el upsr clasroom strategies

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

Excellence in English LanguageTABI UPSRSTRATEGY 1

EL Teachers ActElaboration

COACHINGOne to one One to small groupsFace to faceThe identified Near Miss students MUST be given :

one to one and

face-to-face coaching on grammar accuracy, on technical aspects of (Paper 2) Making a choice, Sentence Writing, Essay Writing and even Grammar, Vocabulary, Spelling and Punctuation (Paper 1).

STRATEGY 2


The MUST TEACH : Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 pupils must be taught and trained in ALL the following items :

a) grammar

b) vocabulary

c) punctuation

d) spelling

e) correction

f) sentence making /structure

g) comprehension

h) essay writing

i) use the textbook as much as you can PLUS REMEMBER to gather relevant/ related material from other books/ sources tooTeacher must teach and then give practices in all the items, only then the pupils will be able reach the final out of WRITING SKILL as accurate as can be. The topical/ thematically chosen comprehension passage may have to be doctored to lower the level of difficulty for low-proficient pupils (LEP). From this passage all the items can be taught. Teaching items in isolation is done with the only aim of consolidation of understanding of vocab, rules, formats

STRATEGY 3


In Sentence Writing train pupils to look at many pctures and for each picture recognise the following : WHO, WHAT WHERE and HOWBy looking at as many pictures as possible and answering the WHO, WHAT WHERE and HOW in the picture the pupils have already a minimum of 4-5 sentences.

STRATEGY 4


In Sentence Writing pupils are advised to read the words provided but USE of the words is OPTIONAL.

For SJK schools pupils MUST USE the words provided.For SK schools, pupils can use their own words and/or use the words provided.

STRATEGY 5


In Sentence Writing train the children in identifying the subjects (the people) and for each of the subject identified, link the following grammar areas with each of them :

a) nouns/pronouns

b) verbs/verb to be

c) prepositions especially of locationsPupils will be able to start sentence writing by training pupils to link each subject/person identified with the relevant linking :

subject/person

a) noun/pronoun

b) verb/verb to be

c) preposition

Where relevant:-

For Noun - identify :

age, size, colour, material, shape

For Verb identify the adverb

STRATEGY 6


In Sentence Writing train children to use a suitable tense and ENCOURAGE the SAME TENSE throughoutTraining children to write in ONE COMMON tense will also mean they are trained for Note Expansion/ Essay writing too.

STRATEGY 7


In Sentence Writing training children to write in SIMPLE and COMPOUND sentences is sufficient.

Avoid complex sentences especially if children are LEP (Low English Proficiency)Simple and compound sentence writing would mean grammatical errors are minimised / pupils can be trained to use correct grammar and avoid grammatical errors.

STRATEGY 8


Give pupils many exercises in Sentence Writing, train/teach pupils to go for zero grammar error . Remind pupils they MUST score maximum marks Errors in capital letters, punctuation, spelling, pronouns, subject verb agreement and preposition of locations should be minimised to zero-error

STRATEGY 9


In Essay Writing, teach and train pupils that putting together short notes provided, to form a sentence is a CONTENT POINT. Train/ teach pupils to identify the content points. Every picture/stimulus has about 2-3 content points. Train/teach pupils to identify the content points. Train pupils to write short sentences for each content point.

STRATEGY 10


In Essay Writing teachers MUST train the pupils to use APPROPRIATE ADJECTIVAL PHRASES for NOUNSTrain children to identify the Nouns first then straightaway think of an APPROPRIATE ADJECTIVAL phrase for it.

STRATEGY 11


In Essay Writing, teach and train pupils to write

i) introduction sentence based on the picture and first words of the note expansion as First paragraph (Point 1)

ii) write the points in a paragraph

iii) write an ending sentence with the last set of notes as Final paragraph (last Point)In essay writing there MUST be the basic minimum 3 paragraphs

In the last paragraph train the pupils IF POSSIBLE to ADD APPROPRIATE idiomatic expression, metaphor, proverb or personal feelings as ending.

STRATEGY 12


In Essay Writing identifying the content points should be followed by SEQUENCING the points (points = ideas)The sequencing of the points should follow the sequence of the events in the pictures provided

STRATEGY 13


In Essay Writing, teachers MUST train children to ADD a related sentence to at least 3-4 of the points in the note expansion question. This additional sentence is based on the sentence stated before that.Remember training children to write an additional sentence is important to gain that extra marks.

Eg. -fisherman-sea - boat- ( The content points here : Ahmad is a fisherman. He goes to the sea/ catches fish in the sea in his boat. The additional sentence would be It is a big boat/brown in colour/ an old boat.)

STRATEGY 14


In Essay Writing pupils should be trained on capital letters, punctuation, pronouns and subject verb agreement. There should be no errors. Pupils should be trained to recognize the TENSE and maintain the tense throughout.Using a whole class approach and using pupils own sentences are some strategies to teach these grammar items. Constant reminder of the rules is a must.

STRATEGY 15


EL teacher GIVE and TRAIN the students to recognize the meaning and memorise 10 good phrases to be used in WritingTrain students to use phrases/words where they can for the essay

STRATEGY 16


In Transfer of Information Question (2a) Making a Choice - Teachers MUST train pupils to USE the complete title or phrase as given/provided in the question /text. Pupils to be trained/ taught NEVER to make any spelling, punctuation errorAn error either spelling, punctuation or incomplete of word/words or phrases provided text/question will automatically considered as gross error. No marks will be given. So, pupils MUST copy/ write down accurately/ completely these word/ phrases.

STRATEGY 17


In Transfer of Information Question (2b) Making a Choice - teachers MUST teach/train pupils to list down 5 POINTS of REASONS for choice Each reason should be positive and connected to the information on the choice and then write the sentences accordingly

Train pupils to USE adjectives and personal feelings

STRATEGY 18


In Transfer of Information Question (2b) Making a Choice - pupils MUST be trained to READ the rubrics FIRST THEN trained use phrases : I likebecause, cheaper than (if comparing two choices) and cheapest among (if comparing with ALL the choices)The MUST Word List for the pupils in this section :

I like / I prefer / I think.. because

Firstly / secondly / also / besides /moreover / finally

than (with comparative) / among (with superlatives)

STRATEGY 19


In Transfer of Information Question (2b) Making a Choice - remind pupils to NEVER use words from Question (2a - the table) USE ONLY the words provided in the original text/question. Using the words from the table the probability of structural mistakes will be higher hence pupils must use words from the original question/text provided

STRATEGY 20


Corrections by the teacher is a MUST an on block approach whole classroom practice Identify and list pupils own sentences - list on the board and/or give out handouts then MUST workout/explain errors that appears in the sentences together as a class participation.

STRATEGY 21


Train pupils to become teachers themselves to recognize errors and correct the errors- they learn best when they are able to recognise their own errorsGet pupils to mark their own sentences especially as pair work especially on specific grammar items of ARTICLES/NOUNS/ PRONOUNS with special focus on TENSES and SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

STRATEGY 22


In Paper 1 the focus of teaching should be on grammar, vocabulary spelling, punctuation and comprehension, social expressions, word omission (grammar)Teachers please refer to the Minimum Practice for TABI UPSR stated on the last page.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES FOR A IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TABI UPSRPAPER 1

NoEL TEACHERS ACTIONSElaboration

1.In GRAMMAR teaching, teachers may teach Grammar items In Context or In Isolation (but even in isolation there must be the CONTINUITY from rules to practice and to ultimately application as in WRITING)

( Teachers must teach all grammar items:

i) related to nouns

eg. countable/uncountable nouns

eg. pronouns

eg. articles

eg. subject-verb agreement

eg. adjectives

ii) related to verbs

eg. adverbs

eg. tenses

eg. subject verb agreement

iii) related to nouns and verbs

eg. prepositions

eg. conjunctions

( the approach to grammar teaching should be one of linking, continuity and developmental

Eg. To teach Noun one can start of with

Nouns, then articles, followed by the linking items of pronouns, countable /uncountable, adjectives and so on..

(Marking of grammar errors should be item by item marking (or linking items).

(Teaching IN CONTEXT refer to

Grammar items that can be taught as seen within

i. text passages

ii. picture/stimulus

(Teaching IN ISOLATION refer to grammar items selected to be taught systematically as in continuity

(Teaching of grammar items and giving of follow-up grammar exercises/ practices: MUST follow the following

SEQUENCE-CONTINUITY :

Introduce a grammar item

introduce concept of the grammar item

(Give exercises/practices for P (LS)

to identify examples of the item

(understanding of concept)

Introduce rules of grammar item/ rules of the linking grammar items

(Give exercises/practices for P (LSRW) to practice correct understanding of rules

(Give exercises/practices for P (LSRW) to consolidate understanding of concept and rules of the grammar item

(Give exercises/practices for P to apply understanding of concept and rules of the grammar item at WRITING LEVEL (paragraph (s))

TEACHERS DO AVOID marking ALL grammar items in one essay in one go. Pupils will not know which grammar item (s) they got wrong

2.

In VOCABULARY Pupils must be taught the knowledge and understanding of words to be used at word , phrase and sentence levels.

Teacher must identify words related to the TOPICS and UNITS and make lists of words. Use the Word List given in Curriculum Specifications (see the Word List and the Extended Word List provided) Train pupils TO STUDY the pictures/ stimulus and list words associated with the pictures/ stimulus

Drill meanings and spelling of words

Do different types of exercises that test on VOCABULARY

Question 1 4 Vocabulary at word level with no graphics.

Topics & words association

- Animals Sound, motion,

home, young , Gender

- People - Gender, verbs,

occupation

- Places Verbs, adjectives

Question 5 7 rebus

Based on pictures and vocabulary at phrase level

- collective nouns, pair words

Quantifiers and others

Question 8 10

Based on pictures at

Sentence level

3.In PUNCTUATION, teach and train pupils to identify the various types of punctuation

Eg - Upper and lower cases, full stops,

commas, apostrophe, exclamation

marks, hyphens, open and close

inverted commas as in speech.

Train pupils to AVOID/ HAVE NO

ERRORS in punctuation

Teacher must teach and give practice in all the punctuation symbols. Only then, will the pupils be able to apply them correctly. Teaching punctuation symbols in isolation is done with the aim to consolidate the understanding and application of punctuation symbols.

An important activity : Train and drill the pupils with lists of sentences with punctuation errors guide/train pupils to identify the punctuation errors and correct them

4.In SPELLING, teach and train pupils the words from the WORD LIST of each Unit and their meanings.

Explore words from text book

List the wordsSpelling can be done either orally or in written form

Oral spelling can be taught through drilling

Written spelling can be done

through various exercises :

- picture clues, dictation as well as identify and correct spelling errors in a text

for LEP pupils, Spelling

can be :

FILL in MISSING LETTERS

for HEP pupils, Spelling

can be :

SPELL THE WORD AND WRITE THE MEANING ON THE RIGHT COLUMN (meaning can be synonym in English or the meaning in BM/or mother tongue)

MARKING OF SPELLING exercises is a must- an on block approach whole class practice or pair workPupils must do corrections after each exercise. Identify and list the words given on the board. Pupils exchange and mark.

5.In TEXT COMPLETION ( Q 26-30 ) Focus on relevant Grammar

Eg; verbs , prepositions , adjectives

FIRST STEP : Train/teach pupils to study the picture. Then identify relevant grammar/words

SECOND STEP : Read the text carefully then choose the option answer that is related to BOTH the picture and the text.

Focus on vocabulary especially nouns

Teacher must train pupils to be aware of details in illustrations They must always ask themselves what, who and where Questions for this section must be directly related to the accompanying illustration

Exposure to various situations can assist to widen pupils background knowledge

Start word list early

Pupils tend to pay just minimal attention to illustration knowing the picture will greatly assist them in determining the correct option.

6.In SOCIAL EXPRESSIONS

Train/teach students to first

STUDY THE PICTURE carefully

IDENTIFY the speakers that is the WHO IS THE FIRST speaker & WHO IS THE SECOND speaker

Read and match part of the dialogue given in the picture to the suggested responses Pictures are very important

Identify keywords and associate with the correct responses

7.

COMPREHENSION passages ..

May have 2 focus :

EITHER

Focusing on Reading Skill OR

Focusing on Comprehension Skills

( When focusing on Reading SkillTeachers teach :(Pronunciation, (Enunciation

(Intonation, (Stress

(Pauses

The strategies includes ;

Chorus reading aloud

Individual pupil reading aloud

Teacher reads and pupils listen Teacher reads and pupils follow

COMPREHENSION passages/stimulus .

( When focusing on Comprehensional Skills :

Train and teach pupils to :-

i. READ the whole text first

ii. STUDY the picture thoroughly

( IDENTIFY the difficult words

= meanings / may need to train

pupils to INFER/guess the

meaning from whole text reading

= think of synonyms/antonyms

( IDENTIFY the WH=

WHO, WHAT, WHERE,

WHEN AND HOW in

the passage/stimulus

( Look out for CONTEXTUAL

CLUES

( Recognise that the first/

second questions are

normally in the first

paragraph and so on.When focusing on Reading SkillNEVER TAKE FOR GRANTED THAT PUPILS KNOW THE SOUND OF WORDS

Teaching Reading Skill can be done as individual reading strategy anytime before, while teaching time (when pupils are busy doing class work) and outside teaching time

When focusing on Comprehensional Skills :

The objective :

Is to train and teach pupils :

to know/accumulate the vocabulary

to identify details of information,

to recognise sequence,

to infer opinions/feelings

Teachers teach :

( gleaning of information

( scanning skill

( skimming skillSTRATEGIES :

( READING MANY TIMES :

( recognise main ideas supporting (recognise supporting ideas

( Teacher does ORAL QUESTIONS :

( Wh questioning

( Contextual Clues

( Giving meaning of words

( Synonyms / antonyms

( Parallel ideas

( PARAGRAPH Questioning( Teacher formulate 3-4 questions

according to paragraphs

( To identify the WH information of

each paragraph

( Train/teach pupils to make paragraph

based-questions

(advisable to put the above questions and the WH info right next to the paragraphs)

EL TEACHER S CRITICAL ACTIONS

EL TEACHERS ACTIONSElaboration

Every weekend , every holiday essay writing a MUST Students who are Near Miss due to EL need lots of practice especially in Writing that help to pull up marks to the A level.

EL teacher go all out to make sure the students arrive at the following minimum marks of :

Paper 1 = minimum 35/40 marks

Paper 2 =

Question 1 : minimum 8/10 marks

Question 2a : achieve 10/10 marks

Question 2b : minimum 4/5 marks

Question 3 : minimum 10/15 marks

Lots of practice need to be given to arrive at these minimum marks = will lead to A in English Language

LIST OF GRAMMAR ITEMS TO BE TAUGHT AND LEARNT

COUNTABLE / UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

PRONOUNS

ARTICLES

SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT

ADJECTIVES

ADVERBS

TENSES

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

PREPOSITIONS

CONJUNCTIONS

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES FOR A IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

GRAMMAR

PAPER 1

NoEL TEACHERS ACTIONSElaboration

1Articles Make sure pupils are able to use the articles before a noun. Train pupils to use a or an instead of one.

2.AdjectivesPupils are able to describe and compare a noun

3.PronounsTeachers must teach and give practices on different types of pronouns, eg personal, possessive, reflexive and relative.

4Modals ( must, ought to, will, would,

shall, should, may, might, can, could)These words are followed by root words.

5.TensesTeach all the tenses. Give a light touch on prefect tense.

6AdverbsGive a list of adverbs to enable pupils to use correctly. Remember not all adverbs end with ly

7.PrepositionsPupils are able to use the prepositions to show time and location in their writings.

8.ConjunctionsGuide pupils to construct compound sentences using the correct conjunctions

9Question Words ( WH Questions)Using picture and train pupils to ask questions based on it .

10Nouns(Common, Proper, Collective, Uncountable& Countable) )Teacher must always tell the pupils when to use the nouns and their spellings

11.Negative and Positive StatementsPlease do not ignore this although it looks easy

many, a little

much, some

few

+s

-s

she, he, I, we,

they, us ours, their (s), yourself, myself, ourselves, themselves

Positive eg. tall

Comparative er eg taller / more

Superlative eg. tallest / most / st OR

Words describing :

shapes, colours, size, age, material, types,

am, is, was, were, has, have, do, does

+s, -s

a, an, the

Words describing actions

.ly

morely

mostly

Simple Present Tense, Simple Past Tense, Future Tense, Present/ Past Continuous Tense

had, did

+s

-s

words used to show :

locations

directions

Words that show sentences / ideas are :

joined

connected

el upsr clasroom strategies

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