REFLECTION

Date : 10th September 2018

Day : Monday
Time : 08.30 – 09.30 a.m.

Strenghts

Today, I taught Unit 10: Amazing Animals to the pupils. I introduced the lesson by showing
them a 3D forest. I was literally very effective because the pupils got excited over looking at the
3D animals inside the magic that I brought to the classroom (Read, 2013). Furthermore, I also
provided each group a passage card about an animal where they had to do group reading. Before
reading the card aloud to their peers, I showed them a few videos about the animals described in
the passage cards. Thus, the pupils were able to understand the general facts about the animals
by watching the videos. Then, as the pupils were required to move from one group to another to
gather the information pertaining to the animals they had studied, it really helped to reinforce their
reading and information collecting skills and consolidate their multiple intelligence of bodily-
kinaesthetic simultaneously (Brown, 2014). They moved from group to group following the number
orders within the time allocated and they enjoyed themselves throughout the Jungle Hopping
activity. Moreover, pupils were managed to utilise their creativity when they were required to
create a unique creature and provide a few general information about the creature tailored in
simple sentences. As they were to present what they had created to their peers, I could witness
their sincerity and group corporation in term of producing a creative and quality work in the
production stage. As a whole, I could tell that the lesson was carried out in a conducive and joyful
environment and pupils had learned and applied their reading comprehension skill effectively.

Weaknesses

There were some drawbacks taken place throughout the lesson. First and foremost, there
were many passage cards use for the pupils to read and gather information from them. Since
each group was provided with different passage card, pupils could not entirely focus on one
animal. Pupils had to read 5 different passage cards and it was difficult for them to actually collect
the information about the animals within the time allocated. Moreover, the information on the
passage cards were not structured according the order of information. Therefore, pupils appeared
to be bewildered at the beginning of the reading activity. Furthermore, I was still not able to control
the pupils because the instructions which I provided were not equal to pupils’ level. Instructional
language is what I am lack of (Brown, 2014).

Solutions to overcome the weaknesses

In order to rectify those weaknesses, I as a teacher, should study more about the
instructional language and how to provide instruction before conducting a teacher and learning
activity. It is because when the instructions provided are simple, precise and concise, it would be
easy for the pupils to understand and involve in the activity without any confusion (Nesamalar,
Saratha, Choon, 2014). If not, they would question the teacher from time to time and it is how a
normal class becomes noisy and uncontrollable. Next, I should minimise the numbers of passage
cards so that pupils could pay enough focus and attention on the information and have clear
comprehension upon it (Nesamalar, et. al., 2005). Besides, I should display the information
printed in the passage cards before doing individual or choral reading in order to encourage the
pupils read the information without just simply moving their mouth or talking to their friends. To
sum up the foregoing, I will have to ensure whether the teaching methodologies and materials
literally assist pupils to embrace, activate and stimulate their enthusiasm in comprehending and
applying the lesson taught to them day by day because it is the parameter to measure how
effective a teaching and learning process is (Brown, 2014).

References

Brown, H. D. (2014). Principles of Language Learning: Sixth Edition. New York: Pearson
Education.

Nesamalar, C. S., Saratha, S. & Choon, T. S. (2005). ELT Methodology of Principles and
Practices: Second edition. Selangor: Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd.

Read, C. (2013). 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom. Oxford: Macmillan Press.