UPSR: Tips for Teaching Section B in Paper 2

   Assalamualaikum and hello everyone!

   I'm sorry that I cannot do this consistently. I wish I could post and share what I know and have learnt as often as I can but I am either too lazy or busy doing something else. Please bear with me, dear friends. I have not even spent any time to customise my blog and it has been like this for the past two or three years. I think.

   This time I would like to share a type of exercise that you can use to teach your pupils to write for Section B in Paper 2. This exercise would be useful for weak pupils and for those who are just beginning to write for Section B.

   You will need to prepare the templates below for them. I shall provide the link to the PowerPoint and Word documents for the exercise so that you can download them and edit them to suit your class.


  First, read through the information provided in the exercises you wish to use with your pupils. If you wish them to transfer the information first into the table/space provided, then by all means do so. Then, depending on the type of information you have, read through the sample that you have prepared. Below is one sample my mentor prepared, which I edited a bit to suit my pupils:

   Since I prepared this for weak and average pupils, I made the sentences very simple. The point of this exercise is to help pupils write based on the example given. Then, provide templates with blank spaces for them to write in using the information for the two other options, such as shown below:

   And there you go! Easy peasy in syaa Allah. Hope this helps!

DOWNLOAD LINK: POWERPOINT SECTION B: AFTER-SCHOOL CLASSES

DOWNLOAD LINK: MICROSOFT WORD SECTION B: AFTER-SCHOOL CLASSES

UPSR: Tips for Teaching Section A in Paper 2 (1)

   With the implementation of KSSR, KBSR will soon be demolished. That is, in three years time. There are still three batches of pupils who must go through UPSR and fortunately(?) I am lucky enough to have been selected to teach Year 6 this year. Yayyy!! (pumps hand into the air while trying very hard to ignore how much it's shaking).

   Alhamdulillah, I've been blessed with the fact that my mentor in school (who also happens to be the PK HEM) is an expert on UPSR answering techniques for English. He has traveled quite extensively around Gua Musang to give talks to pupils and teachers alike, and from what I've seen (I've had the privilege of accompanying him once or twice) the teachers and pupils all like his method as it helps them to have a system for answering the questions.

   A day or two before, a friend asked if I could share some tips on how to teach pupils to answer Section A of Paper 2. I must tell you that I don't know much myself, but I have learned from a person I consider to be an expert on this matter. Insya-Allah, I hope to share what I've learnt from him with you in this blog, together with a few tips and tricks that I've managed to come up with as I teach my pupils. I hope this will help and benefit you! All the best!

NOTE: Please remember that different teachers will have different strategies or answering techniques. This is what my mentor taught me, and he has managed to help many pupils succeed in scoring for the exam, so I take that as a good sign.

   Introduction
   There are 3 sections in Paper 2. The first is Section A for which pupils must produce five sentences based on the picture given. For example, for the picture below, pupils can compose the five following sentences:

UPSR 2012

ADVANCED-AVERAGE PUPILS
1. There are many people doing various activities at the toy shop.
2. The man who sits on the bench is reading a newspaper.
3. The man who wears a collared-shirt is looking at some badminton rackets in the display area.
4. The woman who sports shoulder-length hair is looking at the baby in the pram while another woman who wears a head scarf is holding the handle of the pram.
5. The girl who wears a t-shirt and a pair of trousers is showing a doll to a man.

AVERAGE-WEAK PUPILS
1. This is a toy shop.
2. There are many toys in the toy shop.
3. A man is looking at the badminton rackets.
4. A/Another man is reading a newspaper.
5. A girl is holding a doll.

   There are many other possible answers or sentences that may be produced, but the ones I've provided are examples to help you see the possible sentence structures for the picture. Weak students may not be able to produce such sentences, so other options need to be explored. I shall provide step-by-step instructions that will help you to help your pupils to prepare themselves for answering Section A. I have decided to separate the steps into different posts so that it is easier for you to follow and understand them. (It also helps me prepare blog entries more easily as a long post would take a very long time to be composed.)

   Please follow the links below (will be updated gradually. Stay tuned!

Step 1
Step 2

5 Rules in English Class

   [UPDATE: Rules for Year 2 & Year 3]

   I've yet to write about my school, but I've been a bit occupied recently so I hope this post will do for now.

   Remember the '6 Rules' thing that I posted about last year? Well, I never did get around to carrying them out so I could not update you on the results. However, I'm quite determined that I'd do it for at least one of my English classes at SKST. I fact, I've already started it for one of my classes. Here are the rules:

YEAR 4

YEAR 3

YEAR 2

   Since my pupils are all Muslims, it seemed appropriate for Rule Number 1 to be set. Technically speaking, they are NOT all exactly rules, but I believe they will help in setting some sort of goals for the children to achieve. Besides, it'll help them memorise some lines in English, and get them used to the idea of actually using the language.

   I'm currently at home and will be returning to GM tomorrow, Insya-Allah, If I have time, I'll write a bit about some more stuff later. TTFN.

The Silent Treatment - It Works After All

   I have a soft spot for kids. I guess. I really don't have the heart to be angry at them, or to keep at it when I do manage to get angry at all. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. Maybe it's because I'm still pretty much a kid at heart myself.

   With 3 Cerdik, this does create problems sometimes. They are, as Madam Jane says, 'too comfortable' with me, that they're not afraid at all when I show the slightest hint of being angry at them. They'd just continue shouting and running around, and if they do realise that I'm angry, they'd argue over who made teacher angry. great.

   Last week, however, brought about a totally new experience for me, and for them too.

   SKP had its UPP (Ujian Pengesanan Prestasi, which is sort of like a monthly test but is not done monthly) last week, so Eza and I were free from lesson plans for one whole week. Hurray! To top it off, we had had our final observation for English the week before, so we were in good spirits when the week started off.

   We'd been given the UPP timetable earlier, and were told that we were supposed to enter classes according to our usual periods to invigilate the exam. I think this is what most schools do to make things easier rather than to draft out a whole new timetable for invigilators.

   When I entered the class as usual on Tuesday, I could feel trouble brewing. The problem with Year 3 is that since I'm mostly very laid-back and easygoing during classes, they automatically become extra energetic whenever they're with me. So, as soon as the teacher left the class, they started chatting and winking at each other. I just ignored them. As long as they didn't make too much noise, it was fine with me.

   However, on Wednesday things took a different turn. I don't remember what subject they were doing, but as usual they had finished early and started to get restless. They began passing notes and doodling on pieces of scrap paper. I thought this was not proper as it was during an exam, so I told them that I only wanted to see their exam paper and pencil cases on their desks. As usual, the cheeky little things started asking whether a whole bunch of things were allowed on the table. I was tolerant enough until one boy (whose name I will not mention here) asked if one item (which I will also not mention) was allowed on the table too.

   I glared at the boy-who-must-not-be-named. What he said was not only rude, but also rather obscene, and I knew that it was something that he would not have dared say to another teacher. At this time, the others were building up a racket, and without realising it I started to get really angry. At first I scolded a little, but when it did not work, I administered The Silent Treatment. Haha. What a name, huh?

Even these big fellas know how to give each other the Silent Treatment, huh?

(source)

   Now, this 'treatment' is one that Eza has recommended a number of times. She said what one has to do is to pull a very 'ketat' or tight face so that the kids know you're angry. I've tried it a number of times, but it never really worked, probably because I couldn't keep my face serious long enough with the kids. Besides, I rarely really, truly feel very angry with them, so I know that I don't mean it when I make tight faces. Maybe that's why tight faces don't work with me. In addition, even if I do it, they don't think I'm angry, they think I'm sulking. So I gave up and just try my best to keep them occupied through the class to keep them from being too noisy.

   This time, however, I was really angry. So I went to my seat and completely ignored them. If anyone made any noise, I would look at them until they stopped. At first, they did not notice, but soon the class went from noisy to a little less noisy. They started to notice that I was angry with them. Some of them called out to me, but I ignored them, which was not hard to do at first since I was really angry. However, the feeling started  to wear off after a while, but I gritted my teeth and kept at it. By this time I was wondering if Eza's Silent Treatment really worked. So far it was working, so I thought I should go on.

   When the time for the exam was up, I stood up and collected their papers, silently and without looking at their faces. By then, they knew that something was wrong. I completely ignored them, and when they tried being playful with me I kept a straight face and averted my gaze. This was something new to them, as I'd never ignored their jokes. In fact, I would usually join in.

   After that, I went back to my seat. There were still about 10 minutes left before break, so I wrote on the board: Break at 11 am. Yes, I did. I was so determined to carry on with the experiment that I did not want to say a single word to them. Laugh if you want. Anyway, it started to get a bit difficult because they wanted to console me. Some of them came to me and asked what was wrong, but I kept quiet. It was especially difficult when Alif, for whom I have a really soft spot, began peering at me from under his long eyelashes and calling "Teacher? Teacher?" in his high-pitched voice. Eza would understand how difficult it was for me to have ignored this!

   When the bell rang for break, I left the class, with the boys running after me. I ignored them. It was all that I could do to keep my face straight, but I did it. I thought that I'd ignored them enough for the day, so I decided that I'd go back to being nice the next day.

   But then things happened... and changed everything. I felt so hurt and so horribly betrayed. I did not know how far the truth stretched,  but I knew that most of it was. I can't speak of it. But I did know that I could not face Year 3 smiling for the rest of the week.

   When I entered the class the next day, I could sense that they had been expecting my Silent Treatment. I went straight to the Teacher's Table and dumped the question papers and my things on it. They were supposed to have their English test, but it was not due to start in 50 minutes. Usually, I would rack my brains for activities to keep them occupied, but this time I only spoke a few words. I told them to revise their lessons to prepare for the English paper, and that was that.

   It was the first time the class kept quiet without any effort on my part. They knew I was angry and they knew that I meant it. I returned their files so that they could study, and I pointedly averted my gaze. One boy, Syukri who is usually one of the naughtiest, started looking for old worksheets and sending them to me to be marked, which i did. I only talked when necessary and I swear the class has never been so quiet during my time with them! I would have enjoyed it more had I not felt really angry with them.

   I could see that the girls were affected by my treatment and longed to talk to me. Aisyah M looked sad and unhappy, while Aisyah R kept hovering in front of my desk as if she wanted to ask me what was wrong. It took all my willpower not to answer to their sad faces. Besides, I felt too drained of energy myself. Alif was absent, so I don't know what difference he would have made to my mood.

   I could go on and on describing what happened, but it will probably be very boring. My point is, if you have trouble controlling your class, and you want to administer the Silent Treatment, you have to really grit you teeth and go at it. It's not easy, but if the kids are close to you they will feel the difference in your treatment towards them. I don't know if it's a good kind of treatment, but if you think it's necessary then do it. Don't feel too bad about it, sometimes we have to be a bit mean to teach them a lesson or two.

   As for my kids, I did not see them much for the rest of the week as I had no classes on Friday. The following week was a holiday so I figured I would not see them until after the hols, but I happened to meet them just before the bell rang for the day. They slowly came up to me and began to tell me their marks for their BM paper, so I gave in and talked to them.

   The Silent Treatment- it works. It was an interesting experience, but I really hope I don't have to do it again. I like my kids too much to have to ignore them again. I hope that's a good thing.

6 rules in Miss Sue's class

   [I have a lot to write about my first at SK Pegoh, but I don't have time yet, so I hope this will do for now. Thanks for reading! Comments are very much welcomed.]

   I said once that I would rather have my pupils call me 'Teacher Sue' rather than 'Miss Sue'. It may be grammatically wrong, but it sounds so much warmer. In fact, I only introduced myself as Miss Sue once in my Year 3 English class. However, I suppose one must try, so I think I'll try it for my next class.

   I got this idea after doing some surfing on the internet and watching some videos on Youtube. I decided that I'd try it in my next class. It won't be easy, and it might not work, but there's always a first time for everything, huh?

   I decided that each time before my class, I'd ask the children to chant a list of rules in my class. The purpose? Well, first of all is of course to set some sort of discipline in class. At first, they may not understand what the rules mean, but perhaps they will. I hope to let them achieve that before I leave SKP in April. Next, it may help to set the mood for my English class. By doing this, they will know that it is time for Miss Sue's English class (forgive me but 'Miss Sue' really does sound a little squeasy to me....I actually squirm every time I type it).

   As for the other benefits... I'll list them down when I found what they are. For now, I'm just going to try doing it first.

   And so... these are the rules for Miss Sue's class. I wanted to limit it to 5, but I can't think of which one I should delete. I wish I had enough readers who can help comment and give their opinions, but I don't. Oh, well.

6 Rules in Miss Sue's English class

1.   I must listen when teacher is speaking.

2.   I must raise my hand when I want to speak.

3.   I must follow teacher’s instructions the best way I can.

4.   I must be nice to teacher and my friends.

5.    I must try to use English as much as I can.

6.   I must work and study hard.

   There you are. I'll try this out and update you on the progress and whether it works. Insya-Allah I shall also upload some lesson plans soon. They're not that good, but they may help you in getting some ideas in teaching English, especially for those who need to follow the KBSR syllabus.

   Wish me luck! May Allah bless all teachers who strive and work hard to make teaching fun and meaningful for their children!