many teachers now have a somewhat clearer picture of how KSSR differs from KBSR. During the slot on the transformation of the English language curriculum, we have touched upon a few key changes that the teachers are going to face in 2011 under KSSR:

1. Curriculum Documentation - The Syllabus and Curriculum Specifications are replaced by Standard Document and the Content and Learning Standards.
2. Curriculum Organisation - Modular Structure is being introduced in KSSR. The three broad areas (World of Knowledge, World of Stories, World of Self) and the integration of skills that we have in KBSR are still retained.
3. Curriculum Content - KSSR would still focus on the four language skills. What we know as Sound System in KBSR would be replaced by a broader and more focused Basic Literacy with an emphases on Phonics. Apart from that, we would now have the Language Arts component (my favourite!) and also penmanship. Grammar is still going to be taught in context.
4. Approach - The most significant change in pedagogy, from my point of view. For KBSR, we have the Whole Language approach. Under KSSR, it is going to be replaced by Phonics.
5. Added value: Under KSSR, we would have Creativity and Entrepreneurship in addition to Educational Emphases.

Now look at number 4. The Approach. In my previous post, I have discovered how the Whole Language practitioners are at odds with the Phonics proponents in a number of ways through my cursory reading of a few resources on the Internet. For ten years, we have been comfortable with the Whole Language approach under KBSR. Now, through KSSR, most probably we are about to see the pendulum swings to the other side.

The Malaysian Curriculum Development Centre, through its extensive researches, has concluded that phonics would be THE way to go in this new curriculum - most probably until the next revision in 2020. Whether we like it or not, it is going to be in our system for the next ten years. So, as a teacher, what would you do about it? My suggestion would be: before we pass any judgment or being negative about it, it would be fair to get to know more about it first. This is because more often than not, negativity usually stems out of unfamiliarity.

To know is to love. As Abraham Lincoln puts it, "I don't like that man. I must get to know him better". Getting to know someone, or something that you do not like better would make a big difference to your mindset, and attitude towards it, as whole.

So, what is phonics?

According to Chitravelu et al. (1995) in ELT Methodology: Principles and Practise, phonics or phonemic approach is a system of teaching reading that pays "special initial attention to helping children see the relationships between the sounds of English and the letters or combination of letters that produce them". At first, isolated sounds are learnt and then the skill of putting sound together to form whole words is taught.

The theory underlying this approach:

1. that the language being learnt is phonemically regular;
2. that once a child has learned the phonemic elements, he can obtain the pronunciation of the printed word by assembling the sounds together in blended sequence;
3. that once he gets the pronunciation of the word, he will understand what he has read.

(Chitravelu et al. (1995), ELT Methodology: Principles and Practise, Fajar Bakti, pp. 99 - 100).

I bet many Malaysian teachers would not find phonics as being totally alien to our system. Many English teachers, especially optionists, are already being exposed to it in College or University. In school itself, in addition to the KBSR textbook, we do have Readers programs such as the Sound Start and the Ladybird series that focus on phonics as the main approach to teaching reading. So, all in all, phonics is not something that is totally new to most of us.

What would be new is the use of phonics as the MAIN approach to teaching reading. Looking through the new KSSR textbook (or Module, as they prefer it to be called) and imagining going about the lessons in the classroom, one could not but be reminded of the puppets (or is it muppets?) in Sesame Street animatedly vocalizing the sounds of /k/.../ae/... and /t/...repeatedly and in dynamic paces, and in the process combine the sounds together to produce the word 'cat'.

Has the above ever been the approach to teaching reading in a Malaysian primary classrooms? Of course, I can't answer the question on behalf of others, but since my schooling years, it has always been the 'Look and Say'. I can't recall any of my teachers to ever do any blending and segmenting, and I didn't remember learning to read English by corresponding individual letters to certain sounds. It has always been whole word, the 'Look and Say', look at the words and say it. As a teacher, though I do use phonics materials (I have invested on the 'I Can Read' series by Al-Ameen for my English panel's literacy program), the approach has always been 'Look and Say' through and through. Hence, though the approach has always been heard of and discussed on, the materials being purchased and brought into the classrooms, the real phonics approach has never really been applied as it should be. The reason for it? It is an unfamiliar approach. We know about it, but we are not used to it. Perhaps now would be the best time to get to know it better, and to get used to it (it's going to be another ten years, remember? Heheh!)

For the sake of comparison, I suggest that it would be best to refresh our minds a little bit on what the Whole Language approach is all about.

KBSR and the Whole Language Approach

Whole language reading instructions is also known as the 'Look and Say' or 'Sight Words' method. It describes a literacy philosophy which emphasizes that children should focus on meaning and strategy instructions. With Whole Language, teachers are expected to provide a literacy-rich environment for their students and to combine speaking, listening, reading and writing. Whole Language teachers emphasize the meaning of texts over the sounds of letters, and phonics instruction become just one component of the Whole Language classroom.

Whole Language is considered a 'top-down' approach where the reader constructs a personal meaning for a text, based on using their prior knowledge to interpret the meaning of what they are reading.

In KBSR, the Whole Language approach is being implemented through topical lessons arranged in such a way in the KBSR textbooks to provide the students with ample opportunity to learn reading in context. Under KBSR, the integration of the four language skills is vital - each and every English language lesson plans must contain all the four skills. This is perhaps another one of the most significant change that the Curriculum Development Centre has decided to adopt in the new curriculum. Though integration of skills is still important in the new KSSR, the Modular Concept requires that only one skill is being focused on at any one time in any lesson.

Experts in education has labeled the Whole Language as an approach where children are allowed to learn how to read through natural means, and in context. Under this method, children are given the opportunity to be exposed to as many sight words as possible. There should be no rote memorization where the children are being 'forced' to remember sounds, rules and patterns. Proponents of the Whole Language approach has maintained that this is the best way to teach reading to children, because it is more fun, natural and 'child-friendly' as opposed to the Phonics method which according to some, is 'boring' and 'mechanical', and to some extent, 'more suitable for more matured learners'.

For ten years since the implementation of KBSR in 2001, this has been the main approach to teaching reading in all Malaysian primary schools.

The Swing of the Pendulum

Reading through several Malaysian educational resources for TESL which were written before the year 2000, I realize that at the dawn of the 21st century, the Whole Language method is considered the 'in' thing, the modern, more relevant, more pro-active approach whilst Phonics is beginning to be viewed as somewhat 'conventional' and 'old-fashioned'. I might be wrong (as far as the Malaysian education system is concerned, I am somewhat comparable to a toddler who is just learning how to walk), but that is the idea that I get. Even if we look at international resources for the history of both approaches, the ongoing debates, and the opinions of proponents and advocates from both sides, we can see that though Phonics has an equally large number of supporters, the Whole Language is always considered more 'hip' and 'trendy'. Why? Simple. Because Phonics is indeed a conventional method, while Whole Language is considered revolutionary. But I would not go into that in this post, let's save that for the next one.

Pondering over this, I think it is understandable why our curriculum planners would want to apply the Whole Language aproach in our system back during the beginning of the KBSR era. It was seen as the best approach during that time, the most relevant, the one that would fulfill the needs of our students the best. After ten years, however, we see a change taking place. We are getting back to Phonics. Or, as outlined by one of the basic principles of KSSR - we are getting 'back to basics'.

Naturally, the unspoken question lingers. Has the Whole Language approach failed? Has KBSR failed?

As much as I would love to answer this now, this is beginning to get somewhat long and windy. Heheh. So why not stop here for now, and I'll pick up where I left off in my next post.

Part 3

In Part 3, I will try to deal with:

1. the history and controversy of both approaches;
2. the general concerns about both approaches;
3. THE approach and
4. my personal conclusions.

Till the next post, thank you for reading.

(To read Part 3, click here).

'Look and Say' vs. Phonics - The KSSR 'Debate' (Part 1)

2010-11-03T04:43:00.006+08:00

I am in my hotel room at Borneo Paradise, Papar attending the state level KSSR course for English Language. Our trainers and facilitators are kind enough to give us an evening off. While my roommate is seizing the opportunity to go around town, I think I would rather stay in the room, to 'recharge my batteries'. It has been a tiring month of work and medical appointments and what not, and this KSSR...well, at the very least perhaps, I am just glad to be getting back on my feet again and do what I love doing the most - that is, learning new things.

KSSR seems to be the 'talk of the nation' among educators and those directly involved in the education system in Malaysia for the past few months, and I am grateful to be one of the few hundred thousand people who are lucky enough to get an early (though not so early) glimpse of what it is all about. I am not going to write about KSSR in detail in this post, although I do plan to do so in my future posts. For now, I am just feeling the need to share something that I feel so strongly about, and have all the intention to delve into more deeply in the near future. This whole thing started during our session on Phonics this morning, when in the midst of the learning session the speaker, a lecturer from IPG, suddenly expressed her own long-held view on Phonics and its efficiency in the teaching of reading. To cut a long story short, I would say that this very experienced and respectable educator can be grouped together with those who are a little skeptical towards embracing Phonics as 'The Method' for teaching beginning reading. It is from her that I learn about the ongoing debate among educators, parents and experts on the best way to teach beginning reading. To be honest, before this I was completely clueless about it, let alone aware that there is indeed a debate going on. (My bad!)

I find this small piece of information intriguing and it has driven me to do a little bit of reading on the subject. In a way, I am glad, very glad indeed. It opens my eyes to see the teaching of reading in a much broader view and perspective and it truly enriches and enlightens me as a teacher. I have not, of course, conducted an in-depth study on the subject yet (though this might very possibly become my next 'big project' - kononnya lah!). But from the few readings that I have done, I learn that there are four main approaches to teaching beginning reading, and they are:

1. Phonics
2. 'Look and Say' or 'Whole Language'
3. Language Experience
4. Context Support

(To read more, visit this: Four Reading Methods).

Though all four are valid methods and has proofs of success all over the world, it is interesting to note that 'controversies' do exist (!!! :-O), especially with regard to Method 1 and Method 2. Apparently, I am the last teacher on earth to be aware that such debate as 'Phonics vs. Whole Language' has existed since God-knows-when! (My bad!!! Again!!!). I would not want to write about it here, at least not now (it's 3.55 in the morning), but for those who are curious about it, I would recommend you to read what Wikipedia has to say about the two methods:

Phonics according to Wikipedia
Whole language according to Wikipedia

Opinions from educators and teachers are also worth looking at:

1. Halcyon House is a division of Educational Research Associates in the United States of America, a nonprofit research organization formed more than 30 years ago to help provide some information on the nation's educational system and issues related to it. This writing clearly expresses its view on the Phonics vs. Whole Language debate: Whole Language vs. Phonics

2. This is an interesting article by Dr Jon Reyhner of University of Northern Arizona that looks into each of these two methods of teaching reading from a psychological view point. Apparently, from the psychological perspective, the Whole Language vs. Phonics debate can also be viewed as the Constructivism vs. Behaviourism debate. Refreshing, isn't it? To read more: The Reading Wars

3. This particular site, Succeed to Read, is also worth visiting. Read its view on this whole 'Reading Wars' subject: Teach a Child to Read

There are, of course, many more excellent resources on this matter. All you have to do is do some Google search, and take it from there.

We talked about this matter over cold double cheese burger and soggy fries brought from town by my lovely roommate a few hours ago. After a few minutes of listening patiently to me blabbering away, Haniza finally asked me the inevitable question: "So do you consider yourself to be 'pro-Phonics', or 'anti-Phonics'?"

Hmm. That, my friend, is a question that I would love to answer. But not now. Not yet. In my next post, perhaps.

Till then. I have to catch some sleep.

Update: For continuation of this post, read Part 2 (click here).

Question Papers for 2nd Semester Exam (Level 1) Downloads

2010-10-22T09:15:00.002+08:00

Been a little bit under the weather these past few days and have to take sometime off from work. Truth is, I'm getting restless staying at home just 'resting'. But I need to get this blood pressure issue under control first or risk creating a 'scene' again at work. Enough with the embarrassment already now. Hopefully I could get back to work full swing ASAP. For now, though, the best I can do is share whatever I can share through my overworked, reliable and loyal and humble companion, Mr Toshiba (my beloved laptop - what would I do without 'him'?)

I have 'composed' (or more accurately cut, copied, edited, adapted, adopted and pasted) question papers for my school's Level 1 (Year 1, 2 and 3) second semester examination. Since our district's task force is not going to conduct any centralised item building workshop as usual, I've been bombarded by calls and text messages from teachers all over Kunak, asking why, why and why. Heheh! Fret not, I'm doing my best to juggle everyone's interest and the best that I could do is to share what I have and encourage everyone to do the same.

These papers that I have are obviously anything but perfect (I'm still a bit groggy) but they are free-of-charge (heheh!) and I hope it would be able to help ease the teachers' burdens in any small way possible.

I've uploaded them to Scribd. Feel free to download them from the links below. Feel free also to modify, adapt and adopt according to your needs (you really, really need to, if you decide to use them. To be honest, I didn't spend much time on them as I should - this 'grogginess' is killing me. Sigh!)

Primary 1: http://www.scribd.com/doc/39858050/Year-1-Sem-2-Sample-Exam-Questions

Primary 2: http://www.scribd.com/doc/39858130/Year-2-Sem-2-Sample-Exam-Question

Primary 3: http://www.scribd.com/doc/39858177/Year-3-Sem-2-Sample-Exam-Question

You may also find the link at our Facebook page, Kunak English Language Teachers at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kunak-Malaysia/Kunak-English-Language-Teachers/151846654346

Schadenfreude (For Heaven's Sake!!!)

2010-10-08T21:57:00.000+08:00

Oh, for heaven's sake!

If it's true what you say that it's

just a tiny little insignificant lonely flower-weed

that grows overwhelmed by the tall grasses

Have you wondered: Who would've noticed it?

Why do you notice it?

Why you? oh you who happen to come from nowhere

and trample the ground underneath your feet

with pride and illwill

fuming out of your nostrils?

What has it done to you that

you even feel the need to

pluck it out and tear its tiny little petals

one by one?

And while you drop those poor disfigured little torn petals into

the flowing merciless current and with

schadenfreude you watch them

go and fade away...

What, for heaven's sake are you thinking of?

Oh what, for heaven's sake, is

your heart made of?

Why oh why do you intrude its place

and act like you own the space

and rob the poor soul of its own solace?

For heaven's sake...

Oh, for heaven's sake

Why do you do what you do

and what has gotten into you???

-ccj-

Apparently, Adam and Eve spoke Kadazan in the Garden of Eden

2010-08-07T12:53:00.001+08:00

     If you are an English teacher who teaches in Malaysia, you have to be very familiar with the term Teaching English as a Second Language or TESL for short, because English language is considered as the second language in our country. I teach in a very small school in a very small village in a very small town very faraway from the capital of Sabah, which is Kota Kinabalu. I can't say that the English language is the second language of my students. It is more like the third or fourth, or a totally foreign language altogether.

     After some years of teaching, I wonder what makes this language so difficult to be taught to the kids in my school. Am I still lacking in pedagogical skills, or is there something wrong with the kids? The former could be true, because there is just no limit as to how much a teacher can learn throughout her career as a teacher. But I honestly believe that the latter is not the case at all. There isn't anything wrong with the kids. I just need to stoop a little bit lower to understand the English language completely - through a totally different perspective - my students' perspective.

     In my quest to try to understand what my students would have to go through during their English lessons with me, I try to read up a little. I stumbled upon this Linguistic 'thing', and after a few readings, I find the question "What was the first language ever spoken?" a bit intriguing. Heheh. If you believe that Adam and Eve were the first humans, have you ever wondered what language did they use to converse with one another? I know that when my students speak Bajau, they acquire the language since birth, when they are constantly exposed to the language used by their parents and family members and the people in the surrounding where they grow up. A baby who is genetically a Bajau but raised by a Kadazan family who speaks the Kadazan language as their medium of communications would definitely be able to speak the Kadazan language by the time he reaches speaking age, regardless of his genetic and hereditary background. In short, we know that the ability to speak a language is an acquired ability, not something that someone is being born with.

     However, there are people who believe that the language of humans actually originated from one single source, and because of the movement of people to different parts of the Earth, the language became diversified. Thus we have all the different languages spoken by different groups of people in different parts of the world. Studies did indicate that all languages do possess certain similar characteristics that may prove that all of them did originate from one single language. If that is true, is there a way for us to find out what language is the one single language from which all the other languages have originated?

     In the year 664 - 610 BC, Psammethicus, an Egyptian pharaoh had conducted a very interesting, so-called 'divine-source' experiment. He raised two infants in isolation, with no contact with any humans whatsoever, except for the people in charge of looking after the babies. These carers were given specific instructions not to utter even a single sound to the two infants. By the time these two infants reached an age when they could speak, apparently the first word spoken was the word 'bekos', which is the Phrygian word for 'bread'. Thus it was thought that Phrygian was the first language. Heheh. But according to George Yule (2006), the writer of 'The Study of Language' (3rd Edition, Cambridge University Press), the infants must have heard the goats bleating (mbeeek...!) and simpy tried to reproduce the sound that they have heard orally (bekos = mbeek...??? Hmm...). A few decades later, an almost similar experiment was conducted by King James IV of Scotland, and according to legend, King James' babies spoke perfect Hebrew. Hmm. Some people say this is just, well, a legend. Is there really a way for us to know what language was the first ever spoken by humans? I think George Yule put it nicely when he writes, "If human language did emanate from a divine source, we have no way of reconstructing that original language, especially given the events in a city called Babel, 'because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth', as described in the book of Genesis (11:19)".

     I was having coffee with a friend this morning when the subject of 'mother tongue' came up. My friend said it was unfortunate that a lot of Kadazan young people nowadays speak better Malay and English than they do their mother tongue. That was like a slap to my face, because I can't speak Kadazan. I can understand, but I don't think I can use the language in a conversation fluently and confidently. Then a bulb lighted above my head. Perhaps instead of driving myself insane with all these 'divine' language and confusing linguistic terms, I could try to learn a new language so that I could have a 'feel' of what my students are facing when presented with a language as foreign as English. Kadazan would be a good start, because it is supposed to be my mother tongue.

     No water in my house...aiso vaig...no water. I had to hit the books for my coming 'Introduction to Linguistics' mid-term test, and there was no water (or 'aiso vaig' in Kadazan) at my small quarter home. Oh, the challenges of teaching in a rural area. Then I fell asleep.

     In my dream, I was an Egyptian pharaoh who conducted a 'divine-source' experiment on two infants. One fine day, when I was mixing the baby formula in the baby bottles, I was picking up the almost empty water thermos (my servants forgot to fill it up) when the two cute chubby babies looked at me with their large brown eyes and uttered ever so cutely in their baby voices, "Aiso vaig..." - the Kadazan words for 'no water'. Henceforth, I shall conclude that the first language was (drumroll) the Kadazan language.

     Then I woke up and had to face reality. Lingustics oh Linguistics. I think I have fallen in love with you, but why oh why do you have to make my life so hard?

My Cluttered Desk, My Cluttered Mind

2010-07-26T06:27:00.002+08:00

     No matter what I try, I never seemed to have a nice, neat and organised desk. Be it my desk at the office, or my working desk at home. I think I have probably cleared (or try to clear) both desks for more than a million times, but somehow, every time, the clutters on the desks seem to be able to creep back on them without me knowing how and when and why.

     Some people say a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind. If that is true, then I think I shouldn't be surprised to find a warzone, or a construction site inside my mind if I try to take a peek into it. Hazardous, dangerous warzone or construction site. One must be careful when roaming around it, because one false step might lead to a serious accident, or even worse, fatality.

     Ranked 5th in my birthday resolutions list (I just turn '21' on the 22nd July, by the way - belated birthday gifts are still very much welcomed ;-P ) is "To be more organised". Hmm...I think this 'resolution' keeps on appearing in every 'new resolutions' list that I try to make all throughout my life, keeps creeping back in, like the clutters on my desk, but up until now, unfortunately, sadly, it remains nothing more than a 'clutter' in its own right.

     Sometimes I shout, "I need order in my life!" and spring and bounce with all my might, a black garbage bag in one hand, a broom in the other, and I would go around and around trying to clear every bit of clutter and mess on my desk and in my life till everything looks so perfectly neat and organised. And I would stand back and admire my hard day's work with a smile on my face, quietly vowing in my heart that I would try my very best to keep this heavenly state of organisation and order for eternity - which turns out to be only 3 days - at the very most.

     So now I'm more than ready to accept myself for who I really I am - as far as being neat and organised are concerned - I have a confession: I am a total failure. I just can't get everything organised and in order. I can't seem to find anything whenever I need anything, and whenever I need my desk to be cleared and empty, I always find something to put on it to occupy the precious space. I try to clear my heart and mind of certain feelings (and people ), I try to have more space and time for myself - but events, needs, neccessities, even love - would keep coming back and take up most of the spaces that I have selfishly reserved for me, myself and I. Weekends are 'me ' time, I have decided. Then a precious one would call and ask me for help with something. No more helping people with their assignments, I vow. Then a dear friend would touch my heart with a need so big that I can't help but offer my humble service. I'm going to have to start saving up for my future, I write in my notebook. Then there would be the text message from someone that I deeply care about, that leads me to the bank and clear my lifetime saving within seconds. This is for me, this space is for me, this is 'me' time, I would decide time and time again when time and time again mercy and compassion would get the better of me and I would sacrifice 'me' and let the 'clutter' to creep back on - goodbye to neatness and organisation - for maybe just a little while.

     The way I look at it now, probably those 'clutters' are not clutters at all. The red plastic mug that I try so much to get rid of everytime is actually a gift from a student. I can't throw it away. My pen holder has my name written beautifully on it, it was a gift from a pen friend in prison. The dolphin paperweight is a present from a former teacher. I have more than a dozen pencils inside that red plastic mug, those are pencils I received for free in return for free sketches that I made for people that have asked me to do one for them.

     Perhaps it's true that a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind. But if  the clutters are things that means something to me, I don't think I would mind.

Piece of Cake!

2010-07-18T01:13:00.002+08:00

One Week in Cake Metaphors

Cake Scenario 1

"That's a nice cake you have, Cindy. Congratulations! Hope you enjoy it".
"I do enjoy it. Thanks".
"But before you can eat it, don't you need to write letter a, lettter b and letter c first?"
"I think so, but that's just protocol. I'll take care of the letters as soon as possible".
"What if the cake does not taste good? Or what if it's stale?"
"It's not stale. It's good. It's great".
"Are you sure you're allowed to have the cake? I heard that you must register this and that and go through this and that before you can even start munching on the cake".
"There are many people ahead of me who've had the cake and as far as I'm concerned, they're doing okay".
"Hmm...I think you really must do this and that first. You've to go through this, and write a letter to that, and then apply for this and that".
"Ok. Got it".
"Don't get me wrong. I really am happy for you. I just hope you don't get sick after eating that cake. Consider yourself warned".
"Ok. Whatever".
"Congratulations, anyway. Enjoy your cake!"

Cake Scenario 2

Text message from the bakery: "Please come to the bakery today. Your cake is ready."
After an almost two hour drive in the midst of the pouring rain, Cindy reached the bakery to retrieve her cake.
Bakery Girl: "Sorry miss, but unfortunately there has been a kitchen crisis and we can't give the cake to you today. Can you come again tomorrow?"

Cake Scenario 3

"Cindy, where is your cake?"
"It's right here, Sir".
"Is that your cake? It's not enough. I need a bigger cake".
"I can't make a bigger cake, Sir. We don't have enough flour".
"How much flour do you need?"
"It depends on how big you want the cake to be".
"No way. We don't have budget for that".
"So how am I supposed to make a bigger cake?"
"Ask the baker next door. She can make a bigger cake eventhough she's not even a cake optionist".
"She has enough flour, Sir. And plenty of people to help her make the cake".
"I don't want any excuses. You're the cake optionist, you're supposed to be able to MAGICALLY create a super big cake WITHOUT ANY HELP and with LIMITED AMOUNT OF FLOUR".

Cake Scenario 4

During a district meeting, HE shouted at the top of his lungs:

"MY CAKE IS PERFECT! YOURS SUCK, BIG TIME".

To the Cake Messengers: "Don't teach me what to do. Who are you people?"

To ME, and the rest of his 'SERVANTS': "See you at work, you lazy bones. Serve me my cakes, or else."

[It had been such a long, long week. I need a break. Phew.]

Going Back to School

2010-07-04T14:47:00.000+08:00

Yeah, I'm going back to school. Finally. (I know, I know. I'm STILL in school. I have never really left school.)

I mean as a student now. Not a teacher.

I feel a bit rusty, I have to admit. But I look forward to being a student again, hitting the books, sitting for exams, doing assignments and researches. I feel excited, like a little girl on her first day to school.

Just now, I went to the stationery shop and bought myself loose-leaf notebooks, a file folder, a couple of writing materials. I am really excited to sit in a classroom listening to lectures, taking notes, answering questions. I watched little school children enthusiastically selecting exercise books and pencils and other school supplies -I am old enough to be their mother - but the excitement: Similar.

Sigh. I'm old and rusty. But I really, really want to study again. Heheh. Wish me luck!

UPM, here I come! ;-)

Mum, I'll make sure you attend my convocation. I promise I'll make you proud.

Don't Hate the Word, Playa!

2010-05-03T13:59:00.004+08:00

   Reading the Word Power section in my April issue of the Reader's Digest has inspired me to do something different today. Before this, I would try my very best to 'increase my word power' by committing every new word that I have learned into memory, but unfortunately, to no avail. Sigh. A lot of it may be attributed to the fact that I never really had the chance to use those bombastic words either in speaking or writing.

   Today, I have decided that I should do something about it. I decided to use all the new words that I have learned to describe my day. So, here goes:

   As of now, I feel extremely exhausted. The overwhelming tasks of behemoth proportions are lying before me, waiting to be dealt with. Sorry, but I am just not in the mood. I decided that I better spend my time learning how to develop some concinnity by conjuring up a blog post using my newly acquired, elegant vocabulary.

   As many teachers might tell you, the craziest moments at work would be when examinations are approaching. Preparations need to be done, and as far as the English language is concerned, I sometimes feel like a factotum. The conjuncture of events both at school and district levels makes the situation even crazier.

   To add salt to my wound, the lack of decorum among my pupils does not help make the situation better. I was having a hectic day today, with four classes in a row, leaving me a mere 20-minutes in between to have my breakfast. I nearly choked myself to death when I hurriedly ingurgitated my food in fear of being late for the next class. I literally dashed in my high heels up the stairs to my 5B class, only to discover that a quarter of the boys in the class had disappeared. Apparently, according to the girls, they were having some sort of a jubilant celebration at the restroom. Needless to say, those fortunate boys received a well-deserved auto-da-fe treatment for the 'vanishing act' that they had performed the moment they reappeared at the classroom door.

   And that was not the end of the story. In my rage, I failed to realise that two of the boys had not returned to the classroom yet.

   "Where are they?" I demanded.
   One of the boys stuttered, "Still there, in the toilet".
   "Doing what?"
   "They had a fight. Imran's leg was stuck in the toilet bowl. Azim is trying to help him out".
   "And you all left them?!?"

   Silence.

   Sometimes I wonder whether I am teaching in a primary school or a palaestra. Anytime from now, I would transform myself into a children-eating chimera - a combination of a big octopus, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Incredible Hulk and Simon Cowell. Those cute, mischievous little rascals would cry in their pants and beg me to forgive them. And to never do it again. Oh, how I wish I could. But I couldn't. For now, forcing them to write "I will not party with my friends in the toilet" and "I will not try to flush my friend's leg down the toilet" in their exercise books a hundred times would have to suffice.

   I am not saying that the whole day was a disaster, though. A little boy made me smile during recess.

   "I made this for you", the cute one said, shyly.
   "Thank you, Iskandar".
   "I hope you like it". He turned away and ran out of the staffroom.

   Iskandar had drawn a portrait of me. Below his signature, he had scribbled: "The prettiest teacher". It was just a simple child's drawing, but to me, it seemed like a masterpiece in its own right. A work of art that displays such acumen that has left me greatly impressed. And flattered, of course. Hehe. Perhaps the 'Pretty Teacher' painting is going to be among the first of Iskandar's juvenilia. An autodidact artist, this special boy has a lot ahead of him.

   I thought I should leave early today. I tried to escape from the staffroom to get some fresh air, but the task was made impossible by the piles of papers and books that are lying on the desk, on the floor, everywhere, turning the small, crowded and congested place into a tricky maze. The chorography of my own working space is such a complex task, I think I would need a map if I ever hope to get back in after I get out. That is, if I ever succeed in getting out.

   I succeeded, just barely. A hard, humiliating fall caused by a clumsy stumble upon a rock-heavy dictionary when I was just inches away from the door knocked some senses into my head. I fell flat on my back.

   "Cyn, are you okay?" My colleague stared down at me, wide clownish grin on his face.
   "Yeah. Nothing's broken, I guess".
   "Let me help you up".
   "Thank you".
   "No big deal". He still had that silly grin on his face.
   "Damn dictionary". I cursed under my breath.
   The silly grinner chuckled. "Don't hate the word, playa; hate the dictionary!"
   "Huh?"
   "Brian Celio. The American novelist. He comes up with that".

   Yeah, I've heard of Celio. That quote of him sounds like music to my ears. Years from now, it would definitely turn into a priceless adage handed down from generation to generation.

   "Don't hate the word, playa; hate the dictionary!" - Brian Celio.

   Hmm. I love it so much that I want it to be the epigram on my tomb when I die.

   Either that, or...

   "The Prettiest Teacher" - Iskandar.

   Or maybe both. :-P

Verbs and Tenses and Some Funny, Silly Songs

2010-04-19T01:40:00.012+08:00

This post is a continuation of my previous post, a sharing of what I had done with my kids during the Klinik Cemerlang UPSR that I conducted over the weekend.

Well, I did some grammar sessions with my pupils and because most of the children find grammar as boring as an old dog, I need to step up to the challenge of making it more interesting for them. As the kids love singing so much, I tried to come up with some funny, silly songs to teach grammar.

The first silly song is on Subject-Verb agreement. I want my pupils to remember the correct verb 'to be' for each subject. Here is the silly song lyric:

I am

He is

She is

It is

Ali is

You are

We are

They are

Ali and Abu are

I tried to capture this video with my cheap handy-cam so that I can share the silly melody with everybody. Please excuse the poor quality :-P Heheh! ;-)

We sang the song several times until the children were able to memorise it (which was quite fast!). Then, I explained to them how to use the song to remember that there are 3 groups of subjects, namely the 'I' Group (which consists of only the pronoun 'I'), the Singular Group (which consists of the pronouns He, She, It and any singular nouns e.g. Ali) and the Plural Group (which consists of the pronouns You, We, They and any plural nouns e.g. Ali and Abu). Then, I used the same song to drill the verb 'to have' and 'to do' by changing the verbs accordingly.

For example, to teach the verb 'to have', I changed the lyric to the following:

I have

He has

She has

It has

Ali has

You have

We have

They have

Ali and Abu have

The same song was also used to drill the three types of verbs in the Past Tense form, i.e. 'was/were', 'had' and 'did'.

The song was indeed silly, but the children loved it. They did not seem to mind repeating it over and over, because they loved singing so much. I think the song somehow managed to camouflage the boring routine of drills and repetition. Heheh! ;-P

When teaching Tenses, I decided that I should use the same approach. I decided to teach Tenses through sentences, because my pupils had a hard time remembering terms and factual things. To help make the sentences 'stick' in their minds, I turned them into another silly song. The lyric:

I like to go to school every day

I am learning English now

I also went to school yesterday

I was taking my notes while the teacher was teaching

I will go again tomorrow

There are five Tenses in the song:

Simple Present: I like to go to school every day.

Present Continuous: I am learning English now.

Simple Past: I also went to school yesterday.

Past Continuous: I was taking my notes while the teacher was teaching.

Future Tense: I will go again tomorrow.

My first objective was to introduce the form of verbs for each Tense - for the subject 'I', the root verb (like) is used for Simple Present, 'be verb + ing' (am learning / was teaching) for Continuous Tense, 'will verb' (will go) for Future Tense. Secondly, I wanted the pupils to be aware of the Time Adverbs for each tenses, for example 'every day' would refer to Simple Present, 'now' indicates Present Continuous, 'yesterday' for Simple Past and 'tomorrow' for Future Tense. So I got the pupils to sing the song several times till they were able to remember all the five sentences. Then, we played around with the lyrics. Change the subject, the verb, the time adverb. The 'changed' lyric like below, for instance, had helped my pupils to understand not only the five tenses involved, but also other grammar items like personal pronouns and possessive adjectives - when the pronoun 'I' was changed to 'He', the possessive adjective 'my' should be changed to 'his' (line 4).

He likes to go to school every day

He is learning English now

He also went to school yesterday

He was taking his notes while the teacher was teaching

He will go again tomorrow

The song goes something like this:

Apart from grammar, we also did a song on Part 2 of the UPSR Information Transfer question, better known as the 'I would choose...' among my pupils. This I did with my very weak pupils, with the hope of giving them some ideas on how to 'give reasons for their choice.' Of course, writing the lyric of the song word for word while answering Part 2 of Section B is a pure act of 'template writing', but I still have to start somewhere. These are very, very weak pupils I am talking about. After sometime of using the song as their guide for answering, I noticed that a few of them showed some potential to go further. That was when I introduced new words and new sentence patterns. For my better performing pupils who could write the 'reasons' independently, this song is sung just for fun. I feel the urge to share this one because it is such a hit among the children in my school. Haha! And I love it too!

And these are the words to the song:

I would choose Item A because it is the best

It is reasonable

It is suitable

It is interesting

I like it very much

I hope I will be happy with my choice

For the time being, I think that would be all. There are more of songs such as these, I would share them in another post. In the mean time, it is my hope that you would find this useful. Feel free to tell me what you think, I truly appreciate all types of feedback. Thanks again! ;-)

Teaching Sentence Construction to my Rural Kids

2010-04-18T22:52:00.005+08:00

I just had dinner after an exhausting but fun program with my pupils during the weekend. The first thing I did when I reached home was write a status update in Facebook.

   Well, needless to say, my teacher friends want me to share what I did with my pupils. So this blog post is written especially for them.

   First of all, dear teacher friends, I need to clarify that what I did with my pupils was what I think the best for them. I know my pupils - their strengths, their weaknesses - and so what I came up with was what I think would work for them. I guess what I am trying to say is, our pupils are different. The level of proficiency might be the same, but the surroundings and level of exposure are not. Therefore, for any activities at all to give a fruitful result, teachers need to be creative to adopt and adapt in order to suit their pupils' needs.

   Secondly, I have to warn that my activities are mostly very simple, because most of my pupils are quite slow learners. Some of the things that I do might not meet the approval of some hard core examination-oriented people, but I am just trying to be practical and realistic. My main objective is for my pupils to have fun in learning English, and hopefully, would be able to apply whatever that they have learned in answering the examination questions.

   Let me start with Sentence Construction.

Sentence Construction

   For Sentence Construction, I have drilled my pupils with some simple sentence patterns since January, in order to help them to have some ideas on how to construct sentences based on the picture given. I think most Year 6 teachers already know that the candidates do not have to use all the 10 words given. Because my pupils are very weak, I encourage them to concentrate on the picture instead of the words. My rationale? My pupils tend to use words that they do not know and so most of the time would come up with annoying sentences that do not have any meaning.

   My objective: to help my pupils to write sentences, however simple, that would at least make some sense. Heheh! Okay, so this is the method that I use. I give each and every pupil a card (I call it the 'SC' Card 1) that contains some guidelines for writing sentences, like this:

Place / Location / Event

This is a (name of place / location / event).

e.g. This is Royal Paris Circus.

This is a school canteen.

People / Animals / Things / Plants

There is a (singular noun).

There are (plural noun).

e.g. There is a lion on the stage.

There are several pupils at the school canteen.

Activities

(Singular subject) is (verb + ing).

(Plural subject) are (verb + ing).

e.g. The clown is holding the fire ring.

The pupils are queuing at the counter.

Adjectives (Feelings / Look)

(Singular subject) is (adjectives).

(Plural subject) are (adjectives).

e.g. The lion is brave.

The canteen workers are busy.

   My pupils would bring the card everywhere, and every time I give them the Sentence Construction exercises, I would encourage them to refer to the card as guidance. Some hardcore markers might complain that this is actually 'template writing', but I beg to differ. My pupils have very little if no basic in English whatsoever. I spend almost a year to teach these kids whatever I can manage on Singular and Plural Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives. A year ago I had to start with zero. Applying this method enable me to help my pupils to write grammatically correct simple sentences, and I am floating on air now. We have been doing this since January, and not only can the children write simple sentences on their own, in the process they acquire a lot of new vocabulary because in order to complete the Section A task, they need to identify the location and the activities in the picture, as well as the appropriate adjectives that are related to the picture given.

   After several months of doing this, I notice that a few of my pupils have the potential to do more. And so, I come up with another card (the SC Card 2):

Add adjectives

e.g. This is a busy school canteen.

This is a crowded circus.

Add adverbs:

e.g. The clown is smiling happily.

The lion is jumping bravely through the fire ring.

Write compound sentences

e.g. There is a lion and a clown on the stage.

There are many types of food and drinks at

the canteen.

Write complex sentences (if you can)

e.g. The boy, who is carrying a basket of fruits, is

helping the old lady to cross the road.

The pupils, who are queuing at the counter,

are buying something to eat.

   Now look at Number 4. I attended PGSD Head meeting last year where one speaker who is also a UPSR marker announced that complex sentence is actually not included in the KBSR syllabus. From the way she put it, I believe she did not recommend teachers to give our pupils a hard time by forcing them to do something that they are not supposed to learn yet. I agree with her with all my heart, but I went on and exposed my pupils to it anyway. To my pleasant surprise, at least two of my pupils are now able to write complex sentences almost perfectly. Well, for me, if they can do it, why limit their potential?

   Combining SC Card 1 and SC Card 2 has enabled me to provide a guidance for my pupils to write sentences that are grammatically correct. At first, my pupils would tend to write the same type of boring sentences that have the same structures, but after a lot (and I mean A LOT) of practise, the sentences that the pupils are able to give become more varied and more interesting.

   In a nutshell, what I actually did was:

   Number 1, I give my pupils a guide. I provide them with a set of sentence patterns. Call it 'template writing' if you must, but that was how I started. I have no other choice. My pupils are that weak.

   Number 2, I try to identify pupils who have the potential to do more. I expose them to ways on how to make their sentences more interesting by adding adjectives and adverbs. I also teach them how to write compound and complex sentences.

   For pupils who are still struggling, I just keep on doing Number 1 until they get it perfect. Hopefully someday they would be ready for Number 2. For the pupils in the 'almost there' category, I shower them with more vocabulary and reinforce their grammar knowledge.

   I think that is all there is to it, on Sentence Construction. Hope this helps. I will continue with Information Transfer and Verbs and Tenses in my next post. ;-)

P/S: Comments on how to improve the activities above are very much appreciated. Thank you! ;-)

In Teachers We Trust

2010-04-12T21:59:00.001+08:00

Reader's Digest March 2010 issue runs an article that discuss the subject of trust. The Reader's Digest Trust Poll was conducted in Malaysia, and the result for the Top 10 Trusted Malaysians are as follows:

1. Datuk Nicol Ann David
2. Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood
3. Datuk Lee Chong Wei
4. Dato' Mohd Nor Khalid (Lat)
5. Dato' Jimmy Choo OBE
6. Adibah Noor
7. Dato' Michelle Yeoh
8. Dato' Jins Shamsuddin
9. Afdlin Sahuki
10. Chef Wan (tie)
10. Datin Paduka Sharifah Mazlina (tie)

   The results are indeed interesting, but they don't attract my attention that much. What catches my eye is the poll on the Top 10 Most Trusted Professions in Malaysia. The result:

1. Pilot
2. Teacher
3. Doctor
4. Paramedic
5. Firefighter
6. Surgeon
7. Scientist
8. Dentist
9. Pharmacist
10. Nurse

   So according to the Reader's Digest poll, teachers rank at number 2. It feels good to know that people trust us, but at the same time, it brings us back to reality. Teachers are entrusted with so much. The burdens are tremendous. As one teacher puts it, "What becomes of the future relies on the hands of us teachers. The next generation of leaders are here, sitting in our classrooms".

   Let's not betray the trust.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't Assess to Impress

2010-02-25T01:45:00.003+08:00

   Sorry, I don't want to do this but I need to. I need to let it all out or else I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

   Today, we had this curriculum meeting to discuss programs to improve our pupils' performance in UPSR this year. My first thought when I received the calling letter: Great. More programs. Programs that would never work.

   Don't get me wrong, I'm not being negative. In fact, I'm being the total opposite of negative. I'm being as positive as I could ever be.

   Let's face it. I have been teaching in this school for almost 5 years now, and we have been conducting more or less the same 'programs' throughout the years, all with the general objective of 'improving our pupils performance in the UPSR exam'. I'm sure this type of programs have been around for years before I even consider becoming a teacher, probably ever since this school was first built or at the very moment UPSR entered the Malaysia education scene. They call it 'Program Pemantapan' or 'Program 1005A' or whatever. They have different fancy names to call it every year, and it gets fancier and fancier over the years, but no matter by what name they try to call it, it's just the same process of selecting the so-called 'target pupils', the 'GALUS' ('Gagal-Lulus'?) pupils and - (sorry, some people might try to deny that this has ever even crossed their mind, but come on! Who are we trying to kid here?) - the 'hopeless' pupils. The same 'answering techniques' workshops and 'examination drills', the same 'Program Anak Angkat', motivational camps, talks, lectures, clinics and so on and so forth...only to discover the same flops, the same failures, the same disappointment and pointing of fingers in the end.

   I have nothing against these programs. They have their benefits. As much as I don't have a lot of faith in them, I am willing to go along with them because they do have their benefits. Examinations are very important in this country's education system, and a school is always judged based on the pupils' performance in a nationally centralised public examination without taking into account the pupils background, environment where they grow up, the kind of exposure they get, their living conditions and a lot of other things. So, okay, I am willing to go along with the plan not because I have great faith in it, but because I know that it greatly affects my pupils' lives and their future. After all, who am I to say anything against a nationwide system? I am just a simple teacher who wants nothing but to teach, or try to teach.

   Having said that, it does not mean that I am willing to sacrifice my simple and humble willingness to do whatever I can to help my pupils to at least learn some English in their 6 years of primary schooling. It does not mean that I am willing to give up learning pedagogical strategies, updating myself on the latest approaches to teaching the English language, improving my own skills and proficiency, or to continue to experiment with new and exciting ways to make my classroom activities more interesting and engaging for my pupils. It does not mean that I am willing to give up my joy for teaching, or to kill my pupils' enthusiasm to learn.

   No, I am not willing to do all that. Throughout all these years, I willingly get myself involved in all those exam-based programs with nothing but the intention of helping my pupils to have better exam results and a better future. However, I do have my own 'programs' too. No systems, no process. No fancy names. I just try to do what I am supposed to do. I try to teach English in the best way I know how.

   What frustrated me this afternoon during the meeting was when the Chairman gave what to me was a totally absurd comment, a comment that displayed more ignorance than awareness on his part. Reading out his 'analyses' of the monthly test for January, he pointed out the 'outstanding' results of my pupils performance in the English language subject. In his classic cynical way, he tried to 'enlighten' the floor on how giving 'easy' test questions could 'benefit' a subject teacher, in that it could serve as a way to motivate that particular teacher to maintain the 'excellent results' during the actual 'more difficult' UPSR examination that offers an undeniably 'more difficult' questions. He even went further by pointing out how this has been the same scenario for year after year - the English language subject showing quite impressive results during monthly tests but a total disaster when the actual UPSR results hit the school office.

   Sorry to disappoint you, Mr Chairperson, but I don't conduct monthly test on my pupils to impress you or your board of devoted followers. I don't assess my pupils every month because I want to impress anybody. I don't purposefully give 'easy questions' to my pupils because I crave your praises during your so-called curriculum meeting. For your information, those questions are not 'easy questions'. They might be 'easy' for you, but for a classroom of about 30 children who struggle hard for almost an hour just to learn English that is as simple as a 4-word question of 'How old are you?', being able to spell correctly 15 out of 22 words with 10 or more letters is an amazing feat by itself. It might be nothing to you, but to me, it is an accomplishment that has its own value.

   I assess my pupils based on what I teach. Any teacher would understand that. We assess because we want to know how much our pupils have mastered the skills that we have taught them. If we teach them spelling, we need to test them on spelling. If we teach them writing, we test them on writing. When we teach them the topic 'Places', we test them on that topic. We don't test what we haven't taught. And we teach according to our pupils' levels. We don't ask our pupils to write an 80-word composition if they are still struggling to even read and write a single word. Every teacher KNOWS that. Need I say more?

   Most of my pupils come from very unfortunate background, most are very poor and come from broken families. Many of them don't consider education as very important and they have limited if no exposure to the English language. Most of them are also slow learners and have learning difficulties. Although the Year 6 classrooms are occupied by a bunch of 12-year-olds, every teacher in the school knows that most of them are supposed to still be in Year 2 or Year 3. What takes a normal child in other schools one year to learn would require 2 or even 3 years for my pupils to thoroughly master. Our education system makes it 'possible' for our pupils to progress to the next level despite their inability to master the required skills that they are supposed to master in their current level. Hence we will have a handful of Year 6 pupils who still struggle with basic reading and writing skills. Not exactly a proud thing for a teacher in a school to admit, but it's the ugly truth. Honestly speaking, I don't mind working with children like these. I have been teaching here for 5 years now, and despite my sighs and complaints and occasional bad moods (I'm just an ordinary human, okay?), deep inside my heart, my pupils have been nothing but a joy. I enjoy teaching the innocent children, I am proud to be a part of their lives. If throughout my years of serving in this school, I am able to touch even one heart, I am forever grateful to God. If in some small ways I am able to make a difference in a child's life, I am more than grateful. I can die in peace and a smile on my face. But for someone to even suggest that I should deliberately throw UPSR questions as monthly test at my pupils without even attempting to help them with their individual weaknesses first would not only be unfair to the pupils, but for me it is also a mean, wicked, crude and heartless thing to do. It would be like imposing a death sentence to someone who has never been allowed a fair trial.

   Please understand what I am trying to say. I have NOTHING against exam-based programs. Our system forces us to place examination on the highest pedestal, adorns it with crowning glory, and leaves us with no choice but to take our poor, struggling, unfortunate and innocent pupils by the hands and trod painfully with them and alongside them in the hope that they would still have a chance, that we could still give them a chance, that they would not be left behind. If that's what it takes, then so be it. Count me in, I am more than willing to jump on the bandwagon if it could help my pupils. But it should never be an excuse for anybody whomsoever to stop a teacher from sharing skills and imparting knowledge to the children in preparation for the no longer 'exam-based' real world when they grow up and leave school. And if that teacher wants to assess her pupils to find out how much her pupils have mastered the skills she has taught, to analyse her pupils' weaknesses individually and try to help them with mastering the basic skills of reading and writing, who are you to stop her? And even if the monthly test reports for the classes she teaches look somewhat absurd to you, who are you to judge her sincerity?

   Haven't you, being a teacher yourself, ever experienced witnessing the pure joy in a child's face when he looks at his test paper and discovers that he has answered more questions correctly than wrongly? Haven't you felt the satisfaction in your heart, knowing that you have given your pupils something useful and valuable that he can use and apply not only to answer exam questions but more importantly in his life after school? I bet you have never received text messages from some of your former WEAKEST pupils who are now secondary school students, excitedly informing you how they are able to answer the Form 2 English language test because they are still able to remember what you have taught them about Singular and Plural Nouns back when they were still your pupils in primary school. I also doubt that you have ever experienced the proud moment of witnessing your former MOST QUIET pupil representing her current school in the secondary school level Public Speaking competition, knowing in your heart that you have played a part in grooming her, discovering her potentials, polishing her skills, building up her confidence, never denying her the opportunity to learn. I sincerely doubt that you have ever experienced anything like these. Because if you have, we would definitely agree with each other. We would definitely see eye to eye. But we don't, unfortunately.

   Perhaps you don't think much of what I am trying to do, but that don't bother me. As I have mentioned before, I don't do what I do because I want to please you.

   It is easy for someone who just sits down in the comfort of his own private office and merely does an 'analyses' in his laptop computer to make cynical remarks and 'smart' jokes about the monthly test reports in a meeting that gives him every chance to look and sound important. The one who has to face the pupils, who has to struggle to make a fun classroom teaching and learning in a congested, small, hot room with poor lighting and ventilation, who teaches 4 classes of more than a hundred pupils for over 30 hours (hours, not periods) a week, who often has to drive the pupils back to their respective homes after every extra night classes on the lonely path of Kampung Kabog, who sacrifices time and money and energy and precious moments with family and loved ones for the sake of the pupils each and every day, who toils and sweat and shed tears with and for the pupils - is nothing more than the simple, insignificant, often-forgotten, often-ridiculed, often-joked-about, unappreciated and unimportant teacher.

   There. I feel much better now.