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Monday, September 3, 2007

Books To Share

Has anyone got the chance to read the 'Notebook' I recommended earlier?
That was not the only book that I've read by Nicholas Sparks. Try reading 'A Walk to Remember',also has turned into a motion picture. Other books that I've read written by this number one 'New York Times Bestselling Author' are 'The Wedding', 'Message in a Bottle' and 'Nights in Rodanthe'.

Over the weekend,I've read Michael J.Losier's 'Law of Attraction'(this is not a novel) and currently can't wait to start Paulo Coelho's 'Like the Flowing River'.

P/S: Secret to share - I believe my strategy to score A in my English throughout my primary till secondary years was to read lots of English novels. Which other subjects you could actually have fun a night before the examination except English?

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Radio Deejays

Singers, novelists, reporters, they have become.

Last week?
They were a mixture of radio deejays, invited panelists of discussion, newsreaders, voice over for advertisement, producer of a short radio programme.

The assignment was given a week earlier. In groups of 3 or 4, they were to create a 10 to 15 minutes radio programme consists of the following elements:
1. Discussion on an issue (Involves agreement and disagreement)
2. News
3. Advertisement
4. Song(Taken from any English songs)

Very creative and talented, indeed! Probably they can work as radio deejays. Though there were some who were just ‘reading aloud ‘ the prepared script. I was not against prepared script, as in reality nobody is supposed to see you in the radio programme. However, they could have acted out a little bit to make it sounds natural.

The names of their radio programmes include the followings:
1. Big Breakfast Show
2. Dam Dam Dum Raya
3. Fire.fm
4. Guchi Guchi Talkshow ( Minnal fm)
5. Havoc.fm
6. Mornings’s Voice
7. Pink.fm
8. Cute.fm
9. Extreme.fm
10. High.fm
11. Hye.fm
12. 96.4
13. Fantastic.fm

Guchi Guchi Talkshow and Pink.fm made it to the final round on Wednesday night class.

The main aim of this activity is to allow them to engage in a group discussion to practice their speaking skills. The final speaking examination will be conducted in the middle of September.

Besides, I get to keep abreast of the latest songs that teenagers like. I found out that I know all the songs. So, it can be concluded that I’m not that ‘old’ since I still listen to the same songs they listen to.

Finally, I also hope that they have increased their confidence level in speaking through this activity. I’m not sure about that?
How do you feel? Please respond.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Global Phone Test

“What would you do if you found a mobile phone?”

The responses that I got from my students were:

Keep it.
Ignore.
Call from the list.
Wait for someone to call.
Sell it.
Sell it and buy another phone.
Give it away as a gift.
Use the credit and then sell it.

I asked each one of them while trying to recall their names.
I still remember most names.

After that, I distributed the article ‘Global Phone Test’, from Reader’s Digest, August 2007 to almost 60 students and made them read the article and respond to it.

As requested, I would like to hear you views.

How do you feel when you discovered that the lowest return rate (43%) of the lost mobile phone is Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong?

Why do you think this happened?

What does it mean to you?

Does it mean that honesty is a rare virtue in our country?

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Letter of the Week

To my dear students,
How I miss all of you so much! Thanks so much for all your wishes and ‘doa’ . However, you must probably feel ‘happy’ too, as you don’t have to come to class and do all the activities that I always instruct you to do. Emm, don’t lie to me! I know.

Anyway, I realized that these 2 days have been a bit serious lessons for all my classes. On Sunday class, I had to give a test and a quiz and also lecture. For Monday class, I talked about Speaking final exam and in the evening class I talked about thesis statement and topic sentences and use the textbook.

I also related to all of you about how I became sick and must have ‘bored all of you to death’ about my busy schedules. Anyway, it just goes to show that I’m only human and not a superwoman.

I have also informed all of you about how much you need to improve on your grammar. Upon checking your essays, reading your writings at your blogs, most of you really need to work hard on your grammar and some of you on word choice and even spelling. You also need to speak English all the time, especially in my class and while communicating with me or with your friends.

Till I write again!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Novelists and Reporters

Again, I 'm impressed with my students' creativity. For the past two days,they have submitted their designs of CD Covers and lyrics of their hit songs. They really seemed to enjoy this activity. From this activity, I've actually let them practice giving specific information, that matches with the learning point stated in the scheme of work for the Mainstream English I.

This week, I've created another activity that allows them to practice WH-Questions. For the first 10 minutes, each one of them imagined to be a novelist and a reporter. They had to think about the title of the novel and the storyline, as well as , questions to ask as a reporter. Each of them took turns in group of 4 to switch roles. Each one had 10 minutes to play the different roles.

Well, we'll read their responses about this activity in their blogs or here.

Before, I ended my class today,they were anxious to know what will the next activity be.

I told them,"It's going to be a surprise!"

The Notebook

As promised in my entry dated 19th July, here's one of my favourite novels, that I found and read 2 years ago and later watched the movie, twice, from HBO Channel.

Every so often a love story so captures our hearts that it becomes more than a story- it becomes an experience to remember forever. THE NOTEBOOK is such a book. It is a celebration of how passion can be ageless and timeless, a tale that moves us to laughter and tears and makes us believe in true love all over again…

At thirty –one, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted by images of the girl he lost more than a decade earlier. At twenty-nine, socialite Allie Nelson is about to marry a wealthy lawyer, but she cannot stop thinking about the boy who long ago stole her heart. Thus begins the story of a love so enduring and deep it can turn tragedy into triumph, and may even have the power to create a miracle…

(Taken from the back cover of The Notebook by Nicholas Spark http://www.nicholassparks.com)

Sunday, July 22, 2007

e-Portfolio

I'm teaching another group of students to create tneir own blogs. This time it's the ED555 Curriculum and Instruction group. Instaed of compiling all the materials in printed version, I've taught them how to create a blog and turn the blog into their e-Portfolio.

Rather than compiling the printed version, you are able to link to all materials related to Curriculum and Instruction the e-way. So, I hope all of you will not be scared to explore and use this to reflect on your own teaching and learning.

I believe, by now, everyone has successfully created his or her own blog. Welcome to blogosphere! Please leave your comment here so that it will be easier for me to link to your blog.