SELAMAT HARI RAYA..MAAF ZAHIR BATIN

First of all, i would like to wish Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir & Batin to all my lecturers and friends..So, i would like to put my hands together and ask for forgiveness if I ever make any mistake or offended anyone in any of my postings.

Today, i'm leaving for my hometown..yeah!!! i am looking forward to meet my abah and ma, my sweet and naughty cousins, Athirah, Muahz, Ifah and Sumaiyyah.

After packing all my things, i have done a list of assignments to be done during this holidays.. oh my God! i have 7 assignments: Resources, Mathematics and Assessment. Huhuhuh.. it is too much for me..i don't know whether i manage to do and finish up all the assignments or not. i try to comfort myself telling everything is gonna be OK. Raya tetap raya..but with good time management and self-discipline, InsyaAllah, i try my best to finish them up..

Responsible for our own learning.

Studying in MPIK and UM has a very big difference for me. I felt very secured and comfortable learning in MPIK because most of the lecturers are friendly and love to ‘spoon feed’ us. Some people might say that it is not good to ‘spoon feed’ the students all the time. We must work on our own or be independent. When the lecturers gave all the important notes and fullest guidance, I knew that I was on the right track of learning. When the examination days, I felt well-equipped with all the information and ‘vomit’ them to score high marks in the exam J
Unfortunately, in UM, I have to be really independent and responsible for my own learning. No more PowerPoint slides, no more extra notes and no more spoon feeding. L. I have to have my own alternative routes or strategies for attaining the learning goals, correcting my errors and redirecting myself when my work plans do not work. At first, I felt very tension to face this new learning situation. Now, after 3 months in UM, I could say that I am able to adapt myself with this campus life which has no free time to enjoy and ‘honeymoon’ J. After experiencing 3 months of self-regulated learning, I could say that I am able to know my own strengths and weaknesses and know how to deal with them productively and constructively.
The second assignment challenges me a lot. I am required to design two lesson plans using any resources in the net and manipulate the resources to the maximum level. However, the lecturer had given a resource to be manipulated for the first assignment, that was a video of “Earth Song” sung by Michael Jackson. For the second one, I have to find out any appropriate resources on my own. Before this, the lecturers will suggest and recommend a list of websites which are suitable to get learning materials. It saved my time and energy. Not for this time, I had to sit in front of the laptop, browsing the best and appropriate video to be manipulated for my lesson. I should say thank you for those who have contributed useful videos in the net. They are all kind people who really help other people like me which I can download them for free! Hehehe.
Own, forget to say, this assignment has to be done in pairs. What I learn through this co-operative learning is about tolerance. I have to tolerate with my partners as we have our own ideas on how to use the resources well. Sometimes we argue when I think my ideas are good enough and my partner says no and vice versa. Here, tolerance takes place. What we do is we list down all the ideas and use all the ideas, if possible.
I think that I have to recharge my energy. I really-really hope that my lecturer would not give any task for next week, InsyaAllah. J

Teachers : Being realistic.

For the last week, we had to work in groups and prepare a presentation. Each group had been given a topic and my group had received a topic ‘Being Realistic’. First of all, let me define what ‘realistic’ is. Realistic means being sensible and understand what is possible to achieve in particular situation or showing things as they really are. Therefore, teacher should be realistic in bringing about success in English language learning among pupils.
There are many things that should be taken into considerations in order to be realistic in teaching. Firstly, in selecting activities, teachers should questions themselves when they want to select or design an activity to use with the pupils- e,g- “Will it be difficult for pupils to carry it out?”, “Is the language suitable for the level?”, “Which skills does it practise?”, “Does it create a good atmosphere?” and so on. By doing this, teacher will have specific, clear and explicit purposes in their mind and can deliver the learning successfully. On the pupils’ side, they will enjoy learning and process the learning more deeply.
Secondly, it is undisputable that motivation is an extremely an important factor in determining success in pupils’ learning. Therefore, teachers should be realistic in teaching in order to arouse pupils’ motivation. In this case, familiarity of the subject and their cultural background knowledge help to increase pupils’ motivation. When the pupils are familiar with the topic, they will eager to participate in the lesson to the maximum level. This is good in order to ‘settle down’ pupils who are restless or active and naturally pay attention during the lesson. For those who are weak in learning process, providing familiar topic and their cultural background knowledge enable them to ‘feel’ success and motivate them to further their learning to the fullest.
Teacher should also be realistic in term of providing support to the pupils. Pupils really need support or assistance in order to carry out the activities that they are not able to do unaided. When teachers provide support to the pupils, they will gain confidence and eventually able to function independently. For example, teachers can support pupils by giving pictures to comprehend text, gestures, related vocabulary and others. However, teacher should know how to adjust, reduce and match support to pupils’ understanding and experience. It is not appropriate to provide fully support the advance students. They might feel that teachers do not appreciate their own capability. Besides that, it might reduce the level of challenge and pupils might not experience learning progress.
Lastly, lesson planning is just a guide or reference to teachers for smooth and efficient teaching. Sometimes, what they have planned does not work at all depending on the pupils’ mood and classroom situation on that particular day. For instance, pupils might be passive in the morning lesson. If the teachers want to do reading activity, I am sure that they won’t give full participation. Teacher should be realistic by not continuing teaching according to the lesson planning, but being flexible by asking the pupils to sing songs or do physical movement activity. This will help to awaken the pupils. Therefore, teacher should be realistic and flexible in teaching in order to suit their mood and interests.