How to retain study information

Most of the questions that my students ask are quite universal and relevant to many other students. I therefore thought it imperative to publish answers to some important and intelligent questions that my students ask me. Below is a question that one of my students asked the other day, and how I replied to her.

Q- Ma’am, in which way did you study the subject S.STUDIES as a student? Ma’am, my way of studying S.STUDIES is that I learn everything by writing on a rough copy, but after some time I forget it.

A quick reply by me- It's always best to understand everything thoroughly. Problems in exams are of two kinds mainly, conceptual and language related. You are lucky enough to have internet facility at home (when I was your age I probably hadn’t even heard of internet), and I'm sure your parents are also very cooperative. Ask them questions; engage in healthy and interesting discussions. The things I remember best are the things I came to know through some interesting discussion with my teachers and parents. Moreover, search over the internet about history and geography, and practically anything and everything that you can’t understand. Or do anything to make it interesting if you think it is boring; play map games, take online history quiz, draw funny pictures, make your books more colorful by highlighting. I hope this helps you out. Good luck!

This is, however, not enough. There is a lot of research going on in the field of education which is focused on figuring out what works best for students and how they are able to understand and retain information better. Therefore, I am now going to write an article including some scientific details about different learning styles. So, do come back for more!

The Voice of Youth: Time to deliver the Wow! speech

Public speaking is as much fun as it is stressful. When once you get a hang of it and get rid of stage fright, nothing can stop you from being the orator you always wanted to be. Here are a few tips on delivering a perfect speech following which would wow your audience.

• Take your time to settle down on the podium.  Do not start speaking immediately after you reach the rostrum. Take a second. Look at the audience. This will grab their attention and make them wonder what you have to say. But don’t make this silence too long. It will only make things awkward for you and others might think that you have forgotten your speech. The best way to time this silence is your breath. Breathe normally, inhale, and then exhale, and you are ready to go.
• Dais is a good friend of yours. Take support from it. Do not stand too far away from it. How you touch the dais and make use of it makes a big impression on your audience. It is also a way to hide your nervousness.
• Do not use the dais too much. Making the right use of dais can help you deliver an impressive speech. However, using it too much can have adverse effects. Try not to lean over it too much. Neither should you put your weight on it.
• Do not be stiff. Your posture should show flexibility, adapting itself to what you are saying. You should keep changing your posture according to the flow of your speech. The art of public speaking is not about your voice alone. Your body language counts a lot.
• You should be perfectly in control of your movement. And yet, your movement should appear to be natural and free flowing. Sometimes, your movement is so much rehearsed that the audience can clearly see that it is not a natural movement. Avoid doing that. Conversely, some speakers move to the point of fidgeting. That turns out to be distracting for audience. A fidgeting speaker does not seem to be in control of the situation.
• Do not hold a paper in your hand. It is a good idea to keep all the key points ready at hand. But holding them especially if your hands are shaking is distracting and can leave a bad impression.
• Use index cards instead of paper. They are handy and leave lesser room for messing up with your speech.
• Maintain eye contact. It is very important to maintain eye contact with your audience. Don’t keep looking at one person alone. Many speakers make the mistake of looking only towards the judges. The entire audience is there to listen to you. Give them equal importance.
• Control the pitch of your voice. Some speakers are unable to control the pitch of their voices. The result is annoying for the audience. If you know that your voice is shrill, you should try to keep your voice low and refrain from being loud. If you know that your voice becomes hoarse at a certain pitch, avoid that pitch.
• There should be a variety in the tone and pitch of your voice. You shouldn’t sound monotonous. Instead, manipulate your voice according to the content of your speech; inquisitive when asking a question, authoritative when making a statement. It should be a combination of loud, medium and low.
• Do not just speak. After you have made an important point, pause for a while. Look at the audience in a meaningful way. Leave the impression that you are giving them some time to think over the question you have just posed, or the important statistics you just gave them. Again, the pause doesn’t have to be too long; breathe in, breathe out, and start speaking again.
• Remember, the stage is yours. So sound authoritative. You are on the stage because people want to hear you. Make use of this opportunity and make a lasting impression on your audience.

Write, Write, and Keep Writing

Okay, so now you know that it is important to write and you agree to write. But, what to write about? It is an important question. Even the most successful writers have times when they don’t know what to write. We call such times a ‘writers’ block’. This inability to find what to write and where to begin can lead to negative feelings in learners and beginners.

This much said, I would move on to some handy ideas for you to get rid of this problem.

1. Keep a Daily Diary and make this diary your best friend. Write about your daily activities both interesting and boring. Share your thoughts and feelings with this trusted friend. Here are some things you might want to write about:

·        something or someone who made you laugh today,

·        things that make you angry,

·        your future goals,

·        the reason you couldn’t score well in today’s test,

·        why you like parrots more than canaries,

·         what you can gift your mother on her birthday.

There are endless things for you to write about. What matters is your determination to write.

2. Write on topics assigned to you. If you still are not able to choose what to write, you can take help from you teachers, parents or siblings. Ask them to give you a topic to write on. You can also search over the internet for topics to write on. Here are a few websites I find helpful: 
1.  http://www.ets.org/Media/Products/Criterion/topics/topics-6thgrade.htm Each of the topics given on this webpage has a description which makes it easy for learners to organize their essays.
2. http://thewritesource.com/writing_topics/ Here you’d find a lot of essay topics to choose from according to your interests, age and level.
3. http://www.essaytopicideas.com/ On this website, essay topics have been compiled under seven categories. Here you have the choice to suggest your own essay topics too.
3. Write letters to your friends. I have conducted this activity in my classrooms a few times. My students enjoy it a lot. Friends can set a goal of writing one or more letters to each other every week. They would then have to reply to each other’s letters.
4. Write comments and reviews. I’m not asking you to write perfectly crafted book reviews. Instead, write your comments about anything and everything you read. For instance, you could write about this very post that how helpful or not was it for you, and why? You might want to write a few sentences about a short story you read in a magazine. Or, you could write about your science lesson on ‘Eco Systems’ and say which part of the lesson you could understand well, and which portions of the lesson need more detail. You can also write about a diagram in your Geography book, or a quotation you read somewhere. The choices are limitless.

Now that you have the answer to you questions, you have every reason to begin your writing practice. Do no slack off. Take a pen, and start writing right now. And then, keep writing without stopping. You’d be surprised by the results. Good luck!

Photo courtesy: 

Image: hinnamsaisuy / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Understanding the Malaysian Forests

So, here I am again, cozy in my bed with my mug of cocoa. I have two things to talk about today; a project my Grade VIII students presented today, and the 'Spelling Bee'. First something about the presentation. Sir William George Maxwell's In Malay Forests must be an interesting read. Kudos to Group A-3 (Now, I think we seriously need better names for our groups- A, B, C sounds drab, no?), they presented a passage from this book so well! I particularly like the model of forest they made, even though it was nowhere near a Rainforest :D. So, I thought of putting some pictures of rainforests here so my students could see what they look like. Happy viewing! :)

Creepers! how creepy they are!

Photo Courtesy: Matt Banks

Beware! There could be a crocodile in this stream!

Photo Courtesy: Evgeni Dinev

Tall trees, dense shrubbery

Photo Courtesy: Dan

If you need to find out more about Malaysian Forests, here's one blog you might find helpful. I am particularly thrilled by the idea of a 'treetop walk' and I'm so going for it soon. 

Image: Evgeni Dinev / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Matt Banks / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tips to fight writing anxiety

by Ayesha Mirza

Many of my students shy away from writing in English which is quite understandable. English is not their mother tongue. Some of them never wrote so much as a small paragraph on their own. Hence, all this fuss about writing. I keep encouraging them to write while giving them tips for making this task easier. Here is a list of tips for my students that I have compiled over the years:

1. Make an outline This helps you organize your answers in a better way. While using an outline, you can make sure you have written down all the important points. It is also the best way to avoid repetition in an essay.
2. Write short sentences There are more chances of making grammatical mistakes while writing long sentences. Therefore, try to make short and simple sentences. Instead of saying, ‘John, since he was a strong man, managed to lift the rock with ease’, say, ‘John lifted the rock with ease because he was a strong man’. This will help you avoid mistakes while conveying your message with clarity.
3. SVO/SVC Remember, each complete sentence has got a Subject and a Verb in it. But in most cases, Subject and Verb are followed by an Object. In some cases, we use a Complement instead of an Object. My students study the sentence structure as a part of their syllabus. It is therefore easy for them to keep this principal in their minds while writing.
4. Use the same tense throughout the essay or paragraph Look at the question for cues. If the question is “Why did Lorna ask John to leave?” the answer has to be in the past tense. When once you have decided which tense to use, stick to the same tense throughout the answer.
5. It is better to use indirect speech While narrating an event, it is better to use indirect speech. This will help you avoid unnecessary use of punctuation marks.
6. Active voice Instead of writing “the apple was eaten by me”, write “I ate the apple”. It is simple, and it sounds better. Passive voice should only be used if it is needed.
7. Don’t rush Instead of taking 10 minutes to write an answer, take 15. Do your work carefully. These few minutes of careful work will save you a lot of frustration and embarrassment.
8. Read as much as you can Reading is the key towards improving your writing skill. It helps you learn new vocabulary items and grammatical structures.
9. Mistakes are not bad In fact, they are good. Don’t ever shy away from writing because you are afraid of making mistakes. Learn to learn from your mistakes.
10. Write, write and keep writing This is the best way to improve. You can learn to drive well only if you drive. Writing needs practice. So write at least something daily. You’ll be surprised to see how much you have learnt without actually realizing that you have been improving.