HELPING WEAK PUPILS MASTERING VERBS USING SUBSTITUTION TABLES

AND NUMBER CODES

Teaching the weak ones is really challenging. Creative teaching techniques
should be applied.
It's not just demonstrating the SVO, SVC rules etc to make them capable in
producing sentences which later form paragraphs and then a complete essay.
Should we give them more? Yes, attention and practice.
Then what should be given less? Ideas and lexical items. Why such? Coz they are by natural could not
digest much.
More is less. Less is more.
Action Verbs are the fundamental of writing an essay. These are sample worksheets made familiar to weak
pupils via the use of substitution tables. In producing sentences, number codes are used as guide and
approach.
By producing variety of sentences, pupils are able to clone these sentences into their essays and finally we
get a greater impact in our PdPC session.

THE STORY OF …
014 PENULISAN | SECTION C |
HELPING THE WEAK TO PASS
- A SINCERE OPINION AND SUGGESTION
It’s important to help our weak pupils to pass with at least an overall
minimum passing mark of 40%. ( I’m just assuming 40% since it can be 35%, it
can be 45%, so on so forth).
The maximum score for Section C is 25. Hence to get 40%, a child needs to
get at least :
(40% / 100%} X 25 = 10 marks
Well, some would claim less than 10 like 6, would be enough for one to pass
because they believe deficits would be sufficed by marks from other sections
such as Section A and B (i).
Let’s look at the marking rubric. To get 10, the essay should be in GOOD
BAND. Oh dear! Would it be possible for a weak pupil to get such, Then, let’s
go to the SATISFACTORY BAND which has marks ranging from 5 to 9.
Now we have to allow a bit of tolerance in terms of marks scoring which we
need to go for 9.
MARKING RUBRIC for SATISFACTORY BAND (05 to 09)
• Overall, the content of the essay can be understood
• Ideas are presented with some compound and complex sentences written
correctly.
• Simple sentences are widely used with minor errors but meaning is still
clear.
• Vocabulary is just enough to express meaning with only one or two new
words used.
• Some spelling and punctuation errors.
If we were to study the above rubric …
Descriptor #1
• Overall, the content of the essay can be understood.
Make students able to write correct simple sentences between 10 and 12
sentences ( 3 sentences per paragraph, so for 4 paragraphs : 4 x 3 sentences
= 12 sentences ), I believe most examiners can understand as long as a
sentence and another sentence is related correctly.
Example 1:
Amin went home from school. He saw a snake near a bush. ( Ideas are crafted
logically )
Example 2:
Amin wenr home from school. The snake was in the bush. ( Ideas are not
properly crafted )
Descriptor #2
• Ideas are presented with some compound and complex sentences written
correctly.
Some of us underestimate weak pupils' ability to write compound or complex
senteces. Personally, I would avoid mentioning the term compound and
complex sentence to them as they are not learning the rules of a language for
TESL papers. Just make them familiar with these three conjunctions which I
think would be enough :
and because but
Make them write at least one sentence using one of the suggested
conjunctions in each paragraph. Meaning, if we have 4 paragraphs, then we
can have four compound sentences using any of the three said conjunctions.
Descriptor #3
• Simple sentences are widely used with minor errors but meaning is still
clear.
As much as possible do not have any grammatical errors which is considered
as gross@major errors.
That is why, in my humble opinion, I prefer Past Tense to Present. Simple
Present appears in two forms, with an 's' and without one. In other words, a
child needs to distinguish between the singular form resulting to confusion
whereas for Simple Past, a child just needs to know one form of a verb to
agree with the Subject.
If a child can master the 20 Basic Past Tense Action Verbs plus "was" and
"were", then hopefully he can come up with 10 to 12 sentences throughout
the essay.
Minor errors should only be spelling, punctuation mark and perhaps
inappropriate word used. For example, a glass is taken for a cup.
Descriptor #4
Vocabulary is just enough to express meaning with one or two new words
used.
Like I mentioned before, knowing the 20 Basic Action Verbs and using them
correctly is enough to justify the child to have the minimal word requirement,
thus helping one to get more marks.
Descriptor #5
Some spelling word errors.
If a child is able to manage spelling accuracy, I believe he could get a better
scoring. But, how does this happen? Make them alert with words having
double consonants, double vowels, words ending in 's', words with dual
vowels like 'ei', 'ie' as in 'friend', consonant clusters like 'br' as in 'bring' etc.
By and large, help students, in the process of writing, meet as many band
criteria as possible to get higher marks, and not just 3 or 4 since 3 or 4 out of
25, brings them nowhere. You know what I mean, don't you?