Last Monday, a group of thirty-four trainees from the Diploma of Baking & Pastry course had the wonderful experience of visiting Keningau Vocational College's kindergarten for their social service and HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills). The trainees had made full use of the one week break to discuss some activities for the children.
As an English non-face-to-face activity, we thought this was the perfect opportunity to use a field trip experience to support and enhance our current learning into meaningful use of English since trainees would put into practice, all of the language knowledge they've been learning about over the past two semesters.
What makes it more interesting, you ask? They use the English language knowledge by teaching it to their adorable little brothers/sisters.
Now they know how fun it is being a teacher! :))
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| The inspiring bakers are excited to have the opportunity to become the teachers for the day. |
SESSION 01: Do You Hear What I Hear? (Listening Activity)
"There is only one rule to become a good talker-- learn how to listen," said an unknown author. Although speech-language pathologists and audiologists may suggest additional "rules," both professions agree that listening is an important skill.
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| The activity asks children to guess sounds made by different animals. The authenticity is preserved by playing the sounds right from the recorded digital audio files. Some of them weren't that audible, hence, the facilitators help to make the sounds. Upon hearing the sounds, the kids repeat until one of them identified the animal. |
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| Then they've to spell the name of the animals. Here you can see a boy who was so eager to flaunt what he's learnt and how neat he wrote. |
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| The kid was then given an opportunity to spell and write the word. |
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The trainees have been informed the kids might be influenced/interfered by the sounds they heard, thus it's vital to scaffold the right spelling. As in the photo, the cutie wrote 'dongki', and later aided with care for the right spelling.
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SESSION 02: Retelling Folktales (Reading Activity)
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| Initially, the boys were discussing the best folktales for their reading along session. |
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| The kids were given the autonomy to pick which book they'd love to read first. Children should be taught how to make decisions at early age to ensure they're able to make the right choice in the future. |
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| One of the facilitators were reading the book followed by the kids. This helped to ensure they get the correct pronunciations. While the words weren't being explicitly learned, the kids had been taught/provoked to look at the picture to get the context. |
SESSION 03: Banana Unite! (Singing Activity)
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| Some briefings had been carried out. |
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| Now who says joining a co-curricular activity is a waste of time? The scouts have utilized their signature jazz chant, 'Banana Unite' to teach action verbs like 'peel, eat, throw, shake'. Ref. here for the lyric |
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| After few times, the kids later were able to perform the song without the help from the facilitators. |
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| Aren't they adorable? |
SESSION 04: Musical Chair (Interval Activity)
The trainees/facilitators were informed that kids attention span is very limited. Thus, it's important to relived their spirit by providing some games or interval before the next lessons.
SESSION 05: As Easy As A.B.C. (Diction Activity)
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| It's interesting that not a single time the kids give a Malay word for the ABC. Moreover even from the beginning care was given to every child so the introverts wouldn't feel isolated. |
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| "The bakers were really gentle in handling the children. I think they made better teachers than me!" whispered the ferocious Mr. Ibrahim |
SESSION 06: Chicken Dance (Closing Activity)
Thank you to the care givers for the golden opportunity! I'd stay a stepping stone for more social services and field trips! :))
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| Ms. Suriani Bungsu |
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| Ms. Liyana Zainol |
More and more captivating photos and videos!
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