TET December 2011

Volume III
Issue 4
December 2011
Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011
TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER

Volume III
Issue 4
December 2011
Tropical English Teacher is a refereed journal publication sponsored by CfBT Education Services
(B) Sdn Bhd and circulated free of charge for private educational purposes.
The views expressed herein are those of the respective authors of the articles and are not
necessarily those of the sponsoring organisation.
All effort has been made to acknowledge copyright where required of materials used in the
journal. If you believe, however, that copyrighted material has been unwittingly used to which
you have copyright entitlements, please contact the editor at tet@cfbt.org
or the Country Manager at gkeaney@cfbt.org.
Requests for republication of materials should be addressed in the first instance to the editor.
[Contents]
Tropical English Teacher
Contents
Introduction
Editorial .........................................................................................................................page 3
Greg Keaney, CfBT, Country Manager
Letters ...........................................................................................................................page 5
Students on Teachers ....................................................................................................page 6
Research
Action Research: Reading Clinic 2011............................................................................ page 10
Deborah Sketchley and Hajah Fareeda Bibi Ismail, CfBT, MS Sultan Hassan [Temburong]
MS English Department Action Research 2011 .............................................................. page 21
Emma Rooney and Anne Crowley, CfBT, MS PSBS [Maktab Sains]
Still Babbling On .......................................................................................................... page 38
Linda Galbraith, CFBT, SM SMJA
Ideas
Assessment for Learning Information ....................................................................... page 48
Jean Kiekopf, CfBT, EPM
How we learn and how to improve motivation and memory ......................................... page 52
Alan D Fletcher, CfBT, SM PJNPH Abu Bakar
Reading
SM Sayyidina Husain Reading Programme ................................................................ page 59
Barry Johnson, CfBT, SM Sayyidina Husain
Page 1
[Contents]
Music and Song

Sing a Song for Language ............................................................................................. page 66
Rob Vohan, CfBT, SR Kiudang
ELT Management
The Educator and the Manager: A tale of two discourses ............................................. page 72
Greg Keaney, CfBT, Country Manager
Tropical English Teacher Fellowships
Meet Lekishon: A Masai Teacher .................................................................................. page 82
via Sue Hemingway, CfBT, Anthony Abell College
Travels in Tanzania: How I accidentally climbed an active volcano ................................ page 86
Sue Hemingway, CfBT, Anthony Abell College
Professional Development
Master of Letters Creative Writing................................................................................ page 99
Melissa Nourse, CfBT, Maktab Duli
Cambridge On-Line: A Review of the General Paper Course ......................................... Page 102
Kimberly Lalone, CfBT, Sekolah Menengah Arab Laki-Laki Hassanal Bolkiah
Lessons and Activities
Running Dictation ..................................................................................................... page 109
Melanie Blanchard, CfBT, SM Sayyidina Ali
Peer Assessment on Puppet Play Performances .......................................................... page 117
Linda Galbraith, CFBT, SM SMJA
Wordplay 2011 ......................................................................................................... page 121
Malcolm Orsborn
CfBT Brunei 2011 Education Department Activities ..................................................... page 130
CfBT Education Trust Research ................................................................................... page 139
Page 2
[EDITORIAL]
EDITORIAL
Greg Keaney, CfBT, Editor
Welcome to the December 2011 issue of Tropical English Teacher. This impressive issue of the
journal again demonstrates the breadth and the depth of the theory and practice of tropical
English teaching.
Our ironically titled journal aims to provoke discussion and consideration of two important
issues in ELT. Firstly the notion of centres and peripheries and the construction of the other in
ELT teacher discourse. Secondly, to introduce a light-hearted and whimsical dimension to the
business of academic and educational writing which all too often descend into turgid textual
boredom. TET takes pride in showing off how much tropical English teachers know about
effective language teaching and tries hard to frame the serious stuff with a look on the bright
side of life.
One of the most influential texts in cultural and postcolonial studies is Orientalism published in
1978 by Edward Said. Said effectively redefined the term Orientalism to mean a constellation of
false assumptions underlying traditional Western attitudes toward Asia and the Middle East
marked by a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against oriental peoples and their
culture. In an analysis of how Asia was constructed in western fiction Said found the most
frequently occurring theme to be the contrast and tension between a place or state of order and
safety on the one hand (the West, home, the settled colony, the garrison, the club and the
company of 'one's own kind') and a troubled hinterland on the other (the East, far from home,
the frontier, the native world, 'out there'.) Crossing from one to the other often rewards
protagonists with conquest, praise, wealth and gratification but doing so is also seen as
dangerous, confusing and disillusioning.
Despite the controversies associated with critical approaches to discourse creation and
dissemination such as Saids, it remains a fascinating area of concern. Tropical English Teacher
has often touched on aspects of the Tropics that find their way into the realm of our
subconscious assumptions. Images of jungles, danger, disease, confusion and uncertainty but
also of warmth, beauty, relaxation, tastes, sensuality, spice, growth and abundance.
Tropical English Teacher aims to deconstruct the dichotomy that Said warned against the us
and them, the inside reality of home or the west and an outside exotica of life in a place
with seemingly different value systems or educational objectives. The highest aim is to ensure
that readers see that, in the end, there is no them, there is only us.
Like an ever abundant rainforest this issue of Tropical English Teacher contains its own amazing
ecosystem a diversity of research, comments, ideas, teaching tips and experiences to match
the complexity and subtlety of work and life as a Tropical English Teacher.
Page 3
[EDITORIAL]
Deborah Sketchley and Fareeda Bibi Ismail bring Action Research to Temburong in their analysis
of their weekly Reading Clinic. Emma Rooney and Anne Crowley outline their departments
research on the performance of different cohorts at their school. Teachers have long been
encouraged to find their own answers to the specific issues that they encounter in their teaching
and their article demonstrates some practical uses of research to identify problems and improve
educational outcomes. Linda Galbraith continues her series of articles on the use of the CfBT
Babble On Student Writing Journal with her classes showing that writing does not have to be
the hard end of the English syllabus.
Jean Kiekopf provides some useful information on the increasing use of effective Assessment for
Learning in Bruneian schools while Alan Fletcher outlines the links between the brain and the
way we learn. Barry Johnson highlights the reading programme at his school a programme that
has demonstrated real improvement in student motivation and performance. Rob Vohan tells us
of the many and varied uses of music and song in the early years classrooms of Brunei. Visitors
to Pra and early years classrooms in Brunei are always impressed with the scope of this initiative
and the abundant enthusiasm and enjoyment of the children. An article on ELT management
follows addressing some of the contestations and hopeful commonalities in the value systems of
the manager and the educator.
Sue Hemingway recounts her many and varied experience in Tanzania and has asked her
Tanzanian Masai friend to contribute a piece about life for a Tropical English Teacher in Mfereji. I
hope that readers of Lekishons article will be enthused to apply for Tropical English Teachers
new Fellowships which will promote a sharing of teaching techniques with schools around our
region. In the Professional Development section Melissa Nourse recounts her experiences doing
a Masters of Letters in Creative Writing while Kimberly Lalone discusses the virtues and vices of
an on-line CIE course on General Paper. For the classroom this issue Melanie Blanchards
inspirational lesson on Procedural writing, in which her students followed a procedure to make
potions, inspired her Education Project Manager, Jean Kiekopf, to take photographs and create
this Running Dictation activity for 21 Magic Moments in the English Classroom. while Linda
Galbraith outlines her work with a puppet production of Anne of Green Gables. Malcolm
Orsborn gives us all a taste of Wordplay see if you are smarter than a 7th grader!
Finally the issue highlights a selection of the work of the CfBT Education Department in 2011 and
gives a taste of CfBT Education Trust research into a range of educational issues.
Thanks to all readers and contributors for helping our journal grow and thrive. Theres always
room for another ecological niche in our rainforest so please contribute in 2012.
And so, to conclude, after 11 wonderful years in Brunei and many more as a Tropical English
Teacher I am occasionally asked when I am going home.
My reply?
I am home.
Happy holidays to all.
Page 4
[LETTERS]
Letters
Send us
your letters,
comments,
feedback,
complaints,
mail,
correspondence,
suggestions,
post,
messages,
emails,
ideas,
commentary,
remarks,
observations,
clarifications,
interpretations
and anything else
you have to say.
Just read through some of the stuff in the journal.

As someone who works in English language and
vocational education in Australia Id just like to say that
TET is brilliant.
So to all contributors, in a very Aussie way
Good on ya!
Kiaran Green,
Principal, Bridge Business College
Sydney, Australia
Just to let you all know that I recently I updated my

"refereed publications list" which plays an important role
in university rankings worldwide.
Readers and contributors will be pleased to know that
TET was listed as a reputable, refereed and appropriatelycredentialed journal in the rarefied atmosphere of
academia.
Not long now before TET will be mentioned alongside
Nature and the New England Journal of Medicine!
Cheers,
Clayton Barry
CfBT 2010 now doing doctoral studies in Australia
tet@cfbt.org
Page 5
[STUDENTS ON TEACHERS]
STUDENTS ON TEACHERS
"My problems all started with my early education. I went to a school for mentally disturbed
teachers." Woody Allen
"I speak twelve languages. English is the bestest." Stefan Bergman
"I have been described as a lighthouse in the middle of a bog: Brilliant but useless."
Connor Cruise O'Brien.
"Anyone who has been to an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in
prison." Evelyn Waugh
"Dublin University contains the cream of Ireland: Rich and thick." Samuel Beckett.
"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children." Dan Quayle.
"I took the speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It's about Russia."
Woody Allen
"My school days were the happiest days of my life; which should give you some indication of the
misery I've endured over the past twenty-five years." Paul Merton.
"I won't say ours was a tough school, but we had our own coroner. We used to write essays like:
What I'm going to be if I grow up." Lenny Bruce.
"The average PhD thesis is nothing but the transference of bones from one graveyard to
another." JF Dobie
"What's another word for thesaurus?" Steven Wright.
Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.
Beatrix Potter
There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done:
school and prison. William Glasser
Page 6
[STUDENTS ON TEACHERS]
I have never been jealous. Not even when my dad finished fifth grade a year before I did.
Jeff Foxworthy
There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in.
Will Rogers
If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin, they would never have found time to conquer the
world. Heinrich Heine
I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the
girl sitting next to me. Woody Allen
Education is a progressive discovery of your own ignorance. Will Durant
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. Albert Einstein
My school was so tough the school newspaper had an obituary section. Norm Crosby
You can't learn in school what the world is going to do next year. Henry Ford
I heard someone tried the monkeys-on-typewriters bit trying for the plays of William
Shakespeare, but all they got was the collected works of Francis Bacon. - Bill Hirst
Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to
charge because you are a vegetarian. - Dennis Wholey
Why dont you write books people can read? - Nora Joyce, to her husband James
Few things are harder to put up with than a good example. - Mark Twain
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it." Oscar Wilde
You got to be careful if you dont know where youre going, because you might not get there.
Yogi Berra
I have an existential map; it has you are here written all over it. Steven Wright
As I get older I notice the syllabus less and the students more.
Page 7
[TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER]
Can you handle the pressure?

Interested in writing or editing for
Tropical English Teacher?
Contact gkeaney@cfbt.org for more info.
TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER FELLOWSHIPS 2012

Do something for yourself
Who?
All teachers and managers working for CfBT in Brunei are eligible to apply.
What?
2012 pilot scheme for teaching, capacity building and sharing experience in schools in
nearby countries as part of our ongoing professional development programme
Where?
When?
ASEAN countries
Typically one working week in a school. For CfBT teachers the week will need to
coincide with regular Brunei Ministry of Education holidays
Why?
To learn from and to share with other tropical English teachers in a variety of contexts
How?
Contact Greg Keaney, gkeaney@cfbt.org

for more information or to register an expression of interest
Page 8
[RESEARCH]
Research
Help... help... Im being researched...
Page 9
[RESEARCH]
ACTION RESEARCH: READING CLINIC

Select Pre-Secondary Vocational Students
Sekolah Menengah Sultan Hassan, Bangar, Temburong, Brunei
2011
Deborah Sketchley and Hajah Fareeda Bibi Ismail, CfBT, SM Sultan Hassan Temburong
dsketchley@cfbt.org
fbismail@cfbt.org
Temburong District and School Background

Temburong District is one of the four districts of Negara Brunei Darussalam. Temburong District
is physically separated from the rest of Brunei, as one must travel through the Malaysian
province of Sarawak in order to get to Temburong. Optionally, one may travel by passenger
boat along the river and mangrove systems and eventually through Brunei Bay to reach the
capital of Brunei; Bandar Seri Begawan. Temburong is referred to as the isolated district by
Bruneians. Geographically the majority of the district remains covered in primary rain forest
(average temperature of 28 degrees Celsius and a high humidity level) full of an array of jungle
flora and fauna. It boasts a population of approximately 9,000 including an ethnic mixture of
Malay, Lun Bawang, Iban, and Chinese, along with a small population of Dusun. Thus, our
students grow up in a district which is rich in languages and cultures, and many are from multilingual backgrounds.
Page 10
[RESEARCH]
Sekolah Menengah Sultan Hassan (Sultan Hassan Secondary School) will be celebrating its 25th
Anniversary Jubilee this November. It is the only secondary school and is fed by approximately
10 primary schools. Our school population fluctuates between 800 and 1200 students with a
teaching staff of approximately 85 to 95 teachers (including administration). In 2006 one of the
school buildings was condemned, followed by a further three sections of the original five
sections being condemned in January 2010. As a result, we were left with one section only, the
administrative block. Fortunately a three-storey block was built in 2007. As a result of this 2010
school year was literally full of hurdles and shifting classrooms. The 2010 PMV Year 7 students
were without an established classroom and floated around finding a classroom for half of the
school year before port-a-cabins were in place. As a result, this had a tremendous effect upon
the students, resulting in a very unsettled school year.
Introduction
The Reading Clinic came out of several conversations with our school Deputy Principal
Administration, the Head of English Department and a fellow colleague. During my nine years at
the school I have occasionally taught Pre-Secondary Vocational (Pra-Menengah Vocasional:
PMV) students in large classes of 30 or more students. Many of the students had limited English
vocabulary and/or understanding. These students had been through a Primary system where
they would have received daily lessons in English; however, their retention of English and their
ability to use English was limited.
Every year, our school offers its students Co-Curricular activities (CCA: sports, drama, Scrabble,
Newsletter, etc.) once a week over the first and second term. After the previously mentioned
conversations, my Deputy Principal Administration and Academic were approached with our
proposal to offer a remedial class once a week for a select group of PMV students of Year 7 and
Year 8, in order to provide one-on-one instruction. This was approved and we then approached
the CCA Coordinators and spoke to them about the programme being offered during CCA time.
Once we received full approval we approached my English language colleagues who teach PMV
7 and PMV 8 and asked them for a list of 4 students each (providing a ratio of one teacher to
four students) who would benefit from a weekly remedial lesson in English. We received the
names of 8 students. They consisted of 4 boys from PMV 81 (29 students in total; 23 boys and 6
girls) and 2 boys and 2 girls from PMV 7 (15 students in total; 13 boys and 2 girls).
Methodology and Programme
Although my colleague, Fareeda Bibi Ismail and myself, Deborah Sketchley, both trained as
Primary school teachers, we had both been teaching in the secondary school system for a time
Two boys from PMV8, Student G (14 years old) and Student H (14 years old)
were removed from the Reading Clinic due to severe behaviour issues. Upon
consultation with Class teachers and Discipline Department, it appears that these two
boys have a history of the type of severe behaviour issues which we experienced with
them in the Reading Clinic. It was decided that it would be better to remove them from
the programme in order to ensure that the others would actually benefit from the
Reading Clinic.
Page 11
[RESEARCH]
(Fareeda: approximately 10 years; Deborah: approximately 15 years). Therefore it had been a

considerable time since either of us had worked exclusively with primary. Even though it had
been awhile, we both believed that it would be our primary teaching skills which would be called
upon to bring about a beneficial experience to our group of students. In addition, neither of us
had actually been in this type of situation before, nor are we reading specialists. However, we
both believed that we could make a difference with these students and chose to pursue it.
The Reading Clinic was conducted once a week during the CCA time. CCAs began on the 5th
January 2011 and ended on 27th July 2011 making a total of 17 sessions (taking into account
School Term Holidays, Public Holidays, Examinations, and Cancelled Sessions due to School
Sports events). We had an exceptionally high attendance rate of 93.14% throughout the term at
the Reading Clinic.2
We decided that our objectives should focus on:
1. making English fun for students to learn
2. promoting confidence in using the English language
3. providing engaged practice using all 4 skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing
Before we could begin to implement the programme, we carried out individual assessment on
each of the students using DOLCH sight words at Pre-Primer, Primer, First Grade, Second Grade,
and if necessary Third Grade Sight words.
Student
Class
Age
Student A
PMV 7
13 years old
Student B
PMV 7
11 years old
Student C
PMV 7
13 years old
Student D
PMV 7
12 years old
Student E
PMV 8
Pre-Primer Score
/ 40 words
Primer Score
/52 words
First Grade
/41 words
Second Grade
/46 words
16
(40%)
6
(12%)
28
(70%)
25
(48%)
21
(51%)
15
(33%)
24
(60%)
27
(52%)
18
(44%)
18
(39%)
24
(60%)
17
(33%)
9
(22%)
16
(40%)
9
(17%)
4
(10%)
2 The CCA programme at our school normally only runs Terms 1 and 2. The CCA
time is then made into Enrichment time. We sought permission to continue the Reading
Clinic in Term 3, with the condition that we would hold Reading Clinic for two weeks in
a row and then one week for our enrichment. This was accepted and agreed upon by
our Deputy Principal Academic.
Page 12
[RESEARCH]
13 years old
Student F
PMV 8
12 years old
19
(48%)
15
(29%)
2
(5%)
Second Grade
First Grade
Primer Score
Pre-Primer Score
A
0
20
40
60
80
The results of the DOLCH testing show a significant difference between the students
chronological age and their reading ability. As such, it would be necessary and important to
balance the specific needs of the students with their interest level (not too babyish).In addition;
the DOLCH testing results determined our starting point for the Reading Clinic. We began by
focusing on alphabet/phonics recognition through the use of visuals (Flash Cards: alphabets
phonics and (PM Alphabet Starters) and eliciting the words from the students and writing on the
board. We then went through a series of repetition and review. In addition, we provided single
alphabet booklets (My Alphabet Fold-A-Book) for the students where we engaged in eliciting,
repeating, identifying, writing and reading. We continued along this avenue for approximately 4
sessions. At this time, we noticed that the students were becoming restless and in need of a
change to keep them interested and engaged. We then introduced students to phonics blends (am, -at, -an, etc.) focusing on Starter Readers through free materials offered at www.readingaz.com and through www.abcteach.com. These activities also incorporated eliciting words from
students through visuals, repetition, matching pictures to words, reading sentences as a group,
with a partner, and individually. After exhausting the free materials we felt were suitable for our
students, we thought that a more organized programme would be might prove to be a better fit
for our students needs. We chose from the English Language Learning Series: Chatterbox Pupils
Book 1; Chatterbox Activity Book 1; Chatterbox Book 1 Cassette (Please see Appendix) from
Page 13
[RESEARCH]
Oxford University Press. We then chose which activities would benefit our students.3 It is
important to note that every lesson incorporated listening, speaking, reading and writing.
As previously stated, neither teacher had been in this type of situation before. Therefore it was
necessary to engage in active reflection after each session to take into account the students
reactions to the lesson and what direction we should move in. This was paramount in providing
a positive English language learning environment in order to achieve our objectives. From the
outside it may appear to be an ad hoc programme, but in fact we remained focused on
addressing our objectives as best as we could.
STUDENT FEEDBACK
Questions
Which activity did you enjoy

the most?
Which activity did you enjoy

the least?
What were your friends

feelings or reactions on the
activities?
Student A
Student B
I enjoyed colouring and reading

the book on animals.
I enjoyed reading and learning

words on parts of the face.
Saya suka semasa kami

membaca buku tentang
binatang dan mewarna.
Saya suka membaca dan

belajar perkataan-perkataan
bahagian muka.
When I had to read by myself.
Singing, because I was shy.
Semasa saya membaca sendiri.
Sewaktu activity nyanyian

kerana saya malu.
I enjoyed reading and

pronouncing words after the
teacher. I also enjoyed
colourimg.
Saya suka membaca dan
mengikutkan apa yang disebut
oleh cikgu. Saya juga suka
mewarna.
When I had to stand and talk in
front of the class.
Sewaktu disuruh bercakap di
depan kelas.
Some of them did not like the activities and they were lazy.
Beberapa orang tidak mengemari aktiviti-aktiviti yang dijalankan dan ada yang malas.
It helps me when I read alone. I

remember some words like the
and food.
How has the Reading Clinic
helped you?
Student C
Ianya menolong saya membaca

terutama semasa saya
membaca seorang diri. Saya
boleh ingat perkataan seperti
the dan food.
I can pronounce some words

correctly.
Saya dapat menyebut
perkataan seperti yang disebut
oleh cikgu.
I could bring books home to

read because I dont have
books at home.
Saya boleh membawa buku
untuk dibawa ke rumah kerana
saya tidak mempunyai buku
bacaan di rumah.
When the questionnaire was being conducted Students D, E and F were absent.
3 Please see Reference Page for a table of language points covered from
Chatterbox.
Page 14
[RESEARCH]
Case Study: Student F

Student F is a 13 year old PMV 8 student who was selected by his English teacher as it was felt
that he was not able to read on his own and would benefit from learning how to read. He
showed reluctance in attending the Reading Clinic. He was often found wandering about outside
the classroom and required a teacher to lead him to the classroom for the session. He was often
resistant to engaging in any of the activities and preferred to keep himself separate from the
others. It appeared that he did not seem to be entirely focused on what was happening in the
class. However, at times he engaged with the others. He specifically enjoyed learning the
childrens chant; Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes. This was one of the few times where he
smiled.
Both teachers took the opportunity to work with him, one on one. After consultation between
the teachers, it was noted that:
1. no recollection of sounds and or words learned one week to be recalled the following
week
2. no correspondence between initial letter and what the initial sound is. For example:
when shown the word snake, without a picture, he will say a word starting with another
letter, other than s
3. he would only read one word at a time, after it has been said by the teacher
4. he was unable to sound out words
5. he showed a minimal retention of any words and or sounds taught from one week to the
next
6. he was unable to focus on a task for any more than a few minutes at a time
7. it was like starting at the beginning/starting all over again every session
Both teachers agreed that we would seek out advice from the Teacher in Charge of Special
Needs Students. Upon consulting with this teacher, it was brought to our attention that all of his
subject teachers at Primary and Secondary had asked that he be referred to Special Needs for
further testing, as we were all experiencing a similar situation with him. It was suggested that
this student may benefit from a Special Needs programme as he was unable to cope in the
classroom. Deborah was then asked to carry out English Language Screening Tests, provided by
the Special Education Department. Deborah carried out these Screening Tests and submitted the
results, along with a report to the Teacher in Charge of Special Needs Students, who sent them
on to Special Education Department. This testing was done the beginning of June and we are
waiting for Feedback.
Self Reflection: Deborah
One of my biggest challenges was explaining that there is a difference between enrichment and
remedial classes. In the context of my school, both terms are used interchangeably to mean an
extra lesson. For me, remedial is taking a small group of students (so that you have a small
student to teacher ratio) and working with those students to help them in their specific,
individual learning areas. This was a programme completely new to my school and many of my
colleagues had difficulty in understanding what we were trying to do. It was important for me to
take the time and speak individually with each of the people involved for them to get a clearer
idea of what we were doing. Once this was done, my colleagues were very supportive of the
programme.
Page 15
[RESEARCH]
Some of the highlights for me included:

1. Working with a small group of students and seeing their enthusiasm and individual
progress.
2. The two PMV 7 girls waiting outside our staff room door every Wednesday, with huge
smiles, waiting to go for our session.
3. Singing along with the students and the cassette
4. The impromptu Public Speaking where each student stood up in front of the class and
told their name, age, and what they like to eat and drink.4
5. Teaching them Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes and laughing with them
6. Listening to each of the students sound out words on their own and reading the
sentences
7. Smiles, smiles, smiles every session
My colleague and I worked very well together. I felt comfortable working with her, sharing my
ideas and listening to hers. We definitely worked as a partnership where each of us took
responsibility for finding materials and delivering the sessions.
Before I knew it the sessions were at an end. Unfortunately the sessions came to an abrupt end
without prior notice.
Self Reflection: Fareeda
There were continuous ongoing evaluations of our methods, resources, activities and approach
to the whole programme. This enabled us to determine the effectiveness of our materials and
methods. There were also continuous discussions between my colleague and me to determine
how best we could achieve our outcomes. I found the programme very intense as I was
constantly aware of the responsibility of ensuring that at no stage should the confidence and self
esteem of these learners be threatened or undermined. What I learnt from this pilot programme
was that it did not matter how small our intervention was, because it did ensure progress and
growth in our learners. This left me with an immense feeling of self satisfaction and gratitude.
Some of the highlights for me included:
The rapport that we as a team developed with these learners.

The relaxed atmosphere that prevailed during these lessons.
The eagerness with which the students awaited each lesson.
My colleague and I functioned cohesively as a team and consequently we were effective in

achieving the outcomes of the programme. Working with Deborah was an experience that was
both motivating and inspiring.
4 The previous week the English Department held a Public Speaking
Competition for each year level. However the PMV 7 and PMV 8 classes were not
involved. The students asked at the beginning of that lesson to do public speaking as
they enjoyed watching the competition and were eager to show that they also could take
part in such an activity.
Page 16
[RESEARCH]
Recommendations
Our recommendations are as follows:
1. Currently the terms enrichment and remedial are used inter changeably.
There
should be a clear understanding of the difference between these terms, only then will
one be able to implement an effective remedial programme.
2. The appointment of a full time Specialist Education Teacher, whose specialty should be
Reading Recovery. The learners would benefit tremendously from continuous
professional guidance and support.
3. There should also be a structure or policy in place to assist and guide teachers
undertaking such a programme.
4. Goals should be set for each term to ensure that there is a systematic progress in
reading. There should also be continuous assessments to determine ongoing progress.
5. A pre determined time frame for the programme is also essential to ensure continuity
and progress throughout resulting in a smooth closure. Ours came to an abrupt end and
it felt like the programme was left hanging in the air.
6. There is also a need for resources, such as games, focusing on high frequency words,
phonics and graded readers.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our appreciation and gratitude to the following members of staff for
their continuous assistance and support:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Awg Yusuf bin Hj Mohmad- Principal

Dyg Riman binti Sitai- Deputy Principal ( Admin)
Awg Chong Yun Onn- Deputy Principal ( Academic)
Awg Balan Anak Jang- HOD P.E.
Dyg Rupan Binti Kasim- CCA Coordinator
Dyg Suzana Elami binti Elan Form Teacher PMVY7
Awg Md Wafiyuddin Tan bin Abdullah Tan Form Teacher PMVY8
Awg Mohamad Zulnazri bin Donglah- Career Guidance
Page 17
[RESEARCH]
Appendix
Table for: Chatterbox Pupils Book 1 by Derek Strange, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
.1989.
Unit
1
Language Items
Hello. Goodbye
Whats your name?
Im
My names
Whos this? This is
Possessives: my/your
The alphabet
Listen, please.
Whats this?
Article: a + noun
Good morning. How are you?
Im fine, thank you.
Numbers 1 10
How old are you? Im
Article: an + a e i o w
Its a kite.
Functions and Topics

Greeting and saying farewell
Asking someones name
Introducing yourself
Hes seven. Shes eight.

Possessives: his/her.
Revision.
Is it an aeroplane?
Yes, it is. / No, it isnt.
Article: the + noun
Adjectives: the big / small box.
Ive got a big nose.
This is my mother.
Shes got big eyes.
Has she got her umbrella?
Yes, she has. / No, she hasnt.
Adjectives: tall, short, etc.
Can you see an elephant?
Yes, I can. / No, I cant.
Talking about possession
Introducing others
Talking about possession
Commands
Identifying things
Further greetings and responses
Counting
Talking about age
Naming common toys and household
objects
Asking for information

Specifying particular objects
Describing people: faces and hair.
Members of the family.
Asking for information
Describing people
Talking about ability
Page 18
[RESEARCH]
Resources
Chatterbox Book 1 Cassette, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
Randell, Beverly. 1995, PM Alphabet Starters, Nelson Price Milburn, New Zealand
Strange, Derek. 1989, Chatterbox: Activity Book 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
Strange, Derek. 1989, Chatterbox: Pupils Book 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
http://www.abcteach.com
Fun with words
http://www.MrsPerkins.com
DOLCH Sight Words Activities 2008
DOLCH Sight Vocabulary 1998
http://www.readinga-z.com
A Reading A-Z Decodable Phonogram Book: Nats Cat
http://www.ricgroup.com.au
My Alphabet Fold-A-Book, I.C. Publications
Page 19
[RESEARCH]
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Page 20
[RESEARCH]
MS ENGLISH DEPARTMENT:
ACTION RESEARCH 2011
Emma Rooney & Anne Crowley, CfBT, Maktab Sains PSBS,
erooney@cfbt.org
acrowley@cfbt.org
Background
In view of the fact that the current Year 10 are the first cohort to complete their English O Level
course in two years not three, it was decided last year that teachers of this cohort in 2011 would
need to have detailed and accurate knowledge of their students strengths and weaknesses in
order to best support and prepare them. Such knowledge could also be used to tailor the
teaching to the students specific needs in order to facilitate the maximum rate of progress
between the end of Year 9 and the Nov 2011 exam series.
Overview of the Methodology Used:
To this end, after these students had completed their End-of-Year exams at the end of Year 9 (in
Nov 2010), they were issued with a questionnaire [see Appendix for abridged version] designed
to identify from the students own perspective what things they found difficult about the O
Level exams. At this stage, it was also decided to include the 2010 MA4 students (2011 MA5
cohort) in the questionnaire process, to enable comparisons to be made by the department
between the two cohorts.
The questionnaire results highlighted where students felt they had deficits in the areas of either
their grasp of skills, time management or exam technique.
The findings from the questionnaires were collated and shared with the teachers of these two
year groups at the start of 2011 [see Appendix 2]. Some provisional conclusions were proposed
by the researchers (Emma and Anne) for teachers to consider at that stage as they planned their
lessons for 2011. The most prevalent issues according to gender and year group were also
flagged up, as well as the overall most prevalent issues.
A Scheme of Work for Year 10 & MA5 was drawn up by Emma (Yr10/MA5 Level Co-Coordinator
for 2011) [see Appendix 3] that sought to offer teachers of these two year groups the
opportunity to personalise the curriculum for their individual classes. There is far more in the
SoW than could possibly be covered in the time; the idea here, therefore, was that teachers
should cherry-pick from this SoW just the activities that would be of most benefit to their
Page 21
[RESEARCH]
particular classes, according to the findings of the questionnaires. Overall progress and
attainment of the students in these two year groups would be measured and monitored through
a series of Common Assessment Tasks during Terms 1 and 2. These tasks would be genuine pastpaper O Level tasks in Creative Writing (Term 1), Directed Writing (Term 2) and Reading for
Meaning (Term 2).
The results of these Common Assessment Tasks were forwarded to the researchers by the start
of Term 3, and the data collated. It was analysed, and conclusions drawn regarding:
The level of impact (measurable in the rate of progress and overall attainment) achieved
by the teaching initiatives undertaken by each Yr10 and MA5 teacher
Any remaining weak spots in the students attainment in both sorts of Writing task as
well as in their Reading for Meaning comprehension skills
A like for like comparison of Year 10 with MA5, of boys with girls, and of the differing
measures implemented by different teachers, to inform future planning within the
department.
The intended next step had been to circulate these conclusions to all Year 10 and MA5 teachers
almost immediately, to facilitate a well informed and accurately targeted final push in the runup to the Qualifying Exams at the end of this term (Term 3). Regrettably, there were so many
other pressures on the researchers time during Term 3 that they were unable to carry out this
step.
The QE exam results were forwarded to the researchers during Term 4 and collated nonetheless,
in order that the researchers could analyse the attainment of the two cohorts in the same ways
that the CATs results had been analysed earlier in the year.
Again, the intention had been to circulate the key findings from the QE results data to all Year 10
and MA5 teachers to enable them to make best use of this information for the benefit of their
individual classes in the final few weeks of normal lessons (before the start of the exam period).
However, as before, there turned out to be too many other demands upon the researchers time
during the start of Term 4 for this to happen.
The next section of this report, therefore, details the data collected and the Analysis of it that
was undertaken.
The final section of this report identifies the overall evaluation of the data results, and the Action
Research Projects Conclusions and Recommendations for the future.
Page 22
[RESEARCH]
Questionnaire Results: Main Findings

YEAR 9/10:
The table below summarises the responses gleaned from the questionnaires given out to
students in the Yr9 cohort (this years Yr10) at the end of 2010. The percentages indicate the
volume of students who ticked these things on their questionnaires to show they felt these were
factors that had hindered their performance in the end-of-year exams.
Key:
DW = Directed Writing task (Paper 1, Sec 1)
CW = Creative Writing task (Paper 1, Sec 2)
R1 = Reading for Ideas comprehension (Paper 2, Sec 1)
Yr9 BOYS (2010)
Yr9 GIRLS (2010)
(No widespread concerns)
Poor time management on DW task 58%
Poor time management on CW task 50%

Unsure of successful strategies for CW task 50%
Didnt plan CW answer before I began to write 50%
Identifying main points from text in R1 task 53%
Unsure what to revise 51%

Unsure of requirements in DW task 54%
Didnt plan CW answer before I began to write 54%

Generally, this cohort was far less concerned about aspects of their English exam performance
than the MA4/MA5 cohort. This could be because they are less aware of what the exams entail
than the older students!
The figures highlighted in red pertain to the concerns of many students about how to produce a
successful narrative (the option they are encouraged to do for the Creative Writing task on
Paper 1) inside of the time allowed. Indeed, very few students in this cohort were good examstyle storywriters at this stage (although, notably, the girls seemed to think they knew what
made for a successful story!) However, the SoW followed by teachers in 2011 sought to address
these issues head-on, with much of the teaching in the lead-up to CAT 1 (Creative Writing)
focusing on teaching the students planning strategies, how to shape a narrative skilfully,
characterisation techniques, how to select effective vocabulary, and how to organise their
time. The results from CAT 1 (see next section) were testament to the success of these teaching
focuses: Credit pass rates from this cohort for this assessment were very high.
The details highlighted in pink are also of interest. The boys seemed to feel they knew how to
approach Directed Writing tasks effectively; girls, however, were more willing to acknowledge
they were unsure. A few months later in CAT 2ii - the Directed Writing assessment - girls
generally did really well, whereas the boys achieved Credits in far smaller numbers. Could this be
due to the fact that the boys thought they knew it all, so were less open to being taught how to
do it well than the girls were? Compared to the improvements noted in the boys Creative
Page 23
[RESEARCH]
Writing skills - a skill area they knew they were poor at - the improvements in Directed Writing
were disappointing.
In conclusion, therefore, what might be pivotal in facilitating progress and improvements in boys
in particular is getting them to recognise and acknowledge their own strengths and weaknesses
with accuracy. If they believe they are already good at something, they seem to close
themselves off from the subsequent teaching on that topic, and therefore fail to make further
improvements.
MA4/MA5:
The table below summarises the responses gleaned from the questionnaires given out to
students in the MA4 cohort (this years MA5) at the end of 2010. The percentages indicate the
volume of students who ticked these things on their questionnaires to show they felt these were
factors that had hindered their performance in the end-of-year exams.
Key:
DW = Directed Writing task (Paper 1, Sec 1)
CW = Creative Writing task (Paper 1, Sec 2)
R1 = Reading for Ideas comprehension (Paper 2, Sec 1)
R2 = Reading for Meaning comprehension (Paper 2, Sec 2)
MA4 BOYS (2010)
MA4 GIRLS (2010)

Unsure what would be beneficial revision
activities 54%
Covering all of the bullet points in the DW task
55%
Writing too little/too much for the DW task 62%

Unsure of successful strategies for CW task 51%
R1 - didn't understand text 50%


Writing too little/too much for the DW task

56%
Unsure of successful strategies for CW task
56%
Unsure how to tackle R1 questions 64%
Identifying main points from text in R1 task

60%
Unsure how to write a summary 53%

Vocabulary task 58%
Vocabulary task 53%
The figures highlighted in red show the students concerns about Directed Writing. Significant
numbers of boys (55% of them) felt they did not do well at addressing all required bullet points
Page 24
[RESEARCH]
in this type of task (possibly this is linked to their issues with time management here). The CAT 2i
results (from Term 2 of 2011) showed a large gender difference here in terms of achievement,
reflecting that the boys were probably correct in their own assessments of their (lack of) skills
here.
The figures highlighted in yellow pertain to concerns the students have about Reading. As is
evident, boys had concerns about a wider range of aspects of Reading skills than girls. The 2011
assessment data in the next section confirms that boys are significantly weaker than girls on
Reading tasks, although the MA5 boys Reading skills did significantly improve over the course of
2011 - indicating strongly that boys Reading skills may really benefit from an additional year of
secondary education; in contrast, girls Reading skills actually deteriorated during this year from
where they were in MA4, although their Writing skills improved.
ANALYSIS of the 2011 ASSESSMENT DATA - Year 10

The key question this Action Research sought an answer for with regard to the current Year 10
cohort is:
Are we, as a department, effectively facilitating the accelerated rates of progress necessary in
our Upper Secondary students in order to maximise Credit pass rates in a two year timeframe as
opposed to a three year timeframe?
The answer to this question is pivotal if we are to be able to evaluate the Scheme of Work (SoW)
used this year with Yr10 (and MA5) students and comment on its effectiveness. It is assumed
that the policy for next year and beyond will continue to be that all students undertake only two
years of Upper Secondary education before taking O Level English Language; therefore, a SoW
is needed that facilitates rapid progress in attainment, so that Credit-worthy performance levels
can be reached in a shorter length of time than the traditional three-year timeframe.
The table below shows the percentages of students who made significant progress (i.e.
improved by 5% or more in comparison to their overall end-of-Yr9 exam result) in each of the
benchmark assessments during Year 10. The details in green show the Credit passes for each
assessment component.
The results were analysed by gender to ascertain if there were any areas of gender difference; as
is evident below, boys - somewhat surprisingly! - have made improvements in greater numbers
than girls where Reading tasks are concerned, whereas more girls than boys have improved their
Writing. However, there exist quite significant gender differences in terms of achievement,
with boys lagging behind the girls in every assessment.
Page 25
[RESEARCH]
YEAR 10 RESULTS
Assessment Type
BOYS: 111 students GIRLS: 181 students
Percentage on Credit or above at

end of Yr9
49%
66%
*CAT 1 (Creative Writing)
64%
82%
Credit pass rates for CAT 1
83%
94%
*CAT 2i (Reading for Meaning)
26%
20%
Credit pass rates for CAT 2i
42%
58%
*CAT 2ii (Directed Writing)
33%
46%
Credit pas rates for CAT 2ii
54%
83%
^QE Paper 1 (Writing)
45%
51%
Credit pass rates for QE P1
63%
83%
^QE Paper 2 (Reading)
23%
14%
Credit pass rates for QE P2
44%
53%
^QE overall result (P1 + P2)
34%
29%

end of Yr10
50%
70%
*CAT = Common Assessment Task
^QE + Qualifying Exam
Page 26
[RESEARCH]
Key Findings + Analysis:

1. The highest rates of improvements (in both genders) were seen in CAT1, the Creative
Writing task, where all classes were set a Narrative Writing task. Not only did the results
here show students improving in the highest numbers, but individual students made their
highest improvements here: some students made improvements of 20-30% on their endof-Yr9 performance! This leads the researchers to conclude:
a. Progress and improvements in this type of writing are easier to facilitate than for
most other skill areas (i.e. teaching students how to do well is a more
straightforward process here than with some other components of the O Level
papers)
b. The widespread use of AfL activities (such as scrutiny of exemplar material),
coupled with a focus on planning and time management strategies, guidance on
structuring of a narrative, effective vocabulary use and effective openings by
Yr10 teachers in the preparation of students for this task all proved to be highly
successful teaching strategies.
2. Improvements in Directed Writing skills were harder to achieve than improvements in
Creative Writing, due to the fact that students find the issue of register harder to get to
grips with. It is also far less likely that students will have much in the way of personal
experience of encounters with most forms of Directed Writing (i.e. formal letters,
eyewitness accounts, newspaper articles, reports, etc), which in turn makes it that much
harder for them to know how to emulate successfully these forms of text. That being
said, though, the girls scored far better than the boys here (83% of girls vs. 54% of boys
on Credits), suggesting that boys struggle far more than girls with the issue of register.
The poorer improvements for boys here could also be due to issues to do with their
perceptions of their own ability, as discussed in the previous section.
3. There were significantly lower numbers of students (in both genders) making progress in
Reading skills than in Writing skills. This could suggest that:
a. Students are unclear about how to move forward with their Reading skills (or
they may simply be reluctant to do what is required).
b. Improvements in Reading ability cannot actually be achieved in a short, condensed
period of time, but instead develop slowly with maturity and exposure to a wealth
of reading materials. Thus, progress rates in Reading skills will always inevitably lag
behind those of Writing skills by their very nature.
c. Proficiency in Reading cannot be acquired through memorising a specific strategy
or repeatedly doing tests; it can only be acquired through regular and sustained
exposure to a wide range of suitably challenging reading material. This is the ethos
underpinning the departments scheduling of regular Reading Room sessions with
these classes; however, it has been noted that some students are reluctant to read
during these sessions (and avoid it by spending long periods looking for a book),
rarely take books out to read at home, or only ever look at non-fiction texts (such
as newspapers and reference books) that they flick through rather than read in
detail.
Page 27
[RESEARCH]
4. More boys than girls showed improvements in Reading skills - evident both in CAT 2i
and the Qualifying Exam Paper 2 (Reading). This is partly accounted for by the fact that
more boys than girls were weaker at Reading at the end of Year 9, therefore there was
more scope for improvements in boys. However, the raw data also shows that the
number of girls improving their Reading skills during the year tailed off, whereas the
number of boys improving between CAT 2i and QE Paper 2 went up. This led the
researchers to consider the following possible explanations:
a. The boys were more motivated to improve their Reading skills, seeing it as the
reason they were generally weaker than the girls at English.
b. The boys were better than the girls at implementing the advice given by their
teachers about how to score more highly on the Reading paper.
5. The raw data showed very clearly that, across all of the assessments during Year 10,
progress was good in students who had scored below a Credit at the end of Yr9.
However, there was little or no progress at all in the bulk of the students who had
achieved 60% or above at the end of Yr9. This phenomenon was evident for both the boys
and the girls, leading the researchers to offer the following possible explanations:
a. As a department, as well across the whole school, we are strongly encouraged by
the Administration to focus our attention as teachers on the students who are
failing (i.e. not achieving a Credit) in our subject area. Initiatives such as the StAR
Students programme, remedial/extra classes, etc. are all targeted to bolster the
performance of these weaker students. These programmes may well have
contributed to the positive rates of progress noted, but they can take up a
disproportionate amount of English teachers time; as a consequence, the needs of
the more able students have not always been prioritised in the same way, and this
fact may explain their general lack of progress in Year 10.
b. The students themselves may hold the perception that, if they are already
attaining Credit-worthy performances in English, then they dont need to continue
to push themselves and seek to improve. They may, instead, direct their energy
and attention into improving their performance in other, weaker subject areas,
and simply coast along in English, not striving to improve.
6. During the year, boys actually lost ground in their Writing skills, with the number of Credit
passes falling from approx 70% in Term 1&2 to 63% by Term 3, a decrease of 7%, although
the number of Credit passes for Reading increased by 2%. For girls, an even worse pattern
was noticed during the year: their Writing pass rates decreased by approx 6%, and their
Reading pass rates decreased by 5%. Although progress across the year was still achieved
when compared to their performance at the end of Yr9 (see point 7 below), this
phenomenon highlights a major concern expressed many times by the Year 10 teachers:
that the students in Year 10 have been placed under enormous pressure this year - from
factors such as huge volumes of homework given by some other subjects, the June O
Levels (for those students who opted to do them), etc - and, as a consequence, they have
simply been unable to maintain the pace consistently in English, and progress rates have
been seriously affected.
Page 28
[RESEARCH]
7. By the end of the year, the overall number of students capable of gaining a Credit in
English had increased for both boys (a 1% increase) and girls (a 4% increase). It is likely
that the Department could have achieved better, were it not for the factors mentioned in
point 6 (above). It will be interesting to see how these internally-generated assessment
figures compare to the O Level results when they are published in January 2012.
ANALYSIS of the 2011 ASSESSMENT DATA - MA5
The key question this Action Research sought an answer for with regard to the current MA5
cohort is:
What key differences in academic performance exist - if any - between those students in Yr10
and the MA5 students, possibly as a result of the different lengths of Secondary education they
have had?
The answer to this question is pivotal if we are to be able to speculate about the impact of the
shortening of the Upper Secondary stage upon the exam results in English.
The data collected from the MA5 teaching team was incomplete due to circumstances beyond
the researchers control; therefore, a comprehensive like for like comparison of progress with
the Year 10 cohort was not possible. The table below therefore shows only Credit pass rates for
each of the individual assessments during the year, data that can be compared on a like for like
basis with the results for Year 10.
The results were analysed by gender to ascertain if there were any areas of gender difference; as
is evident below, a significant gender gap is still evident in all assessments.
Identify the
Problem
Next Steps,
(Reflection)
Gather Data
Evaluate
Results
Interpret
Data
Act on
Evidence
Page 29
[RESEARCH]
Assessment Type
BOYS: 83 students GIRLS: 139 students

end of Yr10
(incomplete data)
(incomplete data)
Credit pass rates for *CAT 1

(Creative Writing)
40%
67%
Credit pass rates for *CAT 2i

(Reading for Meaning)
40%
86%
Credit pass rates for *CAT 2ii

(Directed Writing)
59%
71%
Credit pass rates for ^QE P1

(Writing)
60%
86%
Credit pass rates for ^QE P2

(Reading)
52%
68%

end of MA5
72%
85%
*CAT = Common Assessment Task
^QE + Qualifying Exam
Key Findings + Analysis:

1. There is a gender gap of between 12% and 46% on every assessment; boys are still
doing significantly worse than the girls. This phenomenon is a worldwide one: boys do
not match girls in achievements in English, and in many western countries, the gap
between the sexes widens year on year. However, in a two-year project conducted by
Emma Roberts in her school in the UK, the gender gap at GCSE level was effectively
eliminated. Strategies used in that project may well prove equally effective here if
implemented. Please see the Recommendations section at the end of this Action
Research Project.
2. The boys actually improved more overall than the girls during the year, but this is
partly explained by the fact that the boys achievement was far below that of the girls at
the start of the year. However, a pleasing increase of 12% (in pass rates) is seen in boys
Reading skills between Term 2 and Term 3, and an increase of approx. 10% (in pass
rates) in their Writing skills between Term 1&2 and Term 3. In contrast, the girls
performance was more mixed. Their pass rates for Reading decreased by 18% between
Term 2 and Term 3; but their pass rates for Writing increased by 17% between Term
1&2 and Term 3.
3. Feedback from the MA5 teachers reveals that, like the Year 10 teachers, they used a
wide range of teaching strategies, and that they personalised the curriculum effectively
in response to the needs of their students.
Page 30
[RESEARCH]
4. By the end of the year, the overall number of students capable of gaining a Credit in
English was good for both boys and girls, although there still exists a sizeable gender
gap of 13% in the girls favour. It will be interesting to see how these internallygenerated assessment figures compare to the O Level results when they are published
in January 2012.
CONCLUSIONS
1)
2)
3)
4)
There is evidence from this study to suggest that we, as a department, mark O Level
pieces too harshly, particularly Reading tasks. In the June 2011 O Level series, the
students from MA5 and Year 10 who sat for the English Language exams generally secured
grades that were higher than their English teachers predicted grades and also were far
higher than the marks they had scored for the CATs and QEs. The other possible
explanation for this phenomenon is that the students dont try as hard for internal
assessment tasks as they do for external assessments, but this seems a less likely
explanation, given that it is seen so consistently and across such a wide number of
students within the two cohorts.
There is a noticeable gender gap in the performance of both cohorts. Clearly, there is
scope here for exploring the issue of under-achievement and lack of progress in boys. This
would be a valid area for a subsequent Action Research Project.
What is worrying is what some English teachers noted during the Qualifying Exam season
and the October O Level season; immediately before the students English exams,
students were revising not for English, but for their subsequent Physics, Biology, or
Chemistry exams. This meant they were entering these English exams with their heads
filled with science-related revision - and not the relevant knowledge and skills needed
for a strong performance in English. This would imply that the students dont believe that
it is important to revise for English, or that they still dont know how/what to revise despite the fact that this issue has been addressed repeatedly and explicitly by all Yr10 and
MA5 teachers this year. It is therefore recommended that English teachers continue to
reinforce the importance of revising for English, and making explicit to the students
what exactly revision for English entails.
Progress of all students - boys and girls - has been affected by factors beyond the control
of the English teachers, including the apparent tendency of some subject areas to
dominate the homework schedules of students at some points in the year. Examples
would be when students are given a series of test papers which they have to complete by
the following day, or they are given homework for the same subject to do every night
throughout an entire week. On occasions, students have been caught trying to study/do
homework for other subjects during English lessons, or they fail to complete homework
set for English because they claim they already have too much from their other teachers.
This phenomenon is unlikely to be simply the result of laziness, although poor timemanagement skills could be a factor. Maybe, too, many of these students have hours of
Tuition in the evenings, and this could be the cause of the problems they have in
completing homework set by their teachers. Whatever the root cause, the students
genuinely appear to be totally overloaded at times, which has made it very difficult for
English teachers to assign homework tasks with any degree of regularity this year.
Page 31
[RESEARCH]
RECOMMENDATIONS
1)
2)
3)
As a department, we need to undertake regular moderation of O Level pieces of work

to ensure our marking is accurate and consistent. CfBT has an O Level SIG (Special
Interest Group) that conducts such moderation workshops, and is in the process of
creating a bank of exemplar material. The SIG welcomes attendance both from CfBT and
local English teachers. It would be useful for MSPSBS teachers of O Level English to
attend these sessions. In addition, it would be of great benefit if the MSPSBS teachers of
English in Upper Secondary were allocated meeting time in school at regular junctures
throughout the year to conduct internal moderation and sharing sessions on the teaching
and assessing of O Level English.
If Credit pass rates are to be maximised and the highest possible number of top grades
achieved, it would be worth considering a more flexible Upper Secondary programme one in which students, especially boys, are given the option to defer taking their O Level
English until the end of Year 11. This would allow for greater progression, especially in the
development of Reading skills in boys, that would lead to better final grades and higher
numbers of Credits overall.
More boy-friendly teaching approaches need to be implemented across the
department. In line with the recommendations from Emma Roberts UK-based study
(2010) into boys achievement, this would entail:
a. Improving boys strategic skills, through lots of activities that involve planning
answers to tasks (as opposed to activities where they just keep producing fulllength answers). Repeated practice in planning an answer also raises their
awareness of how to address the success criteria.
b. Offering regular practice in time-management (writing answers - or parts of
answers - in an authentic time limit), to encourage implementation of their
acquired strategic skills in a successful way.
c. Use of a wide range of AfL activities, where the decoding of the success criteria
is made explicit - through the scrutiny of high quality exemplar material, valid
peer and self assessment, and the translation of mark schemes into studentspeak.
d. Avoiding an approach to skills development (especially writing) where repeated
redrafting is required; boys do not like being asked to redraft - it feels like
youre asking them to write something with the expectation that their first
version will be a failure, and this is extremely demotivating for boys. Instead, put
in lots of AfL-style teaching on the skills required before they start to write their
own piece, and, if necessary, suggest adjustments and improvements during the
drafting process - not at the end of it.
e. Introducing an element of competition into English lessons. Boys like the
challenge of a competitive atmosphere, so try to build in activities that offer
opportunities for this. Naming-and-praising is very motivating, but be aware
that naming-and-shaming is not, so devise competitions that will highlight
success and excellence.
f. Offering boys the opportunity to work collaboratively. It is often assumed that
boys work best independently, but this is not necessarily the case. Offering boys
the opportunity to collaborate on a venture, or to discuss ideas and responses
with other before committing their own ideas to paper, are very good strategies
to use in helping boys to produce good quality pieces of work.
Page 32
4)
5)
6)
[RESEARCH]
A whole-school Homework Timetable is needed to ensure a fair and even distribution of

homework from subject teachers; this is to be fair both to subject teachers and to the
students, as it would prevent any one department from being able to monopolise the
students evening study time, and would also allow all departments to plan their
scheduling of homework more easily in advance. This would help promote better timemanagement skills in the students themselves, and allow teachers, tutors and parents to
monitor students completion of homework more effectively. In addition, a homework
amnesty during periods of intense internal assessments (e.g. towards the ends of each
term) and during the run-up to the June and November O Levels would allow students
the chance to focus of preparing for these particular assessments, and not have to worry
about completing less pressing pieces of work.
There are concerns about the impact of Tuition on the students progress and
performance in English. The possibility has already been mooted here that long periods of
time spent attending Tuition after school could be impacting on students ability to
complete their regular school homework. In addition, there have been instances where
students have been taught things by their Tuition teachers that are inaccurate; for
example, one Yr10 student was given completely inaccurate information by her Tuition
teacher about how to compose a formal letter, which, luckily, her English teacher here was
able to rectify before the O Level exam. A study into precisely what impact Tuition has
on achievements in English would be very interesting, especially given that so many of
the MSPSBS students seem to attend extra tuition classes.
Remedial Classes: This year, the Admin timetabled remedial classes for many subjects in
the afternoons. Although the scheduling of these extra sessions was appreciated by the
English Department, the timing of them - 3pm to 4pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays meant they were almost entirely useless as an opportunity to facilitate learning in the
students who attended. This is because, by the time the students arrived for their extra
English class, they had been at school for seven and a half hours already! Without
exception, they arrived exhausted and brain-dead, and eager to go home. In addition,
attendance at these sessions was erratic, and so there was limited continuity from one
session to another. In view of this, it is unlikely that the Remedial classes this year had the
level of impact the department had hoped for. In future, therefore, if Remedial classes
are offered by the English Department, they will need to be scheduled for far earlier in
the day, before the students become too tired and over-loaded.
Page 33
[RESEARCH]
APPENDIX
YEAR 9 & MA4: END-OF-YEAR ENGLISH EXAM REVIEW
The purpose of this exercise is for you to reflect on your performance in the recent English exams (Paper 1
and Paper 2), and to understand clearly how you could improve your performance next time by identifying
some targets for improvement for yourself.
Please think carefully about the following statements, and CIRCLE, HIGHLIGHT or UNDERLINE the ones
that you think apply to you.
PRIOR TO THE EXAMS
I was unsure about what to revise for one/both papers
I was unsure about what sorts of revision activities would be beneficial to me
I am unsure what Writing skills are, and so did not go into Paper 1 with a clear idea of
what I was being asked to show I could do
I am unsure what Reading skills are, and so did not go into Paper 2 with a clear idea of
what I was being asked to show I could do
I am unsure about how to choose and how to form correct verb tenses
I am unsure about how to choose appropriate vocabulary for different contexts
Page 34
[RESEARCH]
PAPER 1: WRITING
SECTION 1 Directed Writing
I spent too long/too little time* on this writing task (you should have spent approx
40mins on it)
I was unsure about the requirements of this particular task who my audience
was/what the purpose of the piece was/what the conventions of a newspaper report
are/what sort of language would be appropriate*
I didnt cover all of the bullet points. This was because
I wrote too much/too little* for the task. This was because
I wasted precious time by counting the number of words I had used
SECTION 2 Creative Writing
*delete as appropriate
I spent too long/too little time* on this writing task (you should have spent approx
50mins on it)
I am unsure about what type of creative writing I am best at discursive, descriptive or
narrative and so didnt use this as the basis for my choice of task in Section 2
I am unsure of what strategies I could have used in my chosen task type in order to have
produced a really successful piece of writing
I knew what strategies I could have used, I just didnt use them on this occasion. This
was because
I was unsure about the requirements of the particular task I chose who my audience
was/what the purpose of the piece was/what the conventions of the task type I chose
are/what sort of language would be appropriate*
I didnt plan my answer before I began to write. This is because I dont know how to
plan/I didnt have time to plan*
I wrote too much/too little* for the task. This was because
I wasted precious time by counting the number of words I had used
WRITING: ACTION POINTS

If you are to avoid making the same mistakes again in the real O Level exams, you need
to do something about the things you have picked out. Identify THREE clear and precise
things that you are going to take responsibility for and actually DO! before March,
that will make a real, measurable difference to your performance in the Writing paper:
1.
2.
3.
Now, get your teacher to check what you have written, and sign this review sheet to indicate
that your action points are appropriate.
Teachers signature: _________________________________
Page 35
[RESEARCH]
PAPER 2: READING
SECTION 1 Reading for Ideas
I spent too long/too little time* on this section of the paper (you should have spent
approx 50mins on it)
I didnt fully understand the text
I was unsure what the questions actually wanted me to do, and didnt know how to
decode them
I was unsure how to work out how much I should write for some/all of the questions in
this section
I was unsure how to use the details from the text to help me answer the questions (Did I
have to copy something out? Put it into my own words? etc)
I was unsure how to identify the main points from the text
I am unsure about how to create a summary from my list of bullet-pointed main ideas
SECTION 2 Reading for Meaning
I spent too long/too little time* on this section of the paper (you should have spent
approx 50mins on it)
I didnt fully understand the text
I was unsure what the questions actually wanted me to do, and didnt know how to
decode them
I was unsure how to work out how much I should write for some/all of the questions in
this section
I was unsure how to use the details from the text to help me answer the questions (Did I
have to copy something out? Put it into my own words? etc)
I wasnt clear about the meaning of the vocabulary in the last question, and I dont know
what strategies I could have used to work out their meanings correctly
READING: ACTION POINTS

If you are to avoid making the same mistakes again in the real O Level exams, you need
to do something about the things you have picked out. Identify THREE clear and precise
things that you are going to take responsibility for and actually DO! before March,
that will make a real, measurable difference to your performance in the Reading paper:
4.
5.
6.
Now, get your teacher to check what you have written, and sign this review sheet to indicate
that your action points are appropriate.
Teachers signature: _________________________________
Page 36
[RESEARCH]
Page 37
[RESEARCH]
2011 JOURNAL WRITING:

STILL BABBLING ON
Linda Galbraith, CfBT, SM SMJA, lgalbraith@cfbt.org
Journal writing in 2011 was a little more challenging for students and the teacher as there were
four classes, two year 9 and two year 10 classes, with a total of 140 students. For all the students
it was their first experience of journal writing. Further complicating the process was the
reduction from seven to six English lessons a week putting some pressure on everyone to cover
all areas of the English scheme of work. Each class completed ten entries including a reflection of
the process over three terms. No journal writing was done in fourth term due to the exam timetable.
It was time consuming to read all the entries but extremely worthwhile for the students and for
the teacher who was given insights into the lives of her students about their dreams, their fears,
their favourite places, their activities, their tastes in music, their use of the internet, their movie
viewing and the important people in their lives, finishing with their thoughts and feelings about
the journal writing process. Some entries were written in class and some were written at home.
Page 38
[RESEARCH]
Those done in class were to develop the habit of completing a task in a given time. Students
tended to write more in the entries done at home.
The journal is a book and as such each student decorated the cover, and did both a title page
and a contents page. The framework was established and the work of writing began in first term.
The template was very useful for all students giving the least able ones a format to follow and
the most able a springboard from which to be adventurous with language and ideas. Some of
the books became works of art in themselves reflecting the creative talents of the authors. Many
students in 9A4 (twenty eight boys, eight girls) did not have the resources for making a cover so
the teacher provided Flight magazines and some Golf magazines which enabled the boys to
design interesting covers using words and pictures from these magazines.
A Bit about Me (1)
This was the first entry and as such was a bit short with students perhaps a bit reluctant to
write too much about themselves so they mainly said who was in their family and what sports
they played. Some described themselves as shy others as cute while others wrote they were
just normal.
Someone Important To Me (2)
The list of people who are important is shown in the table. Mothers are the top, followed by
Siblings and Best Friends.
Someone Important to Me
Mother
Father
Grandmother
Grandfather
Parents
Best Friend
Brother
Sister
Cousin
Aunt
10A
8
2
1
2
7
4
4
2
10E
12
6
5
3
3
4
1
9S3
8
2
3
2
2
6
3
7
2
9A4
8
1
3
1
2
3
3
1
3
Total
36
11
6
4
6
21
13
15
11
1
Favourite places (3)

The number of favourite places was long. The beach in general (27 students,) with specific
mention of Muara, Tutong, Berakas and Serasa, was most popular. The reasons given were
beauty, picnics, swimming, building sand castles, spending time with family, fishing, relaxing,
playing football, finding happiness, taking photos, quad bike riding and shouting to release
stress. The Mall (15 students) is another popular place for the arcade (game centre), the cinema
and shopping. Home (12 students) was the third favourite place with four students also
Page 39
[RESEARCH]
mentioning their grandparents house/farm and one student naming a best friends house as the
place most enjoyed.
Within Brunei some favourite places included Temburong, Jerudong Park, Tasek Lama, Royal
Regalia Museum and Malay Technology Museum, Kampong Ayer, the Empire Hotel and the
mosques. Students also wrote that they liked the Stadium both for football and for swimming.
Three students wrote that school was their favourite place because they could spend time with
their friends.
Out of Brunei there were many places that some students had visited: Labuan, Singapore, China,
Taiwan, Japan, Birmingham, Manchester United Stadium, London, Edinburgh, Kuala Lumpur,
Kota Kinabalu, a zoo in Malaysia and a hill in Indonesia. Some students wrote about a place
overseas that they would like to visit one day.
Some similes from 9S3 about their favourite places include home is like paradise, my house
feels like heaven, I can dance like theres no tomorrow. A boy who delights in water wrote
every time I swim I feel like a fish without any worries, its almost like flying. Another quoted
Bruce Lee, Be water, my friend.
Dreams (4)
There were many types of dreams ranging from hopes and ambitions to daydreams, sweet
dreams and nightmares. Students want to be pilots, doctors, engineers, lawyers, scientists,
chefs, architects, computer technicians, businessmen/women and teachers. Some want to be
rich, to be billionaires, others to succeed in sport, to be a national champion, a football star. One
boy wants to be a choreographer. Others want a family and children, to please their parents, to
be successful. Others want to meet their favourite celebrity.
Some nightmares included being killed by James Bond, being chased by ghosts, losing a friend,
falling and dying, judgement day, and being chased by policemen. All the students who wrote
about scary dreams said it was probably because they had watched scary movies before going to
sleep.
Movies (5)
Students were asked how often they went to the cinema. The responses are in the Table. Many
wrote that they mainly watch movies on TV, CD/DVD or download from the internet.
Frequency of Watching Movies at the Cinema
Movies at the Cinema
9A4
9S3
10E
10A
Often
4
9
4
7
Sometimes
16
13
17
19
Rarely
13
10
8
4
Never
3
2
6
2
Page 40
[RESEARCH]
The top three types of movies most watched are Comedy, Horror and Action followed by
Adventure, Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy and War.
Some favourite movies are Transformers, Harry Potter, Kung Fu Panda, Battle LA, Twilight, Percy
Jackson and Star Wars.
According to a student in 10A Movies can help to relax and relieve stress. Watching movies can
expand your thinking and teach you more about things youve never seen ... Although watching
movies can help relax your mind, too much movies can affect your grades.
Activities (6)
Students wrote about a wide range of activities, indoor and outdoor, sporting and non-sporting.
The most popular activity for the boys is football. The next most popular activity for both girls
and boys is on-line gaming/internet use/Facebook. Other sport activities included badminton,
hockey, hiking, basketball, swimming, jogging, futsal, running, cycling, fishing, table tennis,
tennis, squash and netball. Body building is another activity some boys do.
Non-sport activities were watching movies, shopping, eating, sleeping, cooking, spending time
with family, hanging out with friends, reading (Malay and English books), drawing, photography,
scrap-booking, chess and music. Students enjoy playing guitar, piano and keyboard. They like to
sing and dance. Some are learning traditional dances.
Some of these activities are done as a CCA. Students wrote about the following clubs: Police
Cadets, Red Crescent, Movie Review, Drama, Chess and BGIC (ISB Borneo Global Issues
Conference). Some students also learn martial arts, namely Tarian Asli, Tae Kwon Do, Kendo and
Silat.
A student in 10E wrote I love group work, working together with others because it keeps us
open-minded...I love to recycle. I used a noodle box, painted it a bright colour then stuck a plastic
flower to make it prettier and used the box to put my story books.
Music (7)
This topic was emotive. Students had a lot to say about music. Music is what feelings sound
like (JJ, 10A) Music is like armour or a weapon in life (I, 10A) Music is like someones story,
their love or their life (Z, 10A) When I first started writing in this journal, I dont know what I
wanted to say but now it has become easier like this journal is my best friend for me to express
my thoughts. (M, 10A) Music makes me chill (9S3) Music makes me happy, sad and mad (S,
9A4) There is a connexion between music, movies, cartoons, musicals and national anthems (A,
9A4) Music is like our life, like humans need oxygen (N, 10E) Music is like medicine, it can cure
your heart just by listening (S, 10E) Music is like a friend that can accompany us when we need
... Music is a place where we can let go all of our stress (SN, 10E)
Many students can play guitar and some learn piano. They all listen to music. Their favourite
artistes are Bruno Mars, Justin Beiber, Maher Zain, Michael Jackson, Avril Lavigne, Mariah Carey,
Page 41
[RESEARCH]
Hayley Williams, Taylor Swift and Katey Perry. The favourite bands are Black-eyed Peas,
Paramore, Green Day and The Beatles. Korean bands are also very popular.
Fear (8)
Writing about fears wont help! It wont help at all. Its just a lame trick so that we would write
about it. (A, 10A) We need to learn to respect fear, acknowledge it and live with it. (WT, 10A)
One student began I am not afraid of anything therefore there is nothing for me to write about
and finished with I have a fear of writing journals, better stop before I go crazy and tear off the
page. (JJ, 10A)
Students wrote about many fears such as ghosts, being alone, darkness, failure, heights, public
speaking especially in English, exams, death, parents, teachers, blood tests, amusement park
rides, disappointment, rejection, making decisions, anger, god, losing parents through death or
divorce, and clowns (coulrophobia.)
Animals and insects that students are afraid of included bees, cockroaches, snakes, spiders,
lizards, ants, sharks, crocodiles and worms.
Strategies for overcoming fears included listening to music, praying, telling someone else,
watching TV, trying to be brave, going to Mums room, running, going hiking to build confidence
to overcome fear of heights, screaming, seeing a counsellor, turning on lights, having nice people
around, working hard and facing the fear.
Internet (9)
This topic was very interesting as to what students admitted regarding how they accessed the
internet, how many hours they spent on-line and how they used it, as shown in the tables below.
The students wrote that the internet is part of their daily routine and given the time spent online it seems to be a big part. Many students wrote about the disadvantages of the internet,
especially wasting time and being addictive but none could imagine living without it and
wrote of the frustration when the server goes down or is particularly slow.
I would go crazy without the internet. I blame the internet for my low marks and not focussing
on my studies but ... (N, 10A) The internet is the most outstanding innovation in the field of
communication in the history of mankind (HS, 10A) One of the things we cant live without is
the internet (A, 9S3) It shows us the outside world and what is happening out there (Q, 9S3) I
am one of those people who cant live without the internet. For me it is everything ... it is part of
my daily routine. (N, 10E) Many students wrote they think that using the internet helps their
English skills.
Page 42
[RESEARCH]
Using the Internet

Used for
Games
Social Networking
9A4
9S3
10A
10E
8
7
19
11
22
31
23
29
Projects and
Research
21
20
12
23
Download movies and

music
1
13
7
6
Most popular social networks are Facebook and Twitter

Time Spent on the Internet
Hours per day
9A4
9S3
10A
10E
1-2
21
7
7
8
3-4
7
20
7
7
5-6
2
3
3
15
7-8
9-10
11-12
Reflection (10)
The selection of students comments about journal writing speaks for itself. Overall the students
enjoyed journal writing. They made discoveries about themselves which in turn developed their
English literacy skills.
Now I dont think that writing compositions is hard anymore, like the previous years. I enjoy
writing entries and compositions. (F, 9S3) I found some of my entries very funny and lame.
Nothing much has changed, Im still working on my basketball, K is still my closest friend. I still
swim twice a week, still trying to get rid of my fears. (D, 9S3) I enjoy writing entries because it
is like challenging myself to write more and more. (J, 9S3) Its a flashback of our memories! (H,
9S3) My journal sucks. I never knew Im this nerd and LAME! I really would like to read my
teachers journal :) (B, 9S3) Writing a journal is something I like and love to do in English
period. (N, 9S3)
Journals are like books so you need to read a lot of books ... doing journal writing I now know
that I have a great and awesome life. (F, 9A4) I discover I have a happy life (H, 9A4) My
journal helped me this year to remind me about my favourite things, my passions and talent. I
am able to create a world of imagination ... remembering the memories that stay hidden in the
darkness of our souls, when that sounded creepy. Maybe Ill write a book about this journal or
maybe Ill take the important points from this journal and use them to make a book. Brilliant. (S,
9A4) I enjoyed doing my journal rather than classwork. Dont be mad teacher :P ha ha. I hope all
English teachers give to all their students an English journal. (N, 9A4) I hope next year I can
write the English journal again and I will promise when my English teacher give me a journal I will
write it all. (N, 9A4) I learn about myself and feel good when Im writing. (H, 9A4)
Page 43
[RESEARCH]
Its my world, a place to express myself (R, 10E) I shared my life here. This is my story. (W,
10E) I liked the attention from my teacher (R, 10E) I enjoy writing my journal but it makes me
crazy because I dont have many ides. I am excited to read my teachers comments. (Z, 10E) I
love this journal because I can tell about me (A, 10E) My journal is my life story. I make
memories and enjoy writing. I am excited to read my teachers comments (NA, 10E) Writing
makes me feel better about my problems, like a solution and a friend to me. (N, 10E) Im a
daydreamer, share secrets with my journal and my teacher (SN, 10E) I read my journal, my
friends read my journal and we laughed. Writing a journal can make me review things and
moments that I have done in the past. It also can make me relax, its better than studying. (SNZ,
10E) I think Im getting used to writing a journal. I hope I can continue writing journals until Im
old. (S, 10E)
End of Year Exam Paper 1
Of the five options for the creative writing task 21% of students chose Q4.which looks like a
journal entry topic. In each class the numbers are as follows
Class Q 4
9A4
5/35
9S3
2/34
10A
14/32
10E
8/36
Total 29/137
This seems to indicate that students are being more confident in their creative writing ability and
not defaulting to the narrative questions.
Conclusion
Journal writing is an activity that students can continue to do in their own time, until they are
old. It provides the opportunity to explore ideas and develop language skills. It also gives
teachers a window into the lives of their students and provides another channel of
communication. Babble can be meaningful dialogue. Enjoy.
The new look Babble On Journal will be available

for all English Teachers in Brunei in 2012. Original
illustrations by CfBT teacher Kevin Watson. Get
your students writing about the things that
interest them!
[See sample pages overleaf]
Page 44
[RESEARCH]
Page 45
[RESEARCH]
Page 46
[IDEAS]
Ideas
Hey... hey... Ive got an idea!
Page 47
[IDEAS]
ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING

INFORMATION SHEET
Jean Kiekopf, CfBT, Education Project Manager, jkiekopf@cfbt.org
Assessment for Learning (AfL) is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by
learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need
to go, and how best to get there. (ARG, 2002)
Exams, tests, essays, assignments, quizzes and projects have long provided a form of assessment
that enable teachers to ascertain the level at which a student is achieving (or not!). These
approaches rely on predominantly summative forms of assessment.
In the late 1990s focus began to shift to the exploration of effective formative assessment of
students, triggered by the publication of Black and Wiliams (1998) Inside the Black Box: Raising
standards through classroom assessment. As a result of extensive research following this
publication, the 10 Principles of Assessment for Learning were produced by the Assessment
Reform Group (ARG, 2002).These principles summarise the key features of Assessment for
Learning and provide a clear outline of the approach to be used and methodologies that could
be employed to engage students in their own learning. Since then, they have been taken on
board and incorporated into assessment strategies by curriculum development departments
around the world.
Assessment for Learning or AfL is based on the premise that students can learn through
constructive, formative classroom assessments and feedback. This occurs when they are
involved in the process and able to access strategies, materials and advice that help them to
understand where they are in their own learning and what they need to do to improve. AfL takes
place in a classroom any time a formative assessment is undertaken and the teacher and/or
learner actively engage in using that assessment to improve the learners understanding and
therefore achievements in that area. It will also be used to inform the subsequent teaching.
Assessment FOR Learning turns the classroom assessment process (and its results) into an
instructional intervention designed to increase, not merely monitor, student learning. (ARG,
2002). Integral to the process of AfL are strategies that allow the student, as well as the teacher,
to monitor their progress and participate in putting the steps in place to make changes and
improvements. Checklists, student friendly rubrics, peer and self assessment/feedback, personal
target setting and one to one teacher/student discussion can all be employed to ensure this
happens. As long as the students are involved in the assessment and are encouraged to use it to
their advantage, AfL is said to be being used.
Page 48
[IDEAS]
Overview
1.1. Historical Overview
The phrase Assessment FOR Learning sprang from the findings of Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black,
(1998) in their joint work: Inside the Black Box: Raising standards through classroom assessment.
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/assessment/files/2009/02/blackbox_article.pdf
The practice of using AfL was then broken down into 10 Principles by the UK Assessment Reform
Group in 2002. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) fan poster expands upon
these ten principles.
Assessment for Learning:
is part of effective planning;

focuses on how pupils learn;
is central to classroom practice;
is a key professional skill;
is sensitive and constructive;
fosters motivation;
promotes understanding of goals and criteria;
helps learners know how to improve;
develops the capacity for self (and peer) assessment;
recognises all educational achievement.
What are the key characteristics of AFL?

AfL
is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it is an essential part;

involves sharing learning goals with students;
aims to help pupils to know and recognise the standards they are aiming for;
involves students in peer and self assessment;
provides feedback, which leads to students recognising their next steps and how to
take them;
involves both the teacher and students reviewing and reflecting on assessment data
information
1.2. Situation in Brunei

With the implementation of SPN 21 and the shift from exam based to a mixed exam and school
based assessment in Lower Secondary schools in Brunei, the MOE has invested both time and
money in training Lower Secondary teachers in effective School Based Assessment for Learning
(SBAfL). This has taken place at the Bridex centre, during 2010 and 2011, for teachers in all core
subjects. A SBAfL Guidebook was produced by the MOE in 2010 outlining the philosophy:
Page 49
[IDEAS]
The introduction of SBAfL (in Brunei) serves to promote a change in the philosophy of school
based assessment where students play a lead role in their learning. In SBAfL, assessment is
integrated with teaching and learning, allowing students to self evaluate and see for
themselves how far they have developed in their subjects. SBAfL provides teachers and
students with qualitative information on how the students have developed in their subjects.
Teachers can therefore provide a complete picture of a students learning progress.
In order to build capacity amongst the core subject teachers Brunei Common Assessment Tasks
(BCATs) have been created by teachers and Curriculum Development Department, as an interim
measure. These BCATs are designed to show teachers in the field how to create assessments for
the END of a unit of work, using school based Assessment for Learning. (Techniques of specific
peer, self and teacher feedback and assessment are incorporated.)They are designed to be
pitched at the average ability child in Brunei who should be able to achieve a grade C in the
assessment.
BCATs are not exams or tests. They are tasks. The point of the incorporated AfL techniques is
to enable students to assess how they are progressing with the task after the initial draft and to
give them an opportunity to make changes after a peer or self assessment.
A key premise in AfL is that every student has the capacity to improve. So students of all
abilities can benefit from assessment activities that inform them of where they are and how they
might improve. This of course will be differentiated within the classroom for each learner.
CfBT has played a substantial role in assisting CDD in training English Language teachers in SBAfL
methodology, writing the BCATs and linking these to the new Syllabus document for Lower
Secondary. For more details of CfBTs role see the SBAfL SiG meeting reports and Senior Teacher
end of Year reports.
1.3. In the region
Singapore: Between 2010 and 2011 the National Institute for Education (NIE) in Singapore
conducted research into effective AfL in Singapore classrooms. Prof Paris George Scott, who is
leading the research, writes in his abstract: Assessment of academic achievement in Singapore
has been important for many years to motivate students and to provide them with appropriate
instruction. Summative assessments such as the PSLE and O and A level examinations have been
used for tracking, league tables, and access to special programs. Although there is general
satisfaction with the traditional summative assessments, there is also a growing need for
formative assessments in classrooms that serve teachers and students more directly.5
In Australia, the Assessment for Learning website identifies the main four main AfL
methodologies:
This research can be tracked at: http://www.nie.edu.sg/research-projects/assessment-learningsingapore-classrooms.
Page 50
[IDEAS]
the strategic use of questioning

Questioning is used not only as a pedagogical tool but also as a deliberate way for the teacher to
find out what students know, understand and are able to do.
effective teacher feedback
Effective teacher feedback focuses on established success criteria and tells the students what
they have achieved and where they need to improve. Importantly, the feedback provides
specific suggestions about how that improvement might be achieved.
peer feedback
Peer feedback occurs when a student uses established success criteria to tell another student
what they have achieved and where improvement is necessary. Again, the feedback provides
specific suggestions to help achieve improvement.
student self-assessment
Student self-assessment encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning. It
incorporates self-monitoring, self-assessment and self-evaluation.
Similarly, in Hong Kong, the government has been implementing education reform measures
related to AfL since October 2000. The basic premise is to enable every individual to pursue allround development through life-long learning.
2. Further Reading
Useful Websites
http://www.assessmentforlearning.edu.au/assessment_tasks/assessment_tasks_landing.html
http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/SBA/
www.qsa.qld.edu.au
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/assessment/files/2009/02/blackbox_article.pdf
http://www.assessmentforlearning.edu.au/default.asp
http://www.assessmentinst.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/afldefined.pdf
http://educateiowa.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1072&Itemid=1171
http://www.assessmentinst.com/author/rick-stiggins/
http://conference.nie.edu.sg/paper/Converted%20Pdf/ab00523.pdf
http://www.nie.edu.sg/research-projects/assessment-learning-singapore-classrooms
http://schools.norfolk.gov.uk/index.cfm?s=1&m=946&p=1251,page&id=814
Page 51
[IDEAS]
HOW WE LEARN AND HOW TO

IMPROVE MOTIVATION AND MEMORY
Alan D Fletcher, CfBT, SM PJNPH Abu Bakar , adfletcher@cfbt.org
Page 52
[IDEAS]
Notes on the human brain,
Environment acts with genetic inheritance to create a unique brain

Different neural networks collude with different chemicals to produce results
We can now grow new brain cells
Trimming occurs when infrequently used brain cells die
Memory is about reconstruction (more than recall) and is imperfect
When migrating neurons reach their goal, they send out dendrites and axons
When the dendrites are reached by axons (finger-like extensions) they form
synapses- which convert electrical impulses to chemical ones
Drugs, nicotine, alcohol, stress, toxins, radiation, chemicals, poor nutrition and
thyroid problems hinder the formation of synapses ( so impairing learning)
You can hear (but not learn?) in the womb
Meditation is good for learning
A positive, supportive home encourages enriched learning
The best parents bond with their young by being: self-aware, relaxed, tactile
Neuro-linguistic programming ( NLP) believes that successful behaviour can be
broken down and modelled
Word-learning begins at about 8 months
Language-learning declines at 12 years old
ontogeny reflects phylogeny- brains reflect their uses
Synaptogenesis essentially means use it or lose it because frequently used
connections ( or synaptic density) strengthen memory
Teenage girls process information at a local level ( e.g. faces)- this makes them
mostly better friends and more sensitive than boys, who think more globally
The reptilian brain is a control centre for respiration, heart rate, temperature,
rest
The limbic system controls: survival, emotional arousal, memory
The neo-cortex controls planning, abstract ( higher order) thinking
The amygdala ( small, almond-shaped) regulates sleep and memory, aggression,
fear, worry
Page 53
[IDEAS]
Implications for teaching and learning
Teachers should sell benefits of education to students at a personal level

Motivation is a process that ties emotion to action: emotion in motion
3 strong motivators for risk: a better future, a more desirable present, a
pleasurable experience in itself
Meaningful learning engages powerful emotions because it involves risk; come
out of the comfort zone and link the known to the new
The human brain rewires itself when it is interested, passionate, creative
Passive learning promotes apathy; dopamine learning can cause a high and
give students a buzz
Chess, crosswords etc stimulate local and global thinking, reflection, speculation,
structural challenges- ideal for both sexes
Many schools give bits of knowledge- the brain is better at connections
Teachers should encourage connection-seekers and concentrate on the joinsthe journey is more important than individual stations
Einstein wrote: the relationship between 2 entities is more important than the
entities themselves
The worldwide web bombards us with millions of individual bits of information:
focus/ links can be lost
Several key educational words are negatively emotive- educators must strive to
create a positive learning environment. For example, the word test can cause
stress- teachers should train students to mentally rehearse the process, by
relaxing and confidently picturing the future success
Such plasticity or flexibility could help brains to reorganize after damage
ADHD students suffer from short-term memory problems and cannot focus for
long; they self-talk and cannot externalise thoughts well; they are impulsive,
lacking internal resources to control their actions; they cannot reconstitute
good behaviour from peers
ADHD is often perceived as a learning disorder caused by poor genes/ parenting/
diet/ culture; it might be more constructive to regard it as a deficiency of
motivational systems i.e., a reward deficiency syndrome
Many students struggle to read because they have not acquired phonological
skills that depend on sensitive auditory perceptions
The phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in reading, but some students have
eye-tracking problems and struggle to access the information
The cerebellum ( back of brain) aids balance, eye-tracking and anticipatory
movements: a lack of co-ordination could contribute to dyspraxia
Page 54
[IDEAS]
Implications for teachers
Actively participating in education and sport for as long as possible can delay the
onset of Alzheimers Disease
Ageing occurs when blood flow, glucose metabolism and dopamine are reducedthis essentially means ageing occurs when we lose the brains natural reward
system
Long-term memory remains fine while day-to-day actions work fine
Inactivity and depression form a vicious circle
Depression causes a shrinkage of the hippocampus and generates stress; it also
reduces our ability to learn/ store new information
With Parkinsons Disease, patients can learn new factual information, but cannot
easily learn new physical skills
The brain marches on its stomach: neurotransmitters are made from amino acids
and proteins
Dieting and lack of iron reduce IQ; skipping breakfast is metabolic starvationwhich reduces attention and recall
It takes about 10 minutes for the brain to understand the stomach is full (
planning and willpower might be required)
20% of UK people are classed as obese: it is better to eat slowly and to drink lots
of water ( it has no calories and yet makes us feel full)
The brain is about 75% water; blood about 92% water; bones about 22% water;
muscles about 75% water
Water is required for: expiration, body temperature, protecting vital organs,
removing waste etc
Sleep is vital- so a lie-in is recommended
Playing is exciting and prepares us for later stresses; laughing and singing bring
physical and emotional benefits
Page 55
[IDEAS]
In The Classroom
Educationalists should be sensitive to the 4 Fs of (animal) survival in the

classroom:
FIGHT: tantrums, anger, dissent
FLIGHT: head down, minimum concentration; hope that teacher focuses
elsewhere, daydreaming
FREEZE: temporary paralysis, getting stuck, no responses
FLOCK: following the herd, staying in the comfort zone
For improved results try: NOVELTYCURIOSITYATTENTION

Treat the student as a special individual and try the 7 Stage reward system
1. What do you (student) want?
2. Why is this better (than normal)?
3. How will we feel?
4. When will the outcome be achieved?
5. How do I know the outcome?
6. What will I do first? What then?
7. How do we stay positive after the outcome?
SPECS:
SEE it (picture the process)

PERSONALISE it (add something interesting)
EXAGGERATE it (sell the ideas)
CONNECT it (make it relevant to the context or environment)
SHARE it (enjoy the collective journey)
KEY IDEAS FOR EDUCATORS:
SCAFFOLD AND SHARE THE CHALLENGES

USE AN EMOTIONAL CURRICULUM
SEEK CONNECTIONS WITH THE STUDENTS
TEACH MEMORY SKILLS
STAY INFORMED
Check out: The Brains Behind It by Alistair Smith for more details on this fascinating topic
Page 56
[IDEAS]
Glossary of Terms for an Anatomy of the Brain
Amygdala limbic structure involved in many brain functions, including emotion, learning and
memory. It is part of a system that processes "reflexive" emotions like fear and anxiety.
Cerebellum governs movement.
Cingulate gyrus plays a role in processing conscious emotional experience.
Fornix an arch-like structure connecting the hippocampus to other parts of the limbic system.
Frontal lobe helps control skilled muscle movements, mood, planning for the future, setting
goals and judging priorities.
Hippocampus plays a significant role in the formation of long-term memories.
Medulla oblongata contains centres for the control of vital processes such as heart rate,
respiration, blood pressure, and swallowing.
Limbic system interconnected structures that mediate emotions, learning and memory.
Occipital lobe helps process visual information.
Parahippocampal gyrus an important connecting pathway of the limbic system.
Parietal lobe receives and processes information about temperature, taste, touch, and
movement coming from the rest of the body. Reading and arithmetic are also processed here.
Pons contains centres for the control of vital processes, including respiration and
cardiovascular functions. It also is involved in the coordination of eye movements and balance.
Temporal lobe processes hearing, memory and language functions.
Thalamus a major relay station between the senses and the cortex (the outer layer of the brain
consisting of the parietal, occipital, frontal and temporal lobes).
Page 57
[READING]
READING
Dont worry, reading is easy, all you need is an ice cream stick...
Page 58
[READING]
SMSH READING PROGRAMME

Barry Johnson, CfBT, SM Sayyidina Husain, bjohnson@cfbt.org
Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot
change anything. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).
Passage to Brunei
I first arrived in Brunei a few years ago to work in a local high school. Previously I was employed
in various Australian teaching and administrative positions. In Brunei I had to adapt to a totally
different culture as well as unique workplace situations. Like many other expatriates living here
I have many new experiences.
Over the years I have noticed that there is very little interest in reading. There is also very little
interest in what is happening outside Brunei. Students knowledge is limited to events in Brunei;
they appear simply to be not interested in knowledge or events concerning the outside world.
For me, coming from a culture where books, newspapers, magazines and other reading
materials are part of our everyday life this was remarkable. In the West many go to a caf, order
a cappuccino and read the paper, on holidays they laze around a swimming pool and read a
novel. Parents read bedtime stories to their children, children become immersed in text from a
very early age.
As a result Australia has ranked highly in the PISA scores for reading. The Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide evaluation of 15-year-old school pupils'
scholastic performance, performed first in 2000 and repeated every three years. It is
coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with a
view to improving educational policies and outcomes.
My current school in Brunei is Sekolah Menengah Sayyidina Husain (SMSH). Students are ranked
academically somewhere in the middle of the Brunei norm. Students here sit for the external
Cambridge O Levels and IGSCE exams. Various reading attainment tests have been carried out
and our average student has a reading age of middle primary school. To do well in the O levels,
students need to read diversely and have a background knowledge of a variety of topics; they
need diverse knowledge, as the English reading exam topics can never be guessed, the only way
to do well is to read widely.
Page 59
[READING]
A few years ago while I was teaching the best class at our school, I asked students What was
happening in the United States in the 1860s? The form 5 class was quiet until one student
raised his hand and answered mumble, mumbleVietnam war? I then complained about
the lack of general knowledge of the class and was then told by one student (who would later
become the Dux of our school) Sir, we dont read! I was amazed, and this comment got me
reflecting about the status of reading in Brunei. If these were the best students, what were the
others doing?
Years ago I read an article about the literacy levels in Iran (Sociocultural barriers to the reading
habit: The case of Iran. Glenn D. Deckert. Journal of Reading. May 1982). Deckert reported the
average Iranian spends only two seconds a year on reading and he asked a similar question
Why do literate Iranians turn away from books? Deckert completed a survey and identified a
number of specific cultural barriers to reading. He categorised them as: time-consuming
routines, family solidarity (withdrawal for solitary reading was frowned upon), intergroup rivalry
(the pursuit of wealth, guardedness - withholding information), authoritarian control, rote
memorisation, confined female role, proscribed world view.
Many of Deckerts categories are similar to the Bruneian cultural inhibitors, although there are
many other distractions today with the advent of the internet.
His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, in his Titah this year (see
Editorial Rebuilding reading habit. The Brunei Times 28 July 2011) expressed concern about
the lack of a Bruneian culture of reading and gaining knowledge. His Majesty quoted similar
studies to Deckert. His Majesty said promoting a strong reading culture in Brunei is a priority.
The success of Bruneian students in the O level exams is directly related to their competence in
reading. Our students at SMSH are seriously disadvantaged by their poor reading levels, the
average reading age here being 5 to 10 years below chronological age. Reading has been sadly
neglected here with previous reading programs failing because of extremely limited resources
thus our results were very depressing. To name a few attempts, there was a reading period,
one half hour session per week, students were marched off to the library and forced to read or
pretend to read. The library had some very old books, a lot of academic texts, donated adult
novels, neither interesting nor appealing to the students. The only genuine reading I observed
was the boys reading the worn picture books about sport and war-planes, the girls browsing
through recipes in the cook books.
There was an UnSustained Silent Reading (USSR) scheme whereby articles deemed appropriate
were photocopied with class sets of 40 being placed in plastic bags. There was 15 minutes of
forced reading, students were allowed to bring their own reading materials. As you can imagine,
the scheme was not very successful.
Page 60
[READING]
As recently as last year our silent reading program came to an end, it was ineffective because
students were not attracted to these poorly photocopied materials. Reading programs need to
use materials which are interesting and attractive to the student.
English staff tried to get various funding grants to purchase materials, various submissions were
written, nothing much happened. Submissions, lists and requests were misplaced, lost. As a
result we all learned to keep copies and continually follow-up. We reviewed many schemes, but
the physical problems were complex, we had no specialist room, our Language Lab was
dismantled and taken over for another project. The number of readers required was enormous.
Teachers could not physically carry enough readers to each class and then bring them back at
the end of a lesson, class sets were too heavy and the stairs were an issue.
One teacher borrowed every single suitable reader from the library and put together an
amalgamation of easy readers and simplified materials. She was able to bring together enough
materials for one class. Her students came to her desk and signed out books to read, when she
left, that scheme died. Students were asked to donate books to create a reading corner in
each class, a sorry assortment of magazines and torn novels sat sadly in the back of a few
classes.
In other schools with successful reading programs, access to high quality reading materials has
been a key feature directly related to the success of the program. Sekolah Menengah Sayyidina
Husan (a school close to Sekolah Menengah Sayyidina Husain) has run a number of successful
reading programs including the use of SRA materials. The SRA Corrective Reading Programme
(McGraw Hill) was selected as the main literacy intervention model; it was implemented from
September 2006, after consultation with experts: LEA literacy consultant, Heads of English,
Advisers, SLT and a visit to another school delivering an accelerated reading program. The
program reported a proven record of success in raising literacy and they noted several
distinctive features, including:
Direct instruction methodology
tightly scripted format of the lessons
Designed to be taught in small groups
Reward system based on points built into programme and easily linked to school reward
system and incentives scheme builds esteem
The idea of using SRA kits surfaced here at our school and a very old box was borrowed from the
CfBT Resource Centre to see if they would be popular. They were trialled informally and despite
being old and having various cultural issues with some of the topics and exercises, the SRA kit
was seen as a reasonable option.
SRA kits have a number of advantages. They:
have a variety of topics,
allow independent reading according to level,
Page 61
allow students to progress at their own rate,
build student independence
allow differentiation.
[READING]
Somehow, after much pleading, the submissions and costings floated for a year, money was
found, the Principal said buy and we were allowed to purchase our first kit, we settled for the
SRA kit 1C. It was an instant success for teachers and students. I remember hearing students
say Oh, good! as the box was carried into a class recently.
There were a number of settling-in issues: teachers had to initially get the students used to the
routine of the program, we had to find levels that were appropriate, that took a number of
lessons. We had to keep vigilant that materials were kept in order to stop them being
vandalised or disappearing.
Eventually the advantages were apparent, monitors can be used to keep the box tidy, teachers
were freed up to spend time one on one with low ability students, there is now time to chat and
discuss with students as they are becoming familiar with the programme. Students are getting
addicted, they want to compete and get to the next level, they want to read so there is now a
challenge for teachers to get more materials. This is a good problem.
Currently we have 39 classes using the scheme, class are timetabled one session per week. We
have 3 hours per week to teach English
Our next step is to build on the program and obtain more materials. A statistics system required
to keep data and promote future development. We want a Reading Room and lots more
books.
Success breeds success.
For more information about reading improvement, SRA and independent reading programmes please ask
your English Project Manager or look out for Lower Secondary Programme workshops in 2012.
Page 62
[READING]
Further Reading
SRAs Reading Laboratories provide individualized reading instruction to a whole classroom of
readers at different levels. The Labs offer lessons in phonics, decodable text, timed reading and
fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, test preparation, and literature. The National Reading
Panel research fully supports the fundamental concepts and instructional design of SRAs
Reading Laboratories. The report was published in December, 2000 by The National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development NIH Pub. No.00-4754.
Comprehension.
This report includes research documentation that supports the comprehension skills instruction,
practice, and strategies found in the Reading Laboratories. Examples of cited research include:
Collins, C. (1991). Reading instruction that increases thinking abilities. Journal of Reading,
34(7), 510-516.
Pressley, M., El-dinary, P.B., Gaskins, I., Schuder, T., Bergman, J., Almasi, J., & Brown, R. (1992).
Beyond direct explanation: Transactional instruction of reading comprehension strategies.
Elementary School Journal, 92(5), 513-555.
Rosenshine, B., & Meister, C. (1997). Cognitive strategy instruction in reading. In S. Stahl & D.
Hayes (Eds.), Instructional models in reading. (pp.85-107). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Phonics
This report includes research documentation that supports the phonics skills and strategies
found in the Reading Laboratories.
Examples of cited research include:
Adams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Chall, J. (1996a). Learning to read: The great debate (revised, with a new foreword). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Ehri, L.C. (1998). Grapheme-phoneme knowledge is essential for learning to read words in
English. In J.L. Metsala & L.C.
Ehri (Eds.), Word recognition in beginning literacy. (pp. 3-40).Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Page 63
[READING]
Vocabulary
This report includes research documentation that supports the vocabulary skills and
instructional practices found in the Reading Laboratories. Examples of cited research include,
but are not limited to, the following:
Beck, I.L., Perfetti, C.A., & McKeown, M.G. (1982). Effects of long-term vocabulary instruction
on lexical access and reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(4), 506-521.
Gipe, J.P., & Arnold, R.D. (1979). Teaching vocabulary through familiar associations and
contexts. Journal of Reading Behavior, 11(3), 281-285.
Kameenui, E., Carnine, D., & Freschi, R. (1982) Effects of text construction and instructional
procedures for teaching word meanings on comprehension and recall. Reading Research
Quarterly, 17(3), 367-388.
McKeown, M.G., Beck, I.L., Omanson, R.C., & Pople, M.T. (1985). Some effects of the nature
and frequency of vocabulary instruction on the knowledge and use of words. Reading
Research Quarterly, 20(5), 522-535.
Fluency
This report includes research documentation that supports the fluency instruction and practices
found in the Reading Laboratories. Examples of cited research include, but are not limited to, the
following:
Biemiller, A. (1977-78). Relationships between oral reading rates for letters, words, and simple
text in the development of reading achievement. Reading Research Quarterly, 13, 223-253.
Pinnell, G.S., Pikulski, J.J., Wixson, K.K., Campbell, J.R., Gough, P.B., & Beatty, A.S. (1995).
Listening to children read aloud. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and
Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.
Strecker, S., Roser, N., & Martinez, M. (1998). Toward understanding oral reading fluency. In T.
Shanahan & F. Rodriguez-Brown (Eds.) Forty-seventh Yearbook of the National Reading
Conference. (pp. 295-310). Chicago, IL: The National Reading Conference.
Wagner, R., Torgesen, J. & Rashotte, C. (1999). Comprehensive test of phonological processes.
Austin, TX: Pro-Ed. 1-800-201-7103 11 0404
A UK-wide survey carried out in September by the National Literacy Trust has found that almost
4 million children in the UK do not own a book; a threefold increase in the last seven years.
Page 64
[MUSIC AND SONG]
Music and Song
Ill sing you a song and it wont take long...
Page 65
[MUSIC AND SONG]
SING A SONG FOR LANGUAGE

Robert Vohan, CfBT, SR Kiudang, rvohan@cfbt.org
Songs have existed for as long as we can remember and have become an integral part of our
language experience. Singing is a basic means of human expression and, as Gugliemino (1986:
10) stated, adults sing at religious services, bars, in the shower, and listening to the car radio.
For students and teachers today, accessing music and lyrics is a rather straightforward
procedure owing to the pervasiveness of the Internet and the popularity of digital music. This
article will focus on the rationale for integrating songs into a language lesson as well as
discussing their efficacy as a learning tool. Some songs are especially suitable for exploiting
particular language items whilst others may address issues such as pronunciation. Consequently,
criteria for music selection will be discussed and a brief conclusion offered.
Page 66
[MUSIC AND SONG]
Rationale
As Schoepp (2001: 1) points out, a large amount of literature that discusses the value of using
songs in ESL/EFL classrooms is not empirically based. However, teacher observations as a first
hand resource are, in fact, quite valuable. In the Bruneian context songs are devised to engage
an individuals love of music and consequently support their learning of the English language.
From the literature we can see patterns emerging as to why teachers find using songs valuable.
These patterns include affective reasons; cognitive reasons and linguistic reasons and all provide
insights into the benefit of songs in the classroom.
Affective Reasons
A key benefit intrinsic to using any form of music is the development of a positive attitude
towards learning. Krashen (1982) explains that for optimal learning to occur the affective filter
must be weak. A weak affective filter means that a positive attitude towards leaning is present
and in turn language can be acquired. Using songs can help teachers to shape attitudes by
creating an affirmative and constructive learning environment conducive to language
development.
In terms of adult ESL students, the power of a ridiculous situation as a tool for teaching should
not be dismissed. If an adult class is taught a song such as Five Little Ducks in a serious way, it
will transmit a lack of respect for their intelligence. However if the song is presented as a silly but
necessary stepping stone towards fluency, the learners intelligence is acknowledged and a more
student-friendly learning environment is facilitated.
With the affective filter weak, songs can then be used to develop the four skill areas of reading,
writing, listening and speaking. Eken (1996: 46) states that songs can be used:
To present a topic, a language point, lexis, etc.

To practice a language point, lexis, etc
To focus on common learner errors in a more direct way
To encourage extensive and intensive listening
To stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings
To encourage creativity and use of imagination
To provide a relaxed classroom atmosphere
To bring variety and fun to learning
Lems (1996: 2) points out that using music in the classroom can lead to higher levels of interest
and motivation and lower inhibition levels. This is certainly the case for Primary students in the
Bruneian context. Songs are sung with very simple repetitive sentence structures and known
melodies. Less vocal students are able to join in at their own pace and also take time listening to
their peers for pronunciation clues.
Page 67
[MUSIC AND SONG]
The belief that songs provide enjoyment and develop language skills is also noted by several
other authors (Adamowski, 1997; Bechtold, 1983; Domoney & Harris, 1993; Griffee, 1992;
Gugliemino, 1986; Lems, 1996; Little 1983; Monreal, 1982 in Schoepp, 2001)
Cognitive reasons
Using songs within the classroom also presents opportunities for students to gain fluency in their
oral reproduction of English words and phrases. Malaysian and Indonesian learners reading
English aloud will often avoid contracted forms and elisions, and read with a slow and staccato
rhythm (Swan and Smith, 1987: 282). This is mainly because of the syllable-timed rhythm and
difference in variety of stress placed within a word in Bahasa Melayu. Songs can help students to
develop automaticity which Gatbonton and Segalowitz (1998: 473) define as a component of
language fluency which involves both knowing what to say and producing language rapidly
without pauses. Using songs with a repetitive style that use appropriate target utterances as
part of a communicative teaching approach can be extremely beneficial to ESL learners
(Schoepp, 2001: 2).
In the Bruneian primary context songs are selected with simple structures and theme based
vocabulary whereby students, upon hearing and singing the songs, are able to transfer such
structures and apply them to more authentic or relevant situations. Lems (1996: 2) also points
out that singing can help reach learners with auditory strengths and that pre-recorded popular
music with its rhythmic element helps reinforce English prosody and fluency.
Linguistic reasons
Often within the classroom, the majority of language ESL learners encounter will in fact be quite
formal. In contrast with this, the students lives are saturated with popular music and satellite TV
that exposes them to many forms of colloquial English. This informal English can be riddled with
idioms or illustrate syntax patterns as well as grammar in context. Using songs can help prepare
students for the types of informal conversations they may have as well as encourage them to
seek out music outside of the classroom (Schoepp, 2001: 2). This relates back to the affective
filter theory already discussed as well as promoting automatization of different forms of English.
This is where criteria and selection becomes important as students will benefit from exposure to
songs they not only enjoy, but that also meet their specific needs in terms of reinforcement of
known vocabulary or structures.
Primary students in a Bruneian classroom practice songs that utilize useful phrases and learn
colloquial styles of English that they can produce when talking to a peer or the teacher. The
language items within each song are carefully selected to match the theme currently being
studied as well introduce high frequency verbs and nouns the students will use throughout the
year.
Page 68
[MUSIC AND SONG]
Criteria for Selection

Lems (1996, P: 2) discusses some criteria for choosing songs for classroom use:
Most importantly: you like the song and want to share it!
Words easily intelligible
Enough repetition to provide oral practice
Song is popular, or a classic likely to be heard by students outside class
Well-written from a native speaker perspective
If students will sing it, range of notes suitable for average mixed voice
Contains values and themes you want to introduce to the class
When possible, nice illustrations of target grammar item(s)
If part of a unit of songs, good to draw upon different musical genres
Additional considerations based on level:
1. Low level should have limited based vocabulary, no more than 16
lines of text, lots of repetition
2. Intermediate level manageable load of vocabulary,
limited total text length, not heavily embedded
When selecting songs teachers must consider the length of the song and whether the lexis is not
too complicated. Some students will disagree about which song whilst others simply dont like
singing. Certain songs can have an unnatural stress pattern or introduce students to poor
grammar or distorted pronunciation.
Conclusion
As the three theoretical reasons have demonstrated, using songs in the classroom can have
immense value for ESL students and integration of appropriate songs into a language lesson is
certainly possible. I know from my own observations that students at the primary level in Brunei
benefit greatly from teachers integrating songs into their lessons. Singing helps create a shared
frame of cultural reference for these students and enjoyment occurs as a by-product of teacher
and student enthusiasm and participation. Due to the simplified access and proliferation of
music across various platforms, educators are now empowered to select music based on careful
judgments of their students and with consideration towards relevant educational aims and
objectives.
Page 69
[MUSIC AND SONG]
References
Adamowski, E. (1997). The ESL songbook. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Bechtold, J. (1983). Musical ESL. TESL Talk, pp. 14, 180-184.
Domoney, L. and Harris, S. (1993). Justified and ancient: Pop music in EFL classrooms. ELT
Journal, pp. 47.
Eken, D.K. (1996). Ideas for using pop songs in the English language classroom. English Teaching
Forum, pp. 46-47.
Gatbonton, E. and Segalowitz, N. (1988) Creative automatization: Principles for promoting
fluency within a communicative framework. TESOL Quarterly, pp. 22, 473-492.
Griffee, D.T. (1992) Songs in action. Herfodshire, England: Phoenix ELT
Gugliemino, L. M. (1986). The affective edge: Using songs and music in ESL instruction, Adult
Literacy and Basic Education, pp. 10, 19-23.
Krashen, S.D. (1983). Principles and practices in second language acquisition. Oxford, England:
Pergamon Press.
Lems, K. (1996, March). Music across the ESL curriculum. Paper presented at the annual meeting
of the TESOL, San Francisco, CA.
Little, J. (1983). Pop and rock music in the ESL classroom. TESL Talk, pp. 14, 40-44
Monreal, M. E. (1982) How I use songs. English Teaching Forum, pp. 20, 44-45
Schoepp, K. (2001) Reasons for Using Songs in the ESL/EFL Classroom, The Internet TESL
Journal, Vol. VII, No. 2, February 2001.
Swan, M. and Smith, B. (1987) Learner English: A teachers guide to interference and other
problems, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Page 70
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
ELT Management
Page 71
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
THE EDUCATOR AND THE MANAGER:

A TALE OF TWO DISCOURSES*
Greg Keaney, CfBT, Country Manager, gkeaney@cfbt.org
Manager Values
Client Service
Collaboration
Integration
Common Values
Educator Values
7.1. Introduction
The political and ideological nuances of the words manager and management make them
awkward concepts for many involved in education. The words seem to belong to business,
industry and commerce with sacred education somehow apart from, or perhaps above, such
profane activities. Yet of course upon reflection most educators would agree that the tasks of
project managers, principals, directors of studies, regional directors, country mangers, deans
and department heads all involve the same skills as those required by managers in the
commercial world.
The contrast between the values of the manager and the values and outlooks of ELT educators
is, like any structuralist dichotomy, a less than accurate depiction of a complex situation.
Nevertheless, anyone who has worked in international ELT in any capacity would be aware that a
Page 72
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
clash of values frequently occurs and there are few educational organizations that are free of
value clashes relating to decision-making in areas such as resource allocation for educational
activities and teacher terms and conditions.
There are, therefore, a number of areas of important contestations between the discourses of
the manager and the educator. This paper examines some of these contestations at the general
level before discussing some possible commonalities that may be of assistance in finding a
functional resolution of the clashing values. The main contestations examined are the respective
view of organizations including the competing notions of modern and postmodern
organizational structure, the differing perspectives on the commodification of education, the
divergent understanding of transaction costs and the varying orientation towards people and
processes within organizations.
7.2. View of Organizations
Johnston has reflected on the ways ELT management might differ from management in other
areas and speculated that, in ELT, management is:
amorphous, largely unsupervised, often ill at ease with itself; but also thanks to its closeness to
ELT perhaps uniquely open to influence from some of the healthiest trends in interpersonal
dealings...Johnston (1989, p.5)
Almost all ELT managers and practitioners would agree that it makes business sense to satisfy
clients rather than dissatisfy them, to win them rather than lose them, to strengthen 'revenue
earning' teaching operations rather than degrade them and to cultivate markets rather than to
sell them short. Charles (1993, p.15) argues that the more the ELT profession mixes with the
'outside' business and professional world the more it learns to engage with the management
content of that world, and match its performance standards. Yet suspicion and hostility remain.
Hammond (2001, p15) notes that even in academic ELT journals there are laments of losing
colleagues to business meaning teachers moving across to management and that there is a
strong perceived polarity of the camps in ELT organizations and projects.
While the managerial world view draws on beliefs that come from notions of supply and
demand and behavioural incentives, notions that derive from the discipline of economics, the
world view of the ELT educator derives from notions of personal growth, fulfilment and social
harmony; ideas that are broadly situated in sociology and psychology. The idea that the
organization exists to make money is a managerial one. The notion that the idea of the
educational organization is to offer courses that will provide outstanding educational services to
students, and be a motivating and inspirational work environment, is an educational one. While
the two views are not totally incompatible, resolution of the two aims has many difficulties.
Many of the values that are important in the communicative classrooms of ELT educators give
rise to a predominant view among such educators that the human resource perspective (see
Follet, 1941; Homans, 1950; Kaplan & Tausky, 1977; Riches & Morgan, 1989) is the 'sensible'
view of organizations and that this view of organizations is the one held as the common sense
Page 73
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
view of organizations by many educators, whose paradigms of organizational and educational

issues may be very similar. The managerial discourse, on the other hand, tends to favour
explanations from the views of traditional management or its more recent symbolic / cultural
iterations that emphasize different organizational priorities.
Part of the discoursal clash between the educator and the manager may be due to a much
broader historical process. Hargreaves (1994; p. 15) sees the forces of managerial and
educational worldviews as part of a larger conflict between modernity and postmodernity. He
describes the trends thus:
The fate of teachers work, its structure and culture, is caught in a powerful and dynamic struggle
between two immense social forces: those of modernity and postmodernity. On the one hand, is
an increasingly post-industrial, post-modern world, characterised by accelerating change,
intense compression of time and space, cultural diversity, technological complexity, national
insecurity and scientific uncertainty. Against this stands a modernistic, monolithic school system
that continues to pursue deeply anachronistic purposes within obstructive and inflexible
structures.
It is in the struggles between and within modernity and postmodernity that the challenge of
change for teachers' work, educational leadership and schools as workplaces is to be found.
The postmodern organization is often used as a label for a collection of characteristics that are
becoming more prevalent in certain organizations in the latter half of the 20th century and the
early years of the 21st. This broad movement from modern to postmodern is impacting on many
organizations. It has made the ability to adapt and change ever more important to an
organization's perceived success and meant that the ability to change effectively is ever more
essential to an organizations continuing life chances.
Aspects of postmodern organizations have been linked to some of the diffuse intellectual
notions that underlie the postmodernist tradition and its relationship to the broad assumptions
of the modern era. Like many terms that are used to describe broad movements in social,
economic, political and cultural life though, postmodernism is rather vague and ill-defined. The
collection of ideas that has come to be labelled as postmodernism can be more correctly seen as
a partial description of the breakdowns and transformations in the central structures and
organizing principles of the modern era.
In organizational theory archetypical 'modern' organizations are those large bureaucratic
organizations that adopt a rationalist view of their operations. Such organizations are usually
configured with a hierarchical structure and emphasize the job and the tasks rather than the
people who fill them. In this type of organization the job description is more important than the
individual who fills it and there is an assumption that the organization has 'positions' to fill rather
that a range of members whose talents must be combined and maximized.
Most organizational theorists conceive of organizations as social systems which possess two
essential attributes: a reason for being such as a mission or purpose and a range of constraints
such as boundaries or limits. Bergquist (1993: pp.65-66) notes that an important distinction
Page 74
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
between traditional work organizations and postmodern organizational identities lies with the
differing emphasis on mission and boundaries. In order to succeed traditional organizations have
tended to emphasize their boundary conditions while paying less attention to their purposes or
missions. Postmodern organizations, on the other hand, need to have much clearer missions
because their boundaries and limits are fast changing and can become extremely blurred.
This fundamental difference in purpose and boundary conditions means that archetypical
postmodern organizations are more likely to be of small to moderate size and complexity and
have flexible structures and modes of inter-institutional cooperation to meet their more
turbulent organizational and environmental conditions. They have to emphasize clarity of
mission partly to compensate for their increasingly diffuse boundaries. It is a significant dilemma
faced by these kinds of organizations and the successful management of the state of flux of their
rapidly changing boundaries is a central organizational concern. Jamesons (1991) core argument
is that because postmodern organizations by definition possess such boundary fluidity,
organizational purpose is the essential element in their continued existence.
Traditional organizations orchestrate a clear demarcation between the inside and the outside of
their organizations, making the organization and its location virtually identical. In the
postmodernist view of organization, however, the location of the organization and its
boundaries is far less fixed in physical and even in psychological terms. Such organizations can
change premises easily and frequently enabling them to take advantage of differentials in
ecological variables such as asset values and changes in their market niches.
The activities and clients of postmodern organizations may also be expected to change rapidly in the educational sphere this might involve rapid shifts in the age of students (moving from
teaching adults to school children for example) or their first language backgrounds (e.g. changing
from teaching Vietnamese-speaking migrants with severe learning difficulties to Japanese short
term tourists who wish to combine language learning with holiday activities).
It has been suggested that working in the these kinds of organizations is like living on the edge, a
kind of threshold or flow experience that may present more exciting opportunities and
challenges for those who have learned to thrive on change and can live with instability. For those
whose expectations, coping abilities and learning behaviours were shaped through experiences
in modernist organizations, however, life in these organizations may be more likely to be
troubling and unsettling. Indeed, underlying many of the tensions in international ELT
organizations, and the anxieties of their educational managers, are some of these differing
conceptions of how an organization is configured. Some characteristics of the postmodern
organization, such as their uncertainty of operations and fast-changing work patterns, are
probably less alienating to those with an entrepreneurial or managerial orientation.
The similarity between the research paradigms for education and those of the human resource
perspective on organizations can mean that many educators hold one particular view of
organizations. It may be that the fact that most large traditional educational organizations are
still chiefly configured on bureaucratic modernist assumptions, while international ELT
Page 75
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
organizations and projects are more likely to be configured on postmodernist patterns, makes
tensions and 'culture clashes' more likely.
7.3. Commodification of Education
Reid (1996) throughout his work argues that a discourse of commodity production has pervaded
the administrative practices of educational organizations and projects in recent times. His
analysis of the language that constitutes what he sees as a value shift in the provision of
education includes a strong focus on the terms commodity and production. The terms
commodity and production can appear in many contexts with positive or neutral
connotations. In Reids analysis, however, there are clearly shared values in the use of such
terminology, indicating that they are extremely negative when applied to education.
Commodities are things and so are dehumanising when applied to human interactions, and
production is chiefly to do with material goods and factories and has a linkage with mass
production that seems to counter notions of individualism that underpin the service at the
heart of education.
Reid uses this shared discoursal value system to develop ideas put forward by Fairclough (1992:
pp.6-7). He argues that there has been a process of re-wording that changes learners into
consumers, courses into packages and an 'invasion' of teaching and research by the vocabulary
of advertising and management. These new ways of talking about what educational
organizations do, and what educational administrators need to strive for, leads to the
acceptance/inculcation of new attitudes. Reid lists a range of terminological contrasts that are
indicative of educator as opposed to managerial values. The first word in each partnership is the
preferred terminology from an educational perspective the second pejoratively assigned to the
outside. Thus values versus prices, leaders versus managers, collegiality versus
corporatism and education versus training (Reid, 1996, p.iv).
Despite the criticism of managerial trends in higher education, Reid does suggest that many
familiar notions about what educators feel education should be are nostalgic 'beat ups commentators constructing as normative what they think they remember from the past. The
very awareness that the language of management and that of education are distinct, however,
confirms the reality of an educator discourse. At bottom, Reid's analysis reveals a preference for
public, rather than private, funding of educational activities. This, when viewed from a
management perspective, can lead to the domination of educational activities by producer
interests such as teachers, education academics and bureaucrats over the more diffuse
consumer and beneficiary interests.
As Harrison (1996, p.5) notes:
The exercise of public authority in an industry affects the distribution of wealth between
producers and consumers. In the political battle for the use of public authority, producer groups
are favoured. Concentrated producer interests, often already organized, will tend to dominate
diffuse consumer interests.In practice educational decisions are dominated by public education
Page 76
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
producer interests, and consumer desires are neglected. Change takes place only if producer
interests do not object too much and changes that benefit producer interests are favoured.
Educators can acquire an admiration for a system that tends to focus on political action rather
than improved services as a way to enhance producer benefits (Lieberman, 1993: p.273). It
retains appeal to many educators because it seemingly enhances their own prestige. By reducing
the emphasis on client service, however, it may have long-term disadvantages for organizational
development and renewal.
7.4. Transaction Costs
One feature of postmodern organizations is the more global and internationally inter-reliant
nature of their business transactions. Casson (1993, p.38) indicates that a good deal of
managerial effort in market economies is involved in improving trading arrangements. This often
involves reducing transaction costs such as advertising, specifying requirements, negotiating
terms, transferring title, physical exchange of goods or services, checking compliance and
sanctioning defaulters.
The issue of transaction costs is, however, another area of contestation between the two
discourses. From a management perspective the reduction of transaction costs is almost the
prime area of managerial effectiveness. Frequently though, from an educator perspective, such
reductions are seen as a serious threat to prestige or status. For example, a staff meeting may be
held to be an important means of communication for little apparent cost. The real cost of the
meeting though, when one totals the salary of all members of the meeting can be vast. A onehour meeting of twenty teachers who earn an average of $100 per hour gives a cost of $2000
around the price of two new computers. The organization could, theoretically, outfit four new
computer labs every year if weekly staff meetings were replaced with more cost efficient means
of communication!
This results in a contestation over the nature of efficiency. While ELT educators value efficiency,
they see it in terms of delivering sound educational experiences. Managers on the other hand
view efficiency as maximizing financial benefits while minimizing costs. For educators this can
come to be seen as a negative single-minded drive to cut costs at all costs (Harrison, 1996: p.2).
Educators, though, have a tendency to allow hidden costs to develop, especially in the soft areas
of staff time allocated to non-revenue earning activities. From a managerial perspective it is vital
for the overall success of ELT organizations and projects to be effective in reducing these costs
so as to minimize overall transaction costs. The balance of reducing transactions costs while
maintaining educational quality is one of the most difficult for the ELT manager to resolve.
7.5. Process vs People
Ironically Foucaults fears of the productivity and efficiency of instrumental-rational forms of
organization, which Weber also suggested were to be found in modern bureaucratic
organizations, now underpins much organizational educational thought. Many educators place a
Page 77
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
high value on processes rather than favoured individuals, and would agree with the proposition
that power and its distribution in modern societies should not depend on the personal prestige
or prowess of individuals but rather should be exercised through an impersonal administrative
system that operates in accordance with abstract rules. The mechanisms by which these abstract
rules are determined, though, is not brought up and their possible unfairness is little examined
(Sarup, 1988: p.77).
Determination of salary levels for teachers by qualifications and years of experience, for
example, does not stand up to performance management best practice. The highly intangible
nature of teaching has led to a certain level of assumption among teachers that the difficulties
involved in assessing performance means that no performance measurement can take place.
From the management perspective however, some teachers are clearly of greater value to the
organization than others for an array of personal and professional reasons.
At present such clashes tend to be resolved at the minimalist legal level. Few international ELT
projects have successful strategies to reward staff financially for their success or to implement
pay regimes that differ from the usual award scales and those that do typically simply pay less
than standard modernist salary levels hardly a strategy to endear such organizations to
educators! Over time however it is possible that some ELT organizations and projects may look
to develop different incentive strategies to attract and keep certain kinds of ELT educators.
There is little doubt that many young dynamic teachers would be attracted to an organization
that had financial incentives that rewarded talent and commitment rather than years of service
and formal qualifications acquired.
7.6. Commonalities
While there are a range of conflicting notions between the discourses of the manager and the
ELT educator, it may also be possible to find commonalities or areas of shared values between
the two. These commonalities are likely to be fruitful avenues in the process of reconciliation of
discoursal tensions.
For different reasons both ELT educators and managers are familiar with, and tend to support
the idea of, integration and the notion that the whole is more than the sum of the parts. ELT
educators are used to ideas of humanism in education, educating the whole person and not
separating affective and cognitive activities. ELT has a strong research tradition of valuing
authenticity in the language classroom and valuing the contextualization of learning content.
Managers, on the other hand, are also likely to regard holistic thinking as important, as a focus
on the organization as a dynamic whole is an important notion in management thinking.
An emphasis on integration of all organizational activities, from finance to marketing to
education, therefore, should be a core value that has appeal to managers and educators.
Effective outcomes are more likely for ELT organizations that have a culture of responsibility for
overall success rather than of being commissioned for one specific task. The sense of belonging
and participation that springs from a focus on integration should assist both profitability and
educational quality, satisfying both managerial and educational prerogatives.
Page 78
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
Collaboration may be another factor that is capable of appealing to, and sharing meanings
across, the two discourses. From a management point of view greater collaboration has obvious
appeal in the savings to costs of duplicated effort and the greater likelihood of successful
financial outcomes if all staff are cooperating. Hargreaves (1994, pp.244 - 245) speaks of cultures
of collaboration in education seeing collaboration as one of the most promising devices for
assisting in principles of action, planning, culture, development, organization and research.
Collaborative work cultures provide moral support, strengthen the resolve of organizational
members and contribute to improvements in efficiency through a reduction or elimination of
duplication and redundancy. Again ELT has a tradition of classroom collaboration and group
dynamics, reflected in such texts as Classroom Dynamics (Hadfield, 1992). Hadfield notes that a
successful group dynamic is a vital element in the learning/teaching process. She reflects upon
her own experience, shared by many in ELT, of two contrasting classes. One, a group of affluent,
well-educated Europeans in a well-resourced and well-equipped ELT department in the UK using
an enjoyable and lively textbook; the other a group of Tibetans in an unheated room without
electricity in the middle of a -20oC Tibetan winter using dog-eared, badly stencilled copies of dry
TOEFL preparation materials. The experience with the European group was awful while that with
the Tibetans was one of the most successful and rewarding of her ELT career. The contrast was
due to the group dynamics and greater sense among the group of collaboration (Hadfield, 1992,
pp.9-10).
A third commonality may be a focus on the client. Notions of student-centred learning in ELT
have been important since work on the development of communicative ELT course programmes
began in the 1970s. In managerial thinking focusing on client and customer care as a primary
business advantage has always been a fundamental idea in marketing and general management.
7.7. Conclusion
This paper has examined some of the contestations between the discourses of the manager and
the ELT educator. The main contestations examined were the respective view of organizations
including the competing notions of modern and postmodern organizational structure, the
differing perspectives on the commodification of education, the divergent understanding of
transaction costs and the varying orientation towards people and processes within
organizations. As well as indicating some of the general contestations between the two
discourses this paper has briefly discussed some areas of commonality between the discourses
that may provide some means of functional resolution between the competing value systems.
[*Adapted from Keaney, G. (2003) Dollars and Sense: An exploration of discoursal and climate
issues in international ELT management. Chapter 7 University of Sydney pp 105 118]
Page 79
[ELT MANAGEMENT]
References
Aitken, R. and Handy, C. (1986) Understanding Schools as Organizations. London: Penguin

Bergquist, W. (1993) The Postmodern Organization. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Black, T. (2001) Playing with the big boys: the growth of companies. ELT Management IATEFL
Newsletter 30: pp.11-15
Casson, M. (1993) Entrepreneurship and Business Culture. In Entrepreneurship, Networks and
Modern Business J.Brown and M. Rose (Eds) Manchester UP Manchester pp.30-54
Emery, F. and Trist, E. (1981) The causal texture of organizational environments. In Systems
Thinking
Follet, M.P. (1941) Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follet. H.
Metcalf and L. Urwick (Eds) London: Pitman
Hadfield, J. (1992) Classroom Dynamics Oxford: OUP
Hargreaves, A. (1994) Changing Teachers, Changing Times Cassell London
Harris, P. (1985) Management in Transition. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Harrison, M. (1996) A Private Education for All. Centre for Independent Studies Occasional
Papers 56
Homans, G. (1950) The Human Group. New York: Harcourt Brace
Jameson, F. (1991) Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke UP
Kaplan, R. and Grabe, W. (1992) Introduction to Applied Linguistics. Menlo Park, CA: AddisonWesley
Lieberman, M. (1993) Pubic Education: An Autopsy Cambridge; Harvard University Press
Reid, I. (1996) Higher Education or Education for Hire: Language and Values in Australian
Universities. CQU Press: Rockhampton
Riches, C. and Morgan, C. (1989) Human Resource Management in Education. Open University
Press
Sarup, M. (1988) Post-structuralism and Post-modernism. Harvester Wheatsheaf: Hertfordshire
Page 80
[TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER FELLOWSHIPS]
Tropical English
Teacher Fellowships
Who? All teachers and managers working for CfBT in Brunei are eligible to apply.
What?
2012 pilot scheme for teaching, capacity building and sharing experience in schools in
nearby countries as part of our ongoing professional development programme
Where? ASEAN countries

Typically one working week in a school. For CfBT teachers the week will need to
When?
coincide with regular Brunei Ministry of Education holidays
Why? To learn from and to share with other tropical English teachers in a variety of contexts
How?
Contact Greg Keaney, gkeaney@cfbt.org

for more information or to register an expression of interest
Page 81
MEET LEKISHON: A MASAI TEACHER

From an encounter with Sue Hemingway, CfBT, Anthony Abell College,
shemingway@cfbt.org
I had no shoes and I complained, until I met a man who had no feet
Indian Proverb
My name is Lekishon Tutunyo, Am a Masai from Tanzania, a village called Mfereji, in Monduli
Province and thats where I was born and raised up.
The Maasai tribe is the most authentic ethnic tribe of Tanzania. The Maasai tribe (or Masai) is a
unique and popular tribe due to their long preserved culture. Despite education, civilization, and
western cultural influences, the Maasai people have clung to their traditional way of life, making
them a symbol of Tanzanian culture.
My self am self educated after having moved from my village to Arusha in 2003, to try to make
money to help my village, with basic necessity needs like water and basic education of which I
never had. What made me have the idea of basic education and provide water to my village is
because , as I was a small boy growing up, I would see safari companies vehicles bring their
Page 82
clients to our villages for cultural tours, and since the drivers/guides were Tanzanian , at times I
could try ask them in Swahili language how he learnt the language his white friends spoke, and
they would tell me he had to go to school in the city to learn, but also my Swahili at that time of
which is a national language I didnt either speak it well, so at times I will be very lucky to meet
this driver guides from the city who were Maasai and they were lucky to have gone to school,
may be because they had relatives who had moved to town earlier on, so I would ask them a lot
of questions about the city they leave, about jobs and schools etc,
After a few years, I sold some few goats of my own so that I could move to town, and my first
initial thing to do was to get a job, as a gate watch man, because this are the jobs I used to hear
that are Maasai jobs in the city like Arusha.
My parents were against this idea of me moving to town, but I felt like it will be good if I moved
to town and I got my self a job as a security watch man at the gate or at the shops owned by
Indians, and work at night and during the day I can find some school to learn some Swahili and
English and with that I would be able to help my siblings and other villagers.
So in 2003 I moved to Arusha, I didnt have any where to stay, and I didnt have any body that I
knew that I could go to his place for overnight, so the few days I had to sleep on the verandas of
the shops, luckily at times when roaming around the town during the day, I could see some
Maasai but I didnt know them , but with us Maasai we greet each other even though we dont
know each other, so after a while I made friends with some Maasai that used to be the security
gate men at night for the shops owned by Indians. So I told them my story and they let me stay
with them in a room they rented a few minutes away from the city.
Page 83
After a while I found my self a security job as a gate man for an Indian family, so he asked me a
lot of questions etc and I was honest with him so he gave me a job but the pay was very poor,
and also during the day I couldnt make it to school because I w ill be very sleepy during the day,
nor could I even afford the school, at night when I could go to work I used to go to the dust bin
and collect old newspapers, though I couldnt read or write, anyways I would just stare at the
word and look at the picture, that when my boss realized I was up to the idea of school, because
at night he would go round his house and find me with a bunch of newspapers and magazines
and with that he bought me some books, actually beginners books and a pencil and paper, and
he asked his other staff that used to work in his house to help me with reading and writing, and
actually since we were all busy, they tried their bit and honestly within seven months I could
read and write Swahili 100%, with English I was around 30% fair good.
As time went by, I wrote my boss a letter in Swahili and English to borrow some loan because I
wanted to get a good pair of Masai shoes, and Maasai shuka (Maasai clothes) and some money
to rent my own shanty house, he was impressed and he gave me the money and he told me not
to pay back, I worked for him for one year and half and he had to move to U.S, so I was left
jobless etc,
Since I had gotten used to Arusha I started hanging around the town at tourist places and I got
my self another job as a gate man at a tourist restaurant, I was happy because with this I could
speak English more oftenly with tourist who really liked taking a picture of me because am
Masai. As time went by I became accustomed to city life, and actually some foreigner residents
that used to work here in Arusha they were very impressed with my life history and they asked
Page 84
me if I can take them to my village for a cultural tour and that first tour to my village with them
changed every thing.
My boss at the restaurant he helped me put an advert at the restaurant for cultural tours to the
village, one day my boss helped me get the clients and in 2007, I got this students from Europe
and America, they were here to do some research and my boss told them my story and they
were up to the idea of going to my village for cultural tour, and as time went by, they were
really touched with the different life and culture that we had there, so those clients bought a
black board, pens, pencils, books etc for me to start a school but under a tree since the funds
they had was limited and they were very young and also students in university from different
countries and thats how Enjipai Education Programme came about.
I started with three students and right now we have 28 students and two teachers, though we
still do the teaching under the tree, but am happy the school is still going on and the number of
students is raising. The long term initial goal is to establish a Maasai managed education system
that focuses on primary and secondary education for youth and also which provides remedial
education for adults.
Page 85
TRAVELS IN TANZANIA: HOW I

ACCIDENTALLY CLIMBED AN ACTIVE
VOLCANO AND FOUND OUT THE RIGHT
AND WRONG WAY TO BE
A TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER
Sue Hemmingway, CfBT, Anthony Abell College, shemingway@cfbt.org
Why Tanzania?
Why Tanzania? Landing in Dar Es Salam airport had me wondering that myself! Stinking hot, took
forever to get a visa and the natives at immigration were less than friendly. I was easy to spot for
my Tanzanian friends mum, who kindly offered to collect me, I was the only Mzungu (white
person in Swahili) in arrivals.
The heat was suffocating, the traffic worse than Manila at peak hour. Luckily my friends family
lived in a quiet area, down a seemingly never ending series of narrow dirt roads. I enjoyed
spending a few days with her family and meeting their friends and neighbours.
I have hosted Couch Surfers for many years; for those unfamiliar with the term; Google
couchsurfing.com. It is a global organization based in San Francisco, run via the net. You register,
then host, travel, surf (be accommodated by), or simply meet for coffee or chat with other
members about their travels and recommendations.
I surfed for a few days with a Portuguese IB History teacher, Andres and his lovely Vietnamese
wife Bao in the gated, guarded compound of the DAR International School. Andres invited me to
team teach with him. I was very impressed by the students and the sensational facilities the
school had to offer. We went out to dinner at a delicious seafood restaurant on the foreshore.
The following day, he was up to his ears in dreaded correction (no, I didnt offer!), so he
suggested I took the ferry to Bongoyo Island, about a half an hour from the mainland. It was
paradise, gin clear water, interesting coral reef with entertaining sea life. I went snorkelling with
two fellows I met on the ferry. It would have been sensible of me to enquire how far and how
long they intended to be in the water. Sensible; who, me? Several hours later, completely
exhausted and burnt to a crisp, but very happy, I climbed back aboard the ferry.
Page 86
Then it was descent into hell. Im a fairly well seasoned traveller. I dont flinch from Port
Authority New York at peak hour, but nothing prepared me for DAR Central! One word of advice,
if you consider catching the bus from DAR to Arusha, DONT! A seething mass of humanity
carrying every possible contraption which could loosely suit the purpose of luggage, milled
around a confusing array of ticket offices.
Thinking the worst was over, I thankfully collapsed into the seat of a bus marked Arusha
Express, relieved I hadnt been relieved of my luggage or wallet. It was unbearably hot, the air
conditioner was broken, the windows didnt open, they were stuck fast, as was the bus itself,
jammed tight in the snarling traffic of DAR.
Worst over; not likely! Next came thirteen hours of nail biting terror as our quat chewing, movie
watching, speed freak of a driver sat on 120 kilometres and attempted to overtake all vehicles
ahead of us. For a while he contented himself playing tag- tiggy with an oil tanker; until it lost
control on a sharp bend near a river and over turned; apparently the driver died. Next he tail
gated a container full of live goats that some clever bunny had not secured well enough on the
back of a truck. Inconsiderately, said goats had not been provided with safety belts, so on taking
a bend too sharply, the goats slammed into the side of the shipping container, up ending its
bleeding, baa-ing contents onto the asphalt. We narrowly missed over- turning ourselves in the
effort to avoid skidding into the tangled, bloody mess.
While the sign may have said Arusha Express the driver had other ideas. We went all over the
countryside picking up passengers who seemed to have his mobile number.
I arrived in Arusha late at night one dehydrated, hot, sweaty, smelly mess, certainly more shaken
than stirred. Freddie was easy to find, he was the only other Mzungu at the bus stop. Id
contacted Fred on couch surfing initially to pick his brain regarding where to go on safari. As luck
would have it, he was setting up his own company. Our mutual interest in anti poaching, native
tribes and wildlife cinched it, I signed on as his first official customer with his new business,
TAPAC Safaris (tarpac.safaris@gmail.com).
As it turned out, I couldnt have wished for a more enthusiastic, knowledgeable or just plain fun
to be with person. Early the next morning, we trekked half way up Mt. Meru; (second tallest
mountain in Tanzania next to Kilimanjaro). We passed though a succession of Maasai villages,
then dropped down into a lush, green rain forested valley, where we followed a stream to lunch
by a magnificent waterfall.
The following day we left Arusha on Safari. Our first night was spent camping with Freddies
Maasai friends at Monduli, perched high on the side of The Rift Valley. This was where I met
Moran Lekishon Tutunyo, founder of Enjipai (Maasai for happiness). Enjipai is a program
designed to address the issues and challenges of the Maasai people. Their main goal is to create
a self sufficient community which can provide education, food and water for its own people,
eventually without outside help.
Page 87
However, it was not until I returned to Brunei that I realised how much good Leiki was quietly
doing for his people. And I nearly killed him for not telling me while I was there! Why didnt
he? He considered it a conflict of interests. He knew I was already committed to work on an
orphanage for AIDS children in Moshe. When I got home, it was only by chance that I followed
a series of links on his Facebook [search Facebook for: Lekishon Tutunyo]
to discover he and his brother Samuel had set up a school under a tree, because the only
school near their village was too far way for the children to walk to each day. These brothers
dream of building a classroom and to equip it with things necessary to develop the education
opportunities of the children of Marshland. I am planning on returning to Tanzania next
December to help them. You too can help by volunteering as a teacher, booking a cultural tour
or giving a donation. (Email: enjipaicommunity@yahoo.com )
From the camp we trekked down though rugged territory, tracking a herd of Eland. Along the
way Leiki gave a running commentary on the life of the Maasai, the initiations, the ceremonies,
the traditions; all the while plucking this or that bit of plant, tree or shrub as we passed. Insisting
I sniff, taste or touch it. He provided me with an on the spot education into their medicinal or
killer qualities. Suddenly, there was a large herd of Eland thundering past us and I knew I was in
love with Africa.
The next day we endured a bone jarring drive for five hours though harsh terrain to Lake Natron.
There was no other traffic, except Maasai herding their cows or walking from one isolated boma
(village) to another.
Natron is a shallow, alkaline lake stretching southward to the Kenyan border for shy of 60
kilometres. It is over 36 kilometres across The lake has been sustained for over 1.5 million years
by a series of hot springs. I was completely unprepared for how deeply it affected me. We
climbed a rocky kopje and suddenly we were in heaven. The skys reflection in the stillness of the
lake created the illusion we were weightless above the clouds, floating, flying, with the
thousands of pink flamingos, idly flapping towards a vanishing point stretched out somewhere
beyond the horizon.
The cloud wreathed, sinister silhouette of Ol Doinyo Lengai darkened the skyline behind us. It
bought back all my childhood fears of Walt Disneys Fantasia, the scene where the bald
mountain rears up into a demonic form which unleashes the restless souls from hell to wreak
Page 88
havoc on the sleeping village at the mountains base. Then and there I decided my childhood
nightmare must be conquered. Fred wasnt quite so enthusiastic.
Not that we needed a warm up activity, but we next drove to the Ngare Sero River. We
clambered along precipitous rock ledges for over an hour; crossing and re crossing the fast
flowing river as it tumbled though the gorge it had dug in the escarpment wall. We eventually
arrived, thoroughly drenched, at a series of fern covered waterfalls with inviting pools.
We returned to camp to regroup for the night ahead. 11.30pm found us at the base of the
400,000 years old, youngest and most active volcano in East Africa, Ol Doinyo Lengai the
Maasai Mountain of God. Its last major eruption was in 2008, which measured 6.0 on the
Richter scale and was felt as far away as Nairobi, with lava flows removing all vegetation.
The sliver of moon had not yet risen, the stars shone bright, like childrens cutouts pasted on
black velvet. My head torch revealed nothing but the circle of light I kept religiously around our
Maasai guides feet as I followed his every step. Idle chatter ceased abruptly as we started to
climb and climb with no let up.
By half way I knew Id made a serious mistake. I was exhausted and our helpful guide informed
me we hadnt started climbing yet. It was his fiftieth ascent and for him the mountain had sacred
significance. As I had abandoned my Maasai herding sticks and been climbing on all fours for the
past hour, I enquired whether we would next be lying flat to the slope? Stupid question Sue.
Torturously slowly the hours ticked by, the stars moved around above us and there came a
glimmer of dawn. A party of climbers ahead of us from the UK turned back, advising us to do the
same, they said it was blowing a gale further up and conditions were closing in. We were about
300 metres from top, our Maasai went on alone to pray to the god of the mountain for a safe
ascent and then up we went. We rounded a rocky outcrop to be nearly knocked off our feet by
an icy blast. The wind howled, the clouds swirled menacingly about us exactly like the wraiths
from my childhood nightmares. We were crawling flat to the slope now, inching our way up.
Suddenly our guide slipped, we watched helplessly as he slid past us, there was nothing we
could do. He managed to find a foothold further down, and scrambled back, but the reality was
any slip was death. The sound of every piece of lava knocked loose could be heard ricocheting
for long moments, gathering speed, crashing distantly downwards.
At 7.30am we reached the summit, 2887mts, so narrow we could sit with one foot in the lunar
landscape of the crater and the other on the outer rim. Staring down into the sulphuric, smoke
swirling, gurgling depths was as close to hell as I ever wish to get. I was past exhaustion; I was
freezing cold and shaking uncontrollably. I felt real fear. Our guide saw it, he took me very slowly
(pole-pole in Swahili ) we inched our way down on our backsides and elbows. As the clouds
parted they revealed their shadows, moving rapidly, a dark herd of charging elephants racing,
ragged across ridges of the Rift Valley walls flung flat against the distant horizon.
Page 89
It was after one pm when I finally stumbled back to the four wheel drive. Our faithful driver,
Humphrey had slept there over night. Quite a crowd of Maasai had gathered to see the mad, old
Aussie woman make it over the finish line. Fred had bolted down some hours earlier and was
curled up, asleep.
However we were both high on euphoria on the way back to camp. We made it! After some
food and a shower we somehow managed to sleep through all 120 kilometres of potholed dirt
tracks and dry riverbed crossings to Mto wa Mbu, where we camped in relative luxury for the
night. The following day it was back to Arusha to regroup for the second part of my safari.
PART TWO: Tarangire National Park, Ballooning over the Serengeti, Ngorongoro
Crater and volunteering on an AIDS orphanage.
On Dec 13th, we left Arusha to visit one of the highlights for me, Tarangire National Park. The
variety of landscape and wildlife was breathtaking. After leaving our cook Good Luck to make
camp, we drove alongside the winding, palm fringed Tarangire River; above us white puffs of
cloud drifted lazily in a Tanzanite blue sky. The term wildlife was almost a contradiction, herds
of Impalas barely looked up to note our presence, young bucks entangled horns in jousting
matches, flighty Dik Diks momentarily scattered, only to inquisitively regroup, their exquisitely
delicate features uniformly facing us. Huge tusked elephants regally wandered across our path.
In one green grassed area, I counted over forty of them grazing. Self important warthogs trotted,
tails vertical, about their business. Giraffes daintily nibbled the treetops. Everywhere, squat
baobab trees stretched their stout, stubbed branches. Incredibly, we had the whole place to
ourselves.
Deep into the park, we were held up trying to fix a jack for a park worker who had a flat tyre on
some heavy machinery. As dusk fell, the baobab trees became black silhouetted against a blood
red setting sun. Humphrey was anxious to return to camp. I soon saw why, it was dangerous to
drive with our lights on as we could startle the wildlife and just as dangerous with them off. We
narrowly escaped driving straight into a huge elephant standing stationary in the middle of the
road.
That night, we were the only people in the camp. It was eerie hearing the bickering hippos, the
hyenas high pitched laughter so close, too close. Just before we climbed into our tents, a four
wheel drive arrived in camp and out stepped a park guard with a semi automatic casually slung
over his shoulder. He was to patrol the camp during the night. I wasnt sure whether I was more
afraid of him or the animals.
The next day we drove through the Rift Valley, slowly winding up its steep walls, which provided
a superb view of the verdant green of Lake Manyara National Park, a lush contrast with the reds
and browns of the arid valley floor.
Page 90
We entered the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and lunched with a breathtaking view over the
crater while being dive bombed by large, pesky birds hell bent on stealing our food. We
continued on to the Serengeti, passing through many Maasai bomas, with their herds of goats
and cows grazing happily side by side with vast herds of wildebeest and zebra.
However, once past the checkpoint into the Serengeti the Maasai are no longer allowed grazing
rights. Although there are no fences anywhere, from that checkpoint onwards we only saw wild
animals. Serengeti in Maa, (the language of the Maasai) means, endless plains; 14,763 square
kilometres of open, rolling grass lands, for as far as the eye could see, covered with vast herds of
wildebeest and zebra. These species far outnumbered all others though Grants gazelles; water
buffalo; waterbuck; warthogs; dik dik and the occasional Lichtenstein hartebeest were also
sighted. The bird life was varied, we saw flocks of filthy vultures, crazy Kori bustards, and
imposing Secretary birds. We also saw the smaller, more colourful Lilac breasted roller and white
fronted bee eaters.
The Serengeti was a virtual take away for the swift cheetahs, lounging lionesses and remarkably
long tailed leopards.
The entertaining aspect of the camp sites was that we had to eat within a caged area owing to
the fact that nothing else was stopping the wildlife from checking out what was for dinner,
which included us. Going to the toilet after dark was a risky business. One night I walked, well
ran, though a pack of hyena sniffing around camp. At Simba Camp, the concrete water tank had
been recently destroyed by an elephant using it as a back scratcher.
A highlight for me was the hippo pools. You literally could walk across their backs, they were
wedged in together so closely. This was to protect the young from the ever present Nile
crocodiles.
I was picked up at 4.30am, the morning of my balloon trip. The stars seemed within easy reach
as we bumped along miles of corrugated tracks to where the balloons were readying for a dawn
take off. I had no idea exactly how huge they were. The basket took 20 passengers. Our pilot had
32 years of experience. What an amazing job. Hed flown balloons all over the world. Once we
were airborne and the burners switched off, it was a surreal experience, total silence, and
because we were moving with the wind, it appeared there was none.
The sun rising over the edge of the Ngorongoro crater as the Serengeti slowly awoke beneath us
is a vision Ill never forget.
You dont get much choice about where to land a balloon, however the ground crew arrived and
very quickly unpacked everything required for a full champagne breakfast. Tables clothed in
starched white linen were set up under shady Arcadia trees. Turbaned waiters poured water
from huge beaten silver tumblers for us to wash our hands. They told tales of recently having to
chase a pride of lions away from the food. It was all very colonial.
Page 91
The following day we got up in the freezing dawn at Simba Camp. By six am we were
descending down the narrow, winding dirt track into the crater. The variety and density of
wildlife almost defies description. All I could think of was the lyrics of Elton Johns Circle of Life,
theres far too much to ever be seen or to do than can ever be done. The highlights were seeing
three rhinos, a pride of fourteen lions, and a cheetah on the hunt.
If the road into the crater was torturous, the switchback, one way goat track on the way out was
worse. I was very relieved when we finally made it to the top. All praise to Humphreys excellent
driving skills.
Then it was back to Arusha. The next day I did a shopping trip to the Masai market with Lekishon
to buy clothes for the orphans. The market was an experience in itself. Mountains of second
hand clothes and shoes for as far as the eye could see. We bought an outfit for each of the
children.
If I thought the bus ride from DAR to Arusha was bad, nothing compared to a dala-dala trip from
Arusha to Moshe. Its apparently the most dangerous stretch of road anywhere in Tanzania. The
Moshe bus station is inhabited by fly catchers, aggressive men who pester you incessantly. I
finally fought my way to a taxi and gave the address of the orphanage, the driver had never
heard of it. We drove out though the slums, to where the potholes in the road practically
swallowed the car, to where he wouldnt take the taxi any further and I got out and walked,
wondering what the hell Id got myself into.
I eventually located the orphanage. I immediately took a dislike to the guy running it and even
more of a dislike to his wife. His kids and wife were grotesquely over weight, the orphans were
thin and hungry. The orphans napped on bare concrete, their beds were urine stained and
covered in torn, old blankets, they had no mosquito nets. They stunk; they wore the same gear
for four days before a cursory wash in a bucket of cold water from the only tap and then a
change into something questionably cleaner. The place itself was dusty and dirty. I felt
desperately sorry for them. The food they were fed was a disgrace. Meanwhile, he lived in a
huge house, within a compound, using the older orphans literally as slaves. Some of them still
had parents, but they were too sick and poor to care for them. The fact this man took advantage
of the situation sickened me. I was furious when his wife took the best of the clothes Id bought
for her own kids, but there was little I could do about it.
I only stayed with his family for one night, I simply couldnt stand being anywhere near them. A
Canadian girl arrived in tears at the gate, shed been mugged walking to the orphanage. She was
also a volunteer. I moved into a room with her in a hostel, inhabited by other volunteers from all
over the world. Some of the stories they had to tell over the dinner table of their days work
were horrendous. But it was good to see so many young people giving their time and
knowledge; however, it was only a drop in an ocean of abject poverty and corruption.
Page 92
In the mornings, our walk to the orphanage took over an hour though some of the worst slums
in the back blocks of Moshe. It all seemed so hopeless. Gangs of street kids, some as young as
two, wandered aimlessly past us, begging for food. At least the kids in the orphanage were safe
from the dangers of the street and were fed daily and given a rudimentary education.
Neither of us was happy working there, but we did it for the kids, who were so grateful for any
crumb of attention or affection. They greedily gobbled our share of the disgusting, fly blown
food we refused to eat. They were thrilled with the books donated by the SMSA Reading Room,
(so a big thank you to Tania Murphy). I had also taken over a suitcase of pens, pencils, and
exercise books from Brunei. Lacie was staying until Christmas day, so she wrapped these for
Christmas presents and promised me to make sure the kids got them.
I bought some house paint and with Lacies and the kids help, we scrubbed the walls and painted
a mural to brighten up the otherwise jail like yard. The first day we did this, the owner and
resident teacher slept on the childrens desks while we worked scrubbing walls in the blazing
sun. However, once the owner could see what we were planning, he became quite enthusiastic
and contributed to the mural. Hopefully we inspired him to do more activities with the orphans.
I left with a heavy heart, but at least Id done something. The dala-dala ride back to Arusha was
terrifying. They squeezed 27 people onto an unroadworthy, licensed to carry 12 passenger mini
bus. There was no way I could have got off before Arusha unless I climbed out the window. I was
wedged in with five people on a two person seat near the back of the bus. There were people
sitting on top of other people in the aisle and they just kept jamming them in.
I spent a few days catching up with Fred; it was bliss to be back with someone to look out for
me! He took me to some incredible restaurants I would never have discovered without him.
The best was one operated in conjunction with a group of disabled artists, who exhibited their
artwork in a gallery adjoining the open air restaurant which was set in a superb botanical
garden. It had comfortable sofas and coffee tables placed under trees to have a quiet drink
before or after your meal. At the bottom of the garden a stream babbled over smooth stones,
adding to the ambience.
On Christmas Eve I flew out from Kilimanjaro in a tiny six seater for Zanzibar. Ive never been so
scared in a plane in all my life; it was like sitting on a blow fly in a wind tunnel. All the passengers
clapped when we landed unscathed in Stone Town. I was met by my couch surfing host, a tall
Muslim, simply referred to as Haji, who took me to a Christmas party with some Christian friends
of his at their beautiful house by the sea.
I spent Christmas day with some other friends Id made in the Serengeti balloon trip. They were
staying at the very posh Breezes Resort and invited me to share the day with them. The white of
Zanzibars sand is that of sugar, it gleams in the sun. The sea is impossibly blue and just cold
enough to be refreshing.
Page 93
The next day I met Hajis amazingly industrious family. They made and sold fresh bread, charcoal
and soap (which Id love to sell on the open market), it made my skin feel so soft, which is
difficult, since Im half crocodile; too many years in the harsh Aussie sun! He showed me all
around Stone Town; he manages an Eco- Cultural Tourism office on Hurumzi, in the middle of
town. The following day he took me to his birth place, Jambiani; a sleepy fishing village on the
other side of the island. He organized for me to stay in a tiny villa, at Blue Earth Bungalows, right
on the beach. At high tide it felt like being on a boat, the waves lapping just outside my window.
I stayed there for four days for the princely sum of $30US. I caught a dhow out to the reef each
morning to go snorkelling while the boys fished. I met up with some young volunteers from the
hostel in Moshe and we took a trip over to the sunset side of the island, it was idyllic.
If you are ever lucky enough to go to Tanzania or Zanzibar, please consider using the people Ive
recommended in my story, they really made my trip so much more personal than just a holiday,
they have all become my friends and I imagine will be for life.
So a big thank you to Fred Hutch Jensen of TAPAC Safaris (tapac.safaris@gmail.com); Haji
Hagfish of Stone Town Eco-Cultural Tour Centre, Hurumzi (msafiripwani@yahoo.co.uk) and
Lekishon Tutunyo Enjipai Community Project (enjipaicommunity@yahoo.com)
Please contact me if you have an interest in Lekishons work or would like to get in touch with
him. Seriously, every tiny little bit helps.
2012 TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER FELLOWSHIPS

Learn Share Grow Thrive Transform
Teaching for CfBT in Brunei?
Interested in sharing your skills and experience as a Tropical English Teacher in other contexts?
Willing to combine your travels with an experience of school life in another community?
Able to offer commitment and enthusiasm?
For more information or to register your interest for a TET Fellowship
TET@cfbt.org or gkeaney@cfbt.org
Page 94
Page 95
[VOCABULARY]
DOLCH VOCABULARY LIST OF

FREQUENTLY USED WORDS
Elaine Anderson, CfBT, SMPDSM Mentiri, eanderson@cfbt.org
The Dolch Word List is a list of frequently used words compiled by Edward Dolch in 1936. It was
originally published in Problems in Reading (1948). The Dolch word list is now free of copyright
restrictions. Dolch compiled the list based on children's books of his era. The list contains 220
"service words" that have to be easily recognized in order to achieve reading fluency. There is a
separate 95-word list for nouns.
Below is Dolch list of the first 100 words in frequency order. There are slightly different versions
of this list, but this is the sequence I use for diagnosis and running records, reading across each
row.
the
to
and
he
you
it
of
in
was
said
his
that
she
for
on
they
but
had
at
him
with
up
all
look
is
her
there
some
out
as
be
have
go
we
am
then
little
down
do
can
could
when
did
what
so
see
not
were
get
them
like
one
this
my
would
me
will
yes
big
went
are
come
if
now
long
no
came
ask
very
an
over
your
its
ride
into
just
blue
red
from
good
any
about
around
want
don't
how
know
right
put
too
got
take
where
every
pretty
jump
green
four
Page 96
[VOCABULARY]
Dolch list: Non-nouns
Level 1: a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help,
here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run,
said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you
Level 2: all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four,
get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please,
pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under,
want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes
Level 3: after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, giving,
had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open,
over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were,
when
Level 4: always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold,
does, don't, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off,
or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use,
very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your
Level 5: about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall,
far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much,
myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten,
today, together, try, warm
Dolch list: Nouns
apple, baby, back, ball, bear, bed, bell, bird, birthday, boat, box, boy, bread,
brother, cake, car, cat, chair, chicken, children, Christmas, coat, corn, cow,
day, dog, doll, door, duck, egg, eye, farm, farmer, father, feet, fire, fish,
floor, flower, game, garden, girl, good-bye, grass, ground, hand, head, hill,
home, horse, house, kitty, leg, letter, man, men, milk, money, morning,
mother, name, nest, night, paper, party, picture, pig, rabbit, rain, ring,
robin, Santa Claus, school, seed, sheep, shoe, sister, snow, song, squirrel,
stick, street, sun, table, thing, time, top, toy, tree, watch, water, way, wind,
window, wood
Page 97
[PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT]
Professional
Development
Page 98
MASTER OF LETTERS CREATIVE WRITING
CENTRAL QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY,

ROCKHAMPTON, QLD, AUSTRALIA
Melissa Nourse, CfBT, Maktab Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah, mnourse@cfbt.org
The Master of Letters is a program offered by the School of Arts and Creative Enterprise and
would be most suitable for graduates hoping to advance their knowledge and skills in film,
literature or creative writing.
Central Queensland University is one of the few universities in Australia to offer a Master of
Letters in Creative Writing fully online. Courses offered at other universities either included a
variety of writing styles (such as travel writing, writing for web sites etc) or required some units
to be completed on campus. Several universities also wanted a portfolio of creative writing to be
submitted and assessed for eligibility. Some even required you to be a published author before
undertaking the course.
The creative writing program at CQU was composed of structured reading (mostly set texts on
writing techniques), research and writing in a variety of genre. There were some optional
creative writing tasks, but the main focus of each semester was on producing a substantial
creative piece in a particular genre which was accompanied by a theoretically based critical
reflection. There were no online chats or conferencing, rather the course was tailored for the
independent writer to refine their writing skills by working on their own projects.
The three year program was under the guidance of an individual supervisor which provided
continuity, but did not allow for feedback from a variety of people. I was fortunate to have some
very kind friends who would read my work and give their opinions as well as suggestions. Other
students on the course either formed or joined writing groups for additional feedback.
The course could be completed in two years (course work in Year 1, dissertation in Year 2) or
over three years (coursework over Years 1&2, dissertation in Year 3).
Master of Letters
Courses
Assessment
Coursework
50%
4 courses x 6 units of credit
5,000 words per course
2 x 12 units of credit
15,000-20,000 words
excluding references,
bibliography and appendices.
Dissertation
50%
Page 99
Cost
$1,500 per course of 6 units of credit.
This amounted to AUD6,000 for the coursework and AUD6,000 for the dissertation - a total of
AUD12,000 for the entire course.
Outline of Course
Year 1
Elements of Writing 1 & 2
Students are introduced to the basic elements of creative writing. The reading material explores
the theory of character, plot, setting and literary technique. Students are then required to utilize
this knowledge in their own creative writing.
In my first year, I was able to write a childrens fantasy novel of approximately 10,000 words
which was submitted in two parts (5,000 per semester). This was also accompanied by a critical
reflection of approximately 1,000 words each semester.
Year 2
Writing Short Fiction
This course explores creative and technical issues involved in the writing of short stories or
novellas. Students are required to produce either a portfolio of short stories or a short novel.
In this course, I wrote 8 short stories (approximately 8,000 words) but submitted a collection of 5
short stories (varying from 100words to 1,700words) as well as a critical reflection of 1,000
words.
Writing Poetry and Short Dramatic Pieces
The writing of shorter forms of poetry and one act plays is examined.
Students are required to produce a portfolio of shorter poems of varying forms or a one act play.
I elected to write a collection of poems and submitted 11 poems with a short critical reflection on
each poem.
Year 3
Dissertation A and B
The dissertation constitutes a substantial creative piece (fiction, poetry, drama or other
approved mix) accompanied by a theoretically informed self-critique. The creative piece would
be approximately 15,000 words (or approved number/lines of poetry) whilst the critique would
be approximately 5,000 words.
Page 100
My creative piece was a young adult historical fantasy novella of 15,000 words which told the
story of a teenage girl, Sasha, who is able to experience the past lives of her ancestors during her
sleeping hours. When she is 15, she begins to dream about the experiences of Lays in Elizabethan
England. Sasha becomes increasingly absorbed in these events until she is forced to decide
between a life dominated by her dreams or a life of her own. The reflection of 5,000 words
examined the genres of historical fiction and fantasy as well as the philosophical and technical
issues involved in this area of writing.
Coursework Submission and Feedback
All work was submitted as an email attachment and returned as an attachment with comments.
Week 2 Proposal (up to 1,000 words)
As a proposal for the creative piece needed to be submitted by the second week, I personally
found it necessary to have my ideas prepared before the start of semester.
Week 6 First draft (1,500 words)
A substantial part of the creative piece and the critical reflection needed to be submitted at this
stage. Comments were returned 2-4 weeks later.
Week 12 Final draft (5,000 words)
The complete creative piece and critical reflection was sent and returned 2-4 weeks later with
comments.
You are able to email your tutor with any questions or concerns at any time in the course, but
you must take into account that tutors are often away on leave, attending conferences, running
workshops etc and so are not always available to respond immediately.
Admission
The Master of Letters programme is open to students who possess a degree from a recognized
higher education institution with an acceptable grade point average. Applications can be
completed online, but you will need to provide certified copies of the academic transcript from
your undergraduate degree.
The world's first university was established in Takshila, India in 700 BC. More than 10,500
students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Al-Karaouine: in
Fes, Morocco is the oldest continually operating university. It was originally a mosque founded in
859 by Fatima al-Fihri, a woman. Bologna, Italy University of Bologna founded in 1088 in Italy
[Papal States] was the first university in the sense of a higher-learning, degree-awarding
institute, the word university having been coined at its foundation.
Page 101
CIE GENERAL PAPER:

ON-LINE TUTOR LED COURSE
Kimberly Lalone, CfBT,
These are my musing on the CIE on-line tutor led General Paper course which I took in October
November 2011. It is the feedback form that never gets sent in .
Week 1 Introductions
Fortunately I've taken an online course before and the whole concept of Moodle isn't a muddle.
It works. It takes a bit of navigating the site but it is okay. We've introduced ourselves and the
moderator is chirpy and keen. She wants us to add pictures of ourselves or avatars or anything
else that helps establish a connection with our on-line colleagues. She's added all kinds of
emoticons and uses 'punctuation language' :)- I guess it is supposed to break down barriers and
make us feel comfortable.
I'm not a :(x - kind of person so I thought that instead, I'd casually mention in my introduction,
that I am from Brunei and we happened to have a plague of crocodiles this year. Furthermore,
my school is over-run with monkeys. But wouldn't you know it? Another CfBT teacher just
happens to be on the course to keep me accountable about the crocodiles and any other
exaggerations, embellishments or excuses I may want to add for effect. Not only that but three
others are from Florida and aren't likely to care about crocodiles. Yet, the crocodiles hook has
worked and the moderator has had what amounts to a full-on seizure with punctuation. I feel
like the moderator's pet! So chuffed am I, I could even try an emoticon to express my delight just for the course, of course.
But I did have a few frowns signing in CIE has more security than the clichd Fort Knox
Fort Knox . Not only do we have a user name & password for the CIE site but a new user name
and password for the course. Password upper case, lower case, more than 8 characters, non
alphanumeric and so on. I have bank accounts with less security.
Week 2 Resources
The lessons are posted on Fridays so that people who may need resources or computers at work
have a chance to access them before the weekend begins. There is no point in bringing up what
a 'weekend' is in Brunei so I just go to work on Saturday morning eager to look at Assignment 1.
As I scroll through the other entries, I am overcome with feelings from that recurring 'what the
heck am I doing in this exam when I didn't know I was registered in the course?' dream. We've
been asked to discuss how we select our topics and materials in the text-book free GP course.
Page 102
The others have already logged on and filled cyberspace with lengthy posts detailing all the
marvellous stuff they seem to be doing with all their flashy resources. I feel pathetic I just have
to tell them that my school hasn't even had a copy of the 'Borneo Bulletin' or 'Brunei Times' for 6
months.
It is all good, I tell myself. Sitting here in front of my assignment with my head a 'tabula rasa'
(which is like an interactive white board with a non-interactive teacher). But it is good, I tell
myself because I can empathise with the students. It never hurts a teacher to be a student again,
I say giving myself the old pep-talk. I'm always telling my students to draw examples from what
they know and that is exactly what CIE is asking of us.
Ha! I isn't so bad after all. I get down to business and even though I don't have access to the
periodicals (periodicals? - really?!) which the moderator suggests that I should be/ might be
using, I write about what I do use. I take I what I can from the internet. I use material that I can
access, print and distribute to the students.
Great! Today I find out I'm doing the wrong assignment! In my non-virtual class we were just
looking at an essay question which asks what the consequences would be if young people failed
to read well. I pointed out how good reading skills are needed to follow directions and
instructions. For example, you need to read carefully and thoroughly in order to do an on-line
course. Naturally, I didn't scroll to the bottom of the page or read very closely. I am doomed!
A turn of events lots of great ideas are flooding in. The whole point of this week's exercise has
been to share resources. In some schools resources are fairly scant while others have the
whole range from laptops to language labs. Of course, some of the best ideas have been just
simple twists on age old teaching tasks.
The weekly discussion thread for 'resources' is bursting. Most entries are from a few keen and
resource-rich Americans. Examples follow of what they have to say:
Here is the link to CNN Student News (http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/) which I have

previously mentioned. It is a ten minute daily news program for high school students; the
website also offers critical thinking discussion questions. (When, where and how are my
students supposed to watch daily, 10 minutes news clips from CNN? I ask myself.)
One resource that I would like to suggest is the grammar site chompchomp.com. The
site provides worksheets on the following topics: comma splices and fused sentences,
fragments, parallel structure, pronoun agreement, and misplaced and dangling
modifiers. Each question is shown on the screen and students answer the questions as I
call on them. If they answer correctly, they win an imaginary car or pot of gold or
something funny from chomchomp.com. I know it sounds silly, but the person who
designed the site does have a sense of humour. Teaching grammar can be dull, and this
site provides a change of pace. My students love to compete. We do twenty questions
Page 103
and compute the score. (On-line colleagues claim that both they and their students like
this site. Her approach likely won't work for me though. I have a laptop and a plug in the
wall that spits blue fire. Instead, I can suggest that when the students tire of Facebook
they can try this grammar site at home.)
I was thrilled to hear that Kristi is using Upfront magazine in her classes as well.(The
website says it is '...the only news magazine for teens'. That it '... makes sense of what's
going on in the world for your students, while connecting current events to your
curriculum.') It's good to know that I am doing something right. My students paid for
their own subscriptions, so they take the magazines home. I give them a Cornell Notes
outline which they have to complete on the articles. We then have a test including
questions provided by the publisher. (Ahhhh so this is what other teachers are doing.)
The moderator is full of ideas for getting us to establish 'electronic' pen-pals and team up with
teachers and students in other countries. I guess this is what the course is really all about
keeping us fresh, enthusiastic and on the cutting edge. One the participants just set up a GP
Facebook page for 'social networking savvy kids'.! ( Oh, I am so impressed!)
I now have lots of resources leads. Some are probably great, the ones that require a
subscription. I've already looked at a few which are good and there are many more to check out.
Things are okay but this unit has confirmed for me how far out of the 'current events' loop we
are. That has huge implications for the (lack of) content in the essays and critical thinking. Sigh.
Weeks 3 & 4 - planning & teaching a lesson for essay-writing
Assignment #1 - We are to choose a question from a past GP paper then nominate the reading
materials that we would direct students to use to answer the question, giving details of books,
magazines, newspapers (local and international) and periodicals. Then we are to list WebPages,
news agencies and other AV resources which we would use. All material is to be critiqued.
Crafty CIE! This is unit is supposed to be a lesson plan for essay-writing. But when you have to
add links to other lessons, document your resources, detail your activities to encourage Ss
participation and document the homework you will assign, it becomes a 'mini-unit'. Then, of
course you have to teach it and reflect on the lesson. This assignment requires some time but it
will force me to consolidate my material. .All of my on-line colleagues have agreed to share their
assignments and the tutor will repost them on the website. We will have a bank of lots of great
resources!
Yet, I feel considerably less enthusiastic as I approach the next assignment. Do I have the midcourse blues? It is time for the tutor to re-emerge with some new threads on the discussion
forum and to poke the others who aren't contributing? An on-line class is the same as any other
classroom a few shrinking violets and others who are like bold and brassy sunflowers. All
fantasies of being the teacher's pet have been put in the trash file there is a far too keen and
Page 104
enthusiastic woman from Pakistan who has outshone even the loud and well-resourced
Floridians! Blah!
Well, the resource bank idea was a fabulous one. The reality begs a less enthusiastic adjective. I
must admit that some of my colleagues' assignments are disappointing . This on-line course is
for professional development not a Ph.D. but I do wonder if CIE ever issues an 'F' grade. The
tutor must be feeling some of the same despair because she has reprimanded the class. We all
know the blanket speech - sent out to all, but actually only meant for some. There are a couple
who are not contributing to the forums and this is a coursework requirement. Those two are
being voyeurs. Worse, they are benefiting from all of our great ideas and insights and not
sharing grrrrr!
Weeks 5 & 6 Assessment
For the third and final assignment we are to grade GP papers. All the usual stuff
standardisation and rubrics with a 250 word commentary on each assessment.
The weekly discussion forums have been continuing with good ideas coming in. We've shared
the despair of painstakingly prepping students for an exam only for them to tell us they decided
to do it their own way in the exam. We've discussed how to dissuade the students from making
grandly verbose and empty introductions that probe nothing and drawing conclusions which
don't conclude. We've complied an alphabet soup of acronyms to help students read and write.
We've commiserated, shared and poked fun.
The tutor must have had a private word with the two mute participants (who I think of as Laurel
and Hardy) as they have finally emerged into the world of on-line, educational, tutor-led chit
chat. Unsurprisingly, they have little to contribute.
Conclusion
Okay it is over. It wasn't tough, it wasn't taxing. How many times did I say 'grrrrr'? But how
many times did I say, 'hey, that could work'? It re-affirms that I'm on the right track, doing what I
can with what I have. For this I get the Cambridge stamp of approval. This calls for some festive
'punctuation language': :-#!@;)- (Looking at my outburst which was meant to convey a 'yippee',
I see that I may not have 'punctuation language' worked out completely .)
But one more little rant ..
Where I come from education used to be free and accessible to all. Then in my early years of
teaching the trend was toward 'cost recovery' which meant that programmes were slashed,
opening a Pandoras Box which linked education to profit. It hardly seems worth mentioning
now because these days education is most clearly, a business. All those IELTS or summer school
students are customers, not to mention the CELTA and DELTA consumers. (But I did forewarn
that this was a rant.) Although I will never know, I suspect that everyone who takes this CIE
course will get a certificate.
Page 105
In the end, I'm glad I had the opportunity to do the course and would recommend others to take
it too. I have more material and ideas than I did at the beginning of the course so how can that
not be good?
Page 106
If you have an interest in enrolling

for this course contact Dave Laming.
dlaming@cfbt.org
CIE On-Line Get into it!

By participating regularly in the Teacher Community
forums at http://teachers.cie.org.uk/community/forum/
By visiting your own syllabus area at
http://teachers.cie.org.uk/qualifications
and adding (or viewing) Community Resources.
Page 107
[LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES]
Lessons and
Activities
Page 108
RUNNING DICTATION
Jean Kiekopf, CfBT, EPM and Melanie Blanchard, CfBT, SM Sayyidina Ali,
jkiekopf@cfbt.org
mblanchard@cfbt.org
Aims: To focus on accuracy in an activity that

involves all four core skills.
Objectives: Students will be able to:
Complete a peer dictation exercise, ensuring that the
final product contains no spelling, punctuation or
grammatical errors.
Students fill in the blanks as their running dictation.
Materials:
A text containing several paragraphs, suitable for the level of the students and related to
the theme / language that the students are studying at the time.
Blutak.
Students will need a pen and paper or the blank copies of the captioned pictures.
(This sample activity has captions on photographs.)
Preparation: Blutak the paragraphs / photographs / items to be copied, on the walls around the
classroom. Get students into pairs. Assign the role of reader to one student in each pair, and
the role of writer to the other.
Methodology:
On go the teacher starts his/her watch and readers walk briskly to one of the paragraphs on the
wall. They should read as much as they can remember, then
walk back to their partner and dictate it to them. They
continue this process until the whole paragraph has been
dictated, then swap roles and move onto the next paragraph.
Once all paragraphs have been dictated, students sit together
and make any corrections (spelling, punctuation etc.) that
they feel are necessary. Once they are happy with their text,
they show their completed work to their teacher, who
records their time.
The teacher marks the students texts and adds 20 seconds to
each pairs time for every mistake (spelling, punctuation etc.)
Page 109
made. The winners are the students that have the fastest time after the time penalties have
been added.
Teachers Tip!
Students enjoy the element of competition in
this activity and some will try to cheat (by
yelling across the room to their partner,
running, obstructing other readers etc.).
Teachers of large classes might prefer doing
this activity in a space bigger than the
classroom if possible.
Extension: In the example attached, the
students had to order the pictures with
captions in the correct sequence.
Variations on a Theme
Slithering dictation
Scurrying dictation
Crawling dictation
Walking dictation
Moseying dictation
Sauntering dictation
Sprinting dictation
Strolling dictation
Jogging dictation
Ambling dictation
Loping dictation
Marching dictation
Scuttling dictation
Striding dictation
Scampering dictation
Pacing dictation
Darting dictation
Hiking dictation
Dashing dictation
Toddling dictation
Page 110
Running Dictation Script
Page 111
Page 112
Page 113
Running Dictation Student Blanks
Page 114
Page 115
Page 116
PUPPETS AT PLAY:
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
Linda Galbraith, CfBT SM SMJA with 9S3, lgalbraith@cfbt.org
Puppets are a very useful and fun way to
engage students in speaking. They provide a
safe way to perform in public without the
person being visible. They develop
awareness of dialogue. They involve group
work and co-operation, leading to a
production for an audience, and providing
entertainment while at the same time
producing speech. This enables students to
develop pronunciation skills, understanding
of register and tone, speed of delivery, and
to gain a sense of communication in the
target language.
Page 117
The Process
The process began with an invitation
to participate in an essay writing
competition on Anne of Green
Gables sponsored by the Canadian
High Commissioner, HE Wendall
Samford. Students watched the film
and wrote a review of the story
concluding with their opinion of Anne
and what she represented. Some
students read the book. The students
of the winning essays were presented
with prizes at a function at the
residence of the Canadian High
Commissioner.
Inspired by the story and the characters, the students in 9S3 formed groups (identified by the
colour of their file) to make puppets and to write a script. They could choose any scene from the
story. The writing process involved realising that information had to be conveyed in words and
that there needed to be a tightness of control of the language. The scripts were edited by peers
and the teacher.
Making Puppets
Students used a white sock and fabric to make their
puppets. Accessories were added in the form of
buttons and ribbons. Some facial features were made
using textas and the eyes were supplied by the
teacher from Hokko Button and Lace. Glue was used
as an adhesive to decorate the puppets which
showed students that some materials were
incompatible, so alternatives had to be substituted.
Cigku Zakaria from the SM SMJA Art Department
worked with several students to make a puppet
theatre specifically for Anne of Green Gables giving
a sense of ownership and purpose.
Page 118
Production
The students rehearsed their scripts and made adjustments to them. They familiarised
themselves with spatial reality. Their final presentation was performed for Senior Mistress Hajah
Norhashimah. The students filmed their performances and enjoyed the replay.
Assessment
This project was peer assessed. The teacher also graded students on puppet, participation in
group work and final performance.
Page 119
PEER ASSESSMENT ON PUPPET PLAY PERFORMANCES

Watch the performance of each play and tick the boxes for your assessment of each group.
There are five criteria:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Puppets: Are the puppets in character?

Voices: Are the voices clear and easy to hear?
Script: Is the script well written? #Number of scenes (if more than one)
Audience: Does the audience respond well to the performance of the group?
Spatial awareness: Is each puppeteer aware of the space and the direction in which to
look?
Grade each of the criteria using the following scale

A
B
C
D
E
Excellent
Very good
Good
Satisfactory
Needs improvement
You can add suggestions in the comments box
1
2
3
4
5
PURPLE
Puppets
Voice
Script #
Spatial Awareness
Audience Response
Comments:_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
The students enjoyed the production and developed English language speaking skills, particularly
the students who were usually reluctant speakers in class.
Page 120
WORDPLAY 2011
Malcolm Orsborn, CfBT, SM PIHM Serasa, morsborn@cfbt.org
What W is the CfBT English language quiz that took place this year at the Holiday Lodge Hotel,
Jerudong on 10 November 2011?
Answer: Wordplay.
Wordplay is a game of vocabulary, mental dexterity, general knowledge and inspired guessing.
The game consists of six different rounds; each one a different type of word game, each one
requiring a different skill that tests the competitors ability to find an answer from a variety of
vocabulary-based challenges. Solving anagrams and spelling difficult words are just two of the
challenges students face. You can see examples of the rounds and test yourself at the end of this
article.
Teams of four drawn from years Seven and Eight from 26 government schools took part in the
one-day quiz. Over the course of the day one winner was found from the schools who came
from all corners of Brunei. The final was contested by Maktab Sains and STPRI, with the former
team emerging as champions. A team of CfBT teachers, EPMs, Learning Centre staff, and office
staff oversaw the organisation and running the day.
Wordplay kits were emailed to schools earlier in the year for teachers to prepare and help select
the students for competition day. Questions were provided for teachers to run their own inschool competitions, to help select their teams of four to represent their school. Practice
activities were also part of the kit as well as all the rules.
On the day itself, the quiz was delivered in two parts. During the first round, the table round, all
the competing teams of four sat at their individual tables with a set of answer sheets. The
question master asked the questions and students wrote down the answers. The students were
able to confer. The answer sheets were collected in and marked by a team of markers and
adjudicators.
The latter stages of the game are delivered in a straight knock-out format. Here, in the semifinals and final, students are asked questions in a game show format. They sit on stage, each
ready on their own buzzer. The first to press the buzzer is given the opportunity to answer. In
some rounds any team member may answer, in other rounds team members are asked the
question individually.
Page 121
Apart from being great entertainment, exciting and with a splendid prize to play for, what is the
point of the quiz? Well, the quiz encourages students to acquire and enjoy vocabulary, through
playing with language in these ways. Its not just rote-learning that is being tested here. Students
need to problem-solve, and use creative thinking in order to find the correct answers: all this
under time-pressure as well, which obviates the need for quick-thinking. Often the student
simply knows the word, sometimes he works out the answer via the etymology of the word in
question, at other times its just a straightforward guess. This year saw the introduction of a
general knowledge round, as well. Overall, its a useful way of getting students to acquire
knowledge, and practise thinking skills without them realising that they are doing so.
The quiz has been running since 1989. And it maintains its popularity, being regarded as one of
the events of the school year. Every year it generates enthusiasm and excitement among the
students and the rest of the schools community. It is set for a return next year, when it
promises to be another S. Correct: a Success.
Have a go yourself. Below are the questions the finalists answered. When attempting the
questions, remember the contestants in the final were all local children, who are second
language speakers aged around 12 years old. They were also onstage, under the lights, in front
of a live audience, and competing against the clock. The answers are at the back of the
magazine.
Round One: Vocabulary
Students are asked the definition of a word, or words. They are given the first letter of the
answer(s). Students have to state the correct word.
1. What D is a sleeping room with several beds?
2.
What P-F is an impassive countenance assumed by a card-player?
3. What D means skilful and quick?

4. What G is makeup used by actors?
5. What E is a quarter of 44?
6. What G is an imaginary creature blamed for faults in machinery?
7. What H F is an allergy caused by pollen, dust etc?
8. What A is an old expression of sorrow, especially if you are Shakespeare?
9. What U would you put up during precipitation?
10. What A is a loss of memory?
Page 122
Round Two: Word Bricks

Students are given three letters. They have to think of a word where those three letters appear
in the order given. The letters do not have to appear consecutively in the word given, and the
first letter does not have to appear as the first letter of the answer.
Example: T T K. Possible answer: Attack
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
MBH
BBG
OMG
CYT
FGN
HCT
JML
XHT
Round 3 Definitions
Students are read a word, and three possible definitions, only one of which is correct. The
contestants have to identify the correct definition.
1 flamenco
a
A device for lighting a barbeque
A type of Spanish dance
A pink long-legged bird
2 derrick
a
An informal word for a street trader
A short, thin dagger.
A large mechanical crane, or framework over an oil well
3 melancholy
a
A chest pain associated with indigestion
Sadness or depression of the spirit
An edible hybrid that is both fruit and vegetable
Page 123
4 humbug
a
A large flying predatory beetle
A noise that denotes an electrical fault
A striped peppermint sweet*
5 dexterity
a
Skill in using ones hands*
Over-enthusiastic, ruthless ambition
The overheating of subatomic particles
6 piscatorial
a
Dark and miserable
Time-consuming
Describing fishing or fishermen
7 residue
a
That which is left over; the remains
Describing being late for an meeting, appointment etc.
Unpaid rent
8 myriad
a
A rare and precious perfume
A great and varied number of something
An ancient story, a legend
9 ferrous
a
Having long hair
Containing iron
Absent-minded; forgetful
Page 124
10 galoshes
a
Another word for nonsense.
Rubber overshoes, used in heavy rain
An ancient form of execution by strangling.
Round 4
Anagrams
Students are either shown the anagram of the word (e.g. written on a whiteboard or have it
shown through a projector), or have it read out loud so they can write it down. They are given a
clue to the answer. They have to identify the word.
1. Carthorse
Lots of instruments (9)
2. Nicest ticks
Skinny bug (5, 6)
3. Magenta rope
Fruit (11)
4. Began prelim
You cant get in (11)
5. Any deaf seer
Laid back (4, 3, 4)
6. Confer one city
Sweet things (13)
7. Chip in seller
Scary tale (5-6)
8. Rebel tingle
Likes a fight (11)
9. Ninety chariots
Caesars and pharaohs (7, 7)
10. Amid a mess
TV, radio and the internet (4, 5)
Page 125
Round 5: General Knowledge

A repeat of Round 1. This time though the questions have a general knowledge slant.
1. This pop group Q had hit songs with We Are the Champions and Another One Bites the
Dust.
2. This T is the name of a ship that sank on its first voyage in 1912.
3. What BT is a daily newspaper published in this country?
4. This R is a famous hotel in Singapore named after its founder.
5. What N is your brothers or sisters daughter?
6. What C is a number to the power of 3?
7. What Z is orange or lemon peel with get up and go?
8. What PS is 12 yards away from a football goal?
9. What T is a ballet dancers skirt that sounds like a double number?
10. What B is a game played with shuttlecocks?
Page 126
Answers
Round One: Vocabulary
1. Dormitory
Round Two: Word Bricks

Example Answers
2. Poker-face(d)
1. AMBUSH, EMBELLISH
3. Deft
2. CABBAGE
4. Greasepaint
3. HOMAGE, SOMETHING, BOMBING
5. Eleven
4. CRYSTAL, CRYPTIC
6. Gremlin
5. FOREIGN
7. Hay fever
6. CHARACTER
8. Alas
7. JUMBLE
9. Umbrella
8. EXHAUST(ED)
10. Amnesia
Round 3: Definitions
Round 4 Anagrams
1b
1. Orchestra
2c
2. stick insect
3b
3. pomegranate
4c
4. impregnable
5a
5. free and easy
6c
6. confectionery
7a
7. spine-chiller
8b
8. belligerent
9b
9. Ancient history
10b
10. Mass media
Page 127
Round 5 Answers: General Knowledge

1. Queen
2. Titanic
3. Brunei Times
4. Raffles
5. Niece
6. Cube(d)
7. Zest
8. Penalty spot
9. Tutu
10. Badminton
The CfBT website http://brunei.cfbt.org also provides extra materials, and information on the
competitions history and the game itself.
Page 128
[ISSUES]
CfBT Brunei
Education
Department
And well dressed too...!
Page 129
[EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES]
CFBT BRUNEI 2011:

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES
Success in Cambridge O Level Public Examinations [SCOPE]
The SCOPE Project was developed in November 2005 as a
partnership between the Ministry of Education and CfBT. The
project is now in its sixth year of delivery. In November 2010,
30.27% of the total O level cohort achieved a credit up from
23.64% in 2009. During the span of the SCOPE Project the number
of O Level Credits in government schools has risen from 658 in
2005 to 1,550 in 2010. SCOPE combines targeted inputs such as
roadshows and exam clinics with active learning strategies
alongside teacher improvement schemes and improved data
collection and usage to increase success. A new initiative in 2011
has seen the project supporting Sixth Form target students. The O
level SiG meets monthly and is producing an array of materials to
supplement the O level schemes of work. Materials are available
to all teachers online.
The SCOPE project has continued to deliver targeted inputs to
support students in achieving success in their O level
examination. This success and widespread support has led to the
project becoming embedded as one of CfBTs ongoing flagship
services to the Bruneian Ministry of Education. The focus this year
was to develop standardised materials that adopted best practice
teaching methodology to ensure quality control of input, to
support new teachers to the project and to share best practice
with local teachers. A rigorous process of evaluation took place to
ensure a continuous cycle of improvement is carried out for
materials development across all projects.
Pre-university
An on-line resource sharing community of practice has been set
up for use by Pre-university teachers. The resource contains links
to original lesson and programme materials developed by Preuniversity teacher for specialist A level and AS level courses as
well as references to available published resources.
Page 130
International General Certificate of Secondary Education ESL [IGCSE]
The 2011 IGCSE student intervention/support programme (Steps

to Success) for about 200 students helped them to develop a
study plan from term to term leading up to their final exams. It
also helped students to develop learning to learn strategies and
foster learner independence. Attendance and other impact data
are exceptionally positive.
Capacity building workshops were provided for all teachers new to
the IGCSE course and others who required this training. Teacher
training was held in BSB for Bandar and Temburong district
teachers and in Tutong for Tutong and KB district teachers. Ten
teacher training workshops are conducted annually. Teacher
feedback, through anonymous evaluation forms, has been very
positive with over 90% of participants rating the sessions as either
Very Good or Excellent.
Two IGCSE SiG groups met monthly focusing on the development
of support units and differentiated materials for the Years 9-11
coursebooks. A common template and approach has led to the
development of a range of resources to be distributed to IGCSE
teachers in their respective schools.
Standardised Exams
Development, trialling, moderation and data collection of

standardised end of year English language exams for use
nationwide in Years 9 and 10 and for Qualifying exams in Form
5/Year 11 by O level and IGCSE cohorts. This project has been
developed in liaison with the Department of Schools.
Page 131
Cloze Test Kit
The Secondary English Reading Project produced a Cloze Test

Kit that contains 10 graded cloze tests for each year level from
Years 7 - 11. The tests are standardised fixed rate deletion
clozes. Each passage is approximately 250 words with 20
deletions. Each passage is linked to relevant schemes of work
and coursebooks. The tests provide approximate vocabulary
and reading grade levels as well as approximate CEFR (Common
European Language Framework) ratings. This enables tracking
of student improvement and standardised performance data
for students across Brunei.
Lower Secondary School Based Assessment for Learning [SBAfL]
The Lower Secondary School Based Assessment for Learning

initiative assists with the development and implementation of
School based Assessment for Learning rubrics and guidelines for
Lower Secondary. The SBAfL Special Interest Group meets
regularly throughout the academic year. It works together with
the Curriculum Development Department to identify next steps
in the creation of appropriate rubrics and refinement of a
variety of peer and self assessment tools and strategies. These
materials are being used nationwide.
Page 132
Lower Secondary English Reading Project [LSERP]
The Lower Secondary English Reading

Project delivers a series of capacity
development workshops that focus on
key skills for students and teachers:
(i) Reading Skills and Acquisition,
(ii) Engaging Reluctant Readers,
(iii) Using Guided Readers
(iv) Independent Readers.
Each set of four workshops is tasked
with participants working in teams to
produce relevant materials. The hot dot
feedback system is used with feedback
represented visually.
Integrated Schemes of Work, Content and Language Integrated Learning [iSoW CLIL]
An iSoW CLIL Project has been piloted as part of a broader

School Improvement Project (SIP). The project is tracking both
teacher and learner development in terms of self-concept and
applied knowledge. It has dual goals: (i) to support, develop
and extend the quality of teaching as well as (ii) to raise
student achievement in both language proficiency and content
knowledge and understanding. The Brunei CLIL project
involves 14 MoE Year 7 teachers representing the English (3),
Maths (3), History (2), Geography (2), Science (3) and Home
Economics (1) subject areas with nine Y7 classes with a total of
approximately 225 students. All teachers are bi-lingual Malay /
English speakers with all but one English teacher being L1
Malay. Students are taught subjects through the medium of
English. This project has been developed in liaison with the
Principal and the Department of Schools.
Page 133
Vocational/SAP Programmes
Professional Development workshops support SAP (Special

Applied Programme) for students in Yrs 9-11 as well as
revisiting the curriculum within the Yr 7 and 8 programmes.
CfBT teachers develop content and facilitate workshops for
MoE and CfBT colleagues. This project has been developed
jointly with the Curriculum Development Department.
Pre-school English Programme
The Pre-school English Programme is a unique literacy

initiative that makes use of the similarities and relationship
between Bahasa Melayu and the English language. By virtue of
the fact that the Malay and English languages share the same
alphabetic system, early English reading and writing is taught
using the foundation laid in Malay
Children start reading in Malay in Term 1 and Term 2 while
developing their oral language in English language classrooms.
The Pre-school English teachers then start teaching reading
from a point where children have already learnt and know the
sounds of 18 consonants from their Malay lessons.
CfBT teachers have led materials development to support both
the listening and speaking, and reading and writing
programmes. This project has been developed jointly with the
Department of Schools.
Page 134
Teaching Plus
The Education Department has implemented the
Teaching Plus programme in 2011. At present there
are 10 areas of professional development with a
number of possible modules or activities in each area.
Teachers follow relevant units and submit evidence in
order to record achievements and align them with
competency frameworks based on current best
practice in vocational and career development. The
ten Teaching Plus areas are:
01. Practitioner Skills and Mentoring
02. Materials Development
03. Assessment and Evaluation
04. Curriculum Development
05. Research
06. Training and Professional Development
07. Coordination and Administration
08. CCA and ECA Coaching and Programme Development
09. Educational Innovations
10. Personal Projects
ICELT
Our ongoing commitment to ICELT (In-service Certificate in English Language Teaching)
remains a central focus of our commitment to formal training. The recruitment process
for the 2011 ICELT was completed with 20 teachers being accepted onto the course (18
CfBT plus 2 sponsored BELTA local candidates). The Chief Moderators Report on the
2010 course has been received and comments along with their implications have been
acted upon.
DELTA
In January 2012 CfBT Brunei will commence offering the DELTA (Diploma in English
Language Teaching). This initiative forms an important strand of our increased capacity
building offerings.
CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) On-line Courses
Teachers are supported to complete CIE courses related to our work in Brunei. In
addition 115 out of 184 secondary teachers (63%) are registered users of the CIE support
site.
Page 135
Our research and practice journal Tropical English

Teacher is available on-line for all CfBT teachers in
Brunei and beyond. An informative and eclectic mix of
research, practice and theory.
Conferences
Alongside our traditional support for conferences

within Brunei, Education Project Managers are
presenting in the South East Asian region. Jean Kiekopf
presented on the Our World project at the MELTA
conference in Malaysia in 2011, Dave Laming presented
on the SCOPE project in Bali in December and Greg
Keaney has presented in both Jakarta and Kuala
Lumpur on the successes of bilingual education in
Brunei and will present in Cambodia in February 2012.
Page 136
Magic Moments DVD Series
21 Magic Moments in the English classroom provides

secondary English language teachers with the inspiration to
make their lessons more interactive and enjoyable. The
activities, demonstrated on DVD and written up as instruction
sheets, tutor teachers in how to engage their students by
employing a variety of approaches. These activities support
their written and spoken use of English.
All of the activities have been trialled and filmed in secondary
school classrooms in Kuala Belait, Brunei Darussalam,
reassuring teachers in Brunei that they are practical and
appropriate for our specific teaching environment. It features
some best practice Assessment for Learning methodologies,
which are at the heart of the Lower Secondary curriculum
development in Bruneis SPN 21 vision.
Five schools in the Belait district of Brunei Darussalam participated in the project. This involved 8
CfBT teacher, their Education Project Manager and 236 students from Year 7 to Year 10. Two
Bruneian teachers also assisted in checking the resource for cultural appropriacy and userfriendliness.
Each of the 21 Magic Moments is represented in a ONE MINUTE film snapshot of what happens
in the English classroom. Teachers simply:
Watch the DVD
Choose an activity
Read the accompanying instruction sheet
Have fun teaching and learning
Page 137
[RESEARCH]
CfBT Education Trust

Research
But what does it all mean...?
Page 138
[CfBT EDUCATION TRUST RESEARCH ACTIVITIES]
CFBT EDUCATION TRUST

RESEARCH REPORTS
All reports are available free of charge from our UK website: www.cfbt.com
CfBT has commissioned, conducted and published a significant volume of research over the past
ten years. The research largely aims to provide evidence about effective interventions, strategies
and policies in education with a view to impacting on or improving practice and policy.
CfBT is not just committed to investment in research but also to the use of evidence in
education. CfBT recognises the need to promote research-based evidence and to encourage
practitioners and policy makers to think and act purposefully on what it says.
Myths, evidence and innovation: a guide to making the most of Free School
freedoms
This research fills a gap between a wealth of anecdotal evidence on the value and
impact of debate activities, and actual empirical evidence on the benefits for children
and young people and their learning.
The research finds evidence that debate activities have a practical and meaningful
influence on the attainment of young people and the potential to increase in student
engagement.
Debating the evidence: An international review of current situation and
perceptions
This research fills a gap between a wealth of anecdotal evidence on the value and
impact of debate activities, and actual empirical evidence on the benefits for children
and young people and their learning.
The research finds evidence that debate activities have a practical and meaningful
influence on the attainment of young people and the potential to increase in student
engagement.
Computer-based play in the early years

This research is a practical booklet for teachers in the early years. Based on original
research conducted by Swansea University it explains how to engage children in
computer-based play. The booklet contains discussion points, tips and real life
examples as well as references to the best practice discovered by the research.
Page 139
Action Research at St Mark's Academy

Action Research at St Marks Academy is the culmination of on the ground
practitioner research conducted by teachers at a UK school. It examines the
experiences of a group of teachers whose objective was to improve the quality of the
teaching and learning through their own research undertaken at the CfBT-sponsored St
Marks Church of England Academy in Mitcham, Surrey.
Action Research in Abu Dhabi II (2011)

In 2011 CfBT offered 50 teachers the opportunity to participate in professional
development workshops to learn how to conduct action research projects in
educational settings. The training included: designing research questions; an
introduction to qualitative and quantitative research methodologies; an overview of data
analysis; and a brief discussion on research ethics. Following the training, four
kindergartens, four girls schools and three boys schools decided that they would like
to conduct an action research project.
Leading learning in further education

The purpose of this report is to identify those things that college leaders do that have
the most impact on the quality of learning. The report is based on review of the
relevant literature and a series of interviews with strategic leaders. The Institute for
Learning (IfL) supported the project by conducting an online survey of its Fellows a
subset of members who are experienced and highly qualified practitioners.
Instinct or Reason: How education policy is made and how we might make it
better (2010)
This report investigates the factors that lie behind the formation of educational policy. It
is based on discussions with an expert group, a desk based literature review (including
academic research and politicians' memoirs), interviews with stakeholders and an
extended process of draft revision. The study looked at policy changes across a range
of policy areas to help give a representative view.
Learning from international links between schools: an overview of what

works (2010)
Linking is the process by which communities across the world form sustained
partnerships. At school level this is a link between the staff and students in a
school in one country with others in a school in another country.
This study collected data via a literature review and through a series of indepth interviews with students and teachers in 21 UK schools and 9 schools
across India and Kenya.
Page 140
Action Research in Abu Dhabi (2010)

CfBT works closely with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) to operate a number
of primary schools and kindergartens in Abu Dhabi. In December 2009, 33 teachers
from 13 primary schools and kindergartens in Abu Dhabi participated in a one-day
professional development workshop to learn how to conduct an action research project
in an educational setting. Following the training, six primary schools and four
kindergartens decided that they would like to conduct an action research project. This
book reports the findings from each of the ten projects.
You cant argue

with the evidence.
CfBTs Evidence for
Education can be
found at:
www.cfbt.com/evidenceforeducation
Check it out!
Page 141
[Everybody needs a little magic]
Everybody needs a little magic...!

Page 142
Tropical English Teacher Fellowships Pilot Scheme 2012

The TET Fellowship Programme is a pilot scheme to evaluate ways of sharing teacher professional
expertise developed in Brunei with other ASEAN countries.
In 2012 CfBT Brunei hopes to sponsor a number of qualified and experienced native speaker teachers from
the Brunei project to spend a week in selected schools in ASEAN countries. The selected schools will
represent both CfBT project schools and other schools that may benefit from collaborative teaching and
teacher training.
Teachers receiving the Fellowships will be reimbursed up to BND$500 for travel and transportation
expenses. It is envisaged that most schools will provide homestay or other accommodation for the teacher
for the duration of the stay. Other costs will be borne by the participant.
Teachers receiving the Fellowships will be expected to combine collaborative teaching and teacher
training over a 5 day programme. They will also be expected to document their experience and to write an
article suitable for publication in Tropical English Teacher.
For more information or to register an expression of interest please contact Greg Keaney
gkeaney@cfbt.org
Page 143
TET Fellowships 2012

Summary of Terms and Conditions
Description
The TET Fellowship Programme is a pilot scheme to evaluate ways of sharing teacher professional
expertise developed in Brunei with other ASEAN countries. It involves participants in teaching, capacity
building and sharing experience in schools in nearby countries as part of our ongoing professional
development programme
Eligibility
All teachers and managers working for CfBT in Brunei are eligible to apply.
Locations
Schools will be selected based on suitability criteria determined by the CfBT Brunei Education
Department
Time
Fellowships will typically be offered for one working week in a school. For CfBT teachers the week
will need to coincide with regular Brunei Ministry of Education holidays
Purpose
The purpose of the scheme is to develop and improve relationships among teachers around the
region and to learn from, and to share with other tropical English teachers in a variety of contexts
Liability
CfBT Brunei group insurance cover currently provides medical insurance in all the countries taking part in
the scheme. Participants wishing to have travel or extended insurance cover will need to provide such
cover at their own expense. All participants taking part in the scheme will be required to sign a liability
waiver.
Page 144
[MY SCHOOL]
http://www.nakhodaragam.com/apps/blog/show/6288334-smja-marks-27th-national-day
My School SM SMJA
Officially opened on 3rd June 1951, SEKOLAH MENENGAH SULTAN MUHAMMAD JAMALUL
ALAM, SMJA (or Samja as it is usually known), is one of Bruneis oldest secondary schools. The
main block was partly burnt down in the early 90s but the devastated buildings were replaced,
very tastefully, in the original weatherboard style and remain very pleasant. Recent additions
include a new astro-turfed sports field and a large science block.
The school is near the centre of BSB, forming an interesting triangle with the SOAS all boys
school and the STPRI all girls school as neighbours. The school has a good academic reputation
and aims to be in the top 5 schools in the country (and the top co-educational, non-selective
comprehensive).
My decade at SMJA showed me that the best teachers do what they can, with what theyve got,
where they are. I only raised my voice once in ten years of teaching unbelievable!
Wonderful students, dedicated staff and a warm and friendly school culture. What more could a
teacher ask for?
Tell us about your school tet@cfbt.org
Page 145

TET December 2011

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

TET December 2011

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Volume III

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Music and Song

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Tropical English Teacher

Tropical English Teacher

Just read through some of the stuff in the journal.

Just to let you all know that I recently I updated my

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

[TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER]

Can you handle the pressure?

Contact gkeaney@cfbt.org for more info.

TROPICAL ENGLISH TEACHER FELLOWSHIPS 2012

Contact Greg Keaney, gkeaney@cfbt.org

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Help... help... Im being researched...

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

ACTION RESEARCH: READING CLINIC

Temburong District and School Background

Tropical English Teacher

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

(Fareeda: approximately 10 years; Deborah: approximately 15 years). Therefore it had been a

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Which activity did you enjoy

Which activity did you enjoy

What were your friends

I enjoyed colouring and reading

I enjoyed reading and learning

Saya suka semasa kami

Saya suka membaca dan

When I had to read by myself.

Singing, because I was shy.

Semasa saya membaca sendiri.

Sewaktu activity nyanyian

I enjoyed reading and

It helps me when I read alone. I

Ianya menolong saya membaca

I can pronounce some words

I could bring books home to

Tropical English Teacher Vol III #4 December 2011

Tropical English Teacher

Case Study: Student F

Tropical English Teacher

Some of the highlights for me included:

The rapport that we as a team developed with these learners.

My colleague and I functioned cohesively as a team and consequently we were effective in

4 The previous week the English Department held a Public Speaking