NIE Workshop

Went for my first course today! It was an NIE (Newspaper in Education) workshop.

I get to skip school, library duty and mesyuarat penyelarasan to attend this course *glee*

The course was jointly-organised by the PPD (Pejabat Pelajaran Daerah) Gombak. All 34 schools in the Gombak district had to send one English teacher from the lower secondary to attend the course. I met Pn. S- from SMK Hillcrest there. Pn. S- was one the the cooperating teachers who supervised my practicum. So, it was a happy reunion.

The course was only for 3 hours (2pm-5pm). Firstly, we were briefed about the history of using newspapers in classrooms. Next, the instructor (sorry I couldn't remember her name!) explained why using newspapers in education is a good ELT (English Language Teaching) practice.

Then, we did some hands-on activities. All the resources were provided by the organisers (newspapers, A3 papers, scissors, glues).

Here are some of the activities that we did:

1) Model and Photographers

In groups, we cut out a picture of a person in action. One person from the group had to take a step away from the rest and be the "model". The model had to take directions from the photographers on how to pose. The model had to get into the exact same position as the person in the picture.

2) Collage of Ourselves

This was an individual task. Using letters, words, pictures from the newspapers, we had to create a collage of ourselves. We began by pasting our name on the paper. Then we had to paste these following items:
-an adjective that describes us
-our hobby
-our favourite possession
-a place we want to visit/a favourite place we've been to
-food we like
-our favorite television programme
-something we do well in/at
-something we would like to improve on

Later, a few volunteers explained their finished work to the class.

3) A picture that we love or hate

In groups, we cut out a picture that we love or hate. We had to give three reasons why we hated or loved the picture.

4) Making Up Stories

First, we had to find pictures of:
-a person/people
-an animal
-a place
-an object
-any picture of our own choice

Then, we had to write a story linking all of the pictures together.

X X X

Overall, it was a very well-organised and well-executed workshop. Kudos to the PPD Gombak and The Star NIE team!

A goody bag containing the Kuntum, Galaxie, and Flavours magazines courtesy of the Star Publications Berhad