Common Mistakes We Make In Using English

Happy Ramadhan everyone! I haven't posted anything for a long, long time so I thought I'd share this with you:

Red : Wrong
Black : Right


It's tail is long.
Its tail is long.

Look at the elephant's trunks.
Look at the elephants' trunks.

I and you are friends.
You and I are friends.

A also can help.
I can also help.

Chase after him.
Chase him.

Return back quickly.
Return quickly.

It's 10.00 p.m. at night.
It's 10.00 p.m.

Its price is cheaper.
It's cheap.

The reason was because...
The reason was that...

I don't think so you're fat.
I don;t think you're fat.

Though I'm small but I'm strong.
Though I'm small, I'm strong.

I'm angry at you.
I'm angry with you.

I prefer hockey than football.
I prefer hockey to football.

I'm interested to join the club.
I'm interested in joining the club.

I look forward to see you.
I look forward to seeing you.

We have lots of homeworks.
We have lots of homework.

This bouquet of roses are lovely.
This bouquet of roses is lovely.

Maths are fun.
Maths is fun.

One of the boy is here.
One of the boys is here.

Every match are exciting.
Every match is exciting.

Nothing scare me.
Nothing scares me.

Make less mistakes.
Make fewer mistakes.

Either he or she are right.
Either he or she is right.

I'm a ten-years-old girl.
I'm a ten-year-old girl.

Last year he can dive well.
Last year he could dive well.

I wish I can fly.
I wish I could fly.

It's time we go home.
It's time we went home.

You made me laughed.
You made me laugh.

I'll tell you when I 'll see you.
I'll tell you when I see you.

You're Lin, isn't it?
You're Lin, aren't you?

Please on the computer.
Please switch on the computer.

Last two weeks, I won a prize.
Two weeks ago, I won a prize.

He's my cousin brother.
He's my cousin.

We'll send you to the airport.
We'll take you to the airport.

I'll follow you to the concert.
I'll go with you to the concert.

You did good in the test.
You did well in the test.

The kids are singing.
The children are singing. (This one may be a difference between American and British English)

Happy Holidays!

That's all I want to say.Happy Holidays!!!:-)

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

List of Duties for 2013

   Well I've been out of sight for quite a well. The start of a new year is always action-packed, whether you're at school or in university or at school again, as a teacher.

   This year I've been assigned quite a share of responsibilities and duties at school. To be completely honest with you, I'm not quite sure I'll be able to pull it off but I will give it m very best shot and try to accomplish whatever there is to be accomplished. For now, I shall have to put any notion of continuing my studies aside just a teeny tiny wee bit. Just so I can see if I can manage well at school. I f I can, then Insya-Allah I shall do my best to go for my M.Ed. Yes!

   I thought I'd share my list of duties at school for this year. You never know, we might have a lot to share and talk about- just in case you also happen to have been assigned to teach Year 6 for the first time ever in your teaching career, giving you cramps and nightmares and panicky moments even at the start of the year. Or etc. Here we go:

Teacher Mayah's 2013 List of Duties at SKST

Pentadbiran (School Management)
-Penyelaras SPLG/LDP (Sistem Pengurusan Latihan Guru/Latihan Dalam Perkhidmatan)

Hal Ehwal Murid (Students' Affairs)
-Penyelaras Unit 3 K (Kesihatan, Keceriaan dan Keselamatan)
-Penolong Setiausaha Unit Kecemerlangan
-Ketua Biro Motivasi dan Kepimpinan bagi Unit Kecemerlanagan
-Guru Kelas Tahun 4

Kurikulum
-Penyelaras Bilik SAL (Self Access Learning Centre)
-Guru Bahasa Inggeris bagi Tahun 3 (KSSR), 4 dan 6 (KBSR)

Ko-kurikulum
-Penyelaras Persatuan Bahasa Inggeris
-Guru Penasihat Bola Baling (uh-huh)
-Guru Penasihat Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah (what??)


   That is as far as I remember. I'll come back and edit if I've left anything out. What's on your list for this year? Do share.

New (School) Year Countdown: Weird Dreams

   I have always found it odd how when I'm looking forward to or am constantly thinking of something, it ends up in my dreams. Of course it's probably not odd since studies have shown that dreams are usually affected by what you think and do (eceh jadik saintis pulak tetiba). You know what I mean though.

   And guess what. School is about to start in less than a week.

   And last night, I had the strangest dream.

   I dreamt that I was getting ready for school. Then I realised that I was late for school. I quickly jumped on my bike (what the... a bike?) and pedalled as hard as I could. Then suddenly the tires went flat. I cycled home (apparently I was supposed to pick her up. Wait. Where did I cycle from in the first place??) and informed her that we had better  go to school by car since my bike had managed to get flat tires. Then a man suddenly came and knocked on the window and asked if we were planning to move out since he was looking for a house to rent.

   I don't think we went to school at all in the end.

   Complete rubbish.

   As if I would EVER cycle to school. Crazy kot. Mungkinla jauh.

   Hehe. Happy end-of-holidays and let's get ready to get back to school!

   Anybody been lucky enough to get your own share of weird get-back-to-school dream/nightmare? Do share.