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| As the English Panel Head I hope for the best for the pupils of this school and the English teachers to do their very best to teach them well. I will keep my spirits burning and do my best to wake all the sleepy heads. For me, someone has to start the ball rolling and it's got to be me. So go ahead and do it. |
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| Have composed this English Campaign song for my former school , SK Selama and now transferred over to SK Bendang Siam. The lyric sends a strong message across to the pupils. Sung to the tune of Kampung Boy it should be sung by every pupil in school . Its meaning understood and practised as well . All for the sake of motivating them to learn English the fun way. All the best . |
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| Our new Senior Assistant for Co-curricular activities, Pn Hjh Shamsiah advised the pupils on the importance of learning English and encouraged them to participate in the English activities. |
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| These cute and bright Year 1 Bestari pupils surely are talented and have potentials to win the competitions outside school if they are properly trained. They sang four songs. |
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| Year 2 Bestari sang "Slippery Fish" with actions. Hopefully 15 of them will perform well in the Action Song Competition next year. |
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| Year 2 Wawasan presented 3 short children songs happily. |
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| This is Yr 3 Wawasan, the class I took over all of a sudden when their English teacher was transferred out. There are a few heroes here who are over active and it's difficult to keep them still. Anyway, am proud of them as they could sing four short children songs beautifully. |
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| Year 4 Bestari is also a good class which I will teach next year. Managed to train these pupils for two lovely songs which I will never fail to teach my kids; "Beautiful Sunday" and " Lemon Tree". |
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| Year 4 Wawasan consists of rather pupils who are weak in English. Despite their shyness, they put on a good show and sang three songs, "Oh, Malaysia" , "It's A Samll World" and "Happy Wanderer" . Even their class teacher, Pn Wan helped me to train them. |
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| Year 5 Bestari is a good class and from them and Year 4 Bestari I'll pick them for Choral Speaking next year. They presented "I Have A Dream" and it's a beautiful inspirational song. Yes,go after your dreams everyone. |
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| Year 5 Wawasan is the second class and these pupils need more motivation in learning, more praises as strict scoldings and punishments will sometimes make them detest learning English. These girls and boys sang , "My Bonnie" they had learned just a day before. Actually I taught them two songs. |
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| These Year 6 Bestari pupils need to improve a lot through more exposure to interesting English activities. I hope to produce sketches before they leave school. |
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| I have taught these Year 6 Bestari pupils for 5 months and am glad I can see results. They are now more cheerful and have the interest in learning to sing and speak English though they are quite shy. They presented ,"Top Of The World". |
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| These Year 6 Wawasan girls hardly learn any English songs in school and I'll teach them a few more before they leave the school. |
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| Encik Jamil and I entertained them with our favourite hit, "My Way". |
Well, a teacher just informed me whether I would like the short time left to conduct an English activity to let the children celebrate Children's Day as well. Those were the words I have wanted to hear as being newly posted to this school, I have been hoping to get strong support from the English teachers especially and the others as well.
Whatever time given to English activities, even money to be spent on the children and all kinds of support in the form of expertise technically or morally, are all welcome. This is just what I need most, even if I have to perform being it "a one man show" , it has to be - the challenge is the show must go on. When the children get motivated and understand that they are loved, cared for and believe what we are doing is for their good, they too will adopt a positive attitude.
With whatever resources we have, these young ones will be able to learn, to participate and through the activities planned for them, they will gain more confidence , knowledge and experience as well as improve their own English proficiency especially in grammar, vocabulary or even spelling.
There's hardly any time to waste as teachers have to think of ways to help these weak ones to learn English. It is not about memorising notes and construct UPSR style sentences to score in the exam but by the end of the day, we must produce pupils who are able to speak and write English confidently.
It is no use actually complaining about our grievances such as the shortage of English teachers in the school, no one will listen I guess. For me, after complaining and voicing out my own opinions and disatisfaction, I'll still carry out my duties well as I understand I have no such powers to make great changes but I have to do whatever within my own means. Yeah, keep the spirits up and stop listening to negative remarks and not to judge others. There are disappointments and some frustrations but as I said have to go on persevering and aiming to achieve what we aim for.
The Children's Day Programme filled with the English Happy Hour was simply enjoyable. Within a short time the shy pupils were forced up the stage to sing and perform. Even if they hadn't memorised their lyrics , it was just fine as the exposure was more important. With more serious efforts , teachers can truly motivate young pupils , mostly village boys and girls to learn English. We can reach out to them through English songs and music, language games , stories and other fun activities.
I used to enjoy teaching freely when I was younger when there was less documentation. This is my 33 years in teaching in national schools, and I am still unsatisfied in the system. By the end of the day, everyone is asking the number of As scored by the school in UPSR . They want passes and As so everyone is happy. For me, all this is useless, as most of the time they are learning is to answer the same UPSR paper. Lots of memorising and reproducing. We have not much time to allow these kids to actually practise applying the language skills they learn such as oral skills etc.
Now, with all the wonderful ideas brought in from Japan or wherever, which I find are impractical and takes too much of the language teacher's time. Classroom enrollment should be small and teacher assistants should be around to help these language teachers. We hope that the revamp of the whole education system announced recently is much better. English standard has gone down the drain. Most English teachers are not proficient in English. It's too late as the damage has been done.
Well, as long as I am still in service for another four years, I'll do my duty the best I can.
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