- Gail Godwin

Over the past several years, I have learned various activities, learning theories, teaching styles and strategies that can be used in language classrooms to be an effective teacher. However, in my humble opinion, a good teacher is someone who can engage with her students, rivet their attention and fire their interest and enthusiasm into the lesson. Teaching is a work of heart. Being a teacher is not being up on a pedestal and simply disseminating information to the students. It is an adventure where a teacher presents the opportunity for pupils to learn and grow. In my perspective, the teacher is the most powerful person in the classroom in order to motivate the language learners. The teachers must organize, provide security, motivate, instruct, model, guide, inform, give feedback, encourage and evaluate the language learners. The solution to the problem is that the teachers understand and apply the concepts of classroom techniques and be able to make the learners feel motivated and interested in learning English by using scaffolding strategies and establishing a student-centred classroom.

My philosophy on teaching centres on an active approach as I engage my students in discussions, activities, and higher order thinking skills. I believe all students are capable of learning, thus, I always have high expectations on them. Students’ active and fun roles as learners in my class help them enjoy learning and get excited about English. I believe learning takes place in a positive and safe environment filled with laughter. I believe students will be motivated to learn if teachers employ engaging and fun activities. I hope I can always engage my students by introducing fresh and interesting ideas, by creating opportunities where they take active role in the class activities, and by maximizing each student’s participation and contribution.

I also feel that an effective teacher should be aware that students in a classroom has multiple intelligences and do not learn in the same way. I am not surprised that more often than not, teachers choose just one style of teaching since it saves a lot of their preparation time. However, my goal is to conduct my lessons using a few styles, for example, direct instruction, collaborative learning and inquiry learning. Obviously, a teacher cannot reach every student on the same level during one lesson, but implementing a variety of learning styles and teaching aids throughout the lesson allows all the students to have the chance to learn in at least one way that matches their learning style.

According to the Constructivist Learning Theory, learning is an active process of creating meaning from different experiences. In other words, students will learn best by trying to make sense of something on their own with the teacher as a guide to help them along the way. This means that a teacher cannot “pour” information into a pupil’s brain and always expect them to process it and apply it correctly later. It is in fact important to encourage students’ critical thinking and inquiry by asking them thoughtful, open-ended questions, and even get them to ask questions to each other. I believe that teachers who advocate the Constructivist Learning Theory in their teaching are designers of students’ abilities.

In terms of classroom management, I establish appropriate steps to enhance positive behaviour in the classroom. In actual fact, a classroom is a mini-community and this community cannot function well without a set of rules to guide it. To some, all this may seem trivial and they have the tendency to neglect the rule-setting right from the beginning. Rules can be classified around three main types: class-running rules, lesson-running rules and interaction rules (Leinhardt, Weidman & Hammond, 1987). In my classroom, I take the initiative to design a set of rules and routines for students’ good conduct in the classroom. The class control is good even without imposing rigid and inflexible rules.

I believe that education is a lifelong process. To educate is to be better educated; it is a circular process that improves with time. I know that there is no learning better than through personal experience, and I do expect to learn a lot from the classes I have taken and am yet to take. In short, I could say that my goal in the teaching field is to give my students all I can in the classroom and become their inspiration to learn English. To end, here is a quote that my lecturer from Institut Pendidikan Guru Malaysia, Kampus Pulau Pinang used to toss around: “Those who can, do. Those who care, teach.”

- A personal reflection shared by Dalwinder Kaur d/o Jaswant Singh

If you have interesting experience or other useful tips or articles to share , feel free to email us at teslmalaysia@gmail.com

In was not long ago, one student came to me during the first week of class and asked this question “Teacher, why you no teach grammar?”. It’s pretty hard for me to justify my teaching methodology to her, so I answered “Well, you are learning it every second in my classes“. Not convinced, she showed me a thick book on English grammar and asked me to check the exercises that she did after class. I checked for her but told her that it’s good to do exercises but there is limited room for improvement if she does not practise those “rules” in context. She was still a bit pessimistic since in her country, everything needs to be memorised and the learning environment is rigid.

However, after spending several weeks with me, she noted improvements in her use of the language, particularly in speaking and writing. The same with other students. To me, while it is possible to highlight the sets of English grammar rules (e.g. the difference between adjectives and adverbs), it is always good to embed them according to skills and context. In teaching the students how to write a specific academic genre, for instance, students are explicitly told to focus on certain sets of language features salient in that genre. This is better than forcing them to do pages and pages of grammar exercises without knowing its proper use in context. The same with vocabulary. Highlighting list of words commonly used for a context helps students to practise them properly. Of course, it can always be mixed-and-matched with other activities in the classroom in order to engage the learners.

A lot of patience is needed when teaching beginning learners, particularly when the motivation to learn is low and they come from diverse countries. I am deeply humbled by some of their comments upon completing the intensive course with me, not their “thank you” or compliments, but the way they convert their thoughts into comprehensible English sentences when talking to me by the end of the course. Some may not be sufficiently ready for undergraduate studies but they have improved from perhaps a level of Primary 3 English to Form 3. They just need more time and hard work.

“Y U NO Teach Grammar” or not, U Cannot Give Up on Them!

Well, I think many of you out there may have similar experience, and I would love to hear your stories too.

]]> http://www.teslmalaysia.com/teacher-y-u-no-teach-grammar/feed 6 http://www.teslmalaysia.com/palabea-free-social-network-for-language-learning http://www.teslmalaysia.com/palabea-free-social-network-for-language-learning#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:42:57 +0000 TESLMalaysia Admin http://www.teslmalaysia.com/?p=631 [...]]]> Palabea is not just a social network to make friends. It is an online platform for language learning via its virtual classrooms. Users can find friends and interact with them through several ways e.g. engage in audio or video conferencings, receive video or podcast lessons or even record their own videos and upload them online. Palabea proudly claim that they have invited only accredited education institutions to develop partnerships with them in order to ensure high-quality learning contest.

It offers a fresh and fun environment to learn a language (English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, you name it!). The interface is very attractive and this website would serve as a good platform for novice learners.

Instead of spending hours on Facebook, students can also sign up on Palabea and start learning the language more. You can take a quick tour of Palabea via this page.

• Academic Voice
• Scholarly Citations
• Precise Descriptions
• In-depth Elaborations
• Reduce clichés/redundancies
• Effective Structure

You can also download the slides from My SlideShare Page

With English becoming the predominant method of communicating business terms in every country, most TESL programs are focused on getting the basics in and letting the students find the best ways to use the language. While it is important to learn the fundamentals, students also need to learn how to think in English in an abstract manner. With its rigid rules, verb tenses, idioms, exceptions, and immense vocabulary, communicating in English in a human way is a difficult concept for foreign speakers to grasp.

In the US, a non-profit center called 826 is opening locations across the country in mostly Latino neighborhoods. Because their parents can’t speak English well, they can send their children to the centers in order to get creative tutoring and help with homework. These centers stress the importance of viewing creative writing as an expression of feelings and try to distance themselves from traditional tutoring services.

The idea of teaching English in Malaysia is not up for debate anymore, but is a staunch reality that needs to be better implemented. By learning more of the core concepts and getting a feel for the depth of the knowledge, future generations will fare much better in all fields. According to an opinion article on New Straits Times, English should be seen as an upward mobility and development tool which gives access to greater things.

While it may be easy to learn and practice in the maths and sciences with a rudimentary and structured understanding of English, it will be harder for professionals to communicate ideas with English speaking co-workers and give presentations with fluidity. Learning how to think creatively will also give students the skills needed to explore ideas off the beaten path; a major skill the big tech companies are looking for in new hires.

If college graduates reach the workplace without knowing how to express themselves, they could face stagnant wages, a lack of promotion opportunities, and even a lack of respect from coworkers. Those who can take the English language and manipulate its inner workings will be the ones to succeed in an extremely competitive job market.

Her video can be used in your classes in order to inspire your  students to speak up, especially when the topic is related to the environment.

More about Severn Suzuki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Cullis-Suzuki

Before that, read the following terms and conditions:

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• This contest is open to all Malaysians age 15 years old and above.
• TESLMalaysia admin team members are not allowed to participate.
• You must Like our Facebook Page in order to qualify.
• This contest runs from 9 September 2011 to 9 October 2011 (ends at 11.59p.m., GMT+8)
• The winners will be announced on 20 October 2011.
• You can submit a maximum of 3 entries per person.
• Your entries must be original.
• You also agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, threatening, sexually-orientated or any other material that may violate any applicable laws.
• The entries will be judged by TESLMalaysia’s appointed judges (consisting 4 lecturers from local universities).
• The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence in regard of the decision will be entertained.

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

The Winners

After receiving more than 350 entries, here are the lucky winners!! The winners are chosen by our selected judges and their decision is final. An interesting note is that the word “home” is the most popular word, followed by “beautiful” and “harmony”. Of course selecting the word is one thing, but the description or explanation given is the decisive factor. Anyway congratulations to all winners and thank you all for participating. We’ll have another round of contest coming in January 2012! Watch out!

The Changes

Paper 1

Section A
Graphics/Stimuli
(short texts, charts, notices)
10 questions

Section B
Relational Cloze
10 questions

Section C
Closest in Meaning
6 questions

Section D
Comprehension
•    non-linear (1 text) – 6 questions
•    Linear (1 text – factual, narrative, etc) – 8 questions

Total: 40 questions (1 mark for each question)

Paper 2

Section A
Guided composition (non-linear and/or linear)
1 question – 25 marks

Section B
Literature components
•    Poems – open-ended questions (2 questions – 3 marks)
•    Novel – open response with textual evidence (1 question – 12 marks)

Section C
Summary writing
1 question – 10 marks

Total questions: 5
Total marks: 50

The New Format in Full

PMR English Language New Format 2012

[notification type="info"] Your views teachers?? [/notification]

Of course, hopefully your students do not attempt what Calvin is doing as shown in the comic strip below. Haha.

 The Worksheet

You can download the worksheet here.

This game can be used as part of a game-based lesson or simply introduce it to the students to play it at home.

Note: The introduction part of the game can be quite lengthy.