Why BILAS is strictly method!

Bahasa Inggeris-Latihan & Ajar Semula
strictly method!

BILAS 2 with a 2-stage approach

The term 'bilas' or rinse is used to describe CERAP's proposed module to assist PMR SPM Post-SPM and adult learners relearn correct English and thus enhance their language skills up to High-Intermediate level. Thus, Bahasa Inggeris-Latihan & Ajar Semula means relearning english through practice. And this is most useful for secondary and tertiary as well as working adults unable to cope with the language yet in dire need of it. This group of underachievers in language skills are easier to manage and inspire. From our experience the paradigm shift created from a never-asked-to-read-before to a must-read environment is enough to propel progress.

Using the same coach-a-coach method the modules we chose is to fit a two stage approach to be capped with a English Coaching Games! language activities using Further Reading modules.

Stage One
Longman's GrammarWorks Books 1-4
Penguin Readers/Oxford Bookworms Book and Audio CD set Level 1 - Level 6
Stage Two
Academic Writing modules
Conversation Practice modules

The level chosen allows students to progress confidently and later pursue the GSCE 'O' and 'A' Levels equivalent, and is most suitable for undergraduates struggling or tottering on their English. The next stage for these students would be to add the Academic Writing and Conversation Practice modules.

But most importantly students who have undergone BILAS 2 must want to proceed to BILAS 3 modules and keep alive the coaching team as a peer coaching cum study group. And BILAS 1 act as a remedial tool for coaches weaned from BILAS 2 to practice with their slower peers....and so on.

What is most relevant is that BILAS 2 creates a spiral effect that will turn students into self-learners who will no longer be shackled by a staid curriculum, and there is abundant material on the Net for the diligent.

We say that BILAS is strictly method by way of emphasizing the need for the teacher or coach to serve as facilitator, for time is the essence of the method.

READ ON......

CERAP Through BILAS First!

• We mentioned in our earlier posting 'tools' used in our proven research amongst pupils from Malaysian schools. In most rural or semi-urban setting schools are rushed in completing the 'testing' or 'examination' curriculum so that the taught syllabus distorts from the necessary lesson requirement, both in content level and pedagogy.
• Therefore we introduced the term BILAS, (adopting the Malay word bilas for 'rinse'), to propose that pupils go through a language rinsing process before the move to secondary education. Our BILAS or Bahasa Inggeris Latihan & Ajar Semula tools refer to books that could be used as practice sets. These are recommended supplemental materials other than the present books used by teachers as practice-for-examination sets.
• We recommend a foreign set here, as we believe that the transition from foreign language to second language mode can only be achieved once pupils have gone through enough drill practice and structured usage. Language is still about sounds, and CERAP removes the confusion flowing from present situation where first and second language share the same script or alphabet.
  
• In the present learning environment pupils' only contact with the language is from the adhocism generated by lessons meant to beat the examination system, which produced dysfunctional English for the majority.
• The better ones manage due to exposure from usage at home or because their parents introduce them to correct practice at an early stage, and unbeknown to many, the rest are false beginners.
• There is need for a method solution that afford opportunity for late-bloomers and those others with learning difficulties to catch up and make the quantum leap, and CERAP fits the bill.

BILAS 1 with a 3-stage approach

Stage One

Basic Literature in Storytelling Mode
We have experimented using Ladybird's Favourite Tales & Classics Collection for Remedial and Enrichment (for listening skills) in rural Malay schools effectively. The book and audio segment, the logistics nightmare, as some teachers put it, has to be addressed. For a basic reading room what is needed is a audio cd/cassette player (optional) and either a Japanese table (UPSR) or a table to fit 10 chairs (PMR). Most schools have media rooms but for the creative, sessions could be held under the tree in the school garden.

This is the most effective component, as pupils tend to progress rapidly once they recognize sounds from words they are familiar with but never asked to say out loud. This familiarity is now enforced through constant writing, through copying of all words pronounced, through spelling drills etc. And the audio component is a favourite amongst students as they get the chance to mimic and all.

The storytelling mode draws out students from their shell of "abashment" and brings out the “literary types” where fluency is concerned. This component is to fill one of the missing gaps in language teaching - the development of listening skills leading to reading skills.

There are abundant photocopiable materials from the Web for the creative student or teachers to compile own set of class readers, as these also serve as guide on student taste, and preference, and abilities. We hope to provide the links to some of these sites later.

Stage Two

Hidden Grammar - Key words in Read aloud mode
By using Ladybird's Key Words Graded Readers scheme, we are then able to place each student in his or her respective level, or to use present parlance, to discover their take-off-value. This grading enables the teacher to arrange the team according to achievement, thus having 4 teams made of A, B, C and D ranking. The team members are encouraged to vie for the A team to qualify as head coach to be assigned to the other 3 teams.

Here the class is involved either in remedial stage (Book 6 below) or enrichment (Book 7 onwards). In a dream setting, a teacher supervises the ongoing practice of 4 teams, one doing the storytelling component whilst the other 3 the Hidden grammar component. It is possible to bring down each team's voice level so that the humming is at the same sound level.

We have experimented with this using Ladybird's Key Words reading scheme as an experimental set, and found that it is designed for just this kind of logistics, besides having been in the market for more than 20 years. The formula to note here is that using a 3000 word corpus as a guide, a target, the drill and practice requires a constant brush of these 3000 words as students pored along to achieve target; applying outcome based learning as credo by requiring students to read aloud, spell and write them, and usage (ability to produce written essays or speak the language when required).

The reading practice helps students understand and master the school English language syllabus more easily. The progress to a second language mode, we noticed, is faster once students go through a foreign language approach in language learning i.e. through an enforced reading programme. Thus as a supplemental programme it does not interfere with the ongoing lessons and reduces the exam-phobia and “examicide” for English.

Stage Three

Grammar Practice

Using Times Educational's Primary English for Malaysians Books 1-6 as drill and writing practice set, and allowing for systematic correction of grammatical and common errors, students extensively read and write in structured format. Since each session ends with a writing component, instant correction and recording of exercises solve present problem of unmarked exercise books!

The next stage would be the Further Reading Stage.