Our journey on Wonderful Words Island continued with two colourful and challenging sessions. This week, my learners worked in their Buddy Shell groups to create their “This Is Us!” posters — a task that required teamwork, creativity, and a little more thinking than the previous session.

🐚 Session 2: A Challenging Start, but a Creative One

This task required learners to introduce their Buddy Shell and their friends using simple dialogues. They had to draw speech bubbles and write what each friend was saying — something new and slightly abstract for many of them.

And yes, they did find it challenging at first.

Some were confused about where to place the speech bubbles, how to match the sentences with the drawings, or how to organise their poster. I needed to repeat instructions several times, and eventually asked a few of my more proficient learners to mentor three groups who were struggling.

These groups had mediocre to low English proficiency, so having a peer mentor beside them made a big difference — not just in understanding, but in confidence.

Despite the confusion, one thing carried them through the task beautifully:

✨ They absolutely enjoyed drawing and colouring.

Their joy in decorating their posters kept them engaged, even when the writing part felt hard. And sometimes, that little spark of enjoyment is all they need to keep going.

🌈 Session 3: “Ohhh, so that’s what the speech bubbles are for!”

When we moved into presentations in Session 3, something clicked.

As they took turns introducing their Buddy Shells in front of the class 

“We are the Coral Shell.”

“This is Aizat. He likes to play football.”

“This is Hana. She likes to look at shells.”

Many suddenly understood the purpose of the speech bubbles.

The moment they heard their classmates present, they realised how the drawings and dialogues worked together to show who they were as a group.

The room felt lighter.

The posters felt more meaningful.

And more learners were able to complete the task successfully.

Out of 30 learners, only 5 required extensive help with reading during the presentation, yay! celebration!!

                                   

💭 My Reflection

This pair of sessions reminded me that “challenging” doesn’t mean “unsuccessful.”

Sometimes, the struggle is a form of learning.

My learners are still building familiarity with English words through repetition — and I can already see how exposure is helping. Their progress wasn’t instant, but it was clear.

What mattered most was this:

🌟 They stayed engaged.

🌟 They worked together.

🌟 They enjoyed creating something of their own.

With each checkpoint on Wonderful Words Island, I hope they’ll continue growing more confident with the words they hear, say, and write. We’re moving slowly — but we are moving. And that’s a win I’m grateful for. 💛