reading
Kem Akademi Murid Halus Bahasa Inggeris SPM 2017 Daerah Hulu Terengganu
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
This is the first camp I organized and my personal rating, so so...
Managing an event of 132 students and 13 teachers requires experience and hard work. Since I am new, the experience would be my deficit. I learned that effective communication and personal touch were keys to a smooth flow of the event.
Alhamdulillah, there was a silver lining as I had the chance to teach my first form 5 students! I had some preconception about teaching secondary students but it was all wrong! I found that if we taught them sincerely with a pinch of compassion and a dash of love, these learners will be relaxed and able to cooperate with the task at hand.
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| Picture from pek12comprehension |
My lesson strived on improving reading skills using the SQ3R method. I used the text from I M Possible Module which was produced by the Terengganu SISC+ (proud to be a part of this!). During the lesson, the original SQ3R was modified to suit the needs of the students.
Survey: The students scanned the text for titles, pictures, no. of paragraphs, no. of lines. This activity helped to prepare for reading by guessing the content.
Query/Question: The students scanned for the no. of questions and read the questions. Students got the idea of what they need to know from the text.
Read: The students were assigned groups for reading. Each group read a paragraph. While reading, they crossed out the difficult words. This technique helped to remove the distractions. The students make sense of their reading by using the words that they know.
Recall: After reading, they made a drawing based on their understanding of the text. Then they regrouped with others to learn about other paragraphs. They need to explain their drawing to their friends using simple English.
Review: This was where they answer the comprehension question by reviewing their drawing and relating it to the text.
During SQ3R, I did not allow them to use the dictionary because I would like to demonstrate how to use the existing words that they know in order to understand the text. This skill is helpful in time of examination. However, some of them were able to guess the meaning of difficult words while they were drawing.
The students were able to answer the comprehension questions correctly by using this method. Alhamdulillah, I hope they have learned something and will put it to good use.
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Here are drawings from the students from paragraph 1 to 9. Below each drawing is the paragraph for reference (scroll on, you will find it cute!). The text was adapted from the Star July 2003 and SPM 2006.
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| Most people look forward to a relaxed life once they retire but not 57-year-old Mokhtar Shah. He is still up and about. Mokhtar is his own boss and keeps busy driving a taxi, more as a hobby than anything else. Mokhtar’s life tells us the reason for the contentment he feels today. How did it all begin? |
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| Mokhtar was originally from Muar, Johor. After leaving school at the age of twelve, he worked for his uncle at a small food stall. He earned RM30 a month. After three years, he decided to set out on his own instead. He became an odd-job labourer doing different things for different people. He managed to make a little more. |
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| Not long after that, Mokhtar moved on to greener pastures. He worked as an odd-job labourer in Kuala Lumpur. Later, he was employed as a gardener, keeping a rich man’s lawn neat and tidy. During this time, Mokhtar got married and began to raise a family. However, the pressures of raising a family of four children and living in the city were too much for him, So, he opted for a better-paid job and became an ambulance driver with the General Hospital in Jalan Raja Muda. |
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| Those were difficult days. He realised that the duties of an ambulance driver included duties like picking up patients and doing despatch work. At other times, Mokhtar had to ferry sick students to and from examination centres. The working hours were long and the salary was still not enough. |
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| Mokhtar had to support his growing family. He decided to become a part-time fruit and vegetable seller. In the evenings, after he had finished his work at the hospital, he would go home and pack fruits and vegetables to market them at the pasar malam in his neighbourhood. The extra income he earned came in useful to pay for amenities, medical bills and his children education. |
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| His four children become the focus of his life. Mokhtar had only completed primary six and therefore wanted his children to do better than he had done. He believed that although he could not teach them, he could give them support by being there while they were studying. He made it a point to take his children to the public library and often spent his hard-earned money on books for them. |
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In the 1980s all, when his children were growing up, Mokhtar and his wife were worried. They needed to ensure their children would not be influenced by the teenagers in the neighbourhood who played truant or indulged in unhealthy activities like using drugs. “My wife and I kept a strict eye on our children,“ he said. “Every time they went out, we would check on them to make sure they were in good company.” Once in a while, the Mokhtar family could be seen at picnic spots enjoying themselves. Mokhtar’s children have grown up to be responsible and independent adults.
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| A typical day in Mokhtar’s life now begins at 5 a.m. with morning prayers. Then he has breakfast and begins work. His work ends before lunchtime after he has done at least four hours driving his taxi. |
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| It has been some thirty years since Mokhtar left Muar. He is a contented man. “The years of hard work and sacrifices I made for my family have paid off,” he said. He takes pride in his children: one is a lecturer, another a development project consultant, their third, a secretary and the youngest, a bank employee. as for what the future holds, Mokhtar’s only hope is that he remains healthy and is able to lead a useful life, both for his family and society. |
It was a memorable day for me. Tiring as I had to be a runner and a teacher on the same day, but it was worth it. SQ3R has proved to be something of value and I think teachers should give it a try.
