Responding to students' essay

        For this task, I was asked to correct an essay on ' A Scary Experience' by a low proficiency student. Since it was my first time doing this, I was a bit confuse on what I should do. 
       After read through the whole passage, I decided to give the essay six out of ten marks. Although there were plenty of errors in it, I think it was still good that I can follow the flow of the story written. I find that this particular student is using a direct translation from mandarin to write most of the sentences in his essay. There was some time when I will have to guess the meaning of his sentences. Besides that, he/she was facing problems on the punctuation. He/she seems confused on how to use commas and fulls stop, not to mention the capital letters too. His/Her sentences ended up joined together and not well constructed. But however, I believe he/she can improve on his writing if there is action taken. 
      In order to overcome the problem, I will look up for more exercises on punctuation for the student. But I will explain on his/her mistakes so that he/she can have an idea on what should be done to improve.


* example : I with my friends snow and Elva went to theme park_ we had a very nice and scary day. 


      

“INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING WRITING”

Write an article on the topic 'integrating technology in teaching writing'. It can be anything related to the slides, own opinion, how you would use it in future.

        Nowadays, most of the schools are acquiring computers and internet in a rapid rates. In my opinion, the main idea behind the desire to use technology in teaching writing is not only to teach the students how to access their teaching materials on the Internet and the World Wide Web, but also to train the students how to effectively explore the Internet to search for needed information. They can search anytime and anywhere as long as they can access to the Internet. Teacher can share links and information from the internet to guide the students in their writing. Other than that, teaching writing using web technology provides various new learning environments where students can expand their understanding and challenge themselves in their writing. It also provides the opportunity for communication between students with peers and teachers to influence their interest in positive ways. However, I think learning using technology in the classroom is a time-consuming endeavour. Students have to master the basic knowledge of technology before they can start using it. Most of the children are becoming exposed to technology at such a young age, and in some cases the students know more about the technology in the classroom than the teacher does; this may be beneficial at times, however teachers must strive to stay updated on technology as well and not just depend that students will know everything.

    Technology is coming whether teachers and classrooms are ready or not. Realizing that technology is an advantage is giving students a gift if we let the power of technology in the classroom reach it’s fruition.

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY :)

"Integration of Skills in Writing Using Bloom's Taxonomy"

(Task)

Choose one of the four levels. Refer to the themes in KBSM. Design a task which integrates the level chosen. Write meaningful instructions for your task.

LEVEL	APPLYING
THEME	NATURE
TOPIC	BEAUTY OF NATURE
ACTIVITY	YOUR SCHOOL IS CURRENTLY HAVING A CAMPAIGN ON ‘LOVE THE NATURE’. CREATE  A SIMPLE POEM TO DESCRIBE THE BEAUTY OF NATURE TO SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN. YOU MAY DECORATE YOUR POEM USING RECYCLABLE ITEMS BASED ON YOUR OWN CREATIVITY.

Grading time~

In this task, we were required to grade a written essay in groups. After read through the passage, Fatin Salbiah and I had agreed on giving the student 9 marks out of 20, which means we failed him. We had decided on that mark because we find it difficult to understand few sentences in the passage. In addition, we have to relate ourselves to most of the story to get the entire picture in it. For me, I have to read several times on the essay to get the flow of the story as he was using limited vocabulary and plenty of grammatical errors not to mention the spelling. Moreover, most of the sentences were translated from mandarin. However, after listening to what Miss Yoon had commented, we were not supposed to fail the student's essay as long as we can understand the flow of their story based on the title although there were junks of errors in it. Through this task, I find it was actually quite challenging for teachers to do grading because there are more aspects to be concern at rather than the grammar or vocabulary itself. 

Mini Test 2

(Question 2)

You are teaching the theme ‘Environment’ to a form three with intermediate level of proficiency. Describe one activity on how to integrate the following thinking skills into your lesson.

(a). Analysis

(b). Application

Based on the mind map given, write a short essay on the cause and effect of acid rain. Your essay should not be  more than 200 words.

In this activity, I would like to use a mind map on causes and effects of acid rain to teach writing in a form three with intermediate level of proficiency. Before writing, what the students will do is they design a mind map using their own creativity but the content is given by the teacher. After that, they need to analyze the mind map and finally came out with a short essay on this topic. 

Mini Test Time

(QUESTION 1)

In question 1, we were required to construct two simple questions for students using the picture given. I was so out of idea on what I should do, as usual. But somehow, I have to come out with something right? So, here they are.

1.     Your friend, Nelly had lost her wallet at Hyatt Regency Hotel during her trip. She needs to go to the police station to make a report right away, but she could not find the way. As a friend, write a direction from Hyatt Regency Hotel to the police station for Nelly to help her. Your words should be only in one paragraph and not more than 150 words.

2.  Based on the map given, help Jenny to write a phone call conversation between Jenny and her friend. You must begin with the first line given. Your words should be not less than 200 words including the first line given. 

Lisa : Hello, is that you Jenny? I need your help. I was at Wisma Merdeka but I need to get to Sabah Tourism Promotion Corporation as soon as possible. The problem is I do not know the way.

Jenny : 

Inside the Haiti Earthquake | Games for Change

Inside the Haiti Earthquake | Games for Change

After playing this game, I was able to get a sense of experience on what is actually happening in Haiti after the earthquake. The people are having hard times to survive, yet they never stop have faith.