Often they say to me, "Teach me how to be a better teacher..." I respond, "What's your ideal cake?"

I want you to show me how to be a better teacher...

After 40 years as a teacher Gary McAdams reaches his goal - to bore a student to death.

Often in the Pontian Bandar teachers will say to me that I must show them how to be a better teacher. 

There is a problem with this question for me in that I believe only they can discover for themselves how to be a better teachers. 

It is like if we bake a cake. You may choose to bake such-n-such, whereas I choose to bake another. I believe carrot cake with cream-cheese icing and walnuts scattered on top is best. I like mine soft and moist. This is the best for sure! But you argue that chocolate cake is the cake of all cakes. You prefer chocolate icing dripping from the top, and M&M's to top it off. Who am I to disagree? We would have to bake them both, taste them both, and see. Depending on the occasion might also determine the cake. 

Further, I would suggest that striving for just better is boring! Why not strive to be the very best? It is more exciting & more fun!

Challenge yourself!

Let's start with what you personally think about good teaching. What do you believe makes for an incredibly fun & effective lesson? How much are you prepared to put in to make it brilliant? Think about your ideal cake. What would you put in to make it the most delicious cake ever?

Thinking and deciding what is fun & effective will save you heaps of time when you actually plan content. So long as you put what you truthfully believe into action, you will save time. I promise! 

Telling someone what I think is a good teacher may be good to me. But I am not the teacher in their class... only they can fill their own gaps.

In order to refresh our lesson designs, it is important to make a distinction between a teaching cockroach, methods & techniques.

Did I say "a teaching cockroach"?!! I meant:

A Teaching Approach!

A teaching approach is an underlying set of beliefs held by the teacher about the conditions necessary for language learning to take place effectively. 

An approach answers the following questions:

1) What do you believe is the ideal cake?

2) What conditions should exist to bake the perfect cake and effective tasting to take place?

Oops! It is Hari Raya & I am thinking about cake! Apologies! But the approach is like the cake. What cake do you think is best & why. 

An approach answers the following questions:

1) What do you believe the ideal classroom is about? 

2) What conditions should exist in the ideal classroom in order for effective learning to take place?

Details on this topic include things like:

How does effective learning occur?

Which is more successful: students learning rules in parrot fashion, or students who learn by using higher order thinking skills? How does this differ when teaching different skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking?

How do students learn? What motivates learning? What level are the students at? What level should the new work be set at to achieve a learning gap, in order for effective knowledge acquisition to occur?

Look at the items below and decide what items you believe leads to better learning:

Item	Agree?
a positive & happy atmosphere leads to effective learning
Negative & stressful atmospheres lead to effective learning
Students feel confident to try speak English without fear of correction & mistakes
Students cannot speak English and the teacher never encourages it
Student feel that English is the most interesting lesson in school
Students know that English is very boring.
Students feel personally included in lessons, and that they are personally an important part of every lesson
Motivation comes from spelling out words
Motivation comes from repeating the same vocabulary over and over again, every year the same words for the same topic.
Motivation comes from not understanding anything in English
Motivation comes from believing I can speak English
Motivation comes from teachers who smile
Motivation comes from teachers who frown and let me do what I want
Motivation comes from teachers who encourage games
Motivation to understand English comes from teachers who speak Bahasa/Mandarin
Motivation to speak English is not important for learning to take place
Motivation to speak English comes from being corrected every time I speak, write, read
Students learn best when they are not involved
Students learn best when they are bored or sleeping or writing lessons
Students learn best when they know there is a reward
Students learn best when there is a fun reason to learn something
Students learn more when they feel confident and free of judgement
Students have most fun during spelling
Students have most fun during games
Students have the most fun when singing, dancing & moving
Students enjoy listening to the teacher more than speaking themselves
Students enjoy speaking to their friends more than listening to the teacher.
Students learn most when they do activities that they do not understand.
Students learn most when they do activities where they already understand everything.
Student learn most when they understand a lot, but have to think to complete the gaps in what they do not understand
Students find activities comfortably challenging and they learn new things.

On a piece of paper jot down what you think the ideal approach and conditions for learning are. When you are finished, decide if you are putting your beliefs into action when you really do teach. Are you practicing what you preach?

Are you teaching the way you believe is most effective? Or have you turned simple lessons into hours of monotonous redundancy?

Method: perfect ingredients to bake your cake

Methods follow from your approach.  Often teachers have a mental picture of what an ideal teaching-learning environment should be like & how learning takes place. Do you have the correct ingredients to make your approach a reality?

If you are not having fun teaching, then chances are that the students aren't either. Time to gather fun ingredients for your lessons!

Take a moment to jot down on a piece of paper the methods that would be useful in helping you follow your approach.

For example: flashcards, pictures, board games, cards, animals, realia, classroom posters, computer, music system, types of resources, materials, pictures, activities, group/pair/individual work etc. 

Take the time to consider the following questions:

Item	Postive/ Negative / Neutral
The teacher is funny! I like listening & watching!
The teacher speaks English only but there is a wall chart that helps me understand what she is saying in my own language.
The teacher is entertaining. I love to watch & listen.
So many pictures, flashcards and the teacher makes these fun.
I never sit in the same desk for long.
I always sit in the same desk for every lesson in this room, including English. I never move.
The teacher looks interested in what he/she is teaching.
The teacher does not seem interested in English and does not speak English either.
We spell words over and over and over again. I do not know anything but the alphabet.
My teacher speaks English in a game, then my friends speak English in the game, then I must speak English in the game. We get rewards.
I am leading! My teacher & friends are watching!
I get rewarded every time I speak English or do something good.
Every time I do my work, I have many red crosses and corrections. I get it wrong. I am bad at English.
My teacher plays games, music, sings & dances.
My teacher has lots of pictures.
We play lots of games. I learn lots in the games because it is fun. There are winners and the winners get a very nice prize!
We play lots of games in the class but I learn nothing. They are not exciting. The prize is boring anyway. I already know this stuff, we did it last year, and the year before.
Lessons are fun, fast & exciting.
In English we spell words for 30 minutes then look in our textbook and I copy the answers from my friends.
In English we do short quizzes, and I am not allowed to copy. I really have to think on my own.
I expect lessons to be slow & monotonous, and I sit in my desk, and the teacher talks and talks and we spell words.
English is the most fun lesson at school.
My teacher helps me understand English but always challenged me to try figure things out on my own. I feel I can try. I get rewarded when I do, and when I don't understand we repeat the games again!
I have so much fun in the English class that I look I want to do my best.

Techniques: step-by-step recipe for the perfect cake

Did I say "cake"? I mean "lesson"!

Techniques are like the steps in a recipe. Techniques embody the “tricks”, the strategies, the “spelling out” or "sequence of logical steps" to achieve the goals. Techniques spell out how you will implement the methods. These techniques are in line with the methods and approach.

How far are you willing to go to bake the perfect cake?

A good way to judge one’s own teaching ability is to imagine being in one’s own lesson. Would you enjoy watching & listening to yourself teach? Why/ why not? What would you enjoy most about your lessons & what would you least like and why? Would you learn anything at all? Would you like to sit an exam afterwards on what you had learned? Did the teacher prepare you to achieve success?

Was the lesson too easy?
Did you already know everything in the lesson so that you felt zero challenge at all?
Was it slightly challenging so that you had to think, and enjoyed thinking?
How long did you have to sit still before there was a change in the lesson to wake you up?

It will be fun! I promise ;)

Below is a check-box. Tick the activities you would enjoy in a lesson from the list below.

Activity	Yes, I would enjoy this!
Spelling words out for 40 minutes
Singing & dancing & music
Variety in activities so I don't sit still for long
An activity in the textbook for 1 hour.
Speaking to my friends & getting rewards for it
Playing games
Running and jumping and acting things out
High pressure – lots of stress, corrections, mistakes
Low pressure – no stress, the teacher only rewards the positive things that I can say in English
Getting things right
Getting things wrong
Being taught a rule
Doing a puzzle & discovering a rule
A smiling teacher
Having fun
Being entertained
Pretending to listen but actually writing letter to my friend because the lesson is so boring.
The teacher never smiles
Slow lessons
Having the chance to get lots of rewards
Exciting lessons
A teacher who makes me feel special
The teacher never looks at me and lets me do whatever I like.
Feeling good at English
The only word I can say out loud is “hello”. I feel shy.
The teacher cares what I do, & really wants me to learn because I am clever.
I can say many words because I get rewards in class for doing so. I have practice. I can say sentences in English. I feel confident.

Happy teaching & learning! May you teach as you wish to be taught and continuously strive to learn new things each day. 

WHY?

BECAUSE...

It's a piece of cake!

July in Pontian

In Pontian, SJK Pei Chun II has frequent athletic competitions, and in July the excitement peaked for the finals of the Table Tennis Tournament. The boys and girls there fought hard to reach the finals but only one student in each group could be the winner. Congratulations go out to the champions at this elementary school.

July in Pekan Nanas

July was Ramadan month and it was also very hot!  I was very impressed with how the teachers and students handled the unusual heat while fasting everyday.

At SJKC Yu Ming 2 they made fruit salad during the lesson using English to teach the instructions.  It was very tasty. 

We also did some recycling activities with the yr 3's.  They made signs to put on their garbage cans at home.

At SK Melayu Raya the yr1 teacher, Natasha, always practices phonics at the start of every class.  It looks like fun.

On the last day before Hari Raya break they had an English day at SK Parit Selangor.  I gave the yr6's a spelling test.  They did very good.

This final day before the break was also a time to hand out awards to the students.

Ramadan is always a difficult time and with the exceptionally hot month this year it was not any easier.  All the students and teachers did really well, managing to give high quality lessons and maintaining a positive demeanor the whole time.  The students had fun activities to do and were able to continue learning English.  It was a good month.  I hope everyone had a good time.

Selamat Hari Raya Adilfitri

Until next month, have a good one!

Utilizing Classroom Space

This month, the blog has no pictures! However, it is an incredibly interesting subject, so please, do, read on!

One of my teachers is truly brilliant. Her lessons are so well prepared & each sequential step contained therein is so logically & carefully constructed, that to watch her lessons leaves me wondering why this teacher doesn't write a book & revolutionize the world of education! She is that good that she could make millions! :)

Class management appears easy to her, and it does seem that it comes quite naturally. But why? What is different about her? She has no formal method to control afterall!

I suppose that when someone spends some honest time thinking & planning a lesson, that they are more protective of their students carelessly ruining it. And so, although she doesn't actually use any formal behaviour management technique, her students intrinsically know that they are to behave because they sense the time and effort taken by this teacher who sincerely does care about their education; and it shows by the lessons she designs. She does not therefore have to formally say so.

To add to this idea of "natural" class management: her lessons are designed in such a creative and interesting manner that each child expects that whatever is going to happen in her lesson each day is bound to be interesting and stimulating. They expect it, because it has been true since they walked into any of her classes before this day. Therefore, class management is never an issue because the students actually look forward to her lessons, and they behave in them because they are entertained & mentally stimulated in a positive and challenging manner! Voilah! They are like mice, attentive, with poky ears, hanging on her every word!

So together with the students, I sit and "observe" as her lesson unfolds. I sit mesmerized, and her students listen with fascination too, topped with a dose of excitement. I am honestly impressed each and every time I see her teach. I sense the excitement in the students and understand why; this teacher is talented.

Inspired by her, I wanted to share an idea with you.

Any classroom has 4 walls, right? Right! Plus the ceiling and the floor = 6. Use this space to teach in!

Why study English?

Often I feel that people in foreign countries get the feeling that English speaking people are arrogant because they speak English and venture to foreign lands to "impart" this special knowledge of English to non-English speakers. Often English people are arrogant like this thinking that English is better than other languages when it is not. It is just another language.

Being "just another language" means that unless their is motivation to learn this "other language" then why would anyone bother to try?

It is true that English the most widely spoken language of the world. And further that here in Malaysia, the government is making it mandatory for students to pass English in order to go to university.

So, in fact, our jobs as English teachers is incredibly important to the lives and welfare of our students. But how do we get students to care about it?

The children do not care about matters of the world right now. They do not have English speaking friends to mix with. Usually their parents do not speak English & even if they do, they do not speak it all the time to them. They have little if not zero motivation to study English.

It is our jobs therefore, to make English lessons interesting, colourful, fun, exciting, musical, movement orientated, social, funny, and vibey so that students cannot help but listen and learn.

What's different about English Lessons?

Nothing. Unless you make it this way.

Students in Malaysia sit at their desks each lesson. The teacher stands usually at the front of the classroom next to the board. Bahasa Malayu is organized like this, so is Bahasa Cina, so is Mathematics, & so is Science. Every lesson is organized in the same way day in and day out.

So the only way to make English Lessons different is to break the monotony. If a teacher realizes how important their job is, and designs lessons that will blow students away, there is a chance that students will begin to love and learn English.

I challenge you to try!

How to make it different?

Uutilize all the walls in the classroom. 

Teachers need to show imagination, be inventive and creative, involve students in their lessons.

Some Ideas from my teacher:

Example: Collective Nouns

Divide nouns according to "People", "Animal" and "Things". Instead of getting student to sit at their desks and copy these down into their books, instead my teacher utilized the classroom walls. She stuck the noun lists onto 3 walls according to classification, and divided students into groups who stood ready at each wall. She gave them a time limit/competition. Each group had to copy down the list on the wall first. She shouted, "Go!" and off they went. You have never seen students enjoying "copying lists down" into their books so much in your life! I kid you not! These children loved it! And yet the content could not be more boring! But why?

1) It is more interesting when you have to move and actually physically & actively acquire knowledge.

Being actively involved in your own knowledge acquisition psychologically makes you hungry to learn and absorb it.

2) Copying from a wall is far more interesting that copying at your desk
3) Copying with a group is more fun than copying alone
4) Having competition adds to the fun and already you are inspired to try win!
5) It was simply different!
6) On it's own the content was boring and easily forgotten, however with this interesting way of learning it, already the students have a fun memory to attach to the lesson! Of course they are more likely to remember the information!

Dull material presented in a colourful way will be stored in long term memory far more easily than dull material presented in a dull way.

Example: Verbs

Stick verb word-cards along all the walls of the classroom. For example, run, walk, jump, sing, dance, and so on.

Students made a line along all the walls of the room. They were instructed to start off by walking until they passed a word-card, at which point they were to act out the new verb and not stop acting it out until they reached the next word-card on the wall, at which point, they were to start doing the new action instead.

There were challenges: Students were shy (especially the first kid who had to sing infront of the class, shame, poor kid! :)). But as the teacher persisted and helped with demonstrating until all the students had unwittingly repeated all verbs many times without noticing. Their inhibitions were less but not gone. However the point is that despite challenges, the lesson was fun, funny, embarrassing, interesting, creative, and most importantly: memorable!

A variety of emotions in a lesson is a good thing! Not only will students be more inclined to remember the lesson, but they will learn to be socially intelligent too! 

The memories we retain most of all are of those that were rich in emotion...

Example: Survey

I was talking to this teacher this morning about this blog. She told me that she doesn't like to use the classroom every lesson; that she feels that already the lesson is more interesting if she changes the venue every lesson. So she uses the field, the library, and the English room often! I never knew why she kept changing the venue until this morning but again she surprises me with her thinking and planning.

For this lesson, she wrote down some survey questions on the board of the library, and asked the students to go around and ask each other the questions. Students were asked to write down their answers on a piece of paper. The objective was to get the answers to the questions by atleast 2 students. They were given a time limit of 4 minutes.

It was effective. Why?
1) Students hardly ever get an opportunity to actually speak with their friends in class.
2) It involves lots of moving around
3) It was fun
4) It involved a time limit and therefore already they were working towards achieving something within a certain time, so motivation was high to complete the task.
5) It was in a different venue.

Take the lesson out of the classroom and utilize the other spaces in the school!

Other Examples:

• Stick things to the walls, shout out a name and get students to run to the correct word/picture.
• Stick things to the ceiling, get students to lie down and copy things down. 
• Take students to the field and get them do something quite out of the ordinary!
• Circle time! Incorporate "circle time" into each lesson. Make sure the circle is perfect! 
• Use balls and let students role balls to each other and whoever gets the ball needs to speak!

English is not special unless teachers start making it extra special! And it needs to be because otherwise there is no reason students will learn it! Go the extra mile, be creative, and inventive! Use all the walls in the classroom, or take the lesson out of the classroom completely! Make English the most fun and memorable time of the school day, every day!

Have fun! 

Big thank-you to Nur Haryana from Api Api School. Your lessons are incredibly inspiring to both me and to your students! Thank-you! :)