Week 7

Hi everyone……..meet you again in the seventh week entry. Anyway, this week entry going to be a short one as there is not much has been focused or learnt throughout the 3 hours lesson.

MODULE....MODULE....MODULE....

I’m sure all of you are familiar with the above phrase. Yes, this week we just spent the whole session by just continued doing our FIRST MODULE.

OMG….now comes in the third heart attack.

Do you want to know the reason behind it? Let’s have a flashback on week 6.

WEEK 6

Pn. Foziah: The date due for the submission of this FIRST MODULE is 2 weeks from now which is on MONDAY (30^th AUGUST 2010. Everyone should submit it on time and the late submission or submission with empty content and empty CD will be penalized.

OMG…. Am I able to complete the THICK MODULE (about 500 pages) within the time limit? (This is what I thought when Pn.Foziah mentioned about the date due.)

Anyway, I tried my level best to complete about 60% of the tasks given within the 7 day which is by Monday. However, this week Pn.Foziah has changed the date due of the submission which is on 26^th August 2010. The particular change has been done as she will be not available on the 30^th August 2010 due to her personal matter.

Everyone looked blur as they are still a lot of tutorials to be covered. BUT, the only answer that we have received from her was “submit the MODULE on the 26^th August 2010. You try to help me and I will help you back.”

REMINDER for myself: Today’s onwards I should focus on completing the MODULE by Thursday. The 24 hours for the three days onwards are allocated for resources. Hahaha…

During the particular lesson, we I also given the change to ask questions if we have any problems or confusion in completing the MODULE. Since I have a few questions to be cleared; so, I made full use of the session by asking certain questions regarding the MODULE and it also was really helped me to get clear view on certain elements like “What we should if the steps mentioned in the MODULE do not work?”, “Am I allowed to change the step in slides if the steps in the MODULE are different from mine?” and so on.

WAIT!!! Now, comes in the good news part. Since, there are some changes in the process of compiling of the module as well as due to certain considerations; thus, the date due has been changed once again which is to 1^st September 2010. Fuyoo….hope this time around, we are able to complete it successfully before the date due.

Meet you again in the next entry…BYE……

week 6

Hi everyone, meet you again in the sixth entry of this blog. Do you all eager to know about this week’s lesson?

Ok, this is the week where the first module for this course comes in. The only thing that crossed into my mind was “Honeymoon weeks in Universiti Malaya are already finished and now come in the assignment week where I should focus on completing it”.

HONEYMOON

ASSIGNMENT

However, I was stuck for a minute when I saw the FIRST MODULE. Friends, don’t be shocked or surprised when heard about the number of the pages of FIRST MODULE. For your information it is ONLY about 500 PAGES. And do you want to know about the date due of the FIRST MODULE?

The date due of the FIRST MODULE is 30 August 2010(which is only about 2 weeks’ time from today)

MODULE

Now the second part of the shock or surprise (feelings) comes in. When, Pn Foziah said that it should be submitted by 30 August 2010, I thought OMG….. Am I able to complete it on time? And the only thing that appeared in my mind was “Visva, you need to work REALLY.. REALLY.. hard and sacrifice everything in order to complete before the date due. It also reminded me on Pn Foziah’s words on the week 1 where she said that “Once the five modules come in you really have to think about it every time including when you are in eating, bathing, sleeping and even in toilet”.

Yes, it is true. In order to complete the FIRST MODULE on time, I think we only should think about “RESOURCES and MODULES” for the next 2 weeks. Simple say, the 24 hours given is only for completing the FIRST MODULE. (Hahaha…..Although there are a lot of task to be completed)

24 HOURS

After distributed the FIRST MODULE and gave enough explanation on it, Pn Foziah let us continue do the module. Anyway, when I was working with MODULE; I felt that it was quite interesting to do it since we just have to copy everything in the module into PowerPoint slides and the steps are clearly given in the MODULE. Apart from that, I also would say that the MODULE could be an effective tool in helping me to become a techno-savvy. This is because, if we look through the whole MODULE, we can notice that all the steps for download certain software, converting certain files, searching for certain things through internet and so on are explained very clearly and precisely with simple language. Therefore, I think that the FIRST MODULE is a valuable device for an individual including me to update and master myself with current technology development.

Overall, I would say that now I am really motivated to complete the MODULE soon (before the date due). Hope, I can complete it on time and it also may truly help me to gain more knowledge on technology.

Week 5

Are we going to continue with the 2^nd chapter from the book entitled “Teaching English in the Primary Classroom”?


If yes, I’m ready to discuss on the subtopic which will be given to my group. Hope the topic is interesting as the previous week.

This is what I thought before entering the MK2 for the class “Using and Developing Resources in ESL classroom”

However, today’s class was totally different from the previous weeks where today the lesson was mainly focused on “Teaching aids”. Before moving into the topic, Pn Foziah asked us to find our own pairs with a condition that the pairs should contain both genders. At the beginning, I thought that it was purposely done with the aim to make both genders work together. However, after listening to her explanation; I felt ashamed as she said that girls’ works for any task are more commendable compared to the boys. Thus, my determination here for the perception is “try my level best to change the view by proving that boy are equally talented to the girls in any tasks”. Hope, we the boy will perform our level best to recover our image as the boys.

In pair, we were divided with 3 topics; where each pairs is required to search for as many as teaching aids that are appropriate to be used for particular year and topic. So, my pair and I were asked to search for teaching aids on the topics “My Family (year 1)”, “Making a Robort (year 2) and “Once Upon a Time (year 3)”. Once I have given the task to look for, there are a few questions were crossed into my mind such as “Do we have to look for teaching aids that only related to technology?” and “Do we have to look for teaching aids for all stages including set induction and closure?”. Since everyone is looked blur, thus Pn.Foziah did explain us about the framework of the task and she also gave a few examples (criteria) to be concerned while search for teaching aids such as “the reasons why we choose the teaching aids” and “why we choose the teaching aids for the particular stage?” which should be added in the table later.

MY FAMILY

MAKING A ROBORT

ONCE UPON A TIME

Now comes in the task to be completed. Since everyone is clear with the task, Pn Foziah gave us about an hour to surf internet and find suitable teaching aids that are appropriate to be used with the topics given. Overall, the process of searching for effective teaching aids for the primary school children awared us on what are the criteria to be concerned while looking for a teaching aids to be used in a teaching and learning classroom. Now, I realized that choosing a teaching aid is not easy as there are actually more tiny things to be concerned in order to use it effectively in a teaching classroom. For example, if we planned to flash pictures through LCD, we should make sure the pictures are big enough for the pupils even who are sitting far at the back can see it clearly. Apart from the size, we also must choose pictures which are colouful and attractive. This is because, colourful and attractive pictures are actually helpful to arouse pupils’ interest into a lesson. Moreover, we also must take into consideration that teaching aids should suite with all kinds of learners such as visual, audio and kinesthetic. Meanwhile, choosing teaching aids that only suit one kind of learners may result the other learners feel bored to the lesson. Furthermore, there are also a few criteria to be concerned in creating own PowerPoint slides. As a future teacher we should aware that the words use in the slides should be big enough for everybody to see it clearly. Moreover, the colour used for the words also plays a vital role. For example, choosing dull or light colours may cause the pupils face difficulties in reading the text. Thus, I feel that it could be effective if the teacher uses dark or bright colours which are helpful for the pupils to read the text easily.

TEACHING AIDS

Smartboard

PowerPoint Slides

PICTURE CARDS

FLASHCARDS

Overall, I have learnt a lot about the criteria to be concerned in choosing effective teaching aids for a teaching and learning classroom. Hope in the future, I will concern about all the criteria mentioned when searching for teaching aids to be used in the classroom later.

week 4

Today the lesson continued with the third group presentation on the subtopic entitled “Children’s Ability to Grasp Meaning”.
Anyway, the particular presentation well began with the definition of the phrase and continued on teacher’s role in helping pupils to grasp meaning. After listening to the presentation, I understand that pupils begin to learn a language from what is being said before they are trying to understand the individual words of the language. Non verbal communication such as intonation, gesture, facial expressions, actions and circumferences are the most basic elements in helping pupils to understand a language. Explaining about the topic, the group members also explained that pupils are not born with “blank slates”; meanwhile there is inner knowledge called Universal Grammar (UG) is actually develop in their mind since they born. Now, comes in the teachers’ role to activate it. Teachers are the most responsible who should provide a lot of clues and guidance in helping them to activate the UG.


The fourth group presentation focused on "Children’s Instinct for Play and Fun". The presentation helps me to realize that pupils between 7-12 years old are still young and they prefer to play and have fun rather than studying. Since, they are still in the “kids world”, thus, it could be better if the teacher integrate the elements of fun into the lesson. For example, introducing language games such as “hangman”,” spelling Bee” and “maze” will create fun situations that encourage the pupils to be actively participated in the lesson. Although the pupils may only enjoy playing the game but indirectly or unconsciously they are learning the language.


Then, the lesson continued with the fifth group presentation on “Children’s Creative use of Limited Language Resources”. The general idea of the particular topic is children are creative in grammatical forms and concept. Talking about the above phrase, I realized that pupils are actually quite creative in creating words by analogy or they even invent completely new words which then come into the family vocabulary. For example, children may said “don’t unring” when they wanted to tell a telephone caller to wait. Although the phrase is grammatically wrong but they try use the particular phrase in order to create the meaning that they needed. As they are still in the learning process, such problem can be reduced in the future through teachers’ effective guidance.

The last presentation which is on “The Role of Imagination” was presented by Nizam’s group. After listening to the presentation, now I know that pupils’ are really imaginative and making sense of the world about them. For example, if they are given a chance to draw any picture, some may come out with their own versions of their world through fantasy and imagination. Some may draw human beings with square shape faces, three angle eyes, round legs and so on. Even though, its look silly from the adults view but it can be used effectively in a teaching and learning classroom. For example, teacher can teach them on shapes using the particular picture. Therefore, I realized that encouraging pupils to the imaginative world it actually one way to lead them to learn something in a fun way.

Wait!!! The lesson did not stop until that. After all the group have presented their power point slides, Pn Foziah also gave us some tasks to be completed by next lesson where we were required to download the song entitle “Waka Waka” by Shakira in mp3 and mp4 format as well as the lyrics of the song. Besides that, we were also required to prepare power point slides explaining about the steps of downloading the mp3, mp4 file as well the lyrics of the song. Before I forget, at the end of the lesson; we also have been exposed to Moyea software which is a effective tool for downloading big files in a few seconds.


Is it true? If you want to know the truth, try to download the software and explore it. Anyway, now I’m going to explore it…… bye…..