Working without a Coursebook...

Today, my group have to do a presentation regarding the topic 'Working without a Coursebook'. Coursebook is kind of book that is used as guidelines and reference for the teacher to rely on. It is very important for the teacher to have a coursebook with him when they're teaching. However, it is still possible for the teacher to work without a coursebook. Let me explain further..
There are 3 main things to be considered when a teacher is teaching without a coursebook to refer on which are deciding what to include, what does a child use language for in each of these areas and choosing starter phrases / vocabulary / structures. The teacher can also involve the children in the planning of the content of the lesson. The children also can benefit from this activity since they may discover about how language and communication work generally. Last but not least is deciding how frequent and how long language lessons should be. The best duration is not too short and not too long. As in Malaysia, we have 30minutes for single-period lesson and 1 hour for double-period lesson. I think that it just an ideal duration.

Change of partner...

The Assignment 2 required us to working in pairs. Previously, I was in pair with Syana. However, there are two friends who have no partner yet. Both of them are male friends. As the requirement set in this course asks us to work in mix gender and mix races, we decided to exchange partners. So now I'm working with Izzuddin while Syana is working with Fahmi. Hopefully we will accomplish the tasks on time....

Teaching Aids: 4 skills

Here comes another task....As we are learning to use and develop resources for the ESL classroom, Mdm Foziah has given us a task on preparing the teaching aids to be used in the lesson. The task required us to design teaching aids to teach the 4 skills in language learning which are listening, speaking, reading and writing. This is the time for us to apply what we have learnt earlier in this course such as photo editing, audio editing, video editing, internet skills, and e-book.
After going trough discussion, my group members and I had decided to choose Year 3 topic which is "My Neighbourhood". I was assigned to design teaching aids to be used to teach speaking skill. To get started is my problem..No idea comes into mind. I keep on thinking on what kind of teaching aid that I can produce for teaching speaking?? Is it suitable to the target learners? How to make it interesting? Think and think..Finally, I decided to create PowerPoint slideshows as a teaching aid used in pre-speaking stage.
The slideshows contain of pictures of building around the neighbourhood such as school, hospital, bank and etc. I write the spelling of the words since the target students is Year 3 students with low level of language proficiency. So, they can spell the words and remember better. My activity aims to help students to talk which they are required to response to the 'Wh' questions posed by the teacher regarding the places. As the level of students' proficiency is low, they can respond to the question in short answer / single word.

Finally, it was done.Hope it will be useful.

p/s: Anybody knows how to put powerpoint slideshows in blog??

Change of Assignment 2 task ...

A few days ago, Mdm Foziah has told us that she wanted to change the task for the Assignment 2. Initially, the Assignment 2 task required us to find any resources from the Internet such as videos, songs, poems, and design an activity that used those resources to teach the students. We chose the topic of 'Travel and Adventures' and managed to find two videos of "Charlie and Lola" which we think were suitable to be used in the classroom.
However, as the task has been changed, we have to leave the videos behind. So sad...The videos are very interesting. But, no worries!! I can use the videos when I become a teacher in future right?hehehe...
Now, we are working on the video entitle "Earth Song" which is a song sang by Micheal Jackson. The task requires us to use the pictures and the audio form the video as the resources to produce teaching aids for teaching in the classroom.
Next, we have to find another videos for Task 2 which are useful and relevant to be used in the classroom. The task requirement is same as Task 1.. The process of searching the videos is quite difficult and takes lots of time since we have to evaluate whether the videos are suitable to be used or not. Many things have to be considered such as what the topic that we can teach from the videos, the language, the target learners, and etc.
As we are working in partners, me and my partner decided to split the work. One takes Task 1 and one takes Task 2. Now..we are still in the journey of completing the task. We will combine both tasks once we have finished it. "We don't have to work hard, but work smart". Am I right?hehehe...I think most of our friends are also use the same strategies like us.

~Happy working everybody~

Discover a new experience with e-Book..

Before this, I never know what an e-Book is all about. Luckily, I've got the opportunity to learn how to produce an e-book in this course. To whom who do not know what is e-book, let me explain. An e-Book is "an electronic version of a traditional printed book ; covering its full contents (text, tables, diagrams, illustrations, etc.) that can be read by using a personal computer or by using an e-Book reader".
I've done an e-Book entitle 'The Little Red Hen'. It is a famous story (fable) which contains lots of moral values such as cooperation, willingness to offer helps, hardworking and etc. At first, I've searched for the story in the Internet. Then, I adapted and adopted it so that it suit to the target student which is Year 4. The e-book can be used as to teach farm animals and also the process of producing bread from planting the grain of wheat until making the bread.
I was using Microsoft PowerPoint to produce the e-Book. I've put lots of picture plus the text of the story. Besides, I also recorded some audio files and inserted them inside the e-Book. So, instead of the students read the e-book, they only have to listen to it. Interesting right? I'm sure the students will like it..
I'm so glad that I've a chance to learn the skills in producing the e-Book. Surely, I'll apply it when I become a teacher in future.