Nervousness

Day 8 Session 3 (Friday, 17 Oct. 2014, 3 – 4.30pm)

Friday's Presentation

Presentation is not really a difficult task, if you consider that it is just a manner in which you inform someone particular information. People do this all the time – when they are trying to communicate to one another. Basically, you have this idea in your head and you deliver the message to the person who is listening, like you would do when you talk to someone. However, a proper presentation is more than just that. When giving presentation, one of the many concerns that we have is to engage the audience into our topic. In order to accomplish this we have to consider a lot of things; the topic, our body language, the intonation, the message, the delivery and the list goes on. The presentation could turn out as a disaster or a pleasant experience for both the presenter and the audience and it depends on how the presenters prepare their presentation.

Today I witnessed a case in which a presentation is done right. Our class welcomes the second group to present their topic on Malaysia. The very first thing I noticed is that the atmosphere was very authentic, where I felt as if we were really tourists who were welcomed to Malaysia. In order to make a presentation on a particular topic the presenter must have an interest and a great knowledge of that topic. I didn’t think this was a problem with the presentation as we were allowed to make the presentation on any topic we wished so everyone could pick a topic that he or she is very interested in and had a good knowledge of. It is then crucial that more research must go into the topic if the presenter is not so familiar with it. Such is the case in this presentation.

The delivery of the presentation is crucial for its success. All of the presenters had a good and clear projection of voice. They also used good hand gestures in conjunction with verbal indicators to signal transitions in the presentation. All these are very much appreciated and it makes the presentation much easier to follow through. Some of the presenters also display genuine interest in their presentation. People can perfect their pace and tone. Even humor can be practiced and learned but a genuine fascination in what you’re saying is very hard to fake. That is one of the key strength of the second group’s presentation.

I also liked the slides, as I felt that its simple layout was easy on the eyes and yet, it still managed to be visually attractive. The visual and animation was really pleasing to the eyes – not just loads of writings. If visual aid is going to be used for the presentation, like a power point presentation a lot of work has to go into developing and making sure that the visual aid isn’t the whole presentation. Here I can see that such was not a problem since everyone did not just purely presenting by reading on the slides. It is also important that if visual aid is going to be used we make sure that it will work at the time of the presentation. The last presenter did have difficulty with the slides as hers were missing. However, the situation was resolved after a few minutes.

Nervousness is a major problem for many people during public speaking. Katie mentioned that good presenters should move around, make eye contacts and use natural gestures for an effective delivery of the presentation content. Although throughout the presentation, everyone spoke fluently in general, there were a few times when the presenters stumbled over their words and when they had to pause longer than they should to recall the points. However, such moments were rare. Thus, I felt it did not seriously compromise the effectiveness of the presentation.

Muhd Syafiq Ashraf bin Alno’man

Seberang Jaya Community College

The horse that saved me!

The group presentation: one of the most difficult to master; but the best to experience. Nobody famous actually said that. It’s just me. Now let me get someone who is famous to start my sentence: Julius Caesar said “experience is the teacher of all things”, and yes; he is right.

I will not speak about how I will end and summarize what my team mates have said about their presentation. I will not deal into the facts whether it is fun to play sepak raga; but I will say that the experience I get working with others in delivering this presentation is the worth of gold if it can be weighed.

Honestly speaking, in my opinion, I was on the brink of a panic attack. Handling the blog for its coming deadline, the coming assessments (which I have not the time to study) and the presentation on the same day was never a good deal. I kept sleeping quite late just to make sure that I have got everything and left nothing.

I have learned that a mixed ability class does not only exist in a class, but it exists in everything. Working together, finding the right time just to meet is one hurdle that we need to overcome. We could never get everyone to be at the same table after class, so we opt for Whatsapp. How it has connected us, as difficult as it may seem, we managed.

Sunday was just a full day in the library. The previous teams had set the bar quite high. They carried out their presentations successfully: and that made us wanted to do more. We cannot be the last team presenting and let the others forget us. We need to be better. We need to do more. We had more. We had too much on our plate; making the “kuda kepang”, the accessories for the princess of Gunung Ledang just to ensure that the Mondays are in the race as much as them. The “kuda kepang” or kepang horse symbolizes freedom. The first stroke I took lining out the body of the beast gave me the freedom I personally think is THE move to break my panic attack, and it has done wonders.

…And I guess it is not just about the freedom of the kepang horse, it is also about the dominant baboon. Woohoo!

MOHD IZRUL BIN ZAINUDDIN

SLIM RIVER VOCATIONAL COLLEGE

Day 7 Session 3 (Thursday, 16 October 2014, 2 – 3.30pm)

The First Thursday Presentation

At exactly 2.00 p.m., the first group began to present its first ever assessed presentation on a topic which sounded and looked pretty simple when it was first told to us: the Bristol group on Malaysia. Yes, this afternoon, the 16^th October 2014, our group which was informally known as the First Thursday group presented its first ever WKC presentation on Malaysia. There were 9 of us in this group and I’ve picked the slot and lo behold! I was to be the first presenter who will start off the whole presentation. See the accompanied shot of the slot that I’ve picked. The first presenter is the person who is responsible to set the direction of the group on its course to do the presentation. First, we quickly brainstormed on what to do and since we were the first group, we decided that we will be presenting to a group of foreign students who had to attend a briefing on the newly introduced module-Malaysian Studies 101, which is a compulsory for all students to take when they enrolled into the college.

 Looking back after I’ve presented the opening of the presentation for our group and all of us had done the presentation considering with the short period of time for us to prepare, I must say it went rather well. The PowerPoint prepared was effective in conveying our content of presentation. Incidentally, we are so used to telling our students to ensure making eye contact and to project our voices whilst presenting yet in actuality it is easier said than done. I could see that some of us, in the initial stage too got a bit of stage fright even though we were so used to talking to our students in class. I guess the thought of being graded and observed by all did unnerve some of us. Looking at that, it was expected as to be in front talking to a group of audiences, we always tell our students that it was normal to feel the butterflies in the stomachs. Indeed that some of us afflicted by the butterflies in the stomachs syndrome.

The abbreviations of K.I.S.S that brings about the meaning of keeping it simple and short was rather befitting to the 5 minute per person presentation as some of us found that it was rather difficult to keep the presentation to just a mere five minutes! For some keeping it short and simple was rather difficult as some were seem wanting to tell almost everything to the audience. Yet, the given KISS cards given to us earlier  to practise were beneficial as these cards and the activities given especially the language function,  did keep most of  us focused on the task at hand to cover, which was for a person to present a five minute presentation! 

After what all of us had experienced, I think that it is good for us to use in class the KISS cards with its useful language especially to assist students of low ability. The language function provided once again reminded us of having students of mixed abilities and by providing more language functions to the weaker ones will be beneficial to boost up their confidence especially in a presentation. All the mix of having butterflies, no confidence in presenting a talk is some problems that students faced when they were told to do a presentation. Yes! Having pre-presentation activities such as providing them with KISS cards and also language functions to open a presentation are some examples that we could incorporated in our class and in this case-the presentation class. Yes, the presentation on the Thursday afternoon went rather well as all of us were given the time to practise and prepare through the use of the KISS cards in our earlier sessions.

This is a reminder to us teachers that in order to develop the students’ confidence in giving a presentation, we must provide them the necessary language and practise time to do some practice for them to do presentation. Therefore, it can be concluded that each of our students are able to do a worthy presentation yet we as teachers should give them the practise and the language in order for them to do a proper presentation.

AISHAH MUSLIM

UNGKU OMAR POLYTECHNIC, IPOH

One size does not fit all!

Day 3 Session 1 (Friday, 10 October 2014, 8.30 - 10 am)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSON: ENGINEERING

Trainer: Carole Allsop

In today’s lesson, the trainer; Carole, demonstrated how to implement differentiation in our lesson. The topic chosen was an engineering topic; Hand Biometrics Technology. In this lesson, I could see how differentiation was carried out: the differentiated learning outcomes and differentiated tasks.

First and foremost, the lesson’s learning outcomes were differentiated for more able learners. Yes, this is something that goes missing in most lessons, I suppose. Teachers would normally set ONE general aim for their lessons without much consideration on ‘differentiation’ – oops, sorry! I must not say that in general.

Okay, I admit that I have never thought of ‘differentiation’ – not until it was brought up my home tutor, Ms. Katie, during our first session last week. Now I learnt that there should be a number of aims to be set for the students as there a number of differences between the students: language proficiency, ability to understand and work on the given content, learning styles and preferences, and their pace at which they learn.

It is understood that ALL students will be able to achieve ONE general aim set for the lesson, however, other students might achieve higher than the general aim due to their proficiency and ability.

Thus, differentiation in task would also be one of the aspects which should be taken into consideration. In this lesson, Carole provided CHOICES to the trainees. The trainees were asked to determine their own personal hand geometry code. In doing so, trainees were given two sets of instructions to choose from: a complex and a simpler instruction.

This was an example of differentiation that one could carry out. In this instance, students can choose between the two sets of instructions in order to determine their hand geometry code. As for classroom practice, a teacher may assign different sets of instructions to different students i.e. the complex instructions set assigned to more able students while the simpler instructions set would be given to the less able students. Hmm, during the lesson, most of the trainees chose the simpler task – easy, quick and simple, I suppose!

In short, I learnt that differentiation is the key in a CLIL lesson or should I say any lessons. Learners are different, so, do them justice by having a variety of activities, materials, learning support that can facilitate them towards achieving the differentiated goals set for them. Remember, ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL! 

Written by,

Masniza Mansor

Port Dickson Polytechnic

Negeri Sembilan

p/s: Oh, here is a link to a sample lesson on ‘teachingenglish’ website that I found as I conducted my web search. I hope that it would be useful to all readers when planning lessons.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/clil-citizenship-recycling

Hot about HOTS!

Day 8 Session 1 (Friday, 17 October 2014, 8.30 - 10 am)

Cognitive skills and HOTS

Why?

A main goal of educators today is to teach students the skills they need to be critical thinkers. Instead of simple memorising facts and ideas, students need to reach their fullest potential. Practising HOTS can give students the "tools" they need to understand, infer, connect, categorise, synthesis, evaluate and apply information they know to find solutions to new and existing problems. 

How?

As a teacher I do many things to foster HOTS in my classroom:

1. After reading a book, I can ask open-ended-questions to the students because answering questions that do not have one "right" answer can give the students confidence  to respond the creative ways.

When reading a book:

(a) What do you think might happen next?

(B) Does the main character/ main event remind you of anything from your life?

(C) Can you tell me what intrigue you the most in the story?

(d) Why did he/she act that way?

2. When making an important decision:

(a) How would you rank _____?

(b) How do you imagine ______ would look?

(c) What do you think a solution might be?

(d)Why did you choose _____ over ______?

3. When asking students to predict outcome:

(a) What would happen to ______ if _______?

(b) If you could do it differently, how would you change it?

(c) Suggest other possible ways to change it.

ZURAIDA DZULKAFLY

BACHOK VOCATIONAL COLLEGE

"Are my lessons that bad?"

Day 2 Session 3 (Thursday, 9 Oct. 2014, 2 – 3.30pm)

Classroom Language and Higher Order Thinking Skills by Andrew

Have you ever experienced the situation whereby your students did not give you the desired answer to your questions? Perhaps there were also situations when you did not receive any feedback at all accept a long awkward silence? Well, I will answer these two questions myself, yes and yes!

I have been wondering about this for so long and keep on asking myself “was the task too difficult?” and sometimes “are my lessons that bad?”. Finally, I got the answer, in Andrew’s ‘Classroom Language and Higher Order Thinking Skills’ class. At times we tend to ask the wrong questions. In order to get the desired responses, we really need to reconsider our questions.

From this class, I have rediscovered two types of questions: closed questions and open questions. Closed questions yield short answers such yes and no whereas open questions require learners to respond in more depth.  I am planning to ask more open questions to my students so that I can promote higher order thinking skills in my classroom. Instead of asking “do you understand?” or “do you have any questions?”, I would ask more questions like “what do you understand about…..?” or “could you explain the concept of…?”.

Allow me to briefly share with you some of the tips for effective questioning:

1.    Plan the questions to be asked in advanced

·         Prepare different types of questions for different stages in the lesson such as questions for set induction or questions to check understanding. We can always refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy in preparing the questions.

2.    Use more open questions in the classroom

·         Open questions will encourage more participation from the learners as open questions allow them to provide less-restricted responses.

3.    Avoid asking ‘guess what’s in my head’ questions

·         This type of questions might limit the learners’ responses just because they think we have the specific answer that we want from them thus limits their creativity.

4.    More ‘wait time’ please?

·         When given ample time to respond, learners would be more motivated to participate because they know that their opinion matters too!

5.    One question at a time

·         Allowing learners to focus to one question at a time would yield better responses. According to the Bloom’s Taxonomy, different (level) questions require different language style. If the questions are mixed up, learners might not be able to offer the desired response.

6.    Practice ‘no hands-up’ approach

·         This approach is useful in involving all learners in classroom as anyone might get ‘lucky’ and chosen to respond to classroom tasks. Learners would have to at least try to prepare a response.

7.    Don’t answer your own questions!

·         If learners know that a teacher will always give the right answer, they might just wait for the answer.

8.    Create an environment which learners feel safe and become  risk takers

·         Encourage learners to give answers that still need more work (by emphasizing that it is not wrong, since that is not the point here).

9.    Acknowledge ‘off beam’ answers by always finding something positive.

·         When learners come up with something which is not quite accurate, positively help the learners to improve the answer.

I really look forward to try these tips in my own classroom, which I am positive that most of it is applicable in our classroom, or at least in my own classroom. I am positive that with the application of these suggested tips, I will be able instill the idea “learning English language is not difficult, but interesting”.  

MOHD NAZRIE HASSIM

MERLIMAU POLYTECHNIC, MALACCA

Which baboon are you?

Day 8 Session 2 (Friday, 17 Oct. 2014, 10:30-12pm)

“Are you a dominant baboon or an ordinary baboon?”

Session: Consolidating Learning with Differentiation and Mixed Ability Groups

By: Bill Bowler

Are you a dominant baboon or an ordinary baboon? That was the sentence Bill said to us. I was captivated by the words and I cannot help but to laugh aloud with the rest of the class. As we sat there in the class listening to Bill’s explanation, my mind digested his words. The reason why he uttered the sentence was because of how differentiation was done in a normal classroom. Majority of us as teachers take for granted of the importance of differentiation. We simply group our students according to their sitting position or maybe just let them group themselves. This kind of grouping always happens every time during class time. I am no different from the rest of the bunch.

The issue about the dominant baboon symbolises the active student who always answer the teacher’s questions. The ordinary baboons, on the other hand, refer to the rest of the group who are passively listening to the discussion without any contribution.  

The question that may arise from this issue is “how this will affect the students?” Well, sadly to be told, I silently agreed that the ordinary baboons will stay ordinary and the dominant baboon will always be dominant unless we do something about this.

Throughout the session, Bill made me realised that we should not overlook or take this matter lightly. This is because it does not promote any learning, at least not to rest of the ordinary baboons. He emphasised that differentiation should be done in a mixed ability class so that each student will learn from each other and take a different role every time during an activity is carried out. The students will benefit much more from this kind of learning as the weaker students will be motivated by the stronger students.

Here I can conclude that, there is so much more to be done for the students. It depends on us to facilitate the learning and let the students discover the lesson themselves. After all we do not want them to be just another dominant and ordinary baboons right?

BABOON FACT:

Baboons use around 30 vocalisations which range from grunts to barks to screams. Non-vocal gestures would be lip smacking, shoulder shrugging & more.

SUZANNIE STEPHEN GALAUT

KOTA KINABALU POLYTECHNIC