Writing Task (Indiscipline)

Upon completion of your course, you are posted to an interior school which poses some challenges to you. Among the problems that you face are:

• low English proficiency among the children
• most of the school children are absent on Mondays
• some parents do not bother about their children's achievements in school

As an English teacher, what would you do to improve the prevailing situation? Your write-up should not be less than 300 words. Give a suitable title to your post.

Reading Task: Indiscipline in school

The following article is taken from this site: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/4/nation/4840998&sec=nation

KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry wants to put more counsellors in secondary schools to curb discipline problems among students, said its deputy minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.

He said the ministry hoped to reduce the current student-counsellor ratio of 1:500 to 1:300.

“We need an increase of about 40% counsellors from the current 7,000 counsellors posted at schools,” he said after launching the Mid-Autumn Street Party in front of Sungei Wang Plaza last night.

Dr Wee, who is also the MCA Youth chief, said it was only a mere 2% of secondary students with disciplinary problems and most were repeat offenders.

“Education is not only about teaching and knowledge. It is also to mould a student’s well-being. Some first time offenders have benefitted from counselling and no longer play truant or cause problems at school,” he said.

He added that enforcement such as suspension, warnings and expulsion should only be used as a last resort.

“We are not a prison, but an institution. We need to educate the students,” he said, adding the ministry was working with Persatuan Kaunseling Malaysia to train more counsellors.

Task 1 (Reflections on Video Presentation 1)

Last week, you were given a task to write about the video presentation you watched. You are now required to blog about your reflections. Upload your post latest by 16th August, 2011.

The following questions were given to you to assist you in your reflection:

1. Which particular scene in the video presentation did you find very interesting? Why?
2. Find one quote that you like best in the video presentation. Explain the significance of the quote to you.