SK Tementi

Tara Springstroh working in Sebertak, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Tementi.

This is the first of three trials of PAL partner reading at SK Tementi. Here Year 3 and Year 2 pupils are working through the program. Norpamela desigened PAL lanyards for the mentors to wear. Pupils were only allowed to change books when the mentee was able to read the story on their own. A later trial at this school saw Yusnita pairing together year 5 and year 1 pupils. The results were astounding and the otherwise restless pupils were focused and on task for the full hour.

SK Kumai

Tara Springstroh working in Sebertak, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Kumai.

This is the second trial of PAL partner reading at SK Kumai. In this picture, year 4 pupils are helping year 2 pupils read. Teachers enjoyed watching so many pupils get the individual attention that they needed!

SK Bukit Kepayang

Tara Springstroh working in Sebertak, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Bukit Kepayang.

This is the fifth trial of PAL partner reading at SK Bukit Kepayang. The teachers have been experimenting with different aged pupils and books. Teachers were so surprised to see how much their pupils were improving that one teacher even said, "Wow! This actually works!" 

SK Triang 3

Tara Springstroh working in Sebertak, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Sebertak.

This is the first trial of PAL partner reading at SK Triang 3. Here year 4 pupils are helping year 2 pupils to read. It was great to see a few pupils who are normally a bit hyperactive settle down and give their full attention to the story.

SK Sebertak

Tara Springstroh working in Sebertak, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Sebertak.

This is the second trial of PAL partner reading at SK Sebertak. Both times, year 3 pupils were helping the year 1 pupils read.

SK Batu Papan

Tom White working in Kerayong, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Batu Papan.

Teacher Wan is a P.E. optionist, but he is also an expert in motivating pupils for PAL reading. Here he is about to divide up the mentors (left) and mentees (right). In this case it was Year 3 mentoring Year 1. In this instance, Wan took advantage of the fact that the Year 3 teacher was on a course, so decided to provide relief for her class and use the time to good effect. After the kids had finished, he even got them to go up on stage with a mic to read to everyone!

SK Bohor Baru

Tom White working in Kerayong, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Bohor Baru.

In Bohor Baru we usually run the PAL Programme between Linus/Non-Linus pupils. Though it's not ideal having mentor and mentee the same age, we have still seen some fantastic results. Perhaps the biggest change we've noticed is the children have become more confident in both speaking English and asking for help from their friends. The pic above wasn't even taken during a PAL session, but you can see the kids collaborating during normal class reading too! Fantastic :-)

SK Durian Tawar

Tom White working in Kerayong, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Durian Tawar.

Both teachers Nur Hidayah and Noraini trialled the PAL Programme and continue to integrate it into their lessons. The standard practice is that the kids are brought to the library, have around 30 minutes to read with their mentor and then have to read to the whole class. The teacher will then ask the class questions about the story, so the other pupils must make sure they are listening carefully!

SK Kerayong

Brother (mentee) and sister (mentor)

Tom White working in Kerayong, Bera, Pahang is running the PAL Programme in SK Kerayong. 

Here is a pic of our very first PAL trial. We took class 2A and had them mentor class 1C to help them with their Linus studies. Teacher Qusnaini also gave a prize to the best speaker and mentor at the end of class! Great motivation, Qus! 

SJK(C) Kerayong, Bera, Pahang

Bera Cluster, Kerayong Jaya sub-cluster, Pahang

Finally!! Mentee Khor Chia Boon at SJK(C) Kerayong was just not convinced by mentor Meryl Thomas's urgings to try out group peer-assisted learning in his classroom. Until he tried it that is :-)
Now it has become a regular part of his English class and has resulted in a higher level of pupil engagement. Bravely done Mr. Khor!!

SK Kuala Triang, Bera, Pahang

Kerayong Jaya sub-cluster, Bera Cluster, Pahang.
Mentee Chew Sun has transformed his class into a very dynamic pupil-centred learning environment as mentor Meryl Thomas has encouraged him to take advantage of the power of Peer Assisted Learning. He now incorporates this strategy into a part of each lesson, and what a difference there is in the enjoyment of teaching and learning. His pupils now know the routine which generally moves from whole-class to pair work, to group work, individual work and then a whole class consolidation. Fabulous!

SJK(T) Ladang Menteri, Bera, Pahang

Bera Cluster, Kerayong Jaya sub-cluster, Pahang.
Mentor Meryl Thomas and mentee Nuruanawati bt Zaitong  at SJK(T) Ladang Menteri discussed how she might implement PAL in her very mixed abilities year 3 class. We realized that the mixture of abilities made it an ideal environment to implement this within the classroom. Without telling the pupils what was happening, Ana called out the names of her stronger readers and then paired them up with a less confident pupil. She then explained that one of the pair would be a little teacher, and one their pupil. "Who do you think should be the teacher?" she asked. Without exception they all agreed on the roles in just the way that Ana would have wanted. I thought this was a nice touch- well done Ana!
We used some quite simple reading books, all different, so that the stronger readers could exchange books as needed and the others could take their time and feel successful. One girl didn't want to stop- "Look at me, listen, listen, I can read!!!!!" she shouted!

SJK(C) Triang 1, Bera, Pahang

In Bera district, Kerayong Jaya sub-cluster, mentor Meryl Thomas's mentees have embraced PAL. Teachers Lian Wan Ching, year 3 class, and Loo Yen Moi, year 2 class, paired up their students for a test-drive of Peer Assisted Learning in the school library. These classes are both very large- over 40 pupils each, so it was quite challenging to organize and to physically have the space to be comfortable! None the less, it was a successful trial and has also led these teachers to incorporate PAL in their classroom.

SK Kerayong Jaya, Bera, Pahang

After introducing the idea of Peer-Assisted-Learning at a Bera Cluster CPD, the first school in the Kerayong Jaya sub-cluster to try it out was SK Kerayong Jaya. Mentees Kamarul Faisal b. Kamarudin and Haslin bt Salamon are always quick to try out new ideas, so on mentor Meryl Thomas' suggestion they teamed up their year 3 and year 2 classes for a reading session. 

Neither class needed much introduction to the idea, just some simple instructions that they would be going to the library where the year 3's job would be to help the year 2's read a short passage. The "big brothers and sisters" would first read it to the "little brothers and sisters" (Haslin's terminology), then the year 2's would try their best.

I can honestly say that we were quite shocked to see how smoothly this ran, and how successful it was. All the pupils took their roles very seriously. Some of our observations, apart from just how responsible they were, was how comfortable the younger pupils were in asking questions of the older group, how patient the year 3's were, and how proud they all were of their achievements. Haslin sat listening to one pupil for quite a while, and told me afterwards that he is a Linus pupil and she had been quite convinced that he was just unable to read- and there he was reading! A heart-warming and valuable experience that has lead Kamarul and Haslin to realize the importance of using peer assistance in the classroom on an on-going basis!

 

Parent / Pupil Assisted Learning

Involving parents in their children's learning at SK Jerantut Jaya, SK Teh and SJK(C) Sungai Jan

The teachers and mentor in Jerantut have been working together to create a series of fun events to bring the parents into school to take part in assisted learning activities with their children. We have worked with groups of parents of Year 1 pupils at SJK(C) Sungai Jan and SK Teh, and Year 2 pupils at SK Jerantut Jaya.

The event runs over two or three weekly sessions and it involves the parents and pupils working together to solve puzzles and play games. Each school is different, but overall the pupils are familiar with the native English-speaking mentor and his style of questions (what colour is a banana?), but their parents are generally not so familiar with either the mentor, his questions or English! This gives the pupils a chance to shine a little in front of their parents as they work on a shared English task. Later on, the mentor hands over to a local teacher who gives the parent / pupil teams a mental arithmetic quiz in BM; this time the parents have the edge.

As well as the quiz games, which are based on the popular Korean 'Golden Bell' TV quiz show for school children, the parents and pupils also team up to play some 'circle games'. The circle games are partly for fun and team building, but they also demonstrate the notion that we cannot always succeed the first time, but with encouragement we can try and try again until we do. 

The teachers and mentors have worked on a series of questions that parents can use to talk to their children about their day at school. Rather than focusing on the educational product (the children's scores and grades), the questions lead the parent and pupil toward a discussion of the educational process (the child's learning journey). A small team of teachers have also worked on BM and Chinese translations of the questions in order for more natural and spontaneous conversation to take place in the home.

A non-competitive version of the popular TV quiz game for school students ' Golden Bell'.

Participating parents, teachers and mentor.

Learning together is fun.

Lots of dads came too

The teachers and mentor prepared colourful take home question sheets for parents to stick on their
fridge doors as a reminder of some encouraging and non-threatening questions to ask their children
about their day at school.