1 Harmoni

I'd never thought I'd be saying this but honestly this is the best class to teach. Although it's the last form 1 class, the commitment and enthusiasm the kids show is something to be proud of. Albeit there are quite a number with some kind of learning deficiency, they still try to learn how ever long it might take. For those of you who have heard about Soleha, well this is the class she belongs to. There are about 3 other students like her in this class. After teaching the class for about 2 months I've detected certain reading problems among the students. About 5 can't read English and a few others can't write and read well. This Ramadhan I've managed to get a bit of donation from a few family members and with that money I plan to get some books for the students to help them with their reading and writing skills. I hope this effort will go a long way in helping them learn. I pray that Allah will give me the strength and commitment to help them. This is because often times when I teach them the syllabus they fail to follow, resulting in zero objectives achieved for them. Come to think about it, there really isn't a point at all. I just wonder what will happen to them if 5 years down the road they continue on this way. Although honestly I don't know much about the pedagogical side of teaching the basics, I'll just try to go with the elementary or kindergarten books and help them work their way up. I can't expect too much but this is my plan for now.
I've had many fun moments with this class. I don't know why but I go to great lengths to make sure that my lessons are fun for them. Although many would give up and are reluctant to do much for this lot, but I think otherwise. I do know that there's nothing much that I could achieve, but I feel it's important to instill the interest first before bringing them into the exam answering skills. They can't do it. I have faith with a lot of patience and guidance these kids can thrive too, maybe at a slower pace and lower level. Nonetheless, I am a believer of competing with oneself and not others. If they could overcome their disabilities however still cannot pass exam, at least they have tried.
One of the most interesting lessons I've done is learning about Part of the Body. That was very interesting and fun. First lesson we did a warm up exercise in class and that was when I noticed many did not know some of the parts of their body. So, the next lesson I showed them a video clip and picture as you can view from this posting. After that I drilled them on the parts of the body and did a spelling test. Later, I also extended the lesson on how to keep themselves fit. I wouldn't say it was successful in making them good English users, but at least I could be satisfied with at least an extra of 3 to 5 words they learnt from these lessons. I hope to do more and heed Fadilla's advice on a method that was done by her sister in law's father to help students read. I hope I could do it even though we all know the main hindrance is TIME, but I must try first.