Jarod Yong

It's the holidays for me but an exam paper marking nightmare for many others. ***haha~~ poor baskets!*** I have marked all my papers & discussed them with my classes. I am a very strict teacher & an even stricter marker. If I do not give you a certain grade, don't you dare to challenge me or I will drown you with 101 reasons why you do not deserve the grade. Fortunately, I have yet to meet a small eyed slouch following me around with an umbrella bent on squeezing every mark he can out of me. ***based on a true story*** To help you in your plight, here are 6 Tips For Exam Essay Marking for those of you who are new to teaching, open to new ideas or struggling through your skyscraper high pile of horrigible unintelligible scribble. **This is written by a PMR English language teacher & may not apply to all situations** #6 Review References & Keep Them Nearby The references mentioned here are the scoring criteria & answer schemes. You need to know w...

adapted from the New York Times logo The English Language Society has several teams working on different year-long projects. One of them is the Newspaper team or, as named by the founding students, The Katibas Global team. I have always believed that no school is complete without a newspaper by the students reporting on the students for the students. This year, we have an outstanding bunch of high proficiency Form 1 students. It is unsurprising that many of them were drafted into the English Language Society. They have a rare gift considering the school's interior locality. I was clearly delighted when they raised their hands to volunteer for the Newspaper team. Every month they meet to come up with a new edition of The Katibas Global & report on the previous month's events. Through the newspaper, I want to give them an opportunity to use their language skills in an authentic situation as well as expose them to computer word processing. They also learn to...

Ever since I was appointed the Head of the English Language Panel in my school, I've been put in charge of the English Language Society which was previously pretty much dormant & abandoned. I spent many nights having wet dreams fantasising about what I could do with all these young innocent unexposed minds. There were a lot of possibilities! My mouth watered at the thought of all that I could do with my new found power. One thing was for sure.... I'm going to build the kick-ass English Language Society that I never had & currently only have in my wildest dreams. These are my foundational principles to building the English Language Society I never had: Only the Best Students I cannot emphasise this more. Only the best things can come from the best students. The best here means students who are most able to follow instructions. Language proficiency is secondary. There are no heroes or divas here. Only people who are willing to learn & labour. They are...

In the last 2 days, I spent 16 hrs on 6 different boats. I had to travel to a school more ulu than mine for the inter-school Public Speaking competition. It was an amazing experience. The principal & the teachers of the school were very hospitable & warm. I was the chief adjudicator & 1 of 2 participants from my school got 3rd place. Honestly, I think that they could have done better. Every participant has a long way to go to be a good speaker. Anyway, that's not the story I'd like the share. Here's an amusing story one of the teachers shared with me about his exciting life as a teacher at the school. ~~~~~ A few years ago, there was a Form 1 kid who didn't want to go to school. After a while, his father had to bring him to school & beg the principal to take him back. The boy stayed on his father's boat because he didn't want to meet the principal. When the principal finally agreed to accept the boy, they went to his boat with...