English teacher’s journal writing does the trick
ALTHOUGH teaching English to rural students can be quite challenging, there are many innovative ways of creating a classroom environment that can make these children love English.
Rosnah Mani, a 37-year-old English teacher from SMK Bukit Garam 2 in Kinabatangan, has found a new way to make her students love the English subject, that is through writing journals or recording events in life.
“I have been teaching English in Kinabatangan for almost 16 years now, and it was hard for me. I was born here and live in this community, and I know the real situation.
“To the children here, the Malay language is good enough to communicate, because there is hardly any need for the English language in their daily social routine. In fact, the main exposure and need to learn English only becomes apparent when these children attend schools,” said Rosnah.
When it comes to the English class, the loudest students will be seen pretending to listen to the teacher talking in front of the classroom. During the question and answer session, no one would dare to raise their hand because they are afraid of giving the wrong answer.
English is considered a killer subject in her school, and Rosnah was determined to change it.
“Early last year, I tried something new for myself. I started writing journals because I wanted to slim down. I thought keeping a journal will keep me on track.
“In June 2015, I managed to reduce some weight and found a new hobby - writing journals. I wrote everything with colour pens, decorated every single page with stickers and drawings, and the amazing thing is....I love writing!
Every night before bed, I would dutifully describe everything I observed during the day. There were so many things to write because the ideas come from the people I met, the food I ate and the things I did.
“Since it was a good thing, I decided to introduce the word ‘journal’ to my Form Four students. I showed them my journal and asked them if they want to have a try at writing a journal.
“I explained to them that it would be fun, and that I would not be giving any marks for their writings. I just ask them to focus on the page decorations. I was really taken aback when they all said yes to my suggestion,” explained Rosnah.
After six months, all her 35 students are now in Form Five, ready to take the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination. Their spirit for the national examination is high as they are no longer afraid of the English paper.
“I am very proud with their achievement in the English subject. It is not about obtaining the A grade, because we are still far from that. It is about the willingness to learn and overcome the killer subject,” she said, in an interview with The Borneo Post recently.
The ideas of choosing a topic for their journal is very simple. Rosnah said she would choose easy topics such as ‘25 Facts About Me’, ‘My Future Spouse’, ‘My Dream Job’ and many more.
She chose such topics because her main concern is to encourage them to write. So, the subject must be simple but strong and easy to record.
“With these kinds of topics, they can write just about anything and as much as or as little as they want. Journal writing is not graded, so they do not have to worry about spelling or grammar. Unless they want me to look into it.
“To me, topics like these are good opportunity for them to take risks with their language and try to extend themselves. Slowly, they will learn that the word choice is exceptionally important in all kinds of writing,” said Rosnah.
Since creativity is one of the most important part in writing journals, Rosnah encouraged her students to decorate their journals. The cost of journals in the book stores has risen sharply, so Rosnah taught them to use stickers, tapes and drawings to customise it to their personal likings.
She herself sewed her own journal using cotton fabric as a cover and printed her own inserts to make it more organized.
“My inspiration to sew my own journal came from unlimited resources that can be found on the internet. The idea came from a Japanese Midori Traveller’s Notebook,” said Rosnah, who also shared her artwork with friends and internet users.
After posting her artwork online, Rosnahreceived a number of requests from all over the country asking her to sew journal for them. From one order a week, she is now receiving around 20 orders a month.
It had never crossed her mind that her sewn journal would become a hit among planning enthusiasts.
“Journaling is very popular in Peninsular Malaysia, while in S ab ah, I only receive one or two orders so far. Recently, I took part in a two-day bazaar at Karamunsing Complex organized by KK Legasi and those who are into crafts and journaling enquired about my artworks.
“I also shared my stories with a number of teachers who became inspired with my story,” she said.
Rosnah hopes more teachers will be inspired with her story, and, when possible, start writing journals at a young age to encourage them to love English, which is very important for their future.
Another English teacher, Fauziah Sinon, who is teaching in Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Lingga Baru, Tuaran, shared her similar experience, agreeing wholeheartedly that writing journals or keeping a diary helps them improve the English profiency among rural students.
“I started‘ My Diary’ project in 2008 when I was teaching at SK Andrassy in Tawau. The idea came to me after attending a course organized by the Education Department.
“My pilot project was Year Three students in SK Andrassy. I used blank A4 papers, made it into a book and gave to each student. We started by writing according to the topics I chose, and they would write it at home as homework.
“When they entered Year Four, it became their daily routine. Once a week, I would check on their work and discuss about grammar and spellings,” she said.
Fauziah, who guided her students until they sat for the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) exams, made her school proud after receiving compliments from the State Education Department for achieving 100 per cent passes in the English subject.
She said the ‘My Diary’ project has helped her improve her students’ vocabulary, spelling and creativity.
Last year in SK Ling ga Ba ru, using the same method, all her students also passed in UPSR.
“Creativity is not always something that just happens. It can take quite a bit of work to nurture, grow and develop it,” she said.
For teachers, Fauziah further explained, it can be even more of a challenge to inspire creativity in students or to embrace their own creativity while trying to juggle academic requirements, tests, and other issues in the classroom.
She concluded, it may be difficult but it certainly is not impossible, and accomplishing it can help to create a classroom environment that is more motivational, interesting and educational for both teachers and students.