Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Teknik For Slow Learner
Teknik For Slow Learner
make some sense. Heheh! Okay, so this is the method that I use. I give each and every
pupil a card (I call it the 'SC' Card 1) that contains some guidelines for writing sentences,
like this:
3 Activities
(Singular subject) is (verb + ing).
(Plural subject) are (verb + ing).
e.g. The clown is holding the fire ring.
The pupils are queuing at the counter.
My pupils would bring the card everywhere, and every time I give them the Sentence
Construction exercises, I would encourage them to refer to the card as guidance. Some
hardcore markers might complain that this is actually 'template writing', but I beg to
differ. My pupils have very little if no basic in English whatsoever. I spend almost a year
to teach these kids whatever I can manage on Singular and Plural Nouns, Verbs and
Adjectives. A year ago I had to start with zero. Applying this method enable me to help
my pupils to write grammatically correct simple sentences, and I am floating on air now.
We have been doing this since January, and not only can the children write simple
sentences on their own, in the process they acquire a lot of new vocabulary because in
order to complete the Section A task, they need to identify the location and the activities
in the picture, as well as the appropriate adjectives that are related to the picture given.
After several months of doing this, I notice that a few of my pupils have the potential
to do more. And so, I come up with another card (the SC Card 2):
5 Add adjectives
e.g. This is a busy school canteen.
This is a crowded circus.
6 Add adverbs:
e.g. The clown is smiling happily.
The lion is jumping bravely through the fire ring.
Now look at Number 4. I attended PGSD Head meeting last year where one speaker
who is also a UPSR marker announced that complex sentence is actually not included in
the KBSR syllabus. From the way she put it, I believe she did not recommend teachers to
give our pupils a hard time by forcing them to do something that they are not supposed to
learn yet. I agree with her with all my heart, but I went on and exposed my pupils to it
anyway. To my pleasant surprise, at least two of my pupils are now able to write complex
sentences almost perfectly. Well, for me, if they can do it, why limit their potential?
Number 1, I give my pupils a guide. I provide them with a set of sentence patterns.
Call it 'template writing' if you must, but that was how I started. I have no other choice.
My pupils are that weak.
Number 2, I try to identify pupils who have the potential to do more. I expose them to
ways on how to make their sentences more interesting by adding adjectives and adverbs. I
also teach them how to write compound and complex sentences.
For pupils who are still struggling, I just keep on doing Number 1 until they get it
perfect. Hopefully someday they would be ready for Number 2. For the pupils in the
'almost there' category, I shower them with more vocabulary and reinforce their grammar
knowledge.