Yellow Submarine

A perfect song to supplement my vocabulary lesson on transport - sharing the worksheet I've prepared. The students have been exposed to the past simple versus the present ones in the previous lessons, so grammatically it's perfect too!


Instruction: Rearrange the letters to make sensible words to complete the lyrics.


YELLOW SUBMARINE
(The Beatles)


In the town where I _______(swa) born
______(deivl) a man who ________(aiseld) to sea
And he ________(oltd) us of his life
In the land of submarines

So we ________(lasied) up to the sun
Till we ________(dofun) the sea of green
And we ________(devil) beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

And our friends ________(rea) all on board
Many more of them ________(veil) next door
And the band ___________(sbgien) to ______(yalp)

We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

As we ________ (evil) a life of ease
Everyone of us ________(ash) all we ______(dene)
Sky of blue and sea of green
In our yellow submarine.

We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

The Elephant Song's worksheet

Finally I'll get to use this favourite song of mine in a lesson. We're doing a topic on animals this week - basically on pets but my co-teacher and I are going to include something on the endangered species, illegal poaching and the conservation efforts.

As a follow-up activity, we're also planning to take the students on a field trip to the National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah, as well as to Deerland in Lanchang. I'm all excited about it already.

So, here's a worksheet based on The Elephant Song by Kamahl that I've prepared.


Instruction:
Which ones are the missing lines? Complete the lyrics. Then listen and check.


The Elephant Song


Tell me said the elephant
Tell me brothers if you can
……………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………….

Tell me said the elephant
Tell me why this has to be
……………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………….

refrain:
People kill without regret
although they fly by jumbo-jet
……………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………….

Gentle is the elephant
Pulling loads and everything
……………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………….

Happy was the elephant
Happy was his jungle life
……………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………….

refrain:...

Listen, please listen, said the elephant
if we want the world we know, to stay alife
……………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………….

Listen said the elephant
It is conservation time
……………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………….

refrain..

a. Let the world of men remember
Let the children not forget.

b. And then they came, the cruel hunters
with their rifle and their knives

c. Then man and beast, we must work together
and together we will survive

d. So take the warning when we trumpet
for the future of mankind

e. Why all the world is full of creatures
Yet we grow in fear of man

f. We love to hear the children laughing
when we’re in the circus-ring

g. We have to run from man and hunter
Never safe and never free

Bagan Lalang - the beach

Bagan Lalang in Sepang is a place I'd heard about a long time ago... family and friends had talked about it since I was a school girl - but somehow I'd never made it there. I remembered whenever I mentioned about going to the place, people around me would say, let's go to Port Dickson instead...so the thought had remained a thought until...

My long-lost hostel mates during my secondary school years had planned for a reunion there. So curious about the place, which is not really that far away from where I live - just 30kms away - I urged DH to take me and the kids there, just two weeks before d'day.

Well... I was so surprised to see the large pool of people there... the area looked a bit smaller than Morib in Banting - a popular beach in Selangor (as a girl, I had thought it was the only beach we had in Selangor), but there were so many cars which had made finding a spot to park our car a challenging task.

On the first impression, I thought - wow... not bad! The beach looked as attractive as any other beaches, especially to my kids. The sand looked white - I thought it was as white as the sand on the Pangkor Island in Perak (meaning, it looked a lot better than the sand in Morib).

It has an interesting view since the "Sepang Gold Coast" thingy is being developed and we could see some buildings in progress. There were people flying kites, people swimming in the sea, people strolling along the beach, and people setting up their tents to spend the night there! Cool!





It was an interesting view, really... until.... I saw these sceneries:

Filthy, right? And they spoiled the overall picture...



Nevertheless, my kids still enjoyed being there - just take a look at how happy they were:


They were enjoying it so much that we were reluctant to call them out from the sea, that we just let them continue swimming until the sun set. And oh my! I couldn't remember when was the last time I did this with DH - sitting together side by side enjoying the view of the sunset. Wasn't it romantic? And the view was breathtaking!

All in all, judging from the loads of visitors there, Bagan Lalang is already a place of interest to many people in Selangor. However, it needs a bit of more serious management from the local authority, especially on the aspect of its cleanliness. Then, we wouldn't be embarrassed to highlight it in the Selangor Tourism brochures as a popular tourist destination.

The Elephant Song

The trip to Kuala Gandah has actually evoked my memory on 'The Elephant Song', or rather, the lesson that I had with my English teacher, Mdm. Rumini, when I was in Astopunk back in 1986 or '87. As we walked on the land of the elephants in Kuala Gandah, this song had been playing in my mind over and over.

It was a moving lesson, singing and comprehending the song, with the discussion on the cruelty of poachers and the elephants' conservation. I was deeply affected by the song and the discussion that I had felt like crying... couldn't tell if I had actually cried indeed.

Years later as a teacher in Kuala Rompin, Pahang, a student had offered me some meat of a mouse deer which he claimed to have hunted it himself. Well, it was tempting... but as I was teaching the topic "Conservation of the wild animals", it just didn't feel right for me to accept it. I had recalled this song then, and had searched high and low for it so that I could teach it to my students - hoping that I could somehow contribute to their awareness to stop the killing of these precious animals. I couldn't lay my hand on this song then, though... That was the year 1993 and I wasn't exposed to the Internet yet.

Luckily the technology is here today for a teacher like me to find almost any songs she needs for her classroom. Today, I've found this song that had touched and still touches my heart and my conscience. I'm thankful for the technology and thank you to everyone who has made it possible.

Teaching the days of the week

Despite turning to be almost 50 years old, the song "Never on Sunday" by Connie Francis still proves to be very cheeky and enjoyable for my new millennium students. Besides making them practise their listening skills, I've also used this song to check on my beginner / lower elementary students' spelling of the days and capitalization for the proper nouns, as well as to drill the order of the days in their minds.

Use the following worksheet for the listening activity:


Listen to the song and fill in the blanks.


Never on Sunday
Connie Francis


Oh, you can kiss me on a _______day, a _______day, a ______day

is very very good

Or you can kiss me on a _______day, a _______day, a _______day,

in fact I wish you would

Or you can kiss me on a ________day, a _______day, a _______day,

and _______day is best

But never ever on a _______day a _______day a _______day

cause that's my day of rest.


Come _______ day and you'll be my guest

_______ day you say but _______ day of rest

Just name _______ day that you like the best

Only stay away on _______ day of rest.



Note: Do remind the students to ignore the Greek/Italian lyrics as they listen or sing the song.

An activity for teaching the present simple questions.

For those who love to teach English through songs, here's an activity that you may use to drill the wh-question structure for the present simple at the end of your lesson.

This activity is based on the song titled "The End of The World" by Skeeter Davis. For this activity, I would begin with the following worksheet:


Order the words to make questions.


1. on / does / why / sun / the/ shining / go ? _________________________________________________________


2. the / shore / why / sea / to / does / rush ? _________________________________________________________


3. they / it's / the / don’t / end / of / world / know / the ?
_________________________________________________________


4. birds / go / do / the / singing / on / why ? _________________________________________________________


5. do / why / glow / stars / above / the?
_________________________________________________________


6. why / beating / my / does / heart / go / on ? _________________________________________________________


7. of / why / these / do / eyes / cry / mine ? _________________________________________________________


Let the students work on it individually or in pairs for about 10-15 minutes. Then let them listen to the song to check on their arrangement of the words, whether they've got it correct or not. You may want to discover what they still don't understand from their mistakes. After that, let them have the full lyrics - and enjoy singing the song together with them!


End Of The World
Skeeter Davis


Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world
'cause you don't love me any more?

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love.

I wake up in the morning and I wonder
why everything's the same as it was.
I can't understand! No, I can't understand
how life goes on the way it does!

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye.

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye.

For an extended activity to practise the ending punctuation, you may replace all the three punctuation marks in the lyric (full stops, question marks and exclamation points) with a box, and let the students work on it.

The song 'HERO' for the present simple

A motivational tool beneficial for the students, this song can also be manipulated to practise the English grammar - the present simple tense in particular.

I've used this worksheet that I've prepared in two ways. I've used it as either a pre-grammar analysis activity or a post-grammar lesson's activity.

To use it to begin your class, you can ask the students to try selecting an option, and then listen to the song to check their answers. Then ask about their scores upon 15 (there are fifteen sets of options here). Check what are the items that they've answered wrongly or correctly, and then ask them to tell you what are the grammar rules that's being applied here. Encourage them to attempt a grammar-discovery experience before you go on explaining it.

You may also use this worksheet to end your grammar lesson as a method to test your students' understanding of the present simple. Let them pick the options individually or in pairs, before listening to check on their answers.

Either way, my students have always enjoyed singing this meaningful song at least once to end the class. So here goes the worksheet:



HERO – Mariah Carey

First, choose the correct option. Then, listen and check your answers.


There (’s / ’re) a hero
If you look inside your heart
You (doesn’t / don’t) have to be afraid
Of what you (is / are)
There (’s / ’re) an answer
If you reach into your soul
And the sorrow that you (know / knows)
Will melt away

Chorus
And then a hero (come/ comes) along
With the strength to carry on
And you (cast / casts) your fears aside
And you (know / knows) you can survive
So when you (feel / feels) like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero (lie / lies) in you

It (’s / ’re) a long road
When you (face / faces) your world alone
No one (reach / reaches) out a hand
For you to hold
You can find love
If you search within yourself
And the emptiness you felt
Will disappear

Chorus

Lord (know / knows)
Dreams (is / are) hard to follow
But don't let anyone
Tear them away
Hold on
There will be tomorrow
In time
You'll find the way

Chorus



Good luck and send me a feedback!

WALL-E movie in the classroom

Movies are interesting for adults' discussion, and movies are popular with the students, too, for they break the routine of being in the classroom listening to the teacher and doing their normal classroom activities.

Earlier this week, I've used Pixar's WALL-E as a tool to practice several grammar structures that I've taught to my Elementary students, namely “have to”, adjectives, and comparative adjectives.

The lesson started with a general discussion on movies – the type of movies the students like and dislike. Then the students were introduced to the vocabulary describing the genres of movies such as romantic, comedy, action, horror, historical, cartoon and musical. The discussion became more exciting as the students provided their own examples of movies in each genre.

As the students have been taught “adjectives” in one of the previous lessons, it was natural to ask them to use suitable adjectives to describe the movies they cited. For example, a student described Titanic as “romantic and frightening”. Another student described Toy Story as “exciting”.

Moving on into the highlighted movie of the day, the students were asked to imagine being on earth alone – with no other living thing to accompany them. They were asked further, “How would you feel?” Some cheeky students said they would be very happy, but others said they would be very sad, and some said it would be boring.

That's when I disclosed that they were going to watch a story about a robot called WALL-E who was left all alone on earth for hundreds of years. However, before they were shown the movie, they were told that while watching, they would have to answer a few questions by paying attention to several details, including carefully observing the characters.

The first worksheet I prepared for them contained these “while-watching” questions:

1. What does WALL-E stand for?
W____________ A_________________ L_________ L___________ - E______________________

2. What does it have to do on earth?
It has to _____________________________________________.

3. What does EVE stand for?
E______________________ V_______________________ E___________________________

4. What does it have to do on earth?
It has to _____________________________________________.

5. Write five adjectives to describe WALL-E.

6. Write five adjectives to describe EVE.

(For the last two questions, I put a picture of WALL-E and of EVE so that the students could write the adjectives in the form of word-maps.)

Note: Reflecting on the lesson, I think I should have included a few more questions in the first worksheet:

7. WALL-E's pet is a ________________.

8. Write the names of at least three other characters in the movie.


When the first CD is over, we discussed the first four questions for these answers are available from the first CD. Then, we continued watching the movie in peace.

After they had finished watching, we discussed the adjectives that they had chosen to describe WALL-E and EVE for the two last questions.

Then, the students were given the post-movie questions in the second worksheet:


1. Write five sentences to compare WALL-E to EVE. Use the comparative adjectives.

i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.


2. Which robot do you prefer? Why?


In my opinion, if this lesson is used for a higher level of students like the pre-intermediate or the intermediate students, a suitable follow-up activity would be writing a comparative paragraph or a film review.

WALL-E proved to be a good choice as my students had never watched it, and nobody fell asleep during the movie. After the movie, they couldn't help joking and laughing about the characters, especially reciting WALL-E's dialogue: "EV-A? EV-A!".

I would be glad to receive feedback on this lesson in anyway that it can be further improved.

Kiraan 1-100 Naufal

Kelakar bila dengar Naufal mengira menggunakan logik akalnya. Bukan tak pernah ajar, tapi mungkin dia lupa...


Naufal : Satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima, enam, tujuh, lapan, sembilan... Sepuluh, sepuluh satu, sepuluh dua, sepuluh tiga...

Ummi : Salah tu Naufal... mana ada sepuluh satu, sepuluh dua.... lepas sepuluh, sebelas, dua belas....

Naufal : Ok, Naufal sambung kira... sebelas, dua belas, tiga belas, empat belas, lima belas, enam belas, tujuh belas, lapan belas, sembilan belas...lepas tu apa mi?

Ummi : Dua puluh...

Naufal : Ok, dua puluh, dua puluh satu, dua puluh dua... (dan seterusnya) dua puluh sembilan... lepas tu apa mi?

Ummi : Lepas nombor dua, nombor apa?

Naufal : Tiga

Ummi : Ok, lepas nombor dua puluh, tiga puluh la...

Naufal : Ok, lepas tu tiga puluh satu, tiga puluh dua, tiga puluh tiga ... tiga puluh sembilan, lepas tu apa mi?

Ummi : Lepas nombor tiga, nombor berapa?

Naufal : Nombor empat...

Ummi : Jadi lepas tiga puluh, berapa puluh pulak?

Naufal : Ha... Naufal tau! Empat puluh...

Ummi : Pandai pun!

Naufal : Empat puluh satu, empat puluh dua... empat puluh sembilan... lepas tu lima puluh, kan mi?

Ummi : Ha, betul... pandai Naufal...

Naufal : Lima puluh satu, lima puluh dua...


Naufal pun terus mengira, dan setiap kali sampai ke puluh yang seterusnya, akan berhenti untuk mengesahkan betul tidak kiraannya... hinggalah...


Naufal : Lapan puluh sembilan... sembilan puluh, kan mi?

Ummi : Ya...

Naufal : Sembilan puluh satu, sembilan puluh dua, sembilan puluh tiga, sembilan puluh empat... sembilan puluh sembilan... sepuluh puluh (dengan penuh keyakinan).


Aku pun apa lagi... terbahak-bahak ketawakan dia...


Ummi : Salah la Naufal... mana ada nombor sepuluh puluh... lepas sembilan puluh sembilan, satu ratus!

Naufal : (Ketawa) Ok, satu ratus...


Dalam hati, kesian pula pada Naufal. Tak patut aku gelakkan dia... nasib baiklah Naufal seorang yang positif, setiap kali aku ketawakan kesalahannya pasti dia ketawa sama dan menerima pembetulan yang di ajar. Berbanding Irsyad masa kecil dulu...pasti dah muncung dan merajuk.

Kuala Gandah - a must-have experience

An encounter with the animals in the zoo has always been fascinating for kids - at least for mine. However, if you want to experience something cooler than your normal visits to the zoo, go to Lanchang in the state of Pahang.

In a place called Kuala Gandah, there's an elephant conservation centre. It is run by Jabatan Perhilitan and is opened to the public for free. Our journey from Bangi to Kuala Gandah took us only about 2.5 hours using the PLUS and MRR highway.

The car park area.

The entrance leading to the registration and info centre.

Go early to the place, for if you're lucky to be amongst the first hundred visitors of the day, you'll get the chance not to only see and touch the elephants, but you'll get to ride on and bathe with the elephants! Some special visitors (I don't know how did they get the privilege) even got to feed the elephants with peanuts!

Our sticky pass -
the result of coming late (at 2.30pm)!

There's no word to describe the excitement you'll feel while being here. Luckily I managed to capture tons of pictures and some videos for they would give you a much better picture of what to expect from this interesting place.

Learn something about elephants before you meet the gentle beasts at the information centre.


The kids with a baby elephant.

Babies' feeding time...

Was it people bathing the elephant,
or the other way round?

The lucky person who had the last ride on the giant elephant!

Your journey there wouldn't be complete if you don't make a stop at an animal park called “Deerland”, just a 3km away from the elephant's conservation centre. In fact, this place had made our visit to Lanchang more exciting and worthwhile. There's an entrance fee but not as expensive as the Zoo Negara – we paid a total of only RM16 for 2 adults and 2 children.

Deerland's humble entrance.

My elder son described this place as being much cooler than the infamous Zoo Negara. And why not? Can you go inside the area designated for the deer and feed them at Zoo Negara? Can you touch the hedgehog and feed the ostrich there? Or can you get a bear hug (a real bear's hug) there? My kids got to experience them all here. Again – the pictures would make a better speaker of our interesting experience.

Feeding the deer...

Oh my, they appeared to be so.... hungry, or were they just greedy?

Naufal and the hedgehog.

There were parrots...

a wild chicken...(more, actually)

wild chicks...

and a flying squirrel, too!


The kids with a baby phyton.

Feeding the ostrich was interesting...

and so was touching the bear!


Hugssss.......

Hope you'll find your way there and I assure you these places will make your day!

Kemeriahan 2009

Walaupun masih ada lebih kurang 10 hari lagi sebelum tahun 2009 muncul, aku sudah dapat merasakan yang tahun itu bakal dipenuhi dengan kemeriahan.

Masa kan tidak... kawan2ku di Astopunk sejak hari raya puasa tempoh hari sudah pun merancang untuk mengadakan majlis pertemuan semula (kata mat sallehnya - reunion) selepas lebih 20 tahun kami membawa haluan masing2.

Sebelum ini ada juga reunion kecil2an, setakat mana yg ada terjumpa semula sedikit demi sedikit - setakat minum2 di MidValley pada tahun 2001 atau 2002, kemudian majlis2 hari raya di sini dan sana seperti di rumah Zaza (2004 atau 2005), rumah Ana (2007) dan rumah Tati (2008 - yg aku ketinggalan). Banyak yang "atau" kerana daya ingatanku yang agak "kureng".

Dijangkakan, majlis ini nanti bakal jadi yang terbesar sementelah lebih ramai rakan2 seAstopunk (senior '87) yang telah dapat dijejaki. Majlis telah dirancang untuk diadakan semasa cuti Tahun Baru Cina di Bagan Lalang - kami dan keluarga akan bermalam di sana. Butir-butir terperinci masih samar2 tetapi dari apa yang telah dibincangkan, mungkin akan ada majlis makan malam, sukaneka dan lain-lain.

Konsep yang telah dipersetujui ialah Retro 80an... zaman2 itu kami semua cuba nak rock dan biasanya fesyen kami di asrama ketika itu digelar fesyen "rock tak menjadi". Yalah, di asrama wajib berbaju kurung. Mana berpeluang untuk bergaya dengan jeans selalunya. Maka jadilah baju kurung yang lengannya dilipat hingga ke siku, dan kain yang tidak bergetah atau bercangkuk - hanya dilipat ala kain batik - senteng lagi! Yang bertudung, masa tu fesyennya tudung ikat di belakang dan menampakkan leher. Zaman itu, kalau bermini telekung pun sudah dikata orang "nak tunjuk alim".

Harap2nya ramai yang dapat menyertai majlis itu nanti. Aku juga berdo'a agar tiada aral yang bakal melintang buat aku sekeluarga menghadirinya.

Di sekitar kawasan perumahanku juga kujangka pasti bakal meriah. Jiran di sebelah kananku, kak Ani, baru sahaja pergi ke Puchong untuk meminang bagi pihak anak lelakinya minggu lepas. Majlis perkahwinan mereka dijangka bakal diadakan pada bulan Jun.

Pasangan yang tinggal selang satu rumah pula, Pak Man dan Kak Mah, telah menerima kunjungan peminangan dari Perak pada hari yang sama Kak Ani pergi meminang. Majlis juga dijangka diadakan pada 2009 - hanya tarikhnya yang belum ditetapkan.

Manakala, Pak Abu dan Kak Mas, jiran di sebelah kiri, juga merancang untuk mengadakan kenduri kahwin anak perempuan mereka tahun hadapan... Alamatlah rumahku akan menjadi sebahagian daripada proses kenduri2 tersebut...

Di pihak keluarga sendiri pula, ibu, pakcik2 dan makcik2ku sedang mengusahakan penubuhan sebuah yayasan keluarga efektif pada tahun 2009. Pastinya keluarga kami yang besar ini akan berkumpul dengan meriahnya berikutan mesyuarat demi mesyuarat di peringkat awal penubuhannya.

Demikianlah, belum pun muncul 2009, sudah aku rasakan kesibukan dan kemeriahan yang bakal kutempuhi.

Sad movies for the simple past tense.

This is the worksheet I've prepared to revise the lessons on the simple past of regular and irregular verbs.


SAD MOVIES (ALWAYS MAKE ME CRY)
(Words and Music by John D. Loudermilk)
Sue Thompson

Sad movies always make me cry

He _______(say) he ______(has) to work so I ________(go) to the show alone
They _______(turn) down the lights and ______(turn) the projector on
And just as the news of the world _______(start) to begin
I ______(see) my darling and my best friend walk in

Though I was sitting there they _______(not see)
And so they ______(sit) right down in front of me
When he ________(kiss) her lips I almost _______(die)
And in the middle of the color cartoon I _______(start) to cry.

Oh-oh-oh sad movies always make me cry
Oh-oh-oh sad movies always make me cry

And so I ______(get) up and slowly ______(walk) on home
And mama ______(see) the tears and ________(say) "what's wrong?"
And so to keep from telling her a lie
I just _______(say) "sad movies make me cry"

Oh-oh-oh sad movies always make me cry
Oh-oh-oh sad movies always make me cry
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Sad movies make me cry


Original lyrics was from: http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/s/sadmoviesalwaysmakemecry.shtml


I just hope I would remember to remind my students not to do what the girl did - leaving her unfaithful boyfriend and her backstabbing friend right where they were. She should have confronted them right there!! They deserved a slap in their faces right in front of everybody in the cinema... he he... I'm just over-reacting, as usual.

A wonderful resource

I'm going to teach "occupations" to my elementary students and am designing some activities around a jazz chant I'm going to use.

The jazz chant is titled "He's a Wonderful Dentist" by Carolyn Graham. The jazz chant mentions a few occupations: dentist, patient (err...is this an occupation?), singer, dancer, writer, lawyer, teacher and students.

So, while looking for appropriate photos for my activities, I've come across this photo website - http://www.inmagine.com/searchterms/dentist.html

The photos there are so amazingly nice and clear, and just by keying in the job in the search box, it leads me to exactly the photos that I'm looking for.

Thank you inmagine. Hope to buy the CD one day. :)

Blue Jeans Blues

I like to use the jazz chant titled "The Blue Jeans Blues" by Carolyn Graham as either the opening, or the ending of my lesson about the clothes people wear.

My students would normally tell me that this one's more interesting than the rest of the jazz chants that I've made them recite in the class.

They told me those jazz chants made them sleepy, whereas this one is different. It's a song! A simple, yet an interesting one, just right for my beginner or elementary students.

And I'd like to relate about how I had taken an advantage of the students' liking of this jazz chant to kick start my elementary class one day - as well as the result.

First, we revised some of the nouns related to clothes that we had learned the day before i.e. a pullover, a scarf, gloves, trainers etc. Then, we recalled the adjectives that can go together with those nouns, i.e. tight, loose, comfortable, formal, smart etc.

The students were briefed that they were going to work in small groups of four, and their task was to replace the names of the clothing items in the jazz chants with other clothing items, and use a different adjective rather than blue.

They were also required to include some background sounds/music to their new song like clapping or finger-clicking. They were given 15 minutes for discussions and prepare for a presentation after that.

They seemed to enjoy the planning part it. There were lots of laughters and giggles while they decided on the new items and the new adjectives - and there were more of those when they start practising the new lyrics.

However, when they presented their new blues, the presentations weren't as exciting as I had imagined them to be. Most students were still shy - could be due to their age which range from 18 - 36 years old. At that time, my mixed-nationality students had also been classmates for only three weeks, so I guess they were still not very comfortable with each other.

Of course, there were a few students who tried harder than the rest, but their group mates' non-willingness to cooperate got to them quite fast. So when I asked them whether or not they'd like to present again, everybody refused.

I've tried to incorporate such activities (a bit of TPR) to my immersion classes before and they have failed every time. I used to be under the impression that TPR doesn't work with adult learners since their emotional barriers seem pretty high.

However, last two months, I had a chance to practise a bit of TPR combined with the grammar translation method with two groups(classes) of students in a local university. These students were all Malaysians, and the activity took place some time in their 7th or 8th week together as classmates.

I put them into small groups of four, and prior to the task, I had taught them The Beatles' song "Yesterday" in an attempt to demonstrate the lexical approach of learning English through songs.

In this activity, their task was to translate the song to Malay, their mother-tongue. The result was very encouraging. Not only the translation was good, they sang it with actions that portray the meaning of the song (in an attempt to insert the elements of TPR). The result - the whole class and I were very entertained.

Group discussions in progress as in the content-based approach we normally practice - something that I noticed my USIM students really enjoy doing in the classroom.

So, I guess it's not totally the age barrier that prohibits students from participating in this type of activities, but the level of comfort that they feel being with each other plays an important part. As adult students, the duration for their warming up and bonding with the others seems to be taking up quite some time.

Yesterday

I've always used this song, by The Beatles, in my language classroom - usually to differentiate the past tense to the present one. It can also be used to demonstrate the positive and the negative statements.

From my tinkering experience, this song is suitable even for beginners and elementary students since it's a slow song.

So far the result hasn't been disappointing. All the students whom I've taught this song had loved it! So fellow teacher-friends of mine, I would highly recommend this song for your classroom as well.





Yesterday,
All my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as though they're here to stay,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly,
I'm not half the man I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me,
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why she
Had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said, something wrong,
Now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday,
Love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Why she
Had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said, something wrong,
Now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday,
Love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.


Note: Of course, if you're teaching in an all-girls school or environment - the pronoun "she" can be changed to "he" to make it more personalized.

**This song is also the perfect song for me to listen to whenever I feel like I've been dumped - like today - sigh!

An old piece of writing

Found something in my mailbox, something that I wrote a long time ago, but not available on the net anymore - so here it is for sharing.



Things to do (or not do) when you are not satisfied with your job

by Mima Zohds



Step 1: Do not whine!


Whining does not take you anywhere. The most it can do is making you feel so sorry for yourself and bore people around you. Face the facts: nobody likes a whiny person. They can listen to your complaints and consult you once, but if you do not do anything to improve the situation and yet, keeps complaining over and over again - people will get tired of listening to you and will start avoiding you. The next thing you know, they will label you as a “loser”.



Step 2: Identify the problem.


Try to identify the reason for your not being satisfied with your present job. Is it the salary that is bugging you? Is it the seniority of position? Is it the toxic boss you have? Is it because your present job doesn’t allow you to have your own life? Or is it simply because you feel that you are in the wrong career line? Only by correctly identifying the reason for your dissatisfaction, you can plan on the next move you will take to correct the situation.



Step 3: Identify the solution – some suggestions:


Salary/Position

If it is the salary or the seniority of position that is bugging you, you may discuss the matter with your superior and come up with a career plan that may help you achieve the seniority and the salary that you are targeting for. You may also do a market research to get an idea of how much people with your experience and skills are getting paid outside and point it out to your superior. If you find it difficult to achieve, then just update your resume, and start looking for another job that will offer you a more senior position with a higher salary. The only thing to remember is, higher salary and position comes with higher responsibility and expectations, so make sure you are prepared for them.


Toxic boss

Nothing you can do can change your boss. The one that you can change is yourself - how you look at your boss. Try to find something positive about your boss that you can like and try to develop your relationship based on that. Read books and articles or sign up for courses on “How to manage your boss”. Find out what are your boss’ expectations of his/her subordinates and try to comply with them. Treat your boss as your most important client – after all, you are a service provider to your company, which includes your boss and your colleagues. Ever heard of the phrase “Customer First” or “Customer is always right”? If the situation is really unbearable - again, update your resume and start looking for another job. Don’t forget to pray hard that you will not end up having the same type of boss.


Wrong career line

If you feel that you are in the wrong career line, start identifying what is the field that will really make you happy, and start building plans and identifying opportunities that will help you make your career shift. There was one successful accountant who left his job to become a chef, and is a very famous chef today. There was one high-flying engineer who left his job to become a teacher for a quieter life with his beloved family. The most important thing is they are happy with the career shift that they made and leads a happier life now. However, you may want to consider signing up for courses or diplomas that will equip you with the knowledge and the skills you will need for your new job, and you may have to consider starting over with a lower salary than you have now.


Be your own boss!

If all other methods fail, consider building a small business on your own. You will be your own boss, so you won’t have to deal with toxic bosses. You can work towards the kind of income that you would like, it’s all yours to determine. You can work on things that you are interested in and be in love with what you are doing. Building your own business is certainly not an easy job, but the satisfaction you get out of it will be worth the experience.



Important reminder!


Whatever you decide, do not just jump out of your present job. Careful planning of your next step is crucial if you do not want to regret taking the decision. As unhappy as you are now, you do not want to start wandering on the street for a new job or tie up your stomach with stones! However, do not stay too long at your present job if you hate it seriously since it will be destructive for both your company and yourself. Act quickly, but wisely.



Mima Zohds was a teacher in the public secondary school. She left teaching to explore other job options, seeking to discover her hidden skills and talents. Committed to the cause of education and life-long learning, she has tried her hands at writing, editing, working on translations, conducting training and facilitating experiential groups; and is now experimenting on instructional designing. Mima welcomes feedback at mimazohds@yahoo.com


Published in Prodigy – The Promuda Mouthpiece Volume 1, Issue 5, November 2002.

A confession, or rather, a-bit-too-late review of a portal

Call me outdated, but I just have to make a confession. I'm having a fever, and it's not the normal fever - it's the facebook fever.

I'm or was on ryze, imeem, friendster, ning, wayn n hi5 b4 but I don't really use them. Most of the time when I had wanted to check them out, I would have forgotten what was the ID I used or what was the password.

So when friends started to invite me to facebook, I had just ignored their emails. However, when the invitations kept coming in, I became curious - why so many people are hooked to facebook.

Once I accepted it...wow...almost everyone's here (well, I'm exaggerating it a bit). I found so many long-lost friends here - and not only them - I've also found my long-lost foes. How painful the feelings were when I saw their faces in facebook - I nearly wanted to abandon it.

However, after exploring it for quite some time, I fell in love with it. It's so convenient coz lots of applications are embedded on the web page itself.

I can send messages to people just like email, and there's a messenger-like tool which is embedded so one can see friends who are online, and can chat with them. Cool, isn't it? It's like we get all the yahoo applications but all in one page.

We can even create and join groups here, just like yahoogroups. In addition, there is a wall just like online guestbooks.

No wonder so many people talk about it. Gee... how could I be so ignorant... My guess - more and more people will join facebook and abandon yahoogroups, yahoo messenger, guestbooks, ryze, friendster, hi5 - whatever cool things we already have here but stands alone as a separate entity.

So watch out Yahoo! and the rests... Here comes a very big competitor. But then, it could be just another phase of an excitement - who knows? ((shrug...))

Cerita-ceriti Raya

My other group of new children in USIM:
Awin, Ekin, Syida, Farah, Pijah, Fatehah, Nik, Fizah, Aty, Izzaty & Wawa
- Abdullah Fadzil (jurugambar)

Raya tahun ni memang terasa meriahnya. Entah kenapa selama bertahun-tahun aku tak pernah suka beraya, tapi tahun ni rasanya seronok sungguh... walaupun tahun ni turn raya di rumah mak mertua, dan plan aku nak tukar langsir baru (yg ada tu dah 3-4 kali raya) tak menjadi... Punya la sakan beraya minggu pertama, sampaikan minggu kedua aku kong kerana demam teruk...

Dalam pada suka2 tu, sedih pun ada, kerana dgn tamatnya Syawal, tamatlah servis aku di USIM dan MFI unt semester ini. Yelah, walaupun mungkin jumpa lagi, environment tu dah tak sama mcm dlm kelas kan... di USIM kali ini aku ada 13 + 12 anak2 or adik2... (mana2 kategori pun boleh) - kat MFI 41 orang. So aku ingat alang2 dah raya tu, aku buatlah makan2 untuk anak2 aku ni - kira2 majlis perpisahan le tu...

Excited gak masa merancang majlis ni... yelah, aku ni sebenarnya anti-sosial sikit. Jarang ajak org dtg rumah, apa lagi ramai2 macam ni. Kedua, aku biasa masak untuk habis2 bnyk 4-5 org makan je... ni nak masak untuk ard 70 ppl... cam ne ek....? So, aku pun dapatkan le pertolongan anak2/adik2 angkat sulung aku untuk jadi bentara majlis la kononnya.

Alkisah, sibuk la sikit minggu tu. Aku ajak diorg dtg Sabtu petang jam 5, tp Jumaat malam baru aku sempat nak membeli bhn2 mentah nak masak. Dh tu org belakang rumah buat majlis birthday anak dia, kwn anak aku gak... so, kena la singgah. Since hajat hati nak menjamu laksa dan nasi goreng cina, terpaksa la aku berjaga sampai ke 4 pg menyiang ikan dan memotong ayam. Tu pun anak bujang aku si Irsyad dan anak angkat aku si Nabil dah tolong vacuum rumah dan settlekan muffin sampai jam 1 pagi.

Paginya pulak ada kerja, nk kena gi ofis IH... pas tu visit anak buah di hospital... dekat2 kol 2 baru sampai rumah babe... Kelam-kabut aku dibuatnya... Baru la nak perisi ikan yg aku rebus malam sebelum tu, nak kupas bawang dan bermcm2 lagi yg x sempat aku nak layan malam sebelumnya.

Bentara2 aku yg janji nak dtg tlg kol 2 datang lebih krg kol 4... Tu pun nasib baik datang... dapat le aku delegate kerja2 memotong itu dan ini yg remeh-temeh dlm pembuatan laksa tu kat diorg... Adik aku yg janji nak bawakkan dapur api besar dia tu pulak tak sampai2, so terpaksa la kitorg memulakan proses memasak kuah laksa menggunakan periuk besar (periuk kenduri) yg kupinjam dari mak aku, atas api dapur aku yang hidup segan mati tak mahu tu... Akibatnya, bila tetamu2 aku dh sampai lewat jam 5 tu, kuah laksa kitorang tu macam jauh je lagi nak mendidih...

Nasib baik adik aku sampai kala tu... dapatla tutup dapur aku dan guna api dapur dia. Boleh le sebelah masak laksa dan sebelah lagi wat nasi goreng cina. Urusan tu semua di ambil-alih oleh adik aku dan bentara2 di dapurku petang itu... Aku kena layan tetamu, tapi dgn makanan yg belum siap, mati kutu gak aku nak melayan diorg, habis2 pun takat pelawa suruh minum air dulu le...ahak ahak... Nasib baik lepas tu kuar le kuah laksa dan nasi goreng sikit2... tak tau le aku apa perasaan tetamu aku hari tu... susah2 datang, dah la jamuannya tak seberapa - kena lak tunggu lama macam tu. Dalam hati aku rasa serik nak kumpulkan diorang ramai2 mcm tu lagi... Tu pun students aku yg dari MFI x sampai 20 kerat yg dtg... Lepas2 ni kalau aku nak ajak diorg makan, aku ajak satu kelas demi satu kelas... pas tu pot luck... ha ha ha...

So... ni le rupa2 majlis aku hari tu...

MFI guests- all male, babe! Kalu suami aku ada, sure dia jealous tak pasal2.


Some of my USIM girls... (gambar tak cantik..anak aku yg amik...)
Girls, kalau u all ada gambar elok sikit, tlg email yek...

Piknik para penanggah (kat belakang rumah).



Sedia berkhidmat - Fazlan (USIM) dan Kamal (MFI)


Tak lupa ucapan terima kasih kepada Hamizah yang tak berhenti2 mencuci pinggan mangkuk.

Farah dgn misi membuat kek coklatnya... tak sangka Kamal pandai bagi konsultansi pasal kek...


Bentara2 aku yang lain melepaskan lelah... sis Nana, son Irsyad,
Fithri, Hasnur, Asila, Mahmudah, Izzati, Adila...

Thanks everybody. All of you (baik yg sudi mampir, mahu pun yg tlg rewang) had made the recent hari raya a very meaningful one for me. Love all of you. Mmmmuah!!!