BEL312-Role Play Comments

It's gratifying to see the efforts shown by my D4D3 group, English for Occupational Purposes class. There were 4 groups;2 groups that presented yesterday and the other 2 groups presented in the 2pm class just now. Here are some of the feedbacks and comments for their role plays.

1st group
The strength was in the inclusion of some video clips to accompany their role plays.The recorded version of site project, at the office and the news item had exceeded my expectations. However,their own real life interactions needed more practice. They also lack of flow in the role play and fluency in language. They did not state clearly the issue at the beginning of the role play and I needed to identify the problem,solution and lessons from the play. The reference to the script also hindered their capabilities to show their non verbal communications. Another weakness was the appropriacy of the word choice.

2nd group
I could see that this group had prepared and practised very well. Very thorough and smooth flow of role play. They had clearly addressed all parts assigned to them and they knew how to integrate two issues in their role play. They succeeded in expressing themselves through the non verbal communications and their teamwork could be seen. Their only problem,like the first group, was on appropriacy of their word choice. Everyone seemed confident in this group.

3rd group
This group had prepared a written script for me to refer to. They memorized the script. However, most of them spoke too softly that they did not succeed in getting attention from me or their friends. This also had affected their non verbal communications. I think they were quite shy to express themselves.

4th group
This group made an extra effort in terms of appearance. The strength of this group was they did not refer to any script and acted naturally and were full of expressions.The identification of problem was clear. The constant changing of clothes were quite disturbing and had interrupted the smooth flow of the role play.

Most of them had shown improvement from their individual assessment. Although some groups did not answer clearly the assigned task,all of them went the extra mile in the role plays. Overall,each group could learn a lot from one another's role play.

I'm especially impressed with the efforts shown and told them that I believe if they continue to show these qualities, they will be successful people in their future workplace.

Semester July-Nov 2009

It has been over a month since I've last updated this blog. This semester I don't get a slot in the Cyber Lingua Lab, again! No luck ,I supposed. It makes it difficult for me to do activities through my blog or internet. Most classes are in class. I'm teaching 22 hours per week, 4 different codes and 6 different classes this semester. I'm teaching English for Part 1,Part 3 and Part 4 of diploma courses and Report Writing for a degree group.

It's also unfair for me to request all my students to create their on blogs like I used to do. So, I just informed and encouraged them to create their own blogs but no obligations.

Most of the learning reflections are typed and in printed version or the traditional way: handwritten.

However, it doesn't mean that it's less effective. This statement needs to be proven though.

First Class Attendance

Today is the first day of the new semester.

I rushed to room U108 just on time at 8am. I opened the door and found nobody was around. I checked my timetable to see if I've entered the wrong classroom. No,it was the right class. I switched on the computer,put the screen down and turned on the projector,getting everything ready for the first class. Gradually, the students came in till the number reached 16. All girls.

At ,2.10pm the students were already there as I entered AV2 USPP room. Just 13 of them. Again,all girls.

As I entered and greeted the students in my 4 o'clock class at U108,they answered enthusiastically despite being the 4th class of that day. They had 3 other classes since 8.00am and there were 28 students.

What are the differences of the 3 classes I entered today?

What conclusions can be made?

Well, I'll share the reasons here when I meet the absentees later.

Letter to D3B1

My dear beloved students of D3B1,

It was a pleasure having all of you as my students. Unfortunately, I was unable to teach you after what had happened to me last February. I really felt appreciated when the whole class came over to my house, with fruits and a stalk of rose, 2 days after I lost my baby. That was a thoughtful gesture ,indeed! Thank you.

I pray that all of you will do well in your final examination for all subjects.

I also would like to apologize to those who felt hurt when I criticized or commented strongly on your outlines and your language usage. Don't give up,ok?

I will see your papers again for the final examination and hopefully you will do the best.

I hope all of you will stay thoughtful and a pleasure to teach.

With lots of love,
Pn Shima

Welcome D3B1 (Sem 2009)!

It has been a while since I updated my teaching blog. This semester I’m rather frustrated for not getting a class at the Cyber Lingua Lab. Every semester, I use the lab as I like to integrate the activities in class using the facilities at the lab. Unfortunately, I do not have the opportunity to do so. However, although it has been a month, I finally get a lab session every Wednesday night as our class session.
While I’m writing this, all of you are supposed to reflect on what you have learned so far. I’m going to ask you to post it in your blog after this. This might be the first time you ever created a blog.

Today is also the submission of your outline for your term paper, which is 10 % of your total score.I’ve looked through at the outline and these are some of the general comments:
1. Some of you did not do sentence outline as required.
2. Grammatical errors occur and I assume obviously you are not making full use of the grammar and spell check available.
a. Subject verb agreement
b. Tenses
c. No articles
3. Sentences are too long and unclear.
4. Sentences are incomplete. Some sentences without a verb.
5. Words are not appropriate. They sound like direct translation from Malay.
6. Ideas are not well developed.

Don’t despair though! This is just the beginning. You have ample time to improve your writing in your first draft later on.
Before that, I wish you a good mid-term break as this is our last class for this week. Don’t forget to look at Chapter 1, 2 and 3 of Writing Academic English and work on it during the break. It will help you a lot in writing term paper.

Till we meet again!