Thursday 7th May 2015

JOURNAL WEEK: 4

1. ProblemsWhen I first entered Year 4 DarusSalams classroom, it was no doubt that the pupils proficiency level were considered excellent and among the best compared to their friends on other classes. They could speak and apprehend to my instructions and activities that were being held. However, it had come across my understandings that the pupils were having major difficulties in writing and composing sentence structures whenever I asked them to create simple sentences or composing a short essay. I was tremendously in shocked when I got to know that the pupils were rarely being introduced to world of essays during their schooling days. The issue did not only evolve and centralise on the pupils writing skills but also how did the respective English teacher taught them beforehand. The pupils were poor in constructing sentences with correct usage of grammatical items as well as punctuations. Their spellings were heavily influenced by the pronunciation of their native language which was Bahasa Melayu, which indicated that there was no rampant exposure for spellings and vocabularies either in the pupils writing skills or any focussed skills during the teaching and learning session. The results could be seen through the composition of essay that I had asked the pupils to do entitle My Self. There was a lot of grammar errors and spelling mistake when I went through their writing to evaluate their proficiency in the English Language. This truth bittersweet intervention had me came out with a conclusion that the pupils proficiency levels were still low and did not achieve the requirement of the PBSs system especially in writing skill.2. AnalysisBased on this prognosis, the problem could occur for three reasons. The first reason was the English Department in the school did not go through meticulously on the pupils performances based on each skill that were taught by the teachers. The second reason was that some of the teacher that had to teach English Language in this school was not trained in the English courses. They came from different major courses and had to teach English Language due to the fact that there was no enough teachers intended for the subject. The third reason was intertwined with the efforts and motivations from the pupils themselves. There was no self-motivation to opt their performances in English Language which made it harder for the pupils to master the language eloquently in a period of time.3. How To Overcome The ProblemsA small discussion should be carried out by the English Departments with the teachers pertaining to this matter. This is to inform and infer the problems and how they can come out with a solution such as remedial classes and approaches to be used to boost up the pupils performances in English Language. Aside of that, the school administration must come out with a proper plan to address the issue to the MOE regarding to the lack of English teachers in the school. This is very important because without trained English teachers, it is very hard to guide the pupils properly into the language especially in grammars field. Teachers also need to provide essential and continuous motivation to the pupils to ensure that the pupils are motivated to study hard on English Languages subject during their leisure time. 4. DurationI have discussed with my coordinator teacher regarding to this matter and all of the teachers have agreed to give duration of three months to see the progress of the pupils. If the problem cannot be settled and all of us find a dead end, the matter will be brought up to the fellows in charge at the school before asking for help from them MOE to cater the pupils needs.5. EvaluationIn order to evaluate the changes on the pupils proficiency level, the English Language teachers have come out with a plan by having extra classes 3 days a week at night to drill the pupils with their writing skills. Besides than that, a Writing Workshop is also being held by the end of the May to brush up the pupils proficiency level in English Language. Each of the teachers are given an evaluation chart to measure the pupils performances for every activity that is being carried out. Remedial classes will be conducted for pupils that are facing with difficulties in completing the tasks during the lesson.6. Follow- up ApproachRemedial and enrichment materials will be provided during each lesson to the pupils that are having difficulty on completing a task. By doing this every single day, the pupils can polish up their weaknesses and work from there to build their foundations in English Language. Chart such as Reward Chart is also being hung on the classrooms wall to motivate the pupils to work hard and strive for the best in studying the language.