Speaking Good English a hindrance to Mother-tongue language?
Off course speaking good english will hinder our mother-tongue language, which is why our minister emphasize on bilingual or multilingual education. Because the grammar and vocabulary is different, it is not possible to direct translate english to our mother-tonuge language. Vice versa. Additionally, it will definitely impact our culture and way of life because we have English in our lives now and we will be influenced by mediums that uses english to communicate.
How do we use drama as a pedagogical tool to encourage the Speak Good English Movement?
What is pedagogy?
Speaking good English needs to be fun, especially for these kids of Juying Sec . The learning process must be meaningful, enjoyable and enriching for them. They should not feel a waste of time during this learning process. That is what drama is about! To use drama conventions as a pedgogical tool to encourage speaking good english movement.
Through drama conventions, I hope that students could identify problems in situations that they are facing, understand more of themselves, experiment and deal with their own issues. It is where personal growth occurs, where they are able to get out of situations and resolve conflicts in the way that would give them and the others peace. They would surely have inccidences that causes trauma or pain that they need to relieve from and this is where drama comes in. It brings the issues up front and allows us to deal with it in a sensible, intellectual and sensitive way. Not so subjective but rather to objectify their experience of life through drama, where in a space they can objectify their experiment or experience. Drama provides them with opportunities to release themselves from reality.
The scripts not only help them in their language structuring but the play itself helps them to express every word that they say. This gives meaning and life to their words. The Speak Good English should not just be correction of the language but also how well they express themselves. Drama conventions such as enacting and devising scripts allow them to experiment and express themselves in many ways. Other than that, they learn from their peers as well. As our script has narrator speaking, it is considered very good that they can narrate a story to the audience.
It also trains them to speak to a crowd of people, which builds on their self-confidence and self-esteem. Many kids do not have such a high confidence that they can achieve such a great mission as to stand in front of even 40 people (class size) to speak. Anxiety then makes them stammer. I believe when they are really involved in drama and acting, they can improve their self-confidence and bring out their expressions, gestures and words fluently and with conviction. Drama then becomes a vehicle of the Speaking Good English movement.
Sometimes, it is because we are too used to this habitual talking since young, that it locks in our memory of how we use our english in our everyday lives. Pandidikan, S. (2009) stated that 'Habitual behaviour sometimes goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting them, because it is often unnecessary to engage in self-analysis when undertaking in routine tasks.' (pg 10) For example, 'three' is pronounced as 'tree' because it was what our parents say and we say it from young. It is then difficult to break away from the norm. But, reading from a script and acting it out will enhance the student's oral skills because in a way, they have to keep reading, practicing and expressing the words.
Educators - Student Learning Journey
It is never a one way learning process throughout the journey, because it is a two way communication. If it is not a two way communication, it is dead. Dorothy Heathcote mentioned that she does not like teacher to be the dictator of the class, controlling the kids and giving instructions. Instead a teacher must do the same amount of work with the children. Drama is a collaborative work between both the teacher and students. Heathcote (2009) goes on to say that the teacher is a 'journey maker' and 'it's a journey of learning access to knowledge and responsibility for the access.' (Pg 9) A passionate teacher who wants her students to learn actively really requires herself to go through hard work or even extra work. It's where teacher embarks on a journey with her students on this learning process to gain knowledge and expand the boundaries. The teacher is then the leader, facilitator, guider and usher towards the access.
Similarly, we even discuss in music lesson on the 12th september that music teachers should work in a collaborative environment and not she or he being the task master. Not task orientated but process orientated. In this way, students provide the situations and the teachers deal with these situations and develop strategies to deal with it.
Bibliography
Pandidikan, S. (2009) Correlation between students' language Habit and Their Speaking Skill in SMPN I CISAUK TANFERANG. http://www.scribd.com/doc/23975189/Correlation-Between-Students
Annonymous. (2009) Learning, knowing and languaging in Drama: An Interview with Dorothy Heathcote. Retrieved from http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/AB109-DH-Interview-with-DH-Drama-as-a-way-of-learning-Knowing.pdf
Through drama conventions, I hope that students could identify problems in situations that they are facing, understand more of themselves, experiment and deal with their own issues. It is where personal growth occurs, where they are able to get out of situations and resolve conflicts in the way that would give them and the others peace. They would surely have inccidences that causes trauma or pain that they need to relieve from and this is where drama comes in. It brings the issues up front and allows us to deal with it in a sensible, intellectual and sensitive way. Not so subjective but rather to objectify their experience of life through drama, where in a space they can objectify their experiment or experience. Drama provides them with opportunities to release themselves from reality.
The scripts not only help them in their language structuring but the play itself helps them to express every word that they say. This gives meaning and life to their words. The Speak Good English should not just be correction of the language but also how well they express themselves. Drama conventions such as enacting and devising scripts allow them to experiment and express themselves in many ways. Other than that, they learn from their peers as well. As our script has narrator speaking, it is considered very good that they can narrate a story to the audience.
It also trains them to speak to a crowd of people, which builds on their self-confidence and self-esteem. Many kids do not have such a high confidence that they can achieve such a great mission as to stand in front of even 40 people (class size) to speak. Anxiety then makes them stammer. I believe when they are really involved in drama and acting, they can improve their self-confidence and bring out their expressions, gestures and words fluently and with conviction. Drama then becomes a vehicle of the Speaking Good English movement.
Sometimes, it is because we are too used to this habitual talking since young, that it locks in our memory of how we use our english in our everyday lives. Pandidikan, S. (2009) stated that 'Habitual behaviour sometimes goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting them, because it is often unnecessary to engage in self-analysis when undertaking in routine tasks.' (pg 10) For example, 'three' is pronounced as 'tree' because it was what our parents say and we say it from young. It is then difficult to break away from the norm. But, reading from a script and acting it out will enhance the student's oral skills because in a way, they have to keep reading, practicing and expressing the words.
Educators - Student Learning Journey
It is never a one way learning process throughout the journey, because it is a two way communication. If it is not a two way communication, it is dead. Dorothy Heathcote mentioned that she does not like teacher to be the dictator of the class, controlling the kids and giving instructions. Instead a teacher must do the same amount of work with the children. Drama is a collaborative work between both the teacher and students. Heathcote (2009) goes on to say that the teacher is a 'journey maker' and 'it's a journey of learning access to knowledge and responsibility for the access.' (Pg 9) A passionate teacher who wants her students to learn actively really requires herself to go through hard work or even extra work. It's where teacher embarks on a journey with her students on this learning process to gain knowledge and expand the boundaries. The teacher is then the leader, facilitator, guider and usher towards the access.
Similarly, we even discuss in music lesson on the 12th september that music teachers should work in a collaborative environment and not she or he being the task master. Not task orientated but process orientated. In this way, students provide the situations and the teachers deal with these situations and develop strategies to deal with it.
Bibliography
Pandidikan, S. (2009) Correlation between students' language Habit and Their Speaking Skill in SMPN I CISAUK TANFERANG. http://www.scribd.com/doc/23975189/Correlation-Between-Students
Annonymous. (2009) Learning, knowing and languaging in Drama: An Interview with Dorothy Heathcote. Retrieved from http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/AB109-DH-Interview-with-DH-Drama-as-a-way-of-learning-Knowing.pdf
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