Fifth week in MRSM Balik Pulau

Day 1 – Today is the first day of the fifth week for me as a practicum teacher in MRSM Balik Pulau. Today I have been assigned to teacher one more class which is Form 1 Farabi. I am supposed to start teaching them next week, but considering that they haven’t had any English class since their English teacher move to another school a month ago. Therefore, I decided to see them today to check on what they have learnt and to plan on their learning needs. I hope that I can start to teach them as soon as I can so that they can catch up with my other class.

I taught them the poem ‘New Break’ in my 1k class today. I was surprise to know that they were able to think of some reasoning and interpret some of the line in the poem with just a little bit of help from me despite they haven’t learnt about poem much before.  I guessed I cant judge them anymore, but work with them to know them better.

Day 2 – My second day this week start with I was preparing the teaching aid for the day and was trying to prepare lesson plan for the next days. Then, I went to observe Hamiza’s Form 1 class. They were playing dodgeball game. During the games, the students needs to provide certain number of adjectives words before they were hit my ball. I thought that was one of idea that I can use with my students to ensure there will be production of output while they are playing games.

 I planned the charade games to teach adjectives with 1K students. They found the game as fun and they are waiting to play the same games next time. It was good to know that they were able to used adjectives words to guess the word during the games. I am thinking about using the same games with my other class, 1F.

After that, I went to observe Hamiza’s Form 2 class. She was doing debate about advertisement on the topic of artist and football player.  Those topics are some of the interesting yet familiar topic for student. It does help them to talk in English on what they familiar with.

Day 3 – It was an exciting day for me. My mentor praised me on the materials that I have prepared on New’s Break and she asked me to make copies for the whole Form 1. I am glad that it was useful for the students. However, since I will have block lesson (combine two class which are 1K and 1F for tomorrow lesson), I find it hard to find a conducive venue for 47 students. It is a challenge for me to prepare materials for them too and to ensure that I am able to manage two at a time. Hope it will go well for Thursday’s block lesson.

On the other note, I need to plan on ‘speed’ lesson for 1F so that they can catch up with other form 1 class. I might have to just teach 3 topics of grammar in one lesson. They have learnt those topics during their primary school English class, so my lesson will most probably be the revision lesson for them.

Day 4 - I found no other good venue than seminar hall for the block lesson. The lesson that I prepared for them was their first time encounter short stories in English, so they dont know much about the element in the short stories such as theme, characters etc. but, luckily, they have learnt about novel for Bahasa Melayu, so they could related it to the Fair's Fair. I tried to mixed them and ensure that they can work in group eventhough they are from two different class to ensure that they can have a lot of speaking opportunities. However, at the end of the lesson, one of the student told me that he wants to do activities alone and dont want to be involve in group activities anymore, as he find it a bit stressful and some students were not cooperate in finishing the task. It was expected to hear that, and I had to explain the reasons behind those selected activities to ensure that all students understand my lesson plan and intention.

Day 5 - 1F encountered the poem of "News Break" for the first time today. The lesson went well but, the activities was different from what I had plan for 1K, which was I didnt do the presentation part, but I just proceed with puzzle. This was because I am thinking about need to speed up the lesson and reduce their work since I have given a lot of homework to them for the week and for the weekend in order to catch up with other class. 

Fourth week of practicum in mrsm balk pulau

Day 1 - my last weekend was well spent as me, my colleague and my other batchmates from other MRSM went to Perak to attend our batchmate, Yana's wedding. Today is our first day of Activity week for the MRSM. I am a little bit tired from travelling for the weekend, but will try to do my best
to participate in the activity prepared for the week. One of the slot that I did participate was Aerobic exercise dance with other stuffs and students. I had so much fun participating in the exercise dance and be with the other teachers and students. Unexpectedly, its getting even better as I won the prize for the Best Staff Participants for female.  I got a little token of appreciation from the organiser and the dance instructor.

After that, I am back to the office trying to finish my presentation slide for my slot,  prepare for our Creative Writing slot, Haere Mai Aotearoa. During the lunch time, I joined my mentor to have lunch with invited guests, the panel for Mock Interview for form 5 student. I was surprised that those student have the chance to experience interview session with professional such as Human Resources Officer from one of the Singaporean company. I guess it was good that those form 5 student to involved in that activity as a preparation for their future interview for study or for job.

At the evening time, me and my colleague had our slot on sharing our experience about New Zealand with form 4 student. We were unlucky that our mentor didnt inform us about booking the lecture hall first before using it and we also had sound problem. Those problems had cause us to start a little bit late that the schedule time. However, the activity went well and the student enjoy our presentation.

At the night time, Hamiza and I was invited to be accompany one of the female science teacher which the form 3 camp assistant leader, kak Rohayu, in the White Resort PLKN camp area, which is around 8 minute drive from our school. Those form 3 student had to spent 3 days 2 night in the camp for revision purpose to prepare for their upcoming PT3.

Day 2 - I woke up this morning in the foreign room, which was my room in the camp. Then, instead of going back to school, me and Hamiza just stayed in the camp for the English session with the form 3. This is because our mentor, Kak Nani, Kak Has and Kak Irma were incharge of the slot. We prepared a group activity for the student. They need to complete 10 exercise sheets together for the activity, and the fastest group won the prize.

Day 3 - My third day of this week has been spent on assisting staff and teacher for the Adventures Walk and Community Services. This activity was related to for Form 1, 2 and 4 had to walk to Malindo Beach, which is around 30 minutes walk from school. Apart from walking, they had to stop at a few mosque along the way to clean those mosque. I was responsible on taking care of students' food and welfare.

Day 4 - I have been invited to be one of the judge for History drama among Form 3 students. During this activity, each class have to choose one of the chapter in their History textbook and perform a drama about that topic. There were 7 class performing drama in their own way creatively. As a judge, I am giving marks depending on the story line, the suitability of the drama topic, the cooperation among groupmates and the value of patriotism among them. Its not easy to be a fair judge. I guess this will be one of a good experience about how i will judge my students in the future.

Day 5 - It was the last day of the activity week. The day for the Appreciation ceremony for students' participation in the c-curricular activity in the school for Form 3 and 5. There was also a cooking competition among Form 2 student organised by Science Social Department. I was invited to be one of the judges for the competition. I was surprised there were students who were able to cook and design their food nicely to be judge. I was happy to know that they did enjoyed the activity too and that they learnt good way to cook, learnt the recipe, the way to present their food as well as learnt how to take care of the hygiene in kitchen.

Third week of Practicum in MRSM Balik Pulau

Day 1 - It is the third week of my practicum in this school. My first day of this week started with normal routine of punch in attendance card in front of the school office. Then, I walked to the English Department room to get ready with the teaching materials and lesson plan. But, I didn't missed the chance to observe Hamiza's class in the first period in the morning. I found out that a teacher need to have loud voice to ensure that every student can hear the teacher's instruction and they can pay attention in the class. On the other notes, since it was the first teaching period in the morning, most of the student were not ready with the learning materials or probably came in late to the class as they have other stuffs to do before that such as homeroom meeting. SO, they might have missed the teacher's explanation on what they will learn in the class for that lesson. Therefore, I think it is so helpful for them if the teacher write learning intention (LI) or learning outcome (LO) on the whiteboard. LI and LO are not only to reminds student about what  they will learn today but also to inform those late comers about what other are learning or will learn in the lesson.

While preparing some teaching materials for the tomorrow lesson, I had problem with printing. This is because my laptop is not connected with the department's printer for wifi printer since the technician haven't download the driver yet and they are not used to windows 8. Furthermore, I cannot used my pendrive to print it with the department computer due to virus. then, I guess the IT people should always check the school or department for antivirus to avoid any unforeseen problem. Thus, I think the technician should attend the workshop to expose them to the newest technology and always check on the department or school computer's function.

I also observed Aizat's classroom today after break time. Its good that Aizat was using hand gestures and asks them to pair up with other student from different group during pair activity. This is because those hand gesture is one of the way to attract student to look at the teacher. As student was moving to find partner from different groups, the instruction makes them moved and refresh them for the lesson.

On the other notes, we haven't heard anything about the trespassing case from police. But, we are happy to stay in the resting room for now and working on getting all information in our stolen phone and our new sim card.

Last but not least, I attended English PT3 seminar with Form 3 student. The event should start at 9 a.m, but end up start at 9.30 a.m due to the speaker came late since he cant find the school, thus cause the event to finish late. But there was certain issue came up about this such as the payment was based on the hour that he had agree on, but since the time have changed and there was no agreement beforehand about the time and payment, most teacher were concerned if the speaker will ask for additional payment. so, as a precaution for me in handling an event next time, I need to ensure that payment, time (early or late) and the venue location need to be agreed on before the event.

Day 2 - I spent my morning to prepare power point presentation for our slot during Activity Week. After tea break, I taught 1 Kazin for a period on Article and Adverbs. It was a good lesson except for I havent being able to remember all the students' name yet and I exceed the time for the lesson. I have my mentor, Kak Nani, with me in that lesson. I was so nervous having her observing me and tend to have my voice a little bit lower as well as hard to convey instruction to the student.

 after that lesson, I went to observe Hamiza's class in with 2 Khazin student. I like her ideas of having quiz to test students' understanding on their Literature novel, One is One and All Alone. During the quiz, student was not allow to seat until they get correct answer. I thought that is a good idea to engage the student and to ensure that they will participate in the quiz. Other than that, unexpectedly, she had assigned student into group through their birthday for their group presentation activity. It was another good idea to group the student rather than just ask them to find their own group.

Day 3 - I don't have any lesson for today. Therefore, I spent most of my time today to complete my practicum file, ensure that I have done all lesson plan that I need to include in the file and try to do finish the power point presentation for activity week. I also had a little discussion with my mentor on my previous lesson and discuss what I should do better for the next lesson. At the end of the school time, I went to observe Aizat' class. There was technical problem since Aizat's mentor has used the week 1 timetable, instead of week 2 timetable which has cause him to enter wrong class. Therefore, i think every time I want to enter any class, I need to ensure that I have checked the timetable properly.

Day 4 - I started my day yesterday by planning the lesson, topic and theme for next week lesson. For instance, I will be teaching about Adjectives in the lesson and I was planning to have a charade game with the student using adjectives as their questions. Then, I spent most of my day to prepare the power point presentation for the activity week with Hamiza and Aizat.

After the coffee break, I went to observe Miss Nani's class for 2 periods. She was teaching about poem, "Sad I ams". I was impressed with the way that she start the lesson by asking the student to analyse a sad photo and asked the student about their sad experience and how they faced the experience. there was a good flow in her teaching since she used students' respond to explain about how the poet write the poem based on his sad feeling to overcome his sad experience and analyse the poem line by line.

Day 5 - Me and my colleague the school had Eid celebration day after coffee break. Each student was happy to wear their pretty Eid celebration dress and was so excited with the food, so do the teacher.

Second week of practicum in MRSM balik pulau

Day 1 - Unexpectedly, my first day in the second week start with trespassing and robbery case  in one of the girls hostel room, which is where I stayed at the moment. I woke up around 4.30 a.m to find my phone and my friend's were stolen. There are other students lost their phone and money. To make it even worst, the robber use one of the phone that has being stolen to make sexual harassment phone call or text to some of the contacts in the phone and the CCTV in front of the dorm are not functioning well since last month, so there is no record of who is the robber. Being one of the teacher that is staying in the hostel, I need to help other teacher to do the emergency spot check on students' locker, bed and etc.

I am not sure how it works, but one things for sure, the school administration held a lot of meeting to discuss what happened, the Principal just retired, the  Deputy Principal for General Affair (HEA), the act as principal was way for a meeting in the headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, the Deputy Principal for Student Affair (HEP) is not around for a meeting in different school, the school head warden lodge the report around 3 pm on the same day, after a few hours the case happened.

The whole system is about too much. Too many people that they need to inform or ask permission, and too many procedure that they need to follow and everything is too slow. I guess my experience in New Zealand when I lodge the police report for robbery case in my flat gave me different expectation on how New Zealand people and police are working and how they handle a case. Fast and neat.

In the short note, there was no classroom observation yet for today since I spent most of my time in meeting people and providing explanation about the robbery case.

Day 2 - My schedule for today started with a meeting with warden to discuss about robbery case, the procedure or action that has been or will be taken for the case. We also discuss about students' misbehavior and new discipline rules related to hostel such as can not bring smartphone etc.

Luckily, I got to observe two classroom today. That are 1 Khazin (1K), Miss Nani's English class and 4 Haitham (4H), Miss Jay's class. In 1K, Miss Nani started the lesson by asking the students to share their experience during last holiday break and Eid celebration. Then, they were discussing about examination paper and answer for it. During the discussion, she keeps reminding the students about the examination rule, about the do's and dont's in answering exam paper and discussing students' problem related to the exam. I find it interesting that she keeps changing the discussion method like either she mentioned the answer and explain it, or asking the students the answer and how they got it, either asking the students in group or individually etc.

On the other hand, Miss Jay also used almost similar method in discussing the exam question with her students but, the interesting part was she will try to act out certain examples in her explanation which engaged the student in the discussion and the students enjoyed it.

during the evening time, it has been our casual and usual activity for me and my friends to play sport with the students. For today, I introduced them Frisbee sport and I taught them how to play it. They enjoyed it and excited to play it again tomorrow.

Day 3 – I managed to observe Miss Irma’s English class today. In her form 2 Razzi classroom, her students were given a task to do presentation on Grammar such as article, prepositions, nouns etc. Each group need to present about the definition, the example and create a game for whole class which related to their presentation point. I found it engaging and student centered. Everyone enjoy the presentation as well as the game. As a teacher, she did correct words or provide deeper explanation on the grammar point when needed only.  She also provides the chance for the students to ask question to the expert group on the grammar. By asking the expert group, the students especially the expert group unexpectedly learnt about certain things through the question or their discussion.

Other than that, me and my colleagues had a discussion about Activity Week. We were given a slot during activity week to share our experience while studying in New Zealand to inspire or motivate the student to study well and aim high. We plan to have sharing session with some quizzes for the slot. 

As for the robbery case, there is no report or any update so far. Luckily, the school administration have move me and Hamiza our from the girls' dorm into a resting room. We have our own room now.

Day 4 -  Our day start with classroom observation of K.Irma's class, 2 Haitham. The student were given a task to do presentation on Grammar just like yesterday class, 2 Razzi. One of the things that I have learnt from today's observation was each time Kak Irma wants to deliver instruction, she will ensure that she has students' attention first either by calling one of the noise student or by asking the whole class to look at her. I found out that it was an effective way of making sure that student was paying attention and instruction can be delivered successfully. Other than that, she also asked the student to repeat or summaries what has been discussed to ensure that everyone understand about it. I also learnt that student tends to take some time to set up their presentation slide or games that they have prepared. They will take even longer time to finish their presentation when other student asked about example to their presentation content or when they were answering others' question. Therefore, the method of counting numbers and reminds them about the time is good to urge them  to work faster . It is also good to always reminds student to prepare a few examples when they presents their content to ensure that they are ready to explain and ready to answer others' questions.

We also had other classroom observation of one of my practicum colleague Hamiza's class, 2 Khazzin. Today's lesson was her first lesson with the student so, she prepare for ice breaking activity for the student. I like her ideas of discussing classroom rule and regulation to ensure students' discipline are in control. By observing her classroom, I got the ideas of prepare paper to ask about things that they wants in their English lesson as they might be shy to say it out loud in the class and make sure that student is agree to the rules and regulations that has been created.

Unexpectedly, Miss Nani, my mentor,  asked to take over her two last lesson period for today with 1 Khazzin student due to emergency matter. It is a challenge to enter a class without any preparation and in short notice, but luckily today will be my very first lesson with them and Miss Nani has prepare some exercise sheet for them to do. I also have my colleague with me to observe my teaching and to give me moral support. However, I tried to ensure that I know what I will teach them by discussing it with Miss Nani and some of my colleague before entering the class. I prepare some yellow paper for them to write what they expect from me and what they want to learn in English class, some paper for them to write their name for me to know them and some ice breaking activity such as introducing their partners to break the ice between us. I also discuss the classroom rules and regulations in my English class and make sure that they agree with it before I proceed with teaching them the syllabus for today which was about Pronouns. I started my teaching with asking them to brainstorm what they knew about Pronouns, asking them to find it out on their own and asked them to discuss with the whole class. At the end of the lesson, they have successfully answer and discuss the exercise sheet which showed that they understand about today's lesson on Pronouns.

At the night time, Me and my other practicum colleague went to the warden room to discuss more on activity week and find some materials for the activity. I guess we were excited and anxious about conducting about own activity for the Activity week. At the same time, I learnt about how those warden manage the students' outing report and how they arrange the students' outing cards. Student are allowed to go home during weekend, so there were a lot of cards that warden had to sign and make a report about the number of student staying or go home for the use of safety and food preparation.


Day 5 - My Friday started with went to the Majlis Tahlil and Doa Selamat event for Haji Ali's daughter wedding, the Deputy Principal in the school mosque. Every teacher and staffs were invited to the event. After that, there was a slight briefing from Miss Haseena, the Head of English Department, on our personal file and portfolio as practicum teacher. Then, my colleague and I went to observe Kak Haseena's classroom.