Module 1

This was the sixth week lesson. Pn. Foziah told us that she had surprise for all of us. I was wondering what it was. “Module was here” Pn Foziah told us. In my mind, there would not be any free time for me especially SHOPPING, HANGING OUT WITH MY HOUSEMATES, AND ALSO WATCHING DRAMA. So sad wasn’t it? Another heart attack news for me was I should complete the module which was as thick as a dictionary within 2 weeks. Possible? Gosh!!! I would not have time to eat, drink and sleep peacefully this time or else I finished my module.

After distributing the module, Pn. Foziah explained the proper way of completing the module. For example, I had to fill up a form such as the time starts and ends, name, location, and etc. for each sub topic that I had done. This was because all of us were participating in Pn. Foziah’s research. Besides, I also had to jot down the problem if I faced it. I started to flip through the module and my mind and all my nerves told me that I should be prepared for the reality. ‘Jeng Jeng Jeng’… I accepted the challenges.

While doing the sub topics, I realized that I had learnt a lot of new things in my course. For example, I had learnt how to download certain essential software such as ORBIT. This eventually gave me an opportunity to learn and expose to all these new software rather than be a froggie who had only an empty shell about technology. I also took some initiative to ask for help from my housemates especially when I did not understand some elements in completing the task. In my opinion, by asking I questions, I had learnt and gained tones of knowledge because when a person talked, he or she would help us to remember better as it involved more than one sense.

All in all, this module had widen my horizon especially on technology. In order to complete the moduel, I had to work extremely hard and struggle for at least two weeks. I kept on remind myself that was never give up as the more you did, the better you would be. See you all in next week. ^^

Teaching Aids

Teaching aids was the main topic for the lesson in this week. I believed that ‘teaching aids’ was a common word among of all of us. It was usually defined as supporting materials that were used in a teaching learning process. However, in this lesson, most of us were fascinated as we were assigned to integrate and use technology in teaching aids. This meant that we had to prepare a lesson that was fully conducted by using technology as teaching aids. I was wondering about it because I did not have much expose to the various teaching aids in terms of technology. This meant that the world was progressing in a fast pace especially in education. Luckily, Pn. Foziah had assigned us to do it in pairs rather than single. This helped me to learn and share some new ideas from my partner. It eventually developed cooperation in each pair.

Pn. Foziah had mentioned several teaching aids which were integrated with technology. E-Book, flash games, flash cards, music video, online story, online games and online educational activities were some of the examples of advanced technological teaching aids. Through her explanation on these teaching aids, I had a better idea on how it was linked in a teaching learning process. ‘What were impacts of using technological teaching aids?’ was the first question that emerged in my little mind. Would it mean that teachers were no longer important in schools?

In my opinion, teachers were absolutely important in schools even though lots of invention of technological teaching aids. This was because teachers were still needed as facilitators by giving them the correct instructions on how to do the tasks. Without teachers, I believe chaos would happen in schools as pupils were unable to clarify their hesitation.


There were many advantages of using technological teaching aids in classroom. Firstly, it created an interesting and exciting classroom. For example, a music video clip such as, ‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes’ that was shown at the beginning of a class would trigger pupils’ curiosity in learning rather than a traditional teaching method. This eventually aroused their interests and motivated them to learn. This video clip could also give them a brief idea or concept on the lesson. Thus, they would have focus and direction in learning.


Secondly, by integrating technology and teaching aids, teachers could have a more pupils-centered learning. This was because it contains lots of educational games and online tasksheets where pupils could participate at the same time. Pupils would also attain immediate feedbacks either it was positive or negative from the activities. This helped them to realize their strengths and weaknesses on the spot. Teachers also could avoid delaying the feedbacks to pupils in terms of marking their books. Pupils could also do extra activities at home just by clicking on the internet. In addition, there were many free of charge website for educational games.


Lastly, technological teaching aids which were colourful and contained lots of animations and graphics had widen pupils’ knowledge in using ICT. This would be very useful in their future especially in working life. Pupils could also be one of the techno savvy as children in oversea who had a very conducive learning environment. All in all, technology must be integrated in teaching so that our young generation could be the same par as the others in this advanced world.

Presentations

The lesson for today emphasized on the presentation which was unable to be completed last week. During the presentation, our lecturer, Pn. Foziah had posted several questions after each group had presented. In my opinion, it helped to enhance our comprehension towards the topic of presentation. It also developed their confidence while presenting their thoughts.

Four groups had presented their brilliant thoughts. The first group was about the children’s ability to grasp meaning. In order to portray abstract concepts to children, Group 1 had suggested to use non verbal communication skills and teaching aids. Facial expression, gestures, intonation and actions were some of the non verbal communication skills. Through these skills, they would tend to understand the messages and relate to their previous knowledge. In addition, teaching aids such as picture cards was essential as I always believed that pictures explained everything. This was also supported by Piaget (1978) that, ‘Children at preoperational stage preferred to learn by using concrete objects (teaching aids)’.



Meanwhile, Group 2 which was my group presented about children’s creative use of limited language resources. This meant that children were creative with grammatical forms and also concepts. For example, pupils would use existing knowledge to create negative prefixation such as ‘goed’ rather than ‘went’. Thus, in order to develop a correct grammatical form among children, games were introduced during the presentation such as ‘Simon says’. Games were chosen because in playing games children had to understand and obey certain rules and this would be useful as learning grammar consisted of certain rules such as adding ‘-s’ after plural. In addition, by integrating games in learning, I think it would effectively minimize their fear and boredom in learning.



On the other hand, Group 3 presented children’s instinct for play and fun. Games were usually related to children as it had a central role to play. Every child loved to play. They were able to use their own creativity in creating their own games. This made me realized that children were unique and they were sometimes more creative and innovative than adults. Thus, games which brought lots of fun and joy to children should be included in a classroom so that it could unleash their potential in learning.



Furthermore, Group 4 explained on the role of imagination. It clarified my hesitation on why children were delighted in imagination and fantasy. For example, I always wondered why a child would easily and passionately describe how an alien would look like rather than thinking either it existed or not. This clearly showed that children are authentic and creative in their own way. Thus, as a future teacher, I should be wise by integrating this element in teaching especially on adjectives by asking children to describe the characteristics of animals. This eventually stimulated their thinking as well.



Apart from that, in this lesson, I had been exposed to an effective way of how to download songs, videos and also lyrics. Moyea Youtube FLV downloader was introduced to the class. Before we were introduced to Moyea Youtube FLV Downloader, all of us we required to download a song by using our own alternative (other downloader). This encouraged to explore on the website rather than just spoon feeding us. I had never thought that I would be able to do it as I always asked the latest songs from my friends. This lesson had really taught be to be an independent learner rather than being a parasite. Besides, while exploring the downloader, my friends had lend their hands to me even though I was a slow learners. This eventually instilled cooperation in the class.



Lastly, all of us were assigned to do tutorial tasks such as showing the ways to download a song, video and also lyric. Each and every important step should be shown on the Power Point and burned into a CD. This reminded me that there ain’t any shortcuts in learning. Pn. Foziah had also patiently shown us the function of cropping and Print Screen. This made me to understand the functions of my laptop better. All in all, I had a great learning for today and I was now able to download any video clips and songs that I liked. Just love the lesson for today!! :)