ment and expression games, bhangra, Korean pop, fusion, standard aerobics, impromptu ... any student of any ability to p
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Mark Pan
Fulbright English Teaching Assistant February & March 2012
Report
Mentor: Mr. Nashmin Supervisor: Mdm. Shahriah Principal: Mdm. Balwinder
SMK Senai
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Beyond SMK Senai__
__Academic Highlights
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Thank You!__
One lesson I learnt at university was that it’s not about the number of theories or formulas you can memorise. Nor is it about how many business cards you can collect. It’s about forging relationships—it’s about the people.
And those meaningful interactions and relationships are exactly what I have discovered here. Although I may be leaving Senai in November, I will never forget the times when a few students were brave enough to sit with me outside at the canteen, when my aerobics students asked me to continue teaching them a Bollywood dance immediately after one of their extra classes was canceled, and when students reminded their peers to speak “English all the time,” the golden rule in my English Clinic.
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While many of my university friends are sitting at desks from 9am-9pm typing away in response to every email that they run into, I get to chat and say hi to every bright and smiling face that I run into here at SMK Senai. I couldn’t have imagined a more hospitable school to be at, and I’m looking forward to attempting to give back
by the numbers
104 30 29 7 2
log book entries
__Other Involvements
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Hello Mr. Mark =). Welcome to Malaysia and my school, SMK Senai. I feel so honored that you be a practice teacher in my school. I hope Mr. Mark have a lot of fantastic and good memory in my school and Malaysia and happy every day.
unique classes entered
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Activities__
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When I first arrived at SMK Senai, during an assmebly I told both the students and teachers that I had much more to learn than to teach. That was a gross understatement. I have learnt so much from classroom management to K-Pop, from British English to knowing just how amazing students’ English levels can be when they take a chance, from effective communication to what makes students laugh (and moreover, what doesn’t make them laugh), and from how Malaysians’ welcoming spirit is manifested to how to politely turn down the boatloads of food constantly being generously offered to me.
months at Senai
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__Introduction
__Introduction
months left at Senai
Table of Contents__
hrs/wk at school
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Activities__
__Other Involvements
english clinic
letter writing
In order to interact with students who want to improve their English but does not have the opportunity to do so, I have placed an English box on my desk. Students can drop a letter into the box, and they will receive a response within one week. This informal letter system is a fun way for students to practise writing creatively in English.
English Clinic is an English-only time offered four times a week for any student of any ability to practise their speaking abilities in a fun and interactive way. Here are a few activities:
• Students write a short introduction about their partner and then introduce their partners to the class, focusing on energy and pronunciation.
• As the class reads a passage, I will shout numbers from 1-10.
A 10 means they will have to read it as energetically as possible.
• Have students read a passage from a book to a partner for 3 minutes. Then have everyone put a pen/ pencil in their mouth to enunciate. Students will then take the pen/pencil out of their mouth and continue practising with their partner with much more clarity.
with several other teachers, we have been trainchoral speaking Working ing 4S1 and 4S2 students from mid-March for a Choral
Speaking competition in mid-April. While there are many dedicated teachers working with the group, many of the gestures and much of the facilitating have actually stemmed from students!
meetings
• In groups, pick an object and sell it to the rest of the class. • Come up with a hook for your own biography. This is the start of your speech. • Students select an article from the newspaper. After comprehending the article, they must summarise
Lincoln Corner grand opening ceremony and lunch with the US Deputy Chief of Mission
and present the article as if they were news reporters on television.
• Come up with positive, neutral, and negative alternatives to responding to “how are you?” and introduce how to use a thesaurus.
aerobics
Geared towards students self-conscious about their body image, this aerobics class is offered twice a week for students from various classes from both morning and afternoon sessions. It focuses on sharing American culture, exercise, and confidence. Topics covered include movement and expression games, bhangra, Korean pop, fusion, standard aerobics, impromptu dancing, popular traditional American dances, and of course, shuffling.
Meeting Prime Minister Najib
hanging out
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While classes and activities are excellent ways of improving students’ English abilities, the most effective medium is simply by hanging out. Whether it be eating at the canteen, playing basketball or badminton during physical education class, or brief chats on the way to class, these genuine interactions are when students let their guard down and do their best to communicate.
We all having fun with you especially your shuffle dance. We also will miss you because no more shuffle dance with you.
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Students vye to perform the best bandaging at a weekend wilderness competition
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Beyond SMK Senai__
EXCHANGING CULTURES, KNOWLEDGE, AND EXPERIENCES AT SMK SENAI IS JUST ONE COMPONENT OF THE PROGRAMME.
To truly experience Malaysia and southeast Asia, ETAs must travel to various corners of the region. Experiencing various religious festivals
Pasir Gudang World Kite Festival
__Academic Highlights
introducing
Briefly introduce self. Divide into 3 groups. Each group must write down 5 questions for me, each onto a different sheet of paper which will then be crumpled into a ball. One person from each group will stand and shoot the crumpled ball into the rubbish bin until someone scores. I will read the question and then provide 3 possible answers (one is correct), and the team who scored gets to guess for a point.
famous faces Each group of 4 stuBreaking my pescatarianism to try silk worm
Then have the students randomly match the As with the Bs and then have them come up with a sentence. For example, with “stone” and “listens:” “the stone listens carefully to the grass growing around it.”f
personification 3
Students will receive stickers on their backs with different objects and they will have to find their partner with the same object. When they do find their partner, I will conduct a quick reflection (“imagine what it feels like to be that object”). They must then write a first-person story about their object.
dents chooses a famous person and creates a mind map to describe the person’s talents, background, and physical attributes. Then they write 3-5 sentences Read out descriptions and hints of 9 famous people. describing him/her without revealing his/her name. Each group will have to guess which picture matchGroups pass their descriptions clockwise and try to es the person guess You are a good model for me. and hold it up. t h e Then they will I hope you will be our English teacher in our school forever. n ame match up the of the other groups’ famous person. face/description with one of the names pre-written on the board.
favourite personalities
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Lighting floating lanterns
positive, comparative, superlative adjectives Exploring Thailand
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Make three columns of each of those adjective types. When I say a positive phrase like “smart students,” everyone stands up. If I say a comparative phrase like “taller student,” the taller student within the student and his/her partner stands up. If I say a superlative phrase like the “student with the shortest hair,” the singular student with the shortest hair in the entire class stands up.
personification 1
Everyone sits in a circle. Begin by choosing one an animal or object about which to create a group story. If, for example, “a chair” is selected, begin the story with a phrase like, “One day there was a very lonely chair.” One by one, each student continues the story, adding new personification aspects.
personification 2
Prepare list A with nouns and list B with third-person verbs.
words
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Each group will write letters A through K on a sheet of paper. Then they will list a word that fits in the category I provide (i.e. animals, verbs) and that starts with each letter A-K. Every group member must know what the word means. If another group has the same word, only 0.5 points.
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Academic Highlights__
prepositions Charades - divide the
class into two and race to go through the most cards.
spatial prepositions
One group walks outside. The class hides an object somewhere in the classroom. Without moving around, the outside group comes back in and asks questions (or the class gives hints) as to where the object is hidden. Count the number of questions/hints before discovering. After a certain number of questions, give the group 20 seconds to scour the room.
listening Listen to “Lucky” by Jason Mraz
and Colbie Caillet. Handout lyrics with blanks that students fill out while listening to the song. Explain the song stanza by stanza while going over the answers. Sing together.
floods
Group quizzo (trivia) competition about floods. Questions include guessing the definition of a 100-year-flood, whether floods are always caused by rain, and drafting an action plan to prepare for a flood.
reusing
In groups, students write down as many uses as possible of an obscure object I select (i.e. a bottle cap). 1 point per use. Bonus 5 points for the most creative each round/object.
biodegradation
tic bags. Then guide the class through a moderated debate on mandatory recycling, first giving students 5 minutes to make their own t-chart with a partner.
persuasion
Play “Mafia,” a role-playing game where each student has a secret role. Those with “good-guy” roles must discuss amongst themselves and vote off people they think are the “badguys.” Meanwhile, the mafia (bad-guys) vote off a good-guy once every round while everyone else’s eyes are closed. (Google it for the game’s details.)
its an adjective as a response, the other an adverb). In groups, come up with 5 positive, 3 neutral, and 3 negative alternatives to responding to “how are you?”, first writing on the group paper then writing their favourites on the board. Once completed, I will provide positive, negative, and neutral scenarios and ask various groups “how are you?”. Stipulate a rule that the next time I see them and ask them how they are, they cannot respond with just “fine.”
tell me a few school rules. Ask which rules are the most important, and which rules are more flexible. Explain that the more important/compulsory rules should use “must,” whereas the suggestive rules should use “should.” Then, handout a set of strips of paper with statements to each group. Groups will first order them in terms of level of importance/obligation. After reviewing the order as a class, students will fill in the blanks on the strips with either must, must not, should, or should not. The most important half will use must/musn’t, whereas the others will all be should/ shouldn’t.
word creation Play “Boggle.” I will
write a long word on the board, and each group will compete to come up with smaller words using letters derived from the long word. Relate words to a topic the class is covering.
greetings
lish teacher. You teaches us the knowledge that I haven’t learn.
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parts of speech
Mad libs: Provide students with a list of certain parts of speech, and they must come up with one corresponding word per part of speech. Then insert those words into a paragraph with blanks in them, resulting in what tends to be humorous. First do an example as a class, then hand out individual worksheets for each student. Have several students share their completed paragraphs. Provide additional mad libs for students to take home and share with their friends.
technology Ask students what tech-
must vs should Ask students to
Students go outside and try to find the slowest-to-biodegrade objects/rubbish lying around. While they are outside, I will write on the board common rubbish types and the number of years it takes to biodegrade. After deExplain difference between termining the winner, I will explain the etymology “how are you?” and “how are you doing?” (one elicof bio|de|grad|e/able/ My ambitions is to be a famous english teacher like you. You ation. Model a guided debate with pros/cons t- is a good and courteous teacher. For me, you are the best Engchart on the topic of plas-
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__Academic Highlights
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conjunctions
Prepare a list of conjunctions on the board. Ask students for a fun topic. Each student writes 3 sentences about that topic, 1 on each strip of paper. Distribute randomized strips to each group of ~4 students. Students will try to form a coherent and humorous paragraph using those sentences They must insert conjunctions and may add additional sentences to improve the paragraph’s coherence. Groups share to the class. Each time the presenter reads aloud a conjunction, students must shoot up their hands.
signs
Each group designs and colours their own signs to post around the school campus. Then groups make a wordless version of that sign. Discuss pros/cons of signs with words vs. pictures. If time, go around outside the school to each location where the group would post the sign, and have them present why they chose that location and message.
nology is--write a few on the board. Point out nonelectronic technologies like the filing cabinet and wheels. Then have each group design a product in pairs and create a poster. The poster must include 1) product’s name, 2) price, 3) features, and 4) picture. Two people from each group will table and sell their product, while everyone else will receive fake money and decide which products to purchase.
CLASSES ENTERED P1 1RK1 1RK2 1B 1F 2RK1 2RK2 2A 2C 2D 2F 2I 3RK2 3A 3B
3C 4S1 4S2 4T1 4T2 4T4 4T5 4V1 4V2 5S1 5S2 5T1 5V1 5A2
(n)either... (n)or Students sit in a
circle. The person standing in the middle (the teacher will be the first in the middle) will say “I like (n)either ____ (n) or ____.” If the fact applies to the students sitting down, they must stand up and find another seat, while the person in the middle rushes to find a seat. The last person standing who cannot find a seat goes next.
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Thank You!__ PPD JPNJ MACEE Ms. Azfa Mr. Zarif Mr. Theva Mr. Hairul Mr. Ashraf Mr. Chong Ms. Rubiah Mdm. Hani Mdm. Hebe Mdm. Anita Mr. Hamzah Mdm. Sairah Mr. Nashmin Mdm. Keetha Mdm. Latifah Mdm. Baizura Mdm. Sharmila Mdm. Manigam Mdm. Balwinder Mdm. Noorhidayah Mr. Shanmuganathan The Entire SMK Senai Staff
Thank you for welcoming me into SMK Senai and Malaysia as both a colleague and friend. I couldn’t have asked for a more thriving placement. You all have taught me how to survive in Malaysia, order non-spicy food, play badminton and fustal (well, sort of), dress appropriately, and connect with students.
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