In-Class Task 1

I'm so excited as this is my very first entry for this blog :-). I'm Farihah Mazmi and people call me Fa.Why prettycool sifu? haaa because I personally think that teachers who can incorporate technology in their English classroom are cool !

In terms of skills, I would say ..hmm I'm almost illiterate heheh. That is why I'm just so eager to be in this class! I wanna be cool too..atleast to myself :-) Never had a personal blog like this before since my last class with Dr Izaham, years ago!.

My experience learning via the computer? I didn't have any experience learning via the computer untill I further my study in UiTM !! hehe ...I just love learning via the computer as it seems like everything is at the tip of my finger. I can get any information on ease.Hmm..I did a lot of web surfing to learn more on how to teach in an ESL classroom when I was preparing for my practicum last semester. I learned a lot of techniques and activities that are suitable for classrooms of different levels. I've also joined some online forum and shared my predicaments in teaching my ESL classes with ESL teachers around the world and they help me out. Most importantly, lesson plans! there are thousands of interesting lesson plans for ESL lesson that can be referred to and there are also many beneficial activities being created to help English teacher or future teacher like me to make our English lessons PRETTY COOL for the students :-)

Did I incorporate technology in my class during my practicum? Yes. I was assigned to SMK USJ 13 last semester. When I first entered the class; which was a form four class, 4A, I realized that chalk and talk can no longer interest them into the lesson. I used the school APD room ( Bilik alat pandang dengar) a lot and they just love it! Let me share with you one of my experiences.I taught them drama entitled 'Gulp and gasp last semester and my students, they just wouln't careless of these drama thing or any English lesson because they think they are proficient enough in the language and this whole drama thing is just a waste of time. So what I did was some drama warm up activity in class , just for Ice-Breaking and the following lesson, I brought them to the APD room and showed some real life theater preperation and stageing; Puteri Gunung Ledang , Glee and etc. They were like..'Miss fa, is this what we're going to do?' I just smiled and say, 'Something like this, but you are all beginners for drama staging and we're gonna do just a mini version of this '. I merely showing them what they need to learn from me. Student, they always think that they know what they want, but teachers are the one who know what they need right? :-) After that, alhamdulillah I had no problem asking them to participate in my drama lessons.

Opinion on the use of computer or technology in language teaching?  I think it is good to use technologies in language teaching because it is interesting. However, personally I do not think that it'll work everytime in my class. Firstly, because to use the technology, I need to ask them to move from their own class to another room, which is a bit far. It takes time and I simply put my lesson obejctives for the day at risk. Once in awhile..yes..I highly recommend for teachers to use technology. But still, using books, having class activities and tasks are also necessary to ensure that the students really understand what they have learned and prepare them for examination. Especially when it comes to essay writing. Written tasks are crucial for them. Well, I shall say that it depends on the teachers themselves and what type of students they get.

Lastly, my expectations from this course. I hope that by the end of the lesson I can finally become more skillful in using computer and technologies as a medium to teach ESL in my classroom and also....become....a PRETTY COOL SIFU for my students! hehe

Wassalam :-)