Friday, April 25, 2014

How In Malaysia Did This Happen?

I've been sooooo busy the past few days. But since it's Friday, I'm hoping to rest a bit. I've got a heap of laundry to do, but mehhh.... that can wait. Blogging didahulukan, hehe... Sbb cerita ni blog-worthy (in the scheme of things in me simple life, at least), that's why tulis la jg.


I have always wanted a class full of students passionately involved, discussing a few interesting points amongst themselves, in fluent English, and with me as a mere moderator to keep things going. This is the norm in the UK, and I guess in the States too kalo tgk movie2 diorg yg ada scene kat high school or college.  I didn't think I was ever going to experience that, bcoz, let's face it, our students are very ermmm... modest (lah sgt) and shy. Or just simply disconnected. Bkn nak put down sgt, but I think it's cultural, we've been brought up to never really question things, so when they get to Uni stage, students just got so accustomed to accepting everything at face value je. Kalo ada group persent kat depan, after presentation, bunyi aircond je yg tinggal. Punya la semua org x de soalan nak tanya. So yg present tu monotonous je berucap kat dpn for 15-boring-minutes, and org lain yg dah present or belum present tu satu hapah tu x de kesah.


But today, my class wasn't the typical Malaysian class room scene. Hands shot up in the air, students interacting, questions were asked by the audience, which were reciprocated confidently by the presenters. As a matter of fact audience berebut2 nak tanya soalan, seriously they were like, 'Pick us! Pick us! We've got a question' and those yg present kat dpn pun sama2 berebut nak jawab soalan2 yg dilontarkan.


How in Malaysia was that ever possible?


No... I'm not dreaming. 


With a lot of schemeing and planning, it was possible. Read on.


You see, I told my students that utk pembentangan yg ni, they can get a total mark of 45. Pecahannya:


10 marks utk report. 
10 marks utk Q&A. 
5 marks utk slides and presentation.
5 marks Peer Questioning
5 marks utk Peer Assesment

Yg report tu jelas lah written work. Which I still have to read, dang it.


Yg slide and presentation tu pun jelas jgk kot maksudnya. Slides diorg menarik ke x, and presentation skills whether they were confident or not.


Yg Peer Assesment, becoz it was group work, I want to make sure everyone pulled the same weight, so I ask setiap sorg ahli mark ahli kumpulan mereka yg lain. So kalo ada team member yg pemalas hampas, masa ni la org lain nk balas setimpalnya. Bg assesment mark yg rendah pada individu tersebut sbb x bekerjasama (tp mesti sebutkan reason why)


What's left is the real recipe to a very eager and interactive discussion.


Q&A and Peer Question.


'What are they, and how do they work?' you asked.


You see, mana2 kelas pun after presentation ada Q&A. Tapi I made clear yg setiap sorg drpd team member yg 8 org tu kena jawab satu soalan (meaning altogether ada 8 soalan yg akan kena jawab). Kalau dah jawab sekali, they cannot answer again. Q&A marks will be given based on their answers.


Tp Q&A ni selalunya x de sambutan or hangat2 tahi ayam, or last2 lecturer yg kena come up with the questions bcoz students drpd kumpulan lain dah tune out. That's where I use my last trick - Peer Questioning.


In order to get this mark, each group must come up with 2 questions (td altogether ada 5 groups, so when 1 group present kat dpn, 4 lagi jd Pendengar). So these 4 groups of Pendengar must come up with 2 questions each, giving a total of 8 questions yg perlu dijawab oleh group yg Penyampai (tukang present), yg sememangnya ada 8 org pun satu kumpulan. 


Tapi syarat tambahan ada lg, soalan x bole di recycle, and kalau kumpulan Pendengar lain dah soal, soalan yg sama x bole dilontarkan lagi. X cukup 2 soalan, tolak markah Peer Questioning.


So nak x nak, group2 Pendengar yg lain mesti pay attention pada penyampaian oleh Penyampai, dan bersiap2 dgn soalan. Sbb tu once Q&A sesi dibuka, berkobar2 setiap group Pendengar ni bertanya , sbb diaorg x nak soalan yg diorg dah nak tanya tu, diguna pakai oleh group lain terlebih dahulu. 


Yg group Penyampai kat depan pun, sama2 semangat (dan berebut2 ok) nak jawab, sbb, syaratnya ialah kalau dah jawab sekali x leh jawab lg. Kalau diorg dgr soalan yg agak2 mudah ditanya oleh mana2 Pendengar, terus la mereka berebut nak jawab. Bkn apa, khuatir kalo2 tinggal soalan2 yg susah aje nanti, affect markah diorg.


Maka jadilah adegan berkobar tanya, dan berebut jawab. Gitu.


Tapi part paling best is, they spoke in really good English, which surprised me. Dalam kelas waktu aku ngajar x la pulak nak communicate in English sbb x de marks agaknya. Bole pun rupanya korg converse quite sensibly.


And I think they were very into their presentation sbb this assignment asked them to go and conduct their own field trip at different audio and video studios. They thorougly enjoyed it, and so did I. They learnt a lot. And the result shows immediately.


Teaching is so time-consuming. Teaching with 110% is bordering murder. 


But I think I'll sleep smiling tonight. 













Kalau student sampai dah melompat mcm ni dpn studio tu, I think the assignment was a hit with the students. Boleh x perasan sendirian? hehe..



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