On the 7th of March, my friends and I went to the Kuala Lumpur Performing Art Centre (KLPAC) to watch a play, “The Secret Love Life of Ophelia.” The play was directed by Christopher Ling, who recently received the Anugerah Seni Negara (National Arts Awards) Young Talent Award for Theatre Directing.
Before I enter the hall, I think the props must be complicated magnificent. However, there were only sofas, two tables in the middle of the hall at the same level with the audiences in front row. The play was started exactly at 2pm.
I was confused at the beginning, when Ophelia and Hamlet was in the same stage, but they seemed oblivious to each other and went on doing their own things. Then I understood that they are at different places. The whole play was basically the exchange of interactions of Ophelia and Hamlet through imaginary letters, emails, SMS and phone call.
This play is an adaptation from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. It is an ancient play but performed in a modern way. I am impressed with the way that the actor and actress acted, they acted so real.
It is a good and new experience for me to watch this play.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Is Blog useful to my learning?
Writing blog is a way for me to reflect my opinion to an issue. So the blogger.com had provided me a place to reflect my opinion on my lecture and tutorial. I realise that I can easily find out my strength and weakness in learning and teaching skills while I reflecting my idea on certain topic. Thus, I know where I need to improve my learning and teaching skills.
Besides that, I have learned something from my course-mates’ blog while visiting and leaving a comment on their blog. They shared their ideas, opinions of the teaching skills in their blog and their opinions had helped me improve in my learning. May be, we have no free time to discuss our simulated teaching; blog has become the paradise for us to share our ideas.
Besides that, I have learned something from my course-mates’ blog while visiting and leaving a comment on their blog. They shared their ideas, opinions of the teaching skills in their blog and their opinions had helped me improve in my learning. May be, we have no free time to discuss our simulated teaching; blog has become the paradise for us to share our ideas.
My question
The question that I still have regarding my simulated teaching is how to create interesting task and exercise. I found my course-mates were not interested once an activity had been repeated during simulated teaching session. So, I found that an interesting task or exercise is important to get students’ attention. This is the problem that I faced when preparing the simulated teaching. I think I need to be more creative in preparing activities and always have discussion with course-mates on the simulated teaching in order to get some inspiration.
If I have the second chance?
If I were to deliver the similar lesson again, I would make some changes. I will change the tasks and exercises. As a teacher, he or she should provide a variety of exercise or tasks to students. I would like to add some exercise that need to do in group. In addition, I also will speak louder in the class. Although my course-mates were able to hear my voice during my simulated teaching, I should speak louder. Why I say like this? My tutor told me that during a real classroom, the students are not that obedient. They might be very noisy in classroom. If I still speak softly, I might have trouble because I cannot control the class.
My Strengths And Weaknesses In Simulated Teaching
My strength in simulated teaching is the arrangement of my exercises. I arranged my exercises in a proper order, from an easy exercise to a challenging exercise then a harder exercise. My tutor had mentioned that we have to create some unpredictable exercises to get the students’ attention. If every exercise is easy, the students’ interest will be lessening.
On the other hand, I am weak in voice projection. When I am nervous, I will speak softly. To be a teacher, a good voice projection is needed. Without it, students will not pay attention on the lesson and the students’ interest of the lesson will be affected. After doing the simulated teaching, I know my weakness and I will try to correct it.
On the other hand, I am weak in voice projection. When I am nervous, I will speak softly. To be a teacher, a good voice projection is needed. Without it, students will not pay attention on the lesson and the students’ interest of the lesson will be affected. After doing the simulated teaching, I know my weakness and I will try to correct it.
My Simulated Teaching
Simulated teaching is one the task given. It is also my favourite task in this course.
In the set induction stage, I displayed the picture of Yang Dipertuan Agong to the students and students were asked to describe Yang Dipertuan Agong. I connected the picture to the characteristic of Oedipus in “Oedipus The King”. In the pre-reading stage, I distributed an extract from the play to the students and they were asked to circle the characters in the extract and highlight the words or phrases that describe the characters in the extract. Then, I selected some students to list out their answer on the white board. In the while-reading stage, the students were asked to identify whether the words or phrases that they have highlighted in the extract are positively connotated or negatively connotated. In the post-reading stage, I asked the students to write a short essay about the change of Oedipus’s characteristic from Scene I to Éxodos of the play as homework.
In my opinion, there are similarities and differences between simulated teaching and real teaching. In term of similarity, teachers in school would get students’ attention by introducing a story indirectly. Moreover, I used the same teaching aids as teachers in school would use I teaching, such as white board, power point presentation and worksheets. Then, what the differences are? The time that we used in simulated teaching is shorter than real teaching and the students. In my simulated teaching, my course-mates had played the role of students. They are very cooperative. So, I cannot imagine for the real teaching.
This simulated teaching is a good experience for me as to practice before enter the real classroom. I had found out my strengths and weaknesses through this activity.
In the set induction stage, I displayed the picture of Yang Dipertuan Agong to the students and students were asked to describe Yang Dipertuan Agong. I connected the picture to the characteristic of Oedipus in “Oedipus The King”. In the pre-reading stage, I distributed an extract from the play to the students and they were asked to circle the characters in the extract and highlight the words or phrases that describe the characters in the extract. Then, I selected some students to list out their answer on the white board. In the while-reading stage, the students were asked to identify whether the words or phrases that they have highlighted in the extract are positively connotated or negatively connotated. In the post-reading stage, I asked the students to write a short essay about the change of Oedipus’s characteristic from Scene I to Éxodos of the play as homework.
In my opinion, there are similarities and differences between simulated teaching and real teaching. In term of similarity, teachers in school would get students’ attention by introducing a story indirectly. Moreover, I used the same teaching aids as teachers in school would use I teaching, such as white board, power point presentation and worksheets. Then, what the differences are? The time that we used in simulated teaching is shorter than real teaching and the students. In my simulated teaching, my course-mates had played the role of students. They are very cooperative. So, I cannot imagine for the real teaching.
This simulated teaching is a good experience for me as to practice before enter the real classroom. I had found out my strengths and weaknesses through this activity.
Adopt and Adapt
My lecturer and tutor had taught us a lot of knowledge about drama and teaching skills in teaching a play. In analysing a play, I learned how to analyse the treatment of a theme, portrayal of characters and so on. I had also learned varieties of exercise and activity in teaching a play. For instance, highlight the words that describe the characters. These are very important for me to adopt and adapt in my future lesson.
When a teacher has to start a lesson, he or she needs to get the students’ attention. In the lecture and tutorial, I had learned varieties of set induction activity. For instance, I can use pictures, song, video clip, quotation of famous people and so on for the stage of set induction. Then I had also learned how use worksheets effectively in teaching.
In the lecture and tutorial, I had got a clearer picture on how to teach effectively. So, I have to adopt what I had learned in lecture and tutorial then adapt in my future lesson.
When a teacher has to start a lesson, he or she needs to get the students’ attention. In the lecture and tutorial, I had learned varieties of set induction activity. For instance, I can use pictures, song, video clip, quotation of famous people and so on for the stage of set induction. Then I had also learned how use worksheets effectively in teaching.
In the lecture and tutorial, I had got a clearer picture on how to teach effectively. So, I have to adopt what I had learned in lecture and tutorial then adapt in my future lesson.
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