Thursday, October 8, 2009

English Drama Challenge

On October 10 our school took part in the English Drama Challenge 2009, co-organised by the Kuantan District Education Office with BASF PETRONAS Chemicals. The competition, themed "One Malaysia" was held in the RTM Auditorium near here. Ten schools participated in the contest.

SMK St. Thomas won the first prize followed by SMK Sultan Abu Bakar and the third placing was SM Sains Sultan Ahmad Shah. Our school participants were from the Form 1K11 class. We managed to get a consolation prize worth RM 100. It was indeed an experience and eye-opener for our young participants.


english drama





















Monday, October 5, 2009

Pizza Hut Vouchers for Mag Inc 2009 Contest

Good news to those students who have participated in The Star-Pizza Hut's Mag Inc 2009 contest, your pizza vouchers are on the way. The vouchers were distributed to schools throughout Malaysia last week. There were about 24 000 entries for this contest. The results of the contest will be out this week. For the participants, you can get your vouchers from your English teachers soon. Let's not forget the English teachers too. They will also get their share of pizzas for helping and guiding their students throughout the contest. Well enjoy your pizza(s) and bon appetit.

see contest result.

Monday, September 28, 2009

A Patriotic Poem Recital

On 16 September 2009, our school celebrated the 52nd National Day. In the evening, the students gathered at the hall to commemorate the event. The English Panel prepared some students from 1K12 and 2K13 to recite a patriotic poem, A Piece of Paper (see below). Three students recited the poem and a few others (at the background) constructed the national flag, Jalur Gemilang, while they were reciting.




A Piece of Paper


I took a piece of paper
It was white...
White - reflecting the purity
Deep within our hearts,
The heart of each and every Malaysian

In one corner, I drew a rectangle
And then, I coloured it blue
'Cause blue symbolises dignity
And it was with dignity that Malaysia broke
away
From the clutches of colonialism

Next, in the rectangle, I included a new moon
A crescent representing the National religion,
Islam
And also to signify light and hope
Light for all Malaysians, whatever colour or
creed
Hope that peace and harmony may forever
prevail.

Beside the crescent is a star
A star with fourteen points
Representing the different states, their people
Converging in the middle
Reflecting the bond, the unity in our nation

The crescent and the star are coloured yellow
Yellow- the colour of royalty
Pledging my unfailing loyalty to King and country
The symbol of the sovereignty
of this my homeland, the land that I live in and
love

Finally, I added the horizontal stripes
Again, fourteen - for the fourteen states
I painted seven of them red
And left the other seven white
Different, divergent but united we stand,
side by side.

Red is the colour of love
The love I have for my country
The love I have for my fellowmen
Together let us stand hand in hand
United and strong, as one people, one nation
one Malaysia.

(Source: Internet)







Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The idiosyncrasies of the English Language

According to The Cambridge Advanced Learner's dictionary, the word idiosyncrasy(n) [usually plural] means a strange or unusual habit, way of behaving or feature that someone or something has. Simon Ager, a native English-speaker and language enthusiast, wrote about the aspects of English that can easily confuse foreign learners. According to him, English is a language full of traps for learners. As an example when you think how to pronounce a particular letter or combination of letters, you will then come across an exception or three. You might think you know what a particular word means, but will then see it has other meanings. He added that English spelling isn’t as irregular as it appears; in fact the majority of words are spelled in a more or less predictable way. The trouble is that some sounds can be written in a variety of ways, and that some letters, especially the vowels, have numerous possible pronunciations. (This view was written by Simon Ager from the website http://www.cactuslanguagetraining.com) I’m sure you have come across these idiosyncrasies and also many others. I would like to share with you two funny poems on the idiosyncrasies of the English Language. There are many more poems of these kind on the Net, just ‘google’ it and enjoy reading them.


The English Language
Harry Hamsley

Some words have different meanings,and yet they're spelt the same,
A cricket is an insect, to play it is a game.
On every hand, in every land, its thoroughly agreed,
The English language to explain, is very hard indeed.
Some people say that you're a dear, yet a dear is far from cheap,
A jumper is a thing you wear, yet a jumper has to leap.
It's very dear, it's very queer, and pray who is to blame,
for different meanings to some words pronounced and spelt the same?
A little journey is a trip, a trip is when you fall;
doesn't mean you have to dance, whenever you hold a ball,
Now, here's a thing that puzzles me: musicians of good taste,
will very often form a band - I've one round my waist.
A door may often be ajar, but give the door a slam,
then your nerves receive a jar - and then there're jars of jam.
You've heard, of course of traffic jams, and jams you give your thumbs,
and adders, too, one is a snake and others add up sums.
You spin a top, go for a spin, or spin a yarn maybe -
Yet every spin's a different spin as you can plainly see.
On every hand, in every land, it's thoroughly agreed,
The English language to explain, is very hard indeed

Taken from :http://idiocrasiesoflanguages.blogspot.com/


A Poem on Plurals and Pronouns
Anonymous

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his, and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis, and shim.

Monday, August 17, 2009

BookFest@Malaysia

Are you an avid reader? Then read on.

The Star

BookFest@Malaysia 2009, organised by Popular Book Company (M) Sdn Bhd, is back this year; its theme this time around is “Reading is Inspiring”.
BookFest@Malaysia 2009, held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre as before, will have 509 exhibition booths with 275 exhibitors this time. Exhibitors comprise local and international publishers, and distributors of CDs, multimedia items, stationery, stamps and collectibles, and educational tools and toys.

One thing that previous fest visitors might notice is the different division of space: more space has been allocated to the English and Malay sections this year, which together make up 45% of the total space. The remaining space will be occupied by exhibitors with Chinese language merchandise.

BookFest@Malaysia 2009 will be held from Aug 22 to 31 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 10am to 10pm daily. Entry tickets can be purchased at any Popular Bookstore outlet or at the fest entrance. Tickets are RM2 for one entry or RM10 for multiple entries over the 10 days. Entrance is free for students 18 years and below and for senior citizens aged 60 and above.

For more information go to bookfestmalaysia.com.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Mind Your English


This signboard is at a bus station. Notice the mistake?

Monday, August 3, 2009

NST- NIE Creative Writing Workshop



On 7 July 2009, four Form 4 students attended the NST-NIE Creative Writing workshop accompanied by their teacher,Mr. Tan Kia Leng. It was held at SMK Sungai Soi, Kuantan. They were among the 180 secondary school students in the Kuantan district who participated in the workshop organised by NST.

The students worked in groups and did a number of exercises such as mind-mapping, writing picture captions, writing reviews and also opinions using materials from the NST and Niexter. At the end of the day, the students received a lot pointers on creative writing and they also enjoyed themselves tremendously. They even gave the workshop the thumbs up.

Finally the NST-NIE coordinator, SameerAhmad also encouraged the students to visit Niexter, a website introduced by NST-NIE early this year for students. The exercises in Niexter would be able to help students to improve on their writing skils.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Incentive for elite English teachers who serve in rural areas

The New Straits Times

2009/07/21 (Tues)

SEREMBAN: The government is considering a special incentive for English language teachers in the 'excellent' category if they agree to serve in the rural areas.

Deputy Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said even now, English language teachers were given an allowance but the special incentive would be for a different category of teachers.

The deputy prime minister said there were problems with the ministry's transfer policy due to several factors, so it wanted to provide incentives like living quarters.

"There are teachers who are interested and willing to sacrifice (by teaching in the rural areas," he added after opening the delegates' conference and annual general meeting of the Malaysian School Heads Council, here, today.

He said this time the government wanted to send out the best teachers to the rural and remote areas based on an existing programme in Australia known as "Teach Australia", where the teachers there responded to the challenge and given a special incentive to teach in Australia's remote or interior areas.


Muhyiddin said the ministry would also ensure comfortable living for teachers willing to be transferred to the rural areas so that they would stay on for as long as possible.

"We will select those who are really qualified. They should be in Band 5. Right now most are in Band 2 and 3. The excellent ones make up only eight per cent," he said.

Muhyiddin stressed that the country needed to produce high quality English language teachers and towards this, various programmes were being implemented and changes made.

The ministry requires about 13,000 trained teachers in the English language to be sent to the rural areas by 2012 when the strategies to improve the standard of English would be implemented.

"This will take time, so we have decided to get the resources from the teacher training institutes, English language graduands from the public and private higher learning institutions and retired teachers. We may also bring in 1,000 foreign teachers as master teachers to guide our teachers," Muhyiddin said.

For the students, he said, there would be new language laboratories using the best computer software to help them become proficient in the English language. - Bernama

Saturday, July 18, 2009

No hasty decisions on English

The New Straits Times

2009/07/18

KUALA LUMPUR: Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom said yesterday the ministry would discuss the hours needed for English language with experts from local universities, education stakeholders and parents.

"We have ample time to deliberate on the matter and will not be making any hasty decisions," he said after launching a seminar on the teaching profession here.

Organised by the National Union of the Teaching Profession in collaboration with the education ministry, the two-day seminar aims to guide teachers on their career path.

Alimuddin said the proposal by the ministry to reduce the time for the teaching of Music, Science and Physical Education to make way for the learning of English language was only a proposal and no final decision had been made.

The time allotted for English lessons has been increased from 240 minutes to 300 minutes weekly at the primary level and to 330 minutes at the secondary level.


Meanwhile, he said five institutes of teacher education had been identified to train English language teachers. They will use English as the medium of instruction.

Friday, July 17, 2009

3rd Panel Meeting

The 3rd Panel meeting was held today from 12.45-2.00 pm at the Computer Lab. Though there were a number of absentees (with valid reasons), it was a fruitful session. Among the items discussed were the analyses of the English Mid-Year Examinations and strategies to improve the results. The panel also decided on the implementation of a new programme to encourage and motivate the students to read more. In addition, updates on the British Council Connecting Classrooms Project were provided. The minutes of the meeting will be emailed to all panel members in due course.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

English hours to be extended

2009/07/09

The New Straits Times

English hours extended

PUTRAJAYA: Science and Mathematics will be taught in Bahasa Malaysia and vernacular languages, in stages, from 2012.

At the same time, bold and decisive measures will be put in place to strengthen the teaching of English at all levels of education — primary, secondary and matriculation.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also education minister, announced the decision to revert to Bahasa Malaysia for the teaching and learning of the two subjects.

The decision is in line with the ministry’s “Memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu, Memantapkan Bahasa Inggeris — New Deal for the Malaysian Education System” strategic move.

The teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English or PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris) was introduced by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2003.


Muhyiddin said that with yesterday’s decision, the government was actually offering a new approach in the teaching of Science, Mathematics and English.

“The government believes that with this approach we will be able to empower Bahasa Malaysia and strengthen English, and at the same time enhance the capabilities of students to master science and technology which are vital for the future of the country,” he said at the ministry yesterday.

Muhyiddin said the policy would be implemented in stages for Year One, Year Four and Form One.

The changes, however, will not involve Form Six and matriculation. Muhyiddin said to ensure that achievements of students now learning the two subjects in English were not affected, the teaching and examination for the two subjects would continue to be conducted in Bahasa Malaysia and English until the last PPSMI group ended in 2014.

He stressed that the decision was made after studies by the ministry and independent bodies since the introduction of the policy.

“Studies revealed that PPSMI was never ever fully implemented as envisioned. Teachers were teaching the two subjects in both Bahasa Malaysia and English.”

Observation and monitoring by the ministry last year revealed that only a small number of teachers used English to teach the two subjects.

Reading from a statement, Muhyiddin detailed the new deal which would see an increase of 13,933 English language teachers. There are now 31,893 English teachers nationwide.

The measures are:

• Establishing more “contact time” between teachers and students. Grade DG 41 English assistant teachers will be in charge of Year One and Two classes with more than 35 pupils.

• Increasing English language hours by 90 minutes for Level One (Year One to Three) and Level Two ( Year Four to Six) for national primary schools, from the present 240 minutes to 330 minutes, and 210 minutes to 300 minutes a week respectively.

• Increasing English hours for Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina/Tamil (Level One) by 100 per cent, from 60 to 120 minutes and 30 more minutes for Level Two, from 90 to 120 minutes per week.

• Increasing English hours for Form One to Form Six by 80 minutes, from 200 to 280 minutes a week.

• Increasing English hours for Malaysian University English Test for Form Six by 80 minutes, from 320 to 400 minutes a week.

• English hours for matriculation students will be increased by 100 per cent, from three to six hours a week.

• English Children Contemporary Literature programme will be introduced to Level 2 primary students to instil reading interest.

• English language laboratories will be set up in schools to facilitate the learning of English more effectively.

• Information technology will be utilised in the teaching and learning of English via suitable computer software.

• Grammar will be given emphasis in the teaching and learning of English.

• To expose students to Science and Technology terms in English, the elements will be incorporated in the teaching and learning of English. Muhyiddin said the percentage of students in urban schools who scored A, B and C in Science in Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah exam last year declined to 82.5 from 85.1 per cent in 2007.

For rural schools, the percentage dipped from 83.2 to 79.7 per cent. For Mathematics, the achievement of students in urban schools declined from 84.8 to 80.9 per cent, while in rural schools from 80.9 to 77 per cent.

“The achievement gap between urban and rural schools has widened due to PPSMI.”

Apart from monitoring by the ministry, the Trends Report in Mathematics and Science Study 2007 showed the position of Malaysian students in Science subject went down from the 20th place in 2003 to 20th in 2007.

For Mathematics, the position also dipped from 10th to 20th placing. Studies by local universities revealed that the level of English proficiency was nominal at less than three per cent since the implementation of the policy.

“Based on these observations, the government is confident that Science and Mathematics need to be taught in a language which can be easily understood by students, that is Bahasa Malaysia at national schools and Chinese and Tamil for vernacular schools.”

Muhyiddin gave an assurance that efforts would continue to be made to enhance English language proficiency.

SMKTP English Language Panel

English Language Teachers