There are 3 classes of year 5 pupils in the school.

I choose the third year 5

class because almost all of them are really weak in English and there are less number of
passes in the class for the English subject. There are a few teaching strategies that I think
are suitable to be carried out to the pupils.
Firstly, the most important strategy of all is to arouse the pupils motivation to
learn the subject. Usually the main reason for the pupils lack of interest in learning is
they are not motivated enough to learn. Teachers do play an important role to ensure that
the pupils are eager to learn the subject. One of the ways is that a teacher could start the
lesson with an interesting story that has a few good values in it. Pupils are usually
interested in listening to stories, especially a good one. The stories should be inspiring
and should be told with gestures and expressions so that the pupils will remember the
story well. By doing this often, it will make the pupils listening skill to become more
active. Secondly, teachers can come up with a star chart or progress chart. The chart
includes a list of pupils names or maybe the groups names. Teachers can give star
stickers to the pupils or groups that shows their interest and progress in their learning. By
having the charts and the stickers, it will somehow give the pupils a sense of purpose in
learning and they will feel appreciated and more motivated when they saw that the stars
on their names and their groups were increasing. By the end of the month, teachers could
reward the pupils or the groups with some simple gifts and it will make them feel happy
and want to make more and more progress.
The next strategy is having extra classes after school. Mostly, weak pupils
need more practice, more drilling about the topic that they have the most problems with.
The classes could be done everyday or 3 times a week. The time allocated should not be
more than 30 minutes because weak pupils tend to have a short attention span. The
classes should not only focus on writing exercises, but drilling about the words that
usually comes out in their exam and also everyday words that would help them to make
simple sentences. Teachers could sometimes held oral quizzes as the children love to
answer them and they could be given some sweets as a token for answering the quizzes
correctly. During the extra classes, teachers also could make the pupils do their

corrections as they dont have time to do it at home. By making corrections, pupils will
know and remember their own mistakes and they wont do it again next time.
The next strategy is using mind mapping after each lesson or topic. As we know that
the mind map is an effective way to sum up a certain topic or content. Rather than asking
them to memorize the whole text which they are usually too difficult for the weak pupils,
teachers could teach them how to put all the information in a mind map. The pupils will
create their own mind map according to their own desire, as long as the main point is in
their mind map. They could colour and decorate their mind map and it will make the
activity more fun and enjoyable. Mind mapping is a great way for the pupils, especially
the weak ones to grasp easily whatever the teacher is giving them. A teacher could also
make the activity as a competition and this way the pupils will put their effort to create
the best mind map. Teachers can display the pupils mind map everywhere in the class and
the pupils will feel appreciated for their work. By using mind maps can also enhance the
pupils sense of creativity and they could actually notice that they understand more about
a lesson when they use mind map as one of the techniques.
The school as we know is lack of facilities and materials for English. There is
no special room for keeping the materials and there is not enough materials to help with
the teaching and learning. To overcome the problem about the materials which are not
enough to support the teaching and learning of the English subject is by helding some
workshops on how to make the materials. Besides the English teachers, other subject
teachers also should be included as well as the parents themselves.
The workshops could be held on Saturdays so that the parents could join
together with the project. The English teachers, however, are responsible for being the
facilitator and the person who is in charge of the workshops. Whereas the materials are
prepared by the school and also from other teachers and parents that would like to
contribute some materials for the workshops. The suggested materials for the workshops
are making flash cards, picture cards, charts, puzzles worsksheets/ cards, big books,
making model vehicles, object and much more. By involving the parents in the project, it

will give them a sense of responsibility and they will know better about how their own
children will benefit from the materials that are made. The materials are really important,
especially for the weak class because they learn better with the help of the materials
instead of just the textbook and the lecture by the teachers. The uses of the picture cards
will give a clear picture about things that a teacher cant describe by using only words.
Another strategy is by drilling 3 words a day before starting the lesson every
day. Pupils need to spell the words aloud and say aloud the meanings of the words. After
they drill the words they will copy the words in a special notebook. At the end of each
week, teachers will ask them about the words that they drill for the whole week. Pupils
will be asked to spell the words and give the meanings because they need to understand
how to use the words in sentences. This could be done for a month and after that if
progress is shown, teachers can continue the drilling by asking the pupils to make simple
sentences. Samples of sentences should be provided by the teachers for the first few days
and after that pupils will try to make their own simple sentences using the words that they
have drilled before. Although this might be a slow process, but eventually some pupils
will be able to produce simple everyday sentences orally and in written form.
Last but not least, a day where pupils should talk in English can be held once a
week. A particular day could be chosen, for example, the pupils have to use full English
every Wednesday. However, if there are pupils that still could not use the language, there
shouldnt be given any penalty. As time goes by, they will eventually try to speak up with
their friends and teachers. Encouragement should be given more as the weaker pupils
have less confidence and a bit shy in using the English language. If teachers aware of
some progress in the language usage among the pupils, the days should be increased until
the pupils are able to talk using simple English everyday.