Holiday Workshop in KT

TELL2 mentors and recently graduated high school teachers

Don't put your hand up if you're not having fun!

Recently, TELL2 mentors from Jerantut and Kuala Lipis joined the TELL programme project manager for Pahang and Terengganu at a teaching workshop for recent graduates organised by the educational charity Yayasan in Kuala Terengganu. The focus for the day-long workshop was managing students' learning through group work and activities as well as creating English language events to complement the school curriculum. Joshua looked at the interconnection between play and learning, Mark demonstrated some popular games to get children talking in class and Mel led a discussion and workshop on staging school events. As well as working our individual topics, each mentor also contributed questions for Mel's topic review and general knowledge PowerPoint quiz.

Teamwork is everything!

My topics were based on the advantages of peer assisted learning (PAL). Many of the workshop participants were familiar with Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development which explores the space between what students cannot accomplish and what they can. With this in mind, our discussion focused on ways that teachers can help learners to cross over from what they can't do, to what they can do with assistance and finally to what they can do alone. The workshop explored different techniques for 'scaffolding' or supporting pupils through this zone.

The second part of my topic was a kind of show and tell of peer assisted learning events that we have introduced into some of the schools in the Jerantut cluster. Firstly, I wanted to show how school-based English language events can be engineered in such a way that students are not necessarily the 'receptors' while teachers and mentors are always the 'transmitters'. Referring back to Vygotsky's work, we could see how such events, where pupils are expected to take responsibility for each others' learning, were beneficial to all pupils - both receivers and transmitters.

I hope that in 2015, the TELL2 Jerantut cluster teachers who have participated in PAL programmes during 2014 will work with others to help teachers get PAL programmes off the ground in even more schools in the Jerantut cluster.

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Phonics Workshop at Jerantut PPD - Our 1st work as a Cluster

There is a new cluster in town and to get things off to a good start, before the school year came to an end, we did our first bit of teamwork, a Phonics Workshop.  It was a week long workshop run by the Jerantut PPD.  They asked us if we would kindly volunteer to do a section on phonics.  There were teachers from all of the primary schools in the area.  Jinks, Josh and I had some of our TELL2 teachers present but there were also lots of other teachers that joined the workshop.

When some teachers hear the word phonics it can bring up a sense of concern.   Our goal for the workshop was to ease this concern and show the teachers’ phonics is not the scary monster it seems to be.  We wanted teachers to walk away from the workshop with useful and practical information that they can use with their students in the classroom and also for themselves.  Another valuable point we wanted teachers to gain was the realisation of how beneficial group work and activities can be to the process of learning.  We did this by doing a lot of group work and activities with them.  This led to a practical workshop that everyone seemed to enjoy.   

Our key focus areas were:

• The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
• Practical teaching methods
• Phonics activities for the classroom.

Teachers discussing the IPA

The IPA is a useful tool for teachers to use outside of the classroom.  It can give teachers clarity as to how words are pronounced.  We wanted teachers to familiarise themselves with the IPA and for them to see its usefulness in any language.

Having fun with the mouth diagrams.

A practical teaching method we showed the teachers was drawing mouth diagrams to represent the sounds.  These simple diagrams show where the tongue is situated in relation to the teeth and what shapes the lips are in for each sound.  Teachers were then given a chance to draw their own creative diagrams in groups.  They then had to swap with other groups and guess what sound had been drawn.  It was a practical activity for the teachers as it got them thinking how similar sounds are different eg. P and B or F and V.  We all enjoyed drawing hilarious diagrams and trying to guess what sound had been drawn.

Another fun activity we did with the teachers just before we broke for lunch was phonics bingo. Instead of having numbers on the bingo sheet students should write the phonics sounds.  Its a good way to get students to listen carefully as to what sounds are being said plus everybody loves bingo and winning prizes.  As a modification students can even be selected to read out the sound themselves.

To demonstrate phonics activities in the classroom we divided the teachers into groups and gave each group a ball and a container full of phonics sound cards. We then asked them to think of and create fun activities themselves.  The groups then had a chance to share their ideas with everyone. The teachers were extremely creative and almost every group came up with a unique and useful English activity.  We then shared some activities that we had prepared with the teachers. We also showed teachers numerous catchy phonics songs and chants teachers can use for classroom warm ups.  The songs were certainly stuck in my head for a good few days!

By the end of the workshop teachers were no longer is neat classroom rows but scattered in groups.

For Josh and I it was a great opportunity to get to work with Jinks before the year's end and to meet more teachers in the area.  Thank you to all the teachers who attended and participated, we had an incredibly enjoyable and fun day with you and hope we will get to work with you all again next year.  What a good note to end the year off on and we are looking forward to 2015!

Melissa Simon (ELP Jerantut)

A Warm Welcome

There are so many emotions attached to relocating to a new country and workplace.  The mix of adventurous excitement and confidence from past experiences mixes with trepidation from all the unknowns that lie ahead to produce a roiling stew pot of feelings.  Our arrival in Malaysia has been no exception, but it has quickly become apparent that our placement in Jerantut has set us up for success.


Melissa and I have been working as English teachers, trainers, and mentors abroad for the last 5 years.  Our teaching experiences have been in both rural and urban locations around S. Korea which is where we met. We were married in August 2014, and we wanted to begin this new chapter of our lives in a new place... a truly fresh start!

Although we were happy and successful in our jobs in Korea, we felt there was room to do more
when it comes to really raising the English skills of young students.  Putting a native English teacher in a classroom with young learners does provide a great boost to their abilities, but those results are limited by the amount of time we can spend with them.  It was often the case that we would see any particular classroom of students only once a week and for only about 40 minutes per class.   We simply felt that there had to be a better way to utilize our experience and expertise for a greater impact on English education.  In our current roles as TELL mentors we have already seen that in working together with the teachers our energies are focused towards those who really have the most time with and understanding of the individual students, and therefore, makes a much greater impact on the results.  Furthermore, that impact is not limited to how long we stay in Malaysia or to one class of students, but carries on with each Malaysian English teacher long after we are gone.


On top of our belief in the work, we have been so warmly received by all the people we have met here in Jerantut.  Thank you to everyone from the GBs, to the teachers and staff, and especially to Jinks for all of your help and kindness while we have gotten settled.  Thank you for all of the biscuits and cups of coffee/tea in the canteens.  Thank you for all the advice on where and how to find housing, set up utilities, and find random things like our favorite brand of cereal or wifi.  All of you have really made us feel at home here in Jerantut, and as this school year comes to a close we couldn't be more happy with our new town and look forward to working together with all of you in 2015!

Josh Simon (ELP Jerantut)

End of Year Event - Level 2 Quiz

Wrapping up the Year

2014 has galloped by, and now we are at the very end of the school year. Classes are over and teachers are busy organising celebrations and events to mark the end of the year and to keep the students busy and interested right up to the end of the school year.

It has been a good opportunity for me to help out the teachers with activities and also to do something with the Level 2 students. In the larger schools (SK Jerantut Jaya and SJK(C) Sungai Jan) there are a lot of Year 6 students spread over many classes, but in the smaller schools (SKs Pulau Mansok and Kuala Tembeling) it was possible to combine Year 4, 5 and 6 pupils in the one activity.

We have taken an interactive PowerPoint and quiz game into the hall and divided the pupils into five large teams. The teams all compete to get as much information from the PowerPoint in order to be able to ask and answer questions about Malaysia and New Zealand - and points are dished out like candy. There is a lot of interaction with the quiz material and pupils must respond in different ways (asking and answering questions, describing slides, writing notes, listening to different people speaking, and much more) before the actual quiz. The pupils use a lot of English during this activity, and they are also able to display their general knowledge of Malaysia and share experiences of New Zealand. It is also a lot of fun and it can get quite noisy with all the cheering. As well as appealing to different skill-sets and encouraging noise, there is also a bit of running around so the pupils can let of steam between periods of knowledge-focused activity.

There has been so much going on with prize-giving ceremonies and meetings that it has sometimes been a bit difficult to schedule a 2-3 hour event like the PowerPoint Quiz. We managed it at most places, but we will try again in the new year at SK Teh. We can run a fun English medium content-focused event at any of the participating schools in 2015, even if you've already had one. Talk to your mentor!

We now have three mentors in Jerantut; this means that next year is going to be an exciting one for the Year 1, 2 and 3 pupils, but we will also be available for English co-curricular activities with all the Level 2 students.

Thank you for an eventful and satisfying year in 2014, and I'm looking forward to more of the same in 2015,

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Parent / Pupil Assisted Learning at SK Jerantut Jaya

Learning is more fun when we do it together!

The PAL reading project didn't really catch on at SKJJ; large class sizes and a busy school schedule meant that it was difficult to get off the ground. The teachers; however, wanted to incorporate some assisted learning techniques into the children's education, and together we worked on implementing a series of P/PAL activities with Year 2 parents.

For this pilot project at SKJJ, Mr Rahman, head of English panel targeted parents of Year 2 pupils who would be most likely to participate in a shared learning activity with their children. He chose well, because nearly all of the parents who were invited turned up for the event. It was also good to see a lot of dads taking time out to come to school and get involved with their children's learning. The participation rate among parents was very high, and Mr Rahman says he was very encouraged by this. This event will be repeated with the same group of parents and pupils, and the focus will continue to be on working together and having fun, but we will also look at ways we can talk to our children about their day at school in a positive way. Teachers Rohaida and Hasniza are working on a list of questions that parents can use to encourage children to talk about their learning in a way that focuses on the process of learning (their experience), rather than the product (their marks). Rohaida and Hasniza will also provide a BM translation for the questions.

Rahman also reminded me that although some teachers do have specific tasks organising the P/PAL events at SK Jerantut Jaya, I must not forget to mention that ALL the teachers from the English panel were active participants on the day and their contributions were equally valuable - and he's right! The atmosphere at our first P/PAL event was fantastic, and this is largely due to the enthusiasm of ALL the teachers who were involved.

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Everyone had a personal
whiteboard, a marker
and tissue

Learning is FUN!

Not a lot of room - but we made it work.

Learning together

Learning through play

We expected 15 parents
to come, but the
number of parents
attending was far
greater

P/PAL at SJK(C) Sungai Jan

Parent / Pupil Assisted Learning

Teacher Chin and the mentor at SJK(C) Sungai Jan were both keen to explore different assisted learning strategies with the Level 1 pupils. The assisted reading project in the library (see Brighton's PAL Blog) was not a huge success at this school, but that didn't mean that we gave up on the idea of helping pupils to learn through an assisted learning programme of some kind. This was a good opportunity for the mentor to extend the PAL (peer assisted learning) reading project (see earlier blog posts), reach out to parents AND involve teacher expertise. The expert teacher in this case was Mme Chin at SJK(C) Sungai Jan.

The mentor and teacher worked on a series of games and activities that would encourage more parental involvement in their children's learning. The focus for parental involvement was on fun, non-confrontational ways to help the children with their school work / homework in effective and fun ways. We also wanted to look at ways parents can talk to their children about their experiences at school. we focused on turning the topic away from the product (their children's scores) by talking about the learning process (their children's experience at school) instead.

The activities involved parent / pupil pair work with personal whiteboards. Some activities were based on a non-competitive version of the Korean educational Golden Bell TV game show, and others on the popular 'categories' game where parents competed in teams against children. In order to create a more balanced peer-based environment, the pupils were able to take charge and be the experts when the native English-speaking mentor asked questions they were familiar with from their English lessons and the mentor's visits to their classes. On other occasions, the parents were more familiar with some of the arithmetic and general knowledge questions. The parents and pupils worked cooperatively to find answers. 

Another way of introducing fun into parents and pupils working together was by playing a series of 'circle games'. These games involve everyone getting into a circle of some sort; in some versions the blindfolded parents are put inside the circle and they need to find their own chirping child, another version involves passing objects around the circle, secretly, behind our backs while a couple of parent / pupil teams inside the circle try to guess who is holding the objects (in this case, limes) and a final version where parents and pupils face each other in inner and outer circles as they rotate in opposite directions, when the music stops the adult and child practice the questions, and possible answers, that we might exchange when we talk about the pupil's day at school. The teacher and mentor worked on producing a laminated bilingual list of positive questions that parents can ask their children about their learning.

The purpose of these activities is to model the necessity of mistakes in the learning process. No one got mad if it was difficult to guess who was holding a lime behind her back; likewise, it is not necessary to get angry if it is difficult to remember all the words in a spelling test - we just have to try a different approach. We also wanted to model the fun that we can have when we make learning enjoyable. On Mme Chin's recommendation, we made sure the parents understood our learning purpose before and after each activity.

The P/PAL programme at SJK(C) Sungai Jan ran for three 90-minute+ sessions over three weeks, the same parent / pupil pairs attended each session. The teachers chose 25 pairs of participating parent / pupil teams from a variety of Year 1 classes and for a variety of reasons. Some parents were already very involved in their children's learning, and appreciated the involvement, others needed mentoring into the role, others still were involved, but their children's learning was still lacking and it was felt that they could benefit from a change of focus. The programme will be repeated with other groups in the 2015 school year.

Golden Bell

A circle game (mama-cat finding her kittens).

GB helping to cut laminated question cards.

Question cards for parents: talking about the learning experience.

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Listening Texts

I have not come across a lot of pre-recorded listening activities for the Level 1 pupils, but this blog post explains why they are often so bad:
Why listening texts are so bad

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Teacher Professional Development

The Last Official TPD for 2014

The topic was drama in the classroom, and the teachers prepared some warm-up activities based on a drama or story-telling theme. The main activity was Julian's mask-making and re-telling of The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear. Everyone joined in and it was an enjoyable end to 18 hours of professional development workshops over the past eight months at the combined Jerantut and Pulau Mansok clusters on Mondays, and the Bukit Nikmat group on Tuesdays. 

Decorating the mask templates.

Showing off the finished product.

Narrator plus pussycat plus owl.

Re-telling the poem in a group.

 

Everybody had a turn.

Sugar high

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Fun English Classes

Two different Year 2 classes at SJK(C) Sungai Jan

The Year 2 classes at SJK(C) Sungai Jan have been a lot of fun. This week, Tan lee Lee asked all the students to bring in lanterns to add some relevance to the new text book unit they are starting on festivals in Malaysia. There were lots of lanterns and also lots of discussion about holidays, and which ones we like best; the pupils overwhelmingly chose Chinese New Year because of the money gifts they receive, but the upcoming Moon Cake festival was a popular second choice!

A lot of fun.

Lanterns

Meanwhile, Teacher Tan Yit Peng introduced the cat family puppets from the cut out craft section at the back of the pupils' text book. The teacher and mentor joined forces to act out the story of the naughty kittens and their missing mittens, and the children joined in with puppet games of their own.

Pupils making their own puppet show.

Puppetry

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Content-based English lessons

An interview with Khairizani Bt Jantan at SK Tembeling

Talking about content-based teaching

JINKS: The fruit salad activity is in the Year 3 book; have you made a fruit salad with Year 3 pupils before?
KHAIRI: No, never. This was the first time.
JINKS: I know you have done other activities with the class, though. I remember a lesson where pupils wrote their own restaurant menus. They loved that.
KHAIRI: Yes. Before we made the salad, in the previous lesson, I asked them to make a list of things they needed for a fruit salad party. They really enjoyed doing that as well. I also use a lot of activities in the mathematics class. The children like measuring things, and weighing them as well. They really, really enjoy it.
JINKS: How do you control such a lively class?
KHAIRI: They are sometimes quite difficult to control, so for the fruit salad party I put them into groups, quite big groups. I made one person the chef for each group.
JINKS: I noticed that the language focus was also quite strong, even though it was a content-based lesson.
KHAIRI: Yes. The written instructions give structure. They didn't have to write everything down, but some pupils could take notes in their own words. Not everyone could be the chef in the class, so the others say they are going to make a fruit salad at home.
JINKS: They enjoyed it that much!

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Fruit Salad

Making a fruit salad in the Year 3 English class

Teacher Khairi at SK Kuala Tembeling asked all the pupils in her Year 3 English class to each bring in one piece of fruit for Friday's class. The children were very excited about making a fruit salad, and most pupils remembered to bring some fruit. The children were quite difficult to control, but Teacher Khairi is very experienced and she managed to keep them at their tables (more or less!), and focused on the task at hand. More importantly, the teacher managed to keep the language component at the forefront of this fun activity. As well as following the instructions in the Year 3 book, Teacher Khairi also wrote a script on the board. Each table nominated a chef to do the work, and every chef had to perform the instructions while saying aloud what he or she is doing. Everyone wanted to be the chef. After everyone followed the step-by-step instructions, the whole class enjoyed the fruits of their labours by eating the fruit salads.

It was a fun activity, but the language focus was always at the forefront.

Pick me!

This group skipped a step and did not peel the fruit.
When they realised their mistake they went back and fixed it up.

Not all the fruit made it into the salad bowl.

Concentrating on the task at hand

The best part!

Not much left.

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Books for Today's Young Learners

Hello Ruby

Goldilocks teaches children not to wander off into the woods or enter strangers' houses, and Snow White teaches them not to accept fruit from old women in the forest. On a more practical level other children's books teach literacy, numeracy and understanding the world around us. This book by Linda Liukas teaches young children how to write code.

Hello Ruby by Linda Liukas

Check it out. It's fantastic!

Hari Raya Celebrations

At SKs Teh and Kuala Tembeling

Teachers and staff put in a lot of effort to give the pupils a party when they come back to school after the Raya holiday. Here are some pictures from recent school visits.

SK Kuala Tembeling

Children lining up for some Raya treats.

Colouring-in competition for the Level 1 pupils.

Teachers all worked in food booths.

SK Teh

Everybody looks grand in their holiday clothes.

The boys from the silat group pose by the cookies.

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)

Group work at SK Jerantut Jaya

Building Words with Year 1 Pupils at SKJJ

Teacher Faraliza used a series of 'jig-saw' letters in a group work activity designed to engage the pupils in a spelling and vocabulary task. Each group received two alphabet sets and they were just told to make words. Some students in some groups were more focused than others. After ten minutes or so, the mentor wrote the class group names on the board and the teacher told the pupils to write down their words and to try and make more words than the other groups. Now we started to see a lot more engagement from a lot more pupils. We counted up the words each group had made and added the tally to their group name on the chalk board. Next, Teacher Fara told the students they would get points for the longest words they could make; engagement reached a high point as pupils flicked through their books to find long words. The teacher and mentor moved around the groups giving hints ('What day is it today? "Tuesday"? That's a long word, isn't it'. / 'If you add an 's' that makes a new, longer word, doesn't it'). It was interesting to see the children pulling out a wide range of words from their own vocabularies, and watching them make word associations as their friends' suggestions reminded them of other English words they knew.

Team work is more effective when
everyone has a clearly defined role.

Working together is fun.

Some pupils built more than just words.
The teacher and mentor both encouraged
this boy's creativity, even if it was not a
part of the lesson plan.

Some pupils preferred to work alone - and that was OK.

Solo work can produce great results, too.

Stephen-Peter Jinks (ELC Jerantut)