On the 5th of December, my Little Kampung Skypers had the chance to meet with a Princess from the Lisbon Zoo Kingdom. The princess had lost her crown and she needed our help in finding them. Together, we 'walked' around the zoo, going from one enclosure to another in search of her dazzling crown.

Click to learn more on the zoo

Isn't it lovely?

We went to the zebra's, flamingoes', giraffes', elephants', meerkats' and chimpanzees' enclosures to look for the crown. While we were looking, the princess shared a lot of interesting animal facts with us. The princess is certainly a knowledgeable person. Brain with beauty! Perfect!

Hello!

We were asked to count the elephants too...

Listening attentively...

Do you know how flamingo has its colour?

The giraffes.

I think the ancient Egyptians had some inspirations from these meerkats' 'eye makeup'.

Are you a real princess?

The little Skypers answered the questions posted by the princess and she was impressed at their answers. She graciously complimented their effort and the Skypers were very pleased. Guess where we found the crown?

I found it! said Khodeejah.

You may take this trip too. Find out more by clicking the image below. Thanks to Microsoft in Education for making it possible for educators to make the world as their classroom. This is our second virtual trip and already I have seen some improvement in my little Skypers. Give it a try, I am sure you will want to take another virtual trip to somewhere again.


We sure had a lot of fun with the princess and hope to see her again soon!

During Skyp-ing

Thanks to Rania for the Sway on our interaction the other day.



We look forward to an extended session when the school reopens in January 2017!

In conducting workshops around the state, sharing knowledge and ideas on 21st Century Learning, I encounter some of these questions from the participants. I wish to address the questions here, and I welcome feedback on the comments section below.

In my workshop, I used the activity called I do, You do and We do.

We do

The activity requires a lot of moving around and it lies heavily on time management skill. It is easy to do but it requires practice.

Okay, let us get back to the questions.

1. How do you check the correct answer?

The correct answer will be determined by the remainders in the group. Teacher will make rounds to check too. An extension of the activity may be a gallery walk, so that others can reward other people's work.

2. How do you do this with low proficiency learners?

The teacher needs to ascertain on the content to be taught based on the proficiency level. Lowering the content to suit the ability will ensure the success of this activity. 

3. Can it be done in other subject other than English?

Yes. 

4. How to go about doing this activity, for instance in Al-Quran subject?

As fun as this activity may seem, it can cater for a serious subject such as Quran. The flexibility of learning from peers will allow more room for practice without being scrutinise publicly. 


Relatively, these are the questions I had. Reflecting on the these, I think that we need to understand our content and tailor it to suit our learners. Then, empowering them with choice and making decisions will have to be our approach towards learning.

Trust your students in delegating their own work, because they have great teachers like you. If you don't trust them, ARE YOU NOT CONFIDENT OF YOURSELVES?

It was FUN!

As the name suggested, we skyped again with Redlands School, Sydney. This time around, we exchanged questions prior to the session. The questions concern on daily activities, preferences and cultural practices.

The session went well and the students from Malaysia were excited and nervous at the same time. As English being the third language learnt in school, the students need to articulate the questions correctly and listen to the answers provided by the Redlanders. The answers to the questions were written by the data enterers.

Hmm...

A student with his teacher

Isn't she cute?

Listening to question attentively

Answering questions as the data enterers look on

Hello, friends!

Some of the questions asked by us are:

• Is your school huge? Please tell me about one favourite place that you like in your school?
• What is your hobby? How you usually carry out your hobby?
• How did you come to school? Who bring you there?
• Do your parents read you a bedtime story? Which story is your favourite?
• What did you do during the previous Halloween? Do you get many candies from others?
• What is your favourite food? Why you like it?
• How many family members do you have? Who is your favourite? Why?
• Who is your best friend in school? What do you like about her/him?
• Can you tell me about your favourite cartoon? What is it interesting about?
• Can you tell me about your country?
• Can you please tell me what is interesting about yourself?
• What kind of movie do you like? Why?
• Tell me about your teacher. What is her name? How does she look like?
• Tell me about your favourite book.
• Can you tell me the festival that you celebrate in your country? How you celebrate it?
• I love to eat avocado, do you plant them? Have you seen avocado tree before? Do you like Avocado? Why?
• I know there are a lot of berries in your country. Do you like them? How are they grown in your country?
• Have you seen Santa before? Do you believe that Santa does really exist? 
• What you like about your school? What is your favourite activity in class?
• What will you do if you find you have make some mistakes?

Recently I got the chance to conduct a demo to a group of teachers and officers from the State Education Department. It was a great experience and me and my team had fun! Fun was an understatement, in fact it was FANTASTIC!

Days prior to the workshop we prepared the lesson notes, teaching materials and classroom display. My class was an English class and we taught writing using adjectives. The most important part of the demo was the management of group work using I DO, WE DO and YOU DO technique. Below is my lesson notes for the demo. It does not state the level of the pupils because it was very general and if you are interested, you may modify the language content for your class.

The feeling card (left) and sample of writing flash cards (right)

Materials prepared by me, Mdm Nonie and Mr. Z!

Feeling chart

Never violate my rules or I'll send you to the reflection corner! Haha

YOU DO flow chart

Mdm Nonie!

Having fun and being photo bombed by my colleague!

Busy busy busy

The class before we turn into ours! Haha

My dedicated students discussing on their writing.

High Five!

Teaching peers on the word they have learnt.

They looked amused, I'm glad!

Could you describe their feelings?

Ustaz was having fun!

Between slots!

So serious? Really? Anxious maybe?

My buddies! Thanks to my loyal photographer Mdm Ayu!

Look forward to another session with the teachers...I hope to send someone to the reflection corner next time! Naughty me!!!

I am an early sleeper and it was agonising to wait until 11 p.m. last Saturday for HTC. Login in early prior to the event  surprised me to see streams of chat in the three windows on the webpage. Educators from around the world log in to join and learn from the session. I even spotted Amy and got to say Hi to each other despite the vast flow of chats!

During the 2 hours session, some of us managed to ask questions via the chat window and being entertained by the presenter. The questions were relevant to every educators whereby concerns regarding the implementation of technology in the classroom. I just love the universality of concerns and educators aspirations for their students. Regardless of borders, I am glad that we are working positively towards the future and I am excited to be part of the educators mingling in MIE.

My screen capture of HTC webpage before the event

Shapiro acted as the host

This is the link to the resources of the event. There were loads of things discussed in particular to the use of learning tools in the classroom for teaching and learning. I am interested in the use of OneNote in Reading and How it can Assist Learners with Reading Difficulties.