SJkC Jinjang 1 & 2 English-o-rama

It was a warm welcome back to the friendly confines of SJKC Jingjang. I was greeted by the dynamic duo Puan Lim (GB SJKCJ2) and Mr. Tiong (SED). The crack English teaching squad of SJKCJ2 and I got reacquainted. Note to mention Teacher AB who I hadn't seen in a year. That's right, you read correctly, there 2 ABs in the house for this English Event. The students, about 85 mixed ability Year 6 students, were charged.

After a brief intro, the game was afoot. We started with one of my fave questions, "Is easy English easy to learn?" I was able to elicit genuine responses and the majority felt English was difficult to learn. Since the crowd was diagnosed, it was time for so motivational English meds (non-pharma, of course). A quick survey determined the almost of the students knew how to play ping pong. Therefore, we watched Ibrahim Hamadtou inspires us by playing ping pong without any arms. The questioned was posed to the crowd, "Is it easier to learn English or play ping pong without arms?" They unanimously agreed learning English is easy. The entire crowd was tuned up with the  "Yes, I can" attitude.

Our object was to review grammar and make it fun. It is important to note, games are a tool of enrichment, not a substitute for teaching. The students watched Schoolhouse Rock videos on nouns, verbs, adjectives and verbs. After each parts of speech, the students were given 2 minutes to make a list of the nouns, verbs and adjectives.

Next, we shifted gears and learned how to write with sentence variety. Students reviewed terms: simple, compound and complex sentences. Students learned FANBOYS and successfully completed simple and compound sentence scramble tasks. Next, we played round of Judge Jody to discern complete from incomplete sentences. The group's grammar proficiency and confidence was growing.

In the afternoon session we quickly turned our focus on apostrophes. We reviewed terms of contractions and possessives. Students cheerfully played a round on of Cracking Down On Possession. In pairs, they completed a worksheet on apostrophes. Afterwards, students rotated in pairs around the room on 32 Apostrophe tasks cards stations.

The final session was amped up. The students had been primed with review from the day before. Students played a few rounds of living sentences to practice sentence structure. They were thrilled with Parts of Speech Uno. The teachers marveled over the enthusiasm of the crowd. They played in groups of 6 and had many opportunities to apply the parts of speech. It was going to be hard to top the last activity, but the finale was power packed. We went outside and played a few rounds of Parts of Speech Vocabulary Water Balloon Toss. It was big splash and a perfect end to some dynamic English days.

AB and AB

SJKC Jinjang2 Teacher Training

It was a Tuesday afternoon on the 12th of July. SJKC English teachers from all over Kuala Lumpur started to pour into the 3rd Floor Training room at SJKC Jinjang2. There were over 100 teachers representing approximately 24/42 of the SJKC schools in Kuala Lumpur. The teachers were interested in blended education and best practices. The event was arranged by the prolifically productive pair, Puan Lim, the principal of SJKCJ2, and Mr. Tiong from the Sentul Education Dept. 

The event started with a short video about learning English in China and how English is the hot and trendy topic in the entire region. Teachers were reminded how they are in the right place at the right time. We jumped into a quick demo of Frog E-bahan. Teachers were introduced to the large cache of phonics friendly and KSSR relevant teaching materials. We demonstrated Sam the Snake (S,A,T, P) for the lower primary teachers. We previewed Looking For Gold for the upper primary teachers. Teachers were intrigued about the pertinent nature of E-bahan.

I selected a few apps to demonstrate to gung-ho group of teachers. I’m still evolving my technique present apps during training. Teachers were exposed to Grasshopper Apps: Sight Words Ninja and Comparative Adjectives. We also looked at Alligator Apps Action words. These are digital savvy ways to connect the student to learning English beyond the classroom. Since mobile phones are ubiquitous feature of modern life, it is a desirable medium for continued English language learning. 

As form of best practices we reviewed the Dynamic English Days program. The feedback from the teachers and students was so good we decided to showcase. It is always important to review a concept that has been previously taught before playing games. 

Games are not meant to teach concept, their purpose is to enrich concepts. We went play by play through the event and occasionally Mr. Tiong or one of the teachers would weigh in. It was no surprise, Parts of The Speech Uno was the most popular. All the resources presented were shared with the teachers via google drive or pen drives.

I also shared my renewed enthusiasm with systematic phonics with lower primary teachers. I told them how I have been teaching online with English language learners (Ell) in China. How I have witnesses the magic of true beginners to become beginner readers in less than 3 months via systematic phonics. The teachers were reassured systematic phonics is not a perfect system, but it is the most effective system for literacy. It is not a theory, it is a fact supported by volumes of evidence. 

The teachers were introduced to a few of my favorite phonics websites as an additional resource. I could lot of support and love form Puan Lim's Dream Team of Teachers. All the teachers from the various schools shared a mutuality mindset and were poised to do more blending. You might be aware of a'bad hair' day, well I had a wonderful 'bad turban' day, lol.

An Amazing English Day Camp, SMK Taman Kosas

On Saturday, July 8th, a sunny morning, SMK Taman Kosas had an Amazing English Day. The event was generously hosted by YPC International College. There were 82 Form 3 & Form 5 students participating. The cheerful students were divided into 8 competitive teams of mix abilities by grade. There was 8 Teachers in training (the majority were alumni of SMK Taman Kosas) from University of Selangor who did a super job mentoring their respective teams. There were many teachers from the school who made fine contributions for the event’s success. Kudos to Mr. K. Letchumanan (Head of Department), the catalyst and kingpin of the event, whose efforts and sacrifices made the whole thing possible.

The event started on time at 8:30 am, the students were seated in 8 groups according to their team affiliation. The students made circles of 8 and each received a sticky note with a different nouns, verbs or adjectives written on it. It was then stuck on the face not visible to the subject, but visible to their peers. This speaking exercise allowed the students to take turns asking their peers what word was stuck to them with a soft 20 questions limit. Students had a fun trying to guess the various vocabulary words.

The students were surveyed by a show of hands whether they thought English was difficult or easy? The crowd was split between the 2 views. We watched a short video about a professional ping pong player who has no arms and plays with his mouth. He repeats a motto of “nothing is impossible” and projects an attitude of gratefulness. The students then were asked, “Is it more difficult to play ping pong without arms or learn English?” The group unanimously decided learning English is easier and nothing is impossible.

Buy-In from the students was achieved and a healthy learning environment was established. The Students learned from a module known as Master Pone- Using Quotations Marks In Dialogue. There were tasks throughout the module related to three methods of writing dialogue, Students also learned how to distinguish paraphrase from dialogue. After they all developed the grammar capacity, they played a game based on quotations between 8 teams as an enrichment activity. The school provided tasty refreshments on the break for the students. 

Students watched a short video followed by a small group speaking task on The Importance of Finishing High School. The students listed and ranked the important points, then each group shared their most important point collectively. It was a reflective activity aimed at motivating the students to continue their education. 

The next activity began with Students being reminded that one of the stations in the afternoon is based on an infographic poster. Students were given a quick lesson and demo on making an infographic poster. The source of their data would be The Giving Tree, a short video they watched. Before viewing, they predicted the plot of the story in small groups. The mood turned a little somber about midway in the movie when the plot thickened. Students were given an individual 5 sentence story summary writing activity to guide them for station B. The students broke up into groups for a guided discussion on plot and characters. They were seemingly moved by the emotional story. In the afternoon, they went on to make very colourful and creative infographic posters. 

Then we embarked on a Sentence Variety journey. Judge Judy was the module students learned simple, compound and complex sentences. We collectively played a game of Fragment or Not? You Be the Judge. Then the students had a compound sentences task using FANBOYS competition between the 8 groups. There were prizes given to the various teams during the closing ceremony based on team’s rank from accumulation of points throughout the days activities involving the 8 mixed-ability groups. The mood perked up during this activity and continued to crest all the way to the finale. The school provided a delicious lunch for the students.

The afternoon session began with a short video by Kid President. He impacted the students with his US brand of motivation, The Everyday Hero. The students discussed everyday heroes in their lives in a small group discussion format. The students also were asked to make their own superhero name. 

The climax of the event was the 4 stations activity. The students combined groups to be divvied into 4 equal groups. Station A was a writing and reading activity based on madlibs and using parts of speech properly. Station B was making infographic posters based on the data from the Giving Tree. Students were reminded of earlier exercises as a source to organise their data for their posters. The students were very artistic and they had fun making their creations. Station C was The Living Sentence Game. Students had to unscramble sentences (some using dialogue), with one word or punctuation mark per card. They had to race against another team of students who had the same sentence, First group to arrange themselves properly one. Station D was my signature Parts of Speech Vocabulary Ballon Toss. The stations went well, but they creeped slightly over the time limit. 

The students recollected in the lecture hall for the closing activity. Lyrics to We Are The World by the Berlin Children’s Philharmonic were distributed. The fact that the Berlin children’s second language is English was highlighted. The students watched the Berlin rendition once and sang along joyously 2 times. A thoughtful closing ceremony concluded the days festivities. It was a wonderful bunch of students, assistants and teachers who had an Amazing English Day!

Happy Teachers Day 2017

Fun with Phonics in Putrajaya Part 1

It was an overcast morning at Perpustakaan Pusat Komunity in Putra Jaya. A big shout of thanks to Kakngah Shila for organizing the event to bring 21st Century Teaching techniques to the homeschool and kindergarten communities.  The event was 10 am - 4pm on Saturday, the 11th of March. We had a delightful group of 14 educators present.

The event started with the History of English in 10 minutes. This led to the discussion of the dynamics of the language coupled with in the 1700s the attempt to code the language for the first dictionary. It is that very code that was created hundreds of years ago that phonics leverages into literacy.

We started the day by introducing the group to their new gang of friends ... Alphablocks. We began immediately learning the sounds and actions of the 26 letters. Phonics is the system based on the 44 sounds those letters and letter combinations can produce. There was some giggles from the group as we proceeded. It was long before they were given a CVC word and they had to use actions while the rest of the group guesses the sounds and blend them into words.

It led to a discussion on how to segment and blend words. We all practiced segmenting and blending some short vowel a words. Then the educators all took turns showing off their new skills.

It was near this juncture, the group decided to slow the ambitious tempo down and to make another part 2 session at a later date (13/5). This freed us from the speed racer pace. It allowed us to delve deeper into the next topic, CVC words.

CVC words are like the atoms in a molecule. They are integral part of the phonics code. We spent time refining our short vowel sounds. We did many tasks  involving CVC words. It was lunchtime, time flies fast when you are having fun.

After the break, we watched a comical reminder of the importance of phonics and pronunciation with a funny Thai video about an English classroom. One of the educators shared a story about how their daughter faced a similar situation in her own classroom. It was time to introduce consonant blends and digraphs. We had a fun flashcard team-based game. There was lots of competitive spirit between the two teams as they applied their affinity towards consonant blends.

We continued our march on the phonics trail with diphthongs. These two vowel combinations produce a long vowel sound. We then played a round of diphthong bingo to drive the lesson home. It was a highly productive day with a group of hard charing educators. Since the training took place, one of the teachers has already incorporated phonics into her lessons and says the kids are loving it. Another educator said that her youngest was already picking up sounds she was teaching the other children. It was a smashing success, the code busting family continues to grow. Dynamite!

Phonics-Toon Cam and Sam Part 1

Cam and Sam Part 1 is a short vowel 'a' story with sight words. It is aimed to be consumed by the digital generation. You can read the printable version below or

click on this link for the toon

Brief Summary of IMELT Conference

The journey began with my flight to KL being delayed which caused me to miss my connecting flight. The Airlines arranged for me to spend the night at hotel inside the airport, past the check-in and customs, and put me on the morning flight. I arrived in Jakarta and made it on time for the opening ceremonies of the conference. It was held at Universitas Islam Syarif Hidyatullah (UIN) from 3/16-18. It was a collaboration between UIN and Universiti Putra Malaysia. The theme was Breaking Borders, Enriching ELT Experience.

It was a lovely event who was staffed by some outstanding volunteers (students).  They had plenaries and breakout sessions they called parallels. There were many participants from far flung corners of Indonesia on some islands I've never heard before. No surprise considering the Indonesian Archipelago has 18, 307 islands. It has the fourth largest population in the word. It also is home to the worlds most populated island in the world... Jawa. Half of the countries population calls Jawa home. The Jakarta  metro area is the 3rd largest in the world with over 30 million people. You can only imagine the crawl of traffic at times throughout the day.

The opening ceremony had some speakers high ranking people from the two collaborating universities and a minister of a governmental department. They mentioned there has been 60 years of cooperation between the academic communities of Malaysia and Indonesia; however, this was the first conference on English. At the moment 80% of the public universities of Malaysia are involved in IMELT. It was mentioned the shared history between the two nations, prior to them becoming nations. The Melaka Sultanate was formed by a prince from the ancient Srivijaya (Jawa and Sumatra) civilization. Many of the current royal families in Malaysia can trace their roots to Jawa.

Although the two languages (Bahasa Malaysia & Indonesia) share some words, they are divergent. Bahasa Indonesia has a stronger Arabic influence than Bahasa Malaysia, Arabic is its number one source of share words. The separate colonial occupations of the British & the Dutch contributed to more divergence. The historical shadow of the Dutch is the cause of the biggest challenge facing English language learning in Indonesia. Unlike Malaysia, where English is an official second language, Indonesia considers English as a foreign language. This impacts the prioritisation of funds and influence English learning faces from a national to a local level. Although in the job market, English speaking skills are highly desirable.

The conference was power packed. I learned lots of new things and met some new compadres. Most of the breakout sessions were dissertations of papers educators wrote and presented. A sample of some of the sessions I went to was Teacher Education: Preparation or Preparedness?, Text Driven Approaches to Text-Based Learning, Gender and Foreign Language Learning and Developing Effective Professional Program Based Teacher on Educational Effective Research.

I had a parallel session on Friday and a plenary on Saturday. The 25 minute session was on the Qualities of a 21st Century Teacher. A good question from one of the participants was how to handle a co-worker who does not want to update skills. My advice was always treat your co-worker respect, it is unimaginable everybody will update their skills and keep collaborating and grinding forward thinking methods with colleagues who do.

My plenary was based on the Role of the Teacher in the 21st Century classroom. My session was more like a training infused with motivation. As always, I struggle with time issues. We discussed the success and the applicability of the Shang Hai model in Malay educational world. In this part of the world teachers are burdened with many administrative responsibilities that detract from teaching. This growing burden is fueled by MoEs trying to juggle shrinking budgets. Shang Hai has posted some of the highest PISA scores in the world. Its student population is diverse in terms of socio-economic and urban/rural backgrounds. The effectiveness of their model is a teachers spend a third of their time in ongoing professional development or mentoring. Teachers get time and support to increase their skillset which correlates into a better education for the students. My mission was accomplished by the end of the session, the participants were pivoted to become awesome teachers.

This conference as opened my eyes and my concern to the growing demands for English language learning in Indonesia. It also reconfirmed my memory, Indonesian people are lovely and their food is tasty.