words

I have always loved dictations. For one, I love listening to how words are being pronounced and from there I transferred them into words. It also tests one's listening ability which is the ultimate objective, for it makes one recognizes the words heard.

Since it is the fasting month, I decided to prepare more receptive-based activities for my students. Besides, it is one activity which I have shamefully neglect all this while regardless of how important a role it plays in language learning. I didn't have high expectations for this considering how much I know my students, but I gave it a try. Tak salah mencuba, after all teaching and learning is like trial and error juga.

My Form 4 classes weren't that bad, but I suffered from a sore throat as a result of too much repeating. So much for wanting to talk less and work more la kan. But it is a very good way of managing the classroom. The students were very silent as they want to hear the words right. To make it even more meaningful, I selected students randomly and made them write each sentence on the board later and together we checked. I could tell they loved it. Those who got the most ticks memang hidung kembang, show off sikit, especially the boys. And mostly, I know they learnt something out of it. The fact that they even tried was something that should be applauded.

I was quite surprised to discover that some students were really good with their spelling. They knew the words. So it shows that they are familiar with my utterances. Why was I so shocked? It's because in class, these students are normally the reluctant ones, they refused to participate and they hardly speak English. So yes, I was astounded. I probably shouldn't underestimate.

But there were misspelled words which I thought were hilarious. They were litterally being spelt as how they were pronounced. A boy actually spelt the whole sentence worngly I thought I was reading German.

Some of the words (which I could remember) were :

India for in their (by far the most funny and unexpected)
in lain for in line
footboll for football
lipping for leaping

I wish I have my students' books with me so I can cite a few examples. I don't think it was my pronunciation which caused the inaccuracies. If it did, well, then the activity had lost its validity :)