MODULE 7 SUMMARY: Force of habit

Dear all,

By the end of this unit you should be able to:
talk about characteristics, habits, insistence, criticism and disapproval
understand the role of word stress in changing meaning and emphasising particular information
when speaking
apply an understanding of different learning styles and the theory of multiple intelligences to your
own teaching practice
design and use a wide variety of activities for different learning styles
make informed decisions about lesson planning in relation to individual learner needs and interests.

I hope you feel confident having accomplished most or all of the above aims. Below is a more detailed
summary of what your groups have produced in Module 7. Enjoy reminiscing!

Forum and wiki: What makes a good teacher

Our forum discussions and the wiki produced a wealth of ideas on what makes a good teacher. I tried to
summarise them by compressing them into abstract nouns. Below are your thoughts on what makes a
good teacher from the perspectives of: (a) learners, (b) parents and (c) teaching professionals.

(a) Learners:















(b) Parents:
















(c) Teaching professionals:















In our forum discussions, opinions were often divided as to what motivates learners more: easy-going OR
strict teachers. Foong brought these two extreme views together, supporting her argument with a lovely
story from her childhood (thanks, Foong!):
During my school days, I used to have both teachers, one who was very strict; another one
who was caring and loving. Both of them had great impact on my studies. Their teaching
methods were different but the major similarity was that both were fully committed to their
work.
My science teacher was very soft-spoken, kind, gentle, helping and caring. All these
qualities made her a favourite teacher, not only to me but to all the students. She was very
disciplined but not so strict so students were not terrified of her. She made the subject look
so easy and fun that even a dunce like me could understand it. We eagerly waited for her
period every day and felt very sad when she was absent.
In contrast, my history teacher was very serious and strict. He was intelligent and a master
of his subject. This is a quality that impressed all the students. I can honestly say that I
learnt so much from this teacher who was strict with his teaching methods in class. We
would prepare for the particular topic he was going to teach one day before and even the
laziest student dared not skip homework. Almost everyone was able to score well in his
subject and we were well-prepared all the time! Thus, strict teachers are good and helpful
to an extent.
To conclude, a good teacher should be a mix of easy-going and strict and Im working
towards becoming the above mentioned teacher.
Maria also shared a compelling story inspired by her favourite teacher. Below is just an excerpt and the full
story is available at: http://teslpowerhsbm.blogspot.com/2014/09/prof-rai.html (cheers, Maria!)
Prof Rai taught me Comparative Literature when I was at UKM. Well, I can still remember
how serious she could be when she tried to engage the whole class in a deep discussion of
selected literary texts. Her enthusiasm, energy, wits and humour blended together so well
that I had a totally new experience as a learner in her class. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating
here. : ) Despite her serious and intense look, she's a friendly person who's always
generous with her sweet smile. She carries an aura of self-confidence which complements
well with her thorough knowledge on the subject taught. I like the style and clarity of her
speech. It's just like there's this magnetic force which can attract you to pay attention and
listen to her and all you know you're glued... I can never find her boasting about her
achievements as she's a humble and down to earth person.
Zainap contributed a poem about an inspiring teacher (much appreciated, Zainap!):
A DEDICATED TEACHER
Madam Siti Aminah,
I'm happy that you are my teacher
I enjoy each lesson you teach
As my role model you inspire me
To dream and to work.
Everyday you are planting a seed
Of curiosity and motivation
You help me fulfill my potential
I admire you each day, and I just want to say
As a teacher, you are number one.
I believe that this is ample proof of how life-enriching (if not life-changing!) our job as teachers can be.
The stories and the poem contain important insights about what makes a good teacher, too I hope you
find them rewarding when reflecting on your own teaching practices!

Forum: Talking about classroom activities

Partially drawing from teachingenglish.org.uk, let me summarise the advice that emerged from our forum
discussions:
Information Gap: Pre-teach the language the students need to find out the missing information,
and make sure that the students don't see what information their partners have.
Debate: Organise the physical layout of the class and choose a topic that is relevant to the
students. Decide on the groups before the class, and decide who will control it, and if you need
someone to judge it. Let them brainstorm points they might make and give them practice in
language they might use.
Story-telling: Pre-teach a few essential words, but not all the vocabulary they will meet, give them
the first part, and ask them in groups to work together to predict what happens next.
Dialogue-building: Set the scene, build up the story in the imagination of the students. Get
students into pairs to predict what is going to happen with the conversation, then they can
compare what they predicted with what comes up on the tape. Then ask them to practise.

Forum: Talking about habits

This forum discussion was an opportunity for you to use the would and used to structures to denote
repetitive past actions as well as to share some interesting childhood habits with the rest of the group. To
recap:

Both of these sentences are possible as would and used to can be used interchangeably with verbs
which denote actions:
Every Saturday, I would go on a long bike ride.
Every Saturday I used to go on a long bike ride.
However, only used to is possible when we talk about past states (not actions):
We used to live in New York when I was a kid.
We would live in New York when I was a kid.
Also compare:
I used to believe in Santa Claus when I was little.
I would believe in Santa Claus when I was little.

(taken from: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/past-habit-used-towouldpast-
simple)


Forum: What makes a good forum post?

There have been some excellent comments in this forum discussion, however we will have to go back to it
a bit later as my priority at the moment are your assignments. Once you get my feedback, Ill go back to
processing your feedback on this forum activity and coming up with ways to follow it up. Thanks for your
patience!

Wiki: Activities to suit multiple intelligences

This was a wonderfully interesting wiki to review thanks for all contributors! Below are some of the
sample suggestions you provided about how to tackle various intelligences in the language class. For
more ideas, feel free to review the wiki yourselves!

INTELLIGENCES EXAMPLE ACTIVITY
Logical/mathematical e.g. memory game: matching infinitives to irregular past simple forms
Interpersonal e.g. role-playing a dialogue (group work)
Naturalistic e.g. attending a lesson outdoors and writing about the environment
Linguistic e.g. identifying instances of past simple tense in an excerpt
Intrapersonal e.g. describing a past holiday and writing about how it felt to go on the holiday
Musical e.g. creating jazz chants using target words
Bodily/kinaesthetic e.g. acting out target words for the class to guess
Visual/spatial e.g. students drawing pictures to illustrate a target story

Finally, let me thank those of you who worked hard on Module 7 for all your excellent work.
I hope to see a lot more in Module 8 of those who havent been as active in Module 7. Please note that
missing whole units at this point might result in disappointment later as it may not be possible to go back
and finish your modules once they close!









Thanks once again and see you all in Module 8!