SJKC Jinjang Tengah 2 English Jamboree

The English Jamboree at SJKC Tengah 2 has become an annual event, this third year running. It is an opportunity for me to give back to the community, an urban an Chinese school serving a population where many the students are economically disadvantaged. Huge hollers of thanks for the GB Pn. Lim Swee Lean and Mr Tiong Giong Hock (Sentul Education Dept), who have cordially hosted and arranged the event. The event occurred on the 27th - 28th of June. The event was designed for multiple sessions with students from Year 1 - Year 6 and for teachers on the Thursday afternoon.

The first session on Wednesday was Phonics based program for Year 1- 3 students. This session was more of stage setting session for Thursday. The marvellous English teachers (T. AB, T. Kwan, and T. Jesshan) at SJKC JT2 had done a fine job teaching the students the sounds of the alphabet. We reviewed by watching some Alphablocks and I began teaching the actions related to the sounds. We also practiced CVC words with CVC penguins and learned Magic 'e' and played an interactive Magic 'e' game. We introduced R-controlled words via the Bossy 'R' Farm.

The second session was for students Year 4 -6. The primary target was grammar and writing skills. In this session, we reviewed the Parts of Speech Boot Camp, played Walking Punctation Marks, and we played Parts of Speech Uno. Much to my amazement, the teachers had saved the cards for the previous year, moreover, the students were keen to play again.

On Thursday morning, when I met the Year 2 -3 students, I was feeling a bit guilty from the previous day. There first session had lots of instruction, but it was necessary to learn before we play. Games are not a substitute for learning, instead they enrich and encourage to students to apply in a competitive low-stakes fun environment. When I told the students that it was going to be game only day, the room bursted out in cheer. We played Word & Pics CVC game, CVC action races, Magic 'e' game, and 4 Corners Parts of Speech.

In the second session with Year 5-6 students, we completed a review of UPSR Paper 2 Section C. With the work completed, it was game time. We played Parts of Speech Cooties, The Dice Game, Jeopardy, and more. The students were charged an applying skills they had learned and reviewed form the previous session.

On Thursday afternoon, there was a teacher training session. This was an assortment of awesome teachers from neighboring schools who attended. It was based on evaluation versus assessment, how to write formative feedback, the trend of differentiated learning, and the merits of Game-Based Learning and Gamification. The theme was Students First. Following the theory, it was time to play some games. Teachers made Parts of Speech Cooties Catcher, Parts of Speech Uno, and the The Dice Game.

'We make a living by what we get, but we make life by what we give.' -Winston Churchill