JOURNAL REFLECTIVE

Activity 1 :
I have been teaching for 15 years but still felt nervous while doing my practicum. I
met my headmaster to ask him about my mentor and he gave me a name. After sharing with
what I was about to do, I discussed with her on how to implement my research and what she
expected from me. The lesson went well as in schedule. Unfortunately, my mentor was ill
where she became almost blind out of sudden. I was pity on her but at the same time I
worried about my research when she asked for a replacement because it was already half way.
At that time, a new headmaster came and everyone in a busy situation where everything
focussed on what the new headmaster has planned. For myself, I was loaded by two jobs as a
student and a teacher. It was a stressful period and I was quite tired running to school and
clinic for diabetics and knees ( ACL) checked up. I just followed the implementation
schedule and met the headmaster after a week. A new mentor was given to me and he also got
sick ( skin irritation). Lucky for me he was guided me well before he took a medical leaves
for a few days, before my first teaching and learning observation.
The target group cooperated well and never absent. All the parents gave their supports
and cooperation because they hoped this activity ( learning vocabulary through BINGO
game). The parents said those five pupils played BINGO game at home on weekend and
sometime with siblings and parents. It was outrages and unexpected. I was so proud thinking
that the game was really attracted them to learn vocabulary and they believed that the game
could help them. Then, I gave them more vocabulary and focussed on frequently used verbs
in UPSR examination ( verbs starts from A-Z). My pupils were good but their self-esteem to
talk were still low but they had shown the could understand what the teacher was saying and
teacher did not need to translate anymore. By sing body language, talked less and used simple
words and short sentences contributed to this situation.
My headmaster discussed with me about my research he said he wanted to observe
me. It was my routine class and I was very panic. I prepared half day but he never came
because he needed to attend a meeting with a contractor. But I promised him to send a video
later on.

Activity 2 :
While doing this activity, the school was full with programmes and really challenging
for me to cop up. My mentor asked me to make the video on weekend if I could not have
time during the school day. Lucky for me, a friend was on leave and I took her period and
combined with mine to prepare and shoot the video. After watching my video,My headmaster
asked me to insert some i-think elements like song, movement, mind-map and others. I had to
make some changes and improvement but still based on my plan (strategies and methods). It
needed a creative work and quite challenging for me to prepare all at once while having a
hectic time in school( school programmes and volleyball training). That was my plan B if I
could not do it, I would use the previous plan but using powerpoint slides only. Lucky for me,
my headmaster gave me some space to do the preparation. Then, I made the second video
with more i-think elements, more attractive pictures and worksheets and the implementation
was smooth and link to what I have planned in my proposal.
After replayed the video, I noticed that the lesson was interesting and different from
traditional class. I quite satisfied about the video quality but really hope the sound would not
low my mark. My pupils were behave well and took part in every activity. They enjoyed
themselves and able to show their understanding excellently by doing their task well.
I am glad to hear some pupils say We had this word in that game or I know these
words; it shows me how well they remember the word. This might be because pupils were
given cognitively demanding tasks, where they needed to do some thinking to complete them.
My mentor teacher commented about pupils general performance by saying: In general, I
think that pupils have many vocabulary now and the pupils get higher marks after every
lesson . Their general performance has increased over this semester. When I interviewed
pupils about what they thought about the games and the activities that demand thinking, the
majority of them said that such games helped them in their spelling test, and they would help
them in their upcoming tests. One student said: It made us think about the correct spelling,
and that enables us to avoid spelling mistakes in the test. Actually I remembered the verbs
used for describing people at house compound and beach very effectively in our regular
spelling test and that was because the activity needed thinking about the words forms.
Thornbury (2002) has observed that The more decisions the learners make about a
word, and the more cognitively demanding these decisions, the better the word is
remembered (p.25). Accordingly, it appears that using games enhances pupils ability to
memorize the words, as they activate learners minds and give them the time to pause and
think about the words, whether to compare, contrast, match or draw pictures which represent
them, which store the words into pupils working memory and hopefully the long term
memory.
Through my observation, I noticed that while pupilss completed the games and
activities, they talked about the activity and how they can do it, but I rarely heard them chat
with peers. I was listening to their conversations and I was hearing the target language being
used a lot, I noted in my observation. My observation is supported by my mentor teacher
and my peers observations, who commented that pupils talked with each other about the

games, and they clarified complicated things. There a few teachers asked me to select their
children to involve in this research but I explained to them that I needed a small group only.
This is also supported by the pupils interviews in which most of them have said that they talk
about the activity, whether asking their classmates what to do, or asking what a specific word
means. I talk with my friends about the games or about new words. Sometimes I ask my
friends the correct spelling. According to my overall data, it seems that the games played in
the lesson enabled pupils to assist each other with how they can complete them, clarify
function of tenses, translate difficult meanings, or share their ideas about what normally
people do at certain places.
The majority of pupils comments were also positive. One student described why he liked
BINGGO game by saying Its fun; its the first time we play such game. We enjoyed waiting
our score and got BINGO. I feel that it will help me to remember the word. The most
important thing was the look of enjoyment that was shown on pupils' faces especially the
weak boy. I really felt satisfied when I saw them participating and learning with enjoyment.
Pupils positive attitude towards games and activities may show that they really enjoyed
them. This may mean that the pupils really want to have the opportunity to play games, as
they provide an active and supportive environment in the classroom. Further, pupils get bored
with their usual classes where they sit passively. This can be shown by one pupil who said to
me This is the first time we play games. We never had a teacher who offers such games.
Halliwell (1992) has summarized the benefits of meaningful games as follows: "They exploit
and develop the capacity for interaction and talk, the capacity for indirect learning, the
capacity for creative use of language resources, and the capacity for playing and fun" (p.40).
Accordingly, games and activities provide pupils with chances to examine the words closely,
as well as enhancing their motivation to learn.

Activity 3 :

While doing this activity , I was quite confused on how to write the report. I searched for an
example of teaching and learning reflection to get the ideas and I noticed it was related to
what I have planned in the proposal and my practicum activity. After I went through from the
start, I believed a well plan of teaching and learning activity could produce an excellent
development of the pupils. The Blooms Taxonomy chart was related of what I did in activity
2. I think it is a good chart. Harry K. Wong (1998) said attitude problems is caused by the
teacher herself.Most behavior problems in the classroom are caused by the teachers failure
to teach students how to follow procedures. By following every step I managed to
implement the lesson based on the plan and not many problems occurred and my reflection
was wrote almost the same the proposal. Clerehugh ( 2000 )found that the relevance and the
usage of a language is important to relate with pupils situation.Pupils want to learn quickly;
that is, they want to see results in that they are able to use the language in a meaningful way
as a reward for the learning effort put in. They want to discuss things which are of personal
interest or which are of direct relevance to their situation. It is not usual to hear a group of
fourteen year olds discussing the time they get up, get dressed or clean their teeth, and if they
have no real desire to communicate on a given topic they may naturally become disengaged
with the subject. The reflective of the practicum makes me more understand about how the
method, strategies and interaction with pupils are important and could give a big impact to
pupils development.