KSSR Year 2: Listening & Speaking (Animal Sounds)

   Two posts in a day! Rajin pulak I, haha.

   As I have mentioned in my last post, I am teaching one Year 2 class. Since KSSR was first launched last year (2011), this year's Year 2 pupils are the first ones to follow the KSSR. I have gone for a course on KSSR when I was in my training institute, but it was merely a brief introduction and though it helped, I am still a little hazy about the whole thing. Thankfully I have some notes given by our very kind lecturer Madam Is.

   I prepared this lesson by following an example provided in the KSR Year 2 Teacher Guidebook. I am not sure if what I have done is right, but as I told you before, I was not able to carry this lesson out. If anybody is currently teaching Year 2 pupils and would like to try this lesson out, I welcome you to use my idea and please do come back and tell me how it when. I'd love to know.

Subject: English
Level: Year 2 KSSR
Skill: Listening & Speaking
Topic: Animal Sounds

You will need:
 Flashcards of animals
Audio files on animal sounds
Worksheet

STEPS

Set Induction: Talk to pupils about their favourite animals. If they do not know the English word for it, ask them to say the name  of the animal in their mother tongue. Then tell them the English version and make sure they repeat after you.

Step 1
1. First show pupils pictures of animals. Tell them the names of the animals and ask them to repeat after you. Go through all the picture you have.
2. In the second round, ask the children to make the sounds of each animal.

Step 2
1. Play the animal sounds, one by one. In the first round, ask them to guess what animal it is.
2. In the second round, play the sounds again and this time tell them the animals that make the sounds. repeat as necessary.

Step 3
1. Distribute the worksheets.
2. Explain to the children that you will play one animal sound. They must try to guess which animal makes the sound and write the number '1' on the box next to the picture of the animal.
3. After they have done that, play the next sound. Go through the sounds one by one and let them write the number before playing the next sound.
3. Check the answers with the whole class.


I believe this lesson is quite simple. If you try this out, do let me know, and  I'd love to hear you suggestions on how to make the activities better, more interesting or more suitable for lower/higher ability pupils. Thank you! I hope you enjoy this post!

RULE NUMBER ONE: Teachers MUST Like Their Pupils

   So begins my life as a teacher.

   I have spent 5 days in service at SKST. There is so much that I do not know. So much that I must learn.

   I received a temporary timetable on the second day I was here. Apparently, I was sent to SKST because I was supposed to fill in an empty spot left by a teacher who was supposed to report here earlier this year, but never did (she got a transfer to another state). Mr L's words were, "We are so happy to get an English teacher. We need another female English teacher." I feel wanted. Hehe.And needed.

   I was assigned to take over the classes which were supposed to be taken by the Teacher Who Never Came. Three Classes. 2D. 3Z. 4D. You'd better remember them since I predict i will be talking about them a lot. A LOT.

   Each grade is streamed into two classes- the Z classes for the higher ability pupils and the D classes for lower ability ones. You may have noticed that I go two D classes. It's all right! I thought It is best to start with the more difficult classes. You learn and gain more experience that way.

   I want to talk 2D.

   2D.

   The first time I entered their class, they managed (or I managed to make them) stay in their seats. New teacher alert. (Nearly) all was good.

   The second time I entered was two period before the final bell rang. They were already wearing their bags, ready to go home. They yelled, kicked, ,banged the desks and simply ran amok. The Silent Treatment did NOT work. I began to get a foreboding of doom. Grey clouds. Heavy rain. I was determined. When I next entered, I would be strict. Garang. These children need to learn that I was in charge. I prepared for battle.

   Every time I talked to my friends or other people, I would describe the horrors that these children had presented to me. 2D this. 2D that.


   The third time was yesterday. I'd received the permanent timetable and I was ready to rock these kids' socks. In short, it was a total flop. A huge disaster. I went back to the staff room and brooded at my table.

   Mr L happened to be there, so I started talking to him. He's my mentor, so I told him all about it- how my planned activities never got carried out because the children would not listen to me... and so on. We talked about it for quite a while. I was down in the dumps and not ready to climb back to the top. Though I nodded in agreement to what Mr L said, the words did not enter my heart.

   Then, Mr L said something that struck me right at the core of my heart. It was such a simple statement, but it shocked me right back into existence. He said:

   "You must enjoy (being with) the children. Then you will enjoy the class."

   Realisation flooded into me. I was dumbstruck. Just with those words, I began see things clearly. It was as if a door had been unlocked and I was walking out of it, meeting sunshine and fresh air and all good things.

   I had made a mistake. When I was at SKP, however bad things were, I knew that I loved and cared for the children. They were special. I did not only want to teach them and help them learn, I also wanted to be their friends.

   With 2D, I had fallen into a trap I fell into the Teacher vs. Pupils trap. It was me against them.

   It should have been me AND them. Teachers and Pupils. I had set myself apart, and I did not try very hard to remember all their names. I did not even think about  whether I liked  them. Whoever they were, I just wanted to teach. It was wrong. I was wrong.

   Today, I entered and smiled. I joked, and laughed and teased. I began to learn their names, and I could feel that I liked being there. Let me tell you it was no a total success. We're a long way from there. However, I think whatever happens, I won't want to stop trying. These children are special. They need my attention, and my help. I want to look forward to going  to class. I don't want to dread the thought of meeting them every day. In order to execute change, I must change. It starts with me.

   2D, let me be your teacher. Let me be your friends. Let me into your world. Let's make learning fun, shall we?

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.

Posting: More on JPN Briefing

   After spending 3 days at school, I am back. At home. Yes. Yes!

   Anyway, to continue the news on posting, I thought I'd write with more details on the JPN briefin. you people who hope to be posted to Kelantan may want to take note since the procedure and all might just be the same.

   The briefing was held at Dewan Bestari. Pink building. Next to an orange building. Ground floor. We signed our names before going into the hall. They did not ask for any documents. My friends Shima, Ipah and I wore blazers, just in case, but it wasn't really necessary. Parents were allowed to go into the hall, so my Mum sat with other parents at the back of the hall.

   The briefing started off with a long introductory speech from some important person. He spoke of thigs like how important our job was, how lucky we were to be placed in Kelantan since it's  so hard to get in, you get the idea. He also put a lot of emphasis on how ENGLISH teachers were placed in ONLY RURAL AREAS since we were needed there. He mentioned it a few times. In fact, pretty much everybody who spoke in front mentioned this little interesting fact. The first place they filled up with new teachers was the 'jajahan' (district) I was sent to. GUA MUSANG. Yeahhhhhh. Yay for me (coughs).

   The second speaker also spoke about similar things, after which he officiated  the ceremony. We were like, what??? Baru nak rasmi? Bila nak bagitau dapat sekolah mana ni? The secondary school people already knew where they were posted to, since the name of the school was listed beside their name when they registered. W primary school people fidgeted an sat on the edge of our seats, giggling nervously.  Thank goodness nobody went hysterical.

   Finally, they started calling our names. We went to the front, received our placement letters and our fates were sealed. From the 9 TESL girls from my training institute, 2 were placed in Gua Musang (guess who one of them was. I'll give you some sweeties if you get it right), 1 in Jeli and the other 6 in Kuala  Krai.

   After that, they called out the names of the schools and the Heads of each school came out to meet their new family member(s). Two of my friends were posted to the same school! Lucky them. My Head didn't come (okay that sentence makes me wanna crack up), but the PK HEM (Senior Assistant Teacher for Student Affairs) did, and he was (and is) a very, very nice man. He's in his fifties, and is going to  retire in about 3 years, I think. Mr L. Mum came and sat with us, and he kept telling her not to worry, that SKST (my school) was the safest, most comfortable school there is. He said, "Oghe2 situ jughus2 blako." (The people there are nice people). Did I mention that Mr. L is Chinese? And that he speaks using the Kelantanese accent when he speaks in Malay? Yeah.

   There was also a short briefing on Badan Ehsan or Ihsan, but I couldn't hear much because the hall was so noisy, with everybody being excited on getting their new schools. What I did hear was that new teachers should register, because they have some sort of donation(?) for new teachers who are posted to places like Gua Musang and need money and stuff. I'm not sure if I heard  about this correctly. I will try  to find out more and share with  you.

   One more briefing was on the Plan Pembangunan Guru Baru. This was some new programme they came up with in order to get new teachers oriented to their school, as well as to monitor them to make sure we're doing our job. I still don't know much about it, but when I do, I will tell you more about it.

   That's it for now. TTFN!

Posting: JPN Briefing

   I'm tired, so I'll only write a bit. In short:

   -Kelantan received 74 new teachers today

   -the Heads or their representatives were there to welcome the new member(s) of each school

   - the new English teachers were all posted to either one of these 3 districts: Kuala Krai, Gua Musang or Jeli

   - we received our memo/placement letter (surat penempatan). The offer letter (surat tawaran kerja) will only be ready after 2 weeks

   What? You want know where I've been sent to?

   Gua Musang. Hehe.