ESSAY " A SCARY EXPERIENCE"

An essay by one of the international students.

ASSESSING STUDENTS’ ESSAY

ASSESSING STUDENTS’ ESSAY

Assessing a student’s essay can be hard. Teachers have long been marking their students’ writing based on the marking scheme. Marks are given based on the criteria they have in their writing. The other day, our lecturer had divided us into groups and assigned us to give mark to that particular student’s essay which was entitled "A Scary Experience". We were given a guideline which was based on a marking scheme provided by our lecturer. We gave that student a score of 11 marks out of 20.

I personally think that student’s work was worth giving him/her a pass. He/she has a modest command of the language. Although his/her sentences were not proper and there were some wrong usage of words, but I still can understand what that student was trying to convey in his/her essay. There was no communication breakdown as the whole story written by that student was pretty clear. The idea of the story was there and that student himself/herself was clear about the topic he/she had chosen to write about. The story developed throughout the writing and the plot of the story can be seen clearly as there were introduction, rising action, climax and the ending of the story which, in my opinion was ended quite abruptly. Despite the fact that there were some mechanical errors, that student’s work showed modest understanding of the English Language.

In conclusion, I think that students’ writings should not be assessed based on their grammars and sentence constructions only. It is important to look at their contents and ideas. Some students do have really great ideas but they do not know how to express their ideas or thoughts into sentences or in another word, they have limited vocabularies and knowledge in grammars. Teachers, should give more emphasize on their good points in writing rather than focusing on their grammatical errors. 

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING WRITING

Teaching writing has long been one of the hardest tasks faced by teachers. This is due to the fact that students need to use their creative thinking skills when writing and teachers will have to conduct activities that can help students to bring out their creativity and imagination skills. In this globalization era, technologies have been a part of students’ life. Majority of students will join the social websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Through there, they will interact with more people from all places over the world.

In my opinion, using technology to teach writing can bring a lot of benefits to both the students and the teachers. For example, by using slideshows during teaching, teachers can have more time guiding and explaining to students. They do not need to waste their time writing on the blackboards using chalks. Students can also get more time to ask questions if they do not understand. Other than that, usage of technology can enhance students’ creativity and imagination as they are exposed to more visual aids such as videos, music and movies. Creating an online forum allows shy students to express their thoughts and opinions freely. Students often will feel more comfortable and interested in learning if they can learn using something they are familiar with like using social websites such as Facebook or Tumblr.

Furthermore, there are many free online teaching tools available in the internet. Examples for online Teaching tools that are free are Prezi, Timetoast and Glogster. Glogster is a social network that allows the users to create free interactive posters, Glog. Glog is a multimedia poster whereby users can interact with the contents. Teachers can make their teaching lessons more interesting by using online tools as they contain graphics and colours which can help to activate students’ brain cells.

Besides that, another example of using technology in teaching writing is by asking the students to come up with an e-portfolio each. I personally think this is a really great idea. Students can write anytime or whenever they have the feeling to do so. By having an e-portfolio, they can even view back what they have written before and update their writings. In addition, they will have the opportunity to view other people’s blogs and improve on theirs.   

Although technologies can definitely helped in improving the teaching of writing but, schools in rural areas might be having problems integrating technologies into their teaching. This is because rural areas have limited internet access and the schools might not have enough computers or facilities to use technologies in teaching. 

In conclusion, technologies do can help teachers to teach students in writing. It is convenient as students are free to update their posts anytime they want and they can even leave comments on their friends’ works besides getting feedbacks from their peers. It also helps teachers to save more time as they can prepare their materials for teaching earlier by using slideshows. Students too, will have more time to ask questions. Furthermore, students and teachers can interact with one another even when they are not in school but through social websites.

SECOND MINI QUIZ

You are teaching the theme ‘Environment’ to a form 3 class with intermediate level of proficiency. Describe an activity on how to integrate the following thinking skills into your lesson.

a) Analysis                                                                                b) Application

Students will first be divided into groups of 5 people each. Next, I will show the students videos from around the world concerning our environments. For example, I will show them videos about logging, sea pollution, and other problems our environment are facing right now and also some solutions carried by NGO’s and the government. After that, I will ask them to write down what they can see from the videos. Students will be asked to come up with 3 paragraphs of essay each group. However, the groups will be doing different topics. There will be groups doing:

a) What is happening to our environment now? Come up with a 3 paragraphs essay stating what our Environment has turned into right now. Your work should not exceed 180 words.

b) Write a 3 paragraphs essay on the effect of the environment to human and also nature. Your work should not exceed 180 words.

c) What solution do you suggest in help to conserving and preserving our Environment? Write a 3 paragraphs essay on this topic and your essay should not exceed 180 words. 

Constructing 2 learning activities based on the map given.

Here are my 2 learning activities~~ =)

1. You and your family are at Jalan Tun Fuad Stephen. Write a short paragraph about places you can visit or things you can buy somewhere around there. Your paragraph should not be longer than 60 words.

2. Complete the phone conversation in between you and your friend using the template provided. Make sure the directions are well defined and the conversation should not be longer than 60 words.

A: Hello, B. I’m now at Hyatt Regency Kinabalu Hotel. Can you please tell me the directions to  Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board?

B: Hello, A. Sure. First, you will have to………

RESPONDING TO “A SCARY EXPERIENCE”

After going through the essay, I realized that the student has a problem in choosing the appropriate words to be used. For example, he should have used “a wonderful day” instead of “a nice and scary day”. Apparently, he was weak in using descriptive words or adjectives, despite being able to maintain the flow of the story. There was also wrong usage of idiom as it was directly translated from Chinese o English. However, this student was clear about his/ her topic or what he or she intended to write. Besides that, there were also some mechanical errors such as wrong usage of tenses and words missing in a sentence. For this student, I would prefer to use written comments regarding on his/ her work. This is because, according to the essay written by him/ her, the flow of the story is obvious and the student did had the introduction, rising action, climax and ending part although the conclusion was ended quite abruptly.

In order to improve his/ her writing, I would suggest peer edit whereby his/her work is shown to his peers before submitting them. Through this method, he/she will be able to identify similar problems and weaknesses in their own writing. They will also have a wider insights and directions of writing as they are exchanging ideas.

The most common error found in this essay is the wrong usage of adjectives. I will provide some activities that are related to adjectives. For instance, I will ask him/her to write me a short paragraph on describing something such as places, things, people and surroundings. Besides that, I will also let him/her to have some warm-up activities. Pictures will be shown to him/her and they will have to use the correct adjectives to describe it orally.

EXAMPLE:

1. Describe your best friend’s appearance in less than 50 words.                                                            
2. Imagine you are lost in a forest and the sky is getting dark. What do you think about your  surrounding? Describe it using proper words in less than 60 words.                                          

INSIDE THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE

Based on the serious gaming, Inside the Haiti Earthquake, I took on the role as an aid worker. From there, I realized that making a wise decision is very important in that situation. A less-considerate decision will cause people to starve and die. The game is really an interesting one as I somehow got to feel how it was like if I were in that situation in real-life. It actually left me wondering, will I really be that calm in making decisions? All in all, I am glad that the place I live in was free from most of the natural disasters.

For the learning activity, I will first play the game with them by choosing the role as aid worker. The clips in the video will be shown to them. Next, I will ask the students to write down what is the one thing that the survivors needed most after the earthquake had struck. It can be water, food, medicine supplies, tent and many more. Next, they will have to list out the usage of that particular thing that they have listed down in point forms. Lastly, they will have to come up with a short paragraph on the points they have written earlier.

EXAMPLE 1:

After the earthquake had struck Haiti, I think majority of the survivors needed the clean water supply the most. This is because many water sources had been contaminated with dust and bits of concretes from buildings that had collapsed. The clean water will be used for most importantly, drinking and also cleaning wounds. Besides that, formulated milk powder for babies too, need to use clean water and not those contaminated water shown in the video clip earlier. If contaminated water is used, it may cause diarrhea, cholera and other water-infected diseases.

EXAMPLE 2: 

In my opinion, I think the survivors needed the supply of medicines the most. This is due to the fact that, many people were injured during the earthquake. Medicines such as antibiotics and pain killers are somehow the most common type of medicines required. There were also many survivors who needed certain medicines in order to undergo operations. Children for instance, will need more vitamin C and injections to boost or strengthen their immune system as they are more prone to diseases compared to adults.

ANOTHER LEARNING ACTIVITY

I have created another activity earlier. I think it is more suitable for students who are in Form 5. So, I will just post it in my blog. It is an activity that incorporates with students’ thinking skills using the level of APPLYING in the Bloom’s Taxonomy. First, I will give the students a list of events. Next, they are free to arrange the events into a paragraph with the condition that the events must be linked to one another. Feel free to try out. =)

EXAMPLE:

 1. Accidentally kicked a big stone

2. Having lunch with my friends

3. The first time I met her

4. Late for lecture

5. Friends laughing at me

6. Made her my wife

7. Had dinner and movie

EXAMPLE 1:

I still remember the first time I met her. It was on a Friday morning. That day, I was late for lecture as I woke up late. It was because I had dinner and watched a late movie with my friends the other night till 2am. I ran all the way to my lecture hall and accidentally kicked a big stone, sending me toppled over a girl walking right in front of me. Standing up, I began to apologise profusely looking straight into her eyes for the first time. I was stunned and speechless, looking at her beautiful face. She said that it was alright and left. I saw her again the next day while I was having lunch with my friends at the café. I told my friends that I would make her my wife. My friends just laughed at me and continued with their lunch.

EXAMPLE 2:

I have just finished having lunch with my friends at the café when I accidentally kicked a big stone and slipped.  Friends were laughing at me for not having a girlfriend although I had been in the university for three years. This year will be my final year. Driving along the road, I was listening to my favorite song, Marry You by Bruno Mars. Suddenly, a girl came out of nowhere and stood in front of my oncoming car. I immediately stepped on the brake and the car came to an abrupt stop. I started to curse and before I regained my calm, that girl was already in my car, sitting at the passenger seat which was right next to me saying, “I’m so sorry, mister. But, could you please send me to the Lecture Hall Number 15. I’m going to be late for my first class. Please”. That was how everything started. We chatted along the way and keep in touch often. Two weeks later, we started to meet up for dinner and also movie every Saturday. Soon enough, I made her my wife. 

SYNTHESIS

I have decided to create an activity that incorporates with students’ thinking skills using the level of SYNTHESIS in the Bloom’s Taxonomy. First, I wil divide the students to work in pairs. I will give the students a few different situations that they might be facing in real life and they will have to write down a few solutions from most likely to least likely and label them accordingly.

EXAMPLE:

SITUATION 1: 

A young boy named Mike decided to ride his bicycle from his house to a town, 5 kilometres away from his house. After a while, he reached a crossroad where he had to change direction. However, he noticed that the signpost with arrows pointing to different towns in that area had been blown away. He did not know which road was the right one. Nevertheless, he was able to figure which road to take. What do you think he did?

ANSWERS: 

A: Most likely, the boy asked for direction from the people around on his way there.                                     
B: The boy might have a map with him                                                                                                     
C: The boy could have just simply got there by luck.

SITUATION 2: 

On June 22, 1996, an 18- year old thief broke into a lady’s house and demanded all her money. She gave him all she had: RM11.50. The thief was so angry that he demanded the lady to write him a cheque for RM1, 000. Two hours later, the police caught the thief. How?

ANSWERS: 

A: The thief, most likely have given the old lady his real name for the cheque.                                                   
B: It could be that the old lady recognized the thief.                                                                                       
C: There may have been a security camera in the building.

LIST OF MOVIES AND SONGS ABOUT FAMILY AND FRIENDS

MOVIES

1. Tarzan

2. Camp Rock

3. Cadet Kelly

4. The Lion King

5. 101 Dalmatians

6. Toy Story

7. Lilo and Stitch

8. Real Steel

9. 3 Ninjas- High Moon on Mega Mountain

10. Alvin and The Chipmunks

11. Brother Bear

12. Clash of The Titans

13. Daddy Day Care

14. Despicable Me

15. High School Musical

16. Finding Nemo

17. Ice Age

18. Madagascar

19. Meet The Robinsons

20. Kung Fu Panda

SONGS

1. Sister Sledge - We are Family

2. Boyz II Men - A Song for Mama

3. Luther Vandross - Dance with my Father

4. The Temptations - Lean On Me      

5. Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses

6. The O’Jays - Family Reunion

7. Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World

8. Michael Jackson - I’ll Be There

9. The Pretenders - I’ll Stand By You

10. Bill Withers - Lean On Me

11. Mariah Carey-Anytime You Need a Friend

12. Monica - For You I Will

13. Christina Aguilera – I Turn to You

14. Sarah McLachlan – I Will Remember You

15. Elton John - Friends

16. Kirk Franklin and Nu Nation – Lean on Me

17. Miley Cyrus - True Friend

18. Bruno Mars – Count on Me

19. Demi Lovato – Gift of A Friend

20. James Taylor - You Got a Friend

TUTORIAL 2

CAUSES OF MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS



Thesis Statement:
 Motor vehicle accidents are caused by drunk drivers, equipment failure and usage of mobile phones while driving.

Topic Sentence:
1. Drunk drivers tend to be unable to focus on the road and lose their judgement while driving.
2. Drivers who do not sent their cars for maintenance will face a higher risk of getting involved in an accident    as there could be equipment failure.
3. Usage of mobile phones is another common causes of motor vehicle accidents where drivers tend to be     distracted.  

IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVING THE SEA:
1. By preserving our sea, a better quality of marine food supply can be provided.
2. Preservation of sea helps to lower the risk of contracting diseases caused by polluted         marine lives.
3. The government can promote clean beaches to attract foreign tourists.    

REFLECTION: 
This game was fun as me and my teammates were required to find certain words in the newspaper in a limited time. We were asked to run a distance after cutting the words and stick it on a piece of paper. It was hard as some words can be really small that we hardly noticed it.
However, the tough part was when we were asked to come up with three different topic sentences within a limited time, using only the words we had from the newspaper. It certainly will be challenging and fun to be played with my students in the future.     
By bringing in the concept of outdoor activity while learning, participants can enjoy learning in a more relaxed surrounding. This game also promotes the thinking skill as it requires the participants to build up sentences with limited choice of words in a limited time. They will have to made a good use of their vocabulary in order to make three different sentences.Through this game, participants can also share their opinions and have a better opportunity of being exposed to different formats of thinking.  

TASK 1: DESCRIBING PEOPLE  

EYES	Beady, bloodshot, boss-eyed, bug-eyed, clear, close-set, cross-eyed, dead, shuttered, sunken, deep-set, doe-eyed, hazel, heavy, hollow, hooded, lidded, liquid, piggy, pop-eyed, rheumy
NOSE	Sharp, big, crooked, up-turned, snub, pointed, aquiline, beaky, corpulent, curved, flat, gigantic, hooked, pierced, wrinkled, tapered, tame, truncated, luminous
LIPS	Thin, full, pursed, pout, soft, warm, luscious, glistering, alluring, sexy, chapped,
FACE	Square, oval, round, triangular, heart-shaped, chubby
COMPLEXION	Fair, dark, tanned, freckled, wrinkled, rosy, pale, spotless, silky, smooth, creamy, baby-soft, glowing, paper-thin, translucent, olive, light-brown,
HAND	Scrawny, claw-like, thin, big-knuckled, blue-veined, plump, fat, chubby, arthritic, rough, soft, firm, shaky, calloused, clean, tattooed, large, small
CHEEK	Rosy, chubby, hollow, dimpled, soft, pale, blushing,
BODY	Fat, thin, lean, curvy, fit, skinny, slender, tattooed, well-built, feeble, flabby, frail, beefy, brawny, muscular, pear-shaped, stocky, statuesque, an hourglass figure
CLOTHES/SHOES/ACCESSORIES/	Elegant, glamorous, tidy, smart, messy, untidy, sloppy, skimpy, casual, sophisticated, old-fashioned, punk, rock-star, trendy, worn

TASK 2: IDENTIFY THE EMOTION

ORIGINAL: She was waiting for her friends at the bus stop.

NEW: Looking at her watch, she was wondering, why aren't they here yet. She looked at the bus, passing by slowly, crowded with passengers. She hums her favorite song while listening to people talking around her. She stared at her phone, giving them a few more minutes. 

TASK 3 : DESCRIBING PLACES

What do you see?	What do you hear?	What do you smell?	What do you feel?	What do you taste?
A lot of people wearing MSM shirts.	People talking and laughing around me.	Smell of sweats (sour).	Hot and tired (after the aerobic dance)	-

                

ARTICLE REVIEW

 INTEGRATING SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS INTO ESL WRITING CLASSROOM: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

SUMMARY

         There are many advantages when social networking tools are being integrated into ESL writing classroom. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow students or people from different social circles to exchange their opinions regarding a certain topic and help to broaden student's knowledge. This will trigger student's creative thinking skills and enable them to voice out their thoughts in a less stress environment. Other than that, blogging is also an alternative whereby students can improve their writing skills as teachers and friends can leave their comments anytime. However, there are disadvantages as students tend to get distracted by other materials from the social networking sites. The habit of using short forms will mislead students in their language acquisition. Schools with limited internet access will not be able to fully apply this method into their education system.

MY EXPERIENCE

          As a student, I do not think this is practical if it is to be applied into the Malaysian education system. This is because there is still a large area in Sarawak where the internet access is limited. Students from rural areas such as Ulu Kapit (Sarawak) and Marudi (Sarawak) will definitely be left out if this system is to be applied as they are still lacking in terms of technologies. Besides that, majority of the students tend to misuse social websites as they preferred to spend their time browsing the sites looking for entertainments rather than brainstorming ideas for writing tasks. Today, students would much more prefer to copy and paste from the online resources if they were asked to do their tasks online. Learners will be frustrated if they were to be flooded by a pool of information with little control regarding the accuracy of the information. The usage of short forms or informal writing habits in social networking sites too, will affect student's actual writing. These are the reasons why I strongly believed that social networking sites are mainly for social interaction and not for teaching ESL writing.

WHAT WILL I DO      

            

         I will encourage students to interact more through social websites such as facebook and twitter but definitely not for developing their writing skills. In my opinion, social websites are mainly suitable for interactions and networking among people but not for academic benefits as there are too many distractions online. Private forums can be set up to ensure online safety where there would not be any unnecessary distractions or leaking of private information. Students are allowed to start any new discussion as long as it is separated from their private lives. Other than that, student's writing skills can be improved by giving them topics related to their real life.  In this way, students are able to fully concentrate on their academic without fearing it would affect their social lives.

             

         

                                                             

       

A little about ME~~

      Hi, this is my first time blogging and now I'm trying to tell you all a bit about me~~
Hmmmm... I'm HOMESICK!!!! Hahaha... Guess it's because I'm leaving my family so long for the first time.. Coming to the 'Land Below The Wind', I felt anxious but happy at the same time.

    Before I left the airport, I hugged both of my parents tightly telling them I will be independent and there is no need to worry about me. I can tell my parents are proud of me when I called and told them everything's fine here (of coz la, youngest in family wad. xD ) as I can do my own laundry and so on~~ But seriously, it's tough at first >.<. However, I'm sure I can handle it and will get used to my daily routine... SLOWLY~ =P. Feeling grateful at the moment for I have 3 caring and lovely roommates (2 chinese and a malay with all studying diff courses, haha) ~~ And of course all my coursemates!! I feel less lonely and happier.. Hehe...  

    So, tutorial on the first day > woke up at 5am and queued up for about 1 hour and 10 mins to get on a bus ( the queue was like... SO LONG! ) . This was how I got MY FIRST LESSON, never ever wake up late or u're gonna end up walking for 40 mins under the hot sun! Like what the old folks say "RISE AND SHINE, THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM" (this is so true! =) Haha

    Frankly speaking, I was relieved when i got the offer from UMS.. After all, I'm gonna become a teacher (TESL), FINALLY!!! Hahaha... Alright.. My parents were even happier than I was. Lol... I'm sure this 4 years are gonna be tough for not only me but everyone who;s in uni~~ Therefore, I'll try my best not to dissappoint my family and live my life the way I'm supposed to.. Seniors often say "enjoy your life in uni to the fullest" and I'm gonna do that in my own way.. =) .

Years teach us more than books, Berthold Auerbach
So, till then...