READING PROGRAMME REWIRES AND LIGHTS UP THE BRAIN; SO CONFUCIUS AND CERAP WAS RIGHT, MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK

the mechanics of peer coaching ... many hands make light work

"This bricks and mortar approach based on actual and repeated reading and writing practice culminating to multimedia presentation is a necessary gateway before students could be expected to comprehend the multitude of materials available online, especially for the diligent. Like coaches on the express train, each pulling along the other, the expression of both reading and writing skills in a wider competitive environment is the best incentive for students to remain at the coaching station and thus ensures sustainability of the reading habit."

PROGRESS TO 2nd LANGUAGE MODE FASTER VIA AN ENFORCED READING PROGRAMME

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio;
a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy;

"Tunas Ehsan or the Sprouting of Virtues introduces learners to a practical application of the virtues of a long-forgotten tradition and ethos, banking on the social capital generated from its implementation among the young, our future, to wit,

- sprouting virtues, from school to home, and back
- buah cempedak di luar pagar/teach that I correct each mistake - mispronunciations, misspellings etc -
- muafakat membawa berkat - many hands make light work
- pada asasnya belakang parang sekalipun jika diasah lagikan tajam! - neglect not the slow learners, the late bloomers, the non-starters because with Kelab TUNAS EHSAN, now everybody can read (because now everybody asked to read, and aloud, period!).

and applying the following method ideas

- mushrooming of coaching stations anywhere/everywhere...for the glint from practice
- practice is from frequency to fluency - the alphanumerics of buah cempedak di luar pagar
- Apex now the Axis or Puncak kini Paksi leading to breeding and crossbreeding of coaches
- Teaching reading first as First Principle or 'Iqra

and all else leading to

* Further Readings in Science, Mathematics and the Encyclopaedia of life - KERAP for PPSMI
* Accredited Quality Screening - in choice of coaches, and books as practice sets, in grading the effort, recording the event
* Kelab TUNAS EHSAN is to obtain proof of the pudding and the arrival of meaning...of common endeavour to improve the learning culture"

NATIONAL GRADE AVERAGE RESULTS ASIDE, SPM/PMR/UPSR ENGLISH REVEAL MAJORITY EITHER FALSE STARTERS OR WITH DYSFUNCTIONAL ENGLISH

seeking paradigm shift from a 'never-asked-to-read-before' to a 'must-read' environment

BILAS 2 with a 2-stage approach
salvaging false starters and correcting dysfunctional English among school leavers

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.

REENGINEERING PEDAGOGY USING TEXTUAL MNEMONICS- FROM FURTHER READINGS TO FOREVER READING

alas! four eeee-books when all they wished for ...
the likes of Barron's Math and Science Wizardry,
Usborne Adventure Puzzle Omnibus, and other
choice cuts from Utusan and DBP

Post CERAP retention of readers scheme. Now that they can read - choice cuts only, more so to plant the reading bug.

"TEXTUAL MNEMONIC

Carruthers's studies of memory suggest that the images and pictures employed in the medieval arts of memory were not representational in the sense we today understand that term. Rather, images were understood to function "textually", as a type of 'writing', and not as something different from it in kind.

If such an assessment is correct, it suggests that the use of text to recollect memories was, for medieval practitioners, merely a variant of techniques employing notae, images and other non-textual devices. Carruthers quotes Pope Gregory I, in support of the idea that 'reading' pictures was considered to be a variation of reading itself.

"It is one thing to worship a picture, it is another by means of pictures to learn thoroughly the story that should be venerated. For what writing makes present to those reading, the same picturing makes present to the uneducated, to those perceiving visually, because in it the ignorant see what they ought to follow, in it they read who do not know letters. Wherefore, and especially for the common people, picturing is the equivalent of reading."

Her work makes clear that for medieval readers the act of reading itself had an oral phase in which the text was read aloud or sub-vocalized (silent reading was a less common variant, and appears to have been the exception rather than the rule), then meditated upon and 'digested' hence making it one's own. She asserts that both 'textual' activities (picturing and reading) have as their goal the internalization of knowledge and experience in memory.

The use of manuscript illuminations to reinforce the memory of a particular textual passage, the use of visual alphabets such as those in which birds or tools represent letters, the use of illuminated capital letters at the openings of passages, and even the structure of the modern book (itself deriving from scholastic developments) with its index, table of contents and chapters reflect the fact that reading was a memorial practice, and the use of text was simply another technique in the arsenal of practitioners of the arts of memory."

taken from from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_memory"

EXPANDING THE SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATION HOUR

catalyst for the elder one to remain ahead,
or else be coached by the younger brat, so to speak

"Students are put on a 3-stage reading programme. Since it is interventionist, and shadowing the official curriculum, the stages are tagged Remedial, Enrichment and Further Reading for students from Primary Four to Secondary Three category. This is an important grading element for the home tuition part, i.e. for sibling coaching. There will be instances where siblings from different grades end up with same module level and this acts as a catalyst for the elder one to remain ahead, or else be coached by the younger brat, so to speak. The Further Reading stage would include read aloud sessions using science and mathematics books, such as Barron's Science & Maths Wizardry, which will eventually generate enough interest to sustain the reading habit.."

SHARING THE SAME PILLARS - PERILS OF FIRST LANGUAGE SECOND LANGUAGE 'SOUND-FUSING' THE ALPHABET

the abc's of sharing the same pillars
separating first language second language sound systems

"One of the 4 objectives of the KBSM English language programme states thus:

“At the end of the secondary school English language programme the students should be able to read and understand prose and poetry for information and enjoyment ".

For this to happen under present English teaching and learning circumstances, the Ministry has once published a Compendium Bahasa Inggeris KBSM outlining, inter alia, on the need to introduce Class Readers, suggesting that one-fifth of the teaching hours be slotted for this. And to date, that suggestion has remained in the Compendium.

The number of class students and the lack of time, books and competent teachers plus general apathy to anything which is not examination business have turned reading into a foreign element in the educational and teaching process. And the price for that could be seen in the fall in the standard of language fluency and proficiency, thus perpetuating learning disabilities. What is most troubling is the sure prospect of a continuous 'tikus baiki labu' scenario in the attempts to remedy the situation.

We have looked at the reading disability problem in the schools at close range, and have drawn certain conclusions that coincide with the comments made in the Compendium. It is the taught curriculum (English as taught) that compounds the problem and breeds learning disability, and not the quality of the official curriculum or the various suggested tools of instruction available. Language is not taught as language is to be taught."

"The programme that we envisage, and whose worth has been proven in our rural and suburban 'laboratories' basically underline basic aim of CERAP; to enhance/boost/ supplement/develop reading and learning skills among low achievers in English (especially among students whose academic records tend to veer downwards), via an approach to pedagogy that is simple, practical and yet effective. And more importantly, to ensure that the high-achievers be put on an extensive enrichment practice, for it is from their lot that the quality coaches come from."

"An enforced literacy programme such as CERAP is able to raise literacy and the appreciation of the written word, allowing them to acquire a sustainable second language leading to post-SPM level."

ADRENALINE RUSH FROM A READING MECHANISM INSTALLED IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

no rush of the adrenaline unless a race...
competition and the post-coaching WOW factor

"Coach-a-coach Extensive Reading Assistance Plan, CERAP, is a method solution in English language teaching and learning. It is designed as a supplemental remedial cum enrichment programme to fill the gaps found in the present taught curriculum, for experience has taught us that one of the main reasons why students fail in learning is their lack of reading skills.

This may be rooted in learning discrepancies acquired in the rush at schools to complete a curriculum, or to target a specific examination. There are too many instances of slow learners who are left behind whilst exceptional, gifted ones are ignored. Only the “average” ones are led along to go through this system of learning, which may or may not produce students of an acceptable standard."

"What is most important is to be able to assemble a group of 10 coaches to compete in a CERAP English Coaching Games 2010, each coach willing to push group to the finals, so to speak."

BACK TO BASICS, AND LITERALLY SO

scenes of students whiling and idling while waiting
for UPSR and PMR results will be a thing of the past?

"Presently the teaching of mathematics and science though officially in English are not so taught in the 'taught curriculum'. It could instead be designed to run as an ongoing coach-a-coach book club/class library scheme so that students who have achieved progress post-CERAP do not wane on their reading. Recorded versions of Best Reader, or students’ reading selected for in-house use for new entrants to the programme, provide ample opportunity for the creative to put up online blogs or to ‘youtube’ it, and also to record progress in a group email alert.

The other element suggested by CERAP is the passing out in June/December where awards will be given to the best reader, best coach, best coaching team, best storyteller, best speaker, best speller, best effort etc., which needless to say, provide the impetus for the progress and success of the students. As a highlight, a state-wide competition could then be held after the UPSR and PMR exams where selected students represent their respective schoolS before the school year-end. Scenes of students whiling and idling while waiting for UPSR and PMR results will be a thing of the past as schools could put them to good use as coaches to run ongoing CERAP activity."

TRANSITION TO SECOND LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY REQUIRES EFFORT

screening first language status

"This coach-a-coach approach not only enhances general reading skills, but have an in-built scheme whereby more coaches are trained internally as the programme develops. In this way the programme feeds itself without the need for onerous funding and training programmes for teachers.

"An interesting spin-off - from our experience - is that coaches themselves improve their own language skills along the way in the course of implementing the programme. We have also seen how delighted the students were with their new-found skills and also their new-found love for books that many offered to stay on as coaches beyond the designated time, creating an almost instant shift in their outlook to learning."

"Low achievers can be taught to excel by the simple approach of enhancing their reading skills and also by boosting their interest in learning with suitable supplementary modules. And for low achievers, we discovered, there is more pleasure for them to be coached by their peers, to be huddled together whilst the head coach cues correct pronunciations, or spelling, or assist them as their written work are being done."

TEACHING READING FIRST, AND RIDDING THE BOGEY...

outcome based, from home to school, and back

"Since the nature of the sessions requires actual reading and active participation, the excitement and joy of competition provide the impetus for students to excel. This we have been able to observe at close range, the paradigm shift produced by the CERAP way. Compare that to the staid, passive and multiple-choice rote manner English is being taught!"

"We propose a minimum of 2 sessions per week, each lasting 90 minutes (1 hour of reading + 30 minutes of writing, spelling & other exercises per session), so that each student does 6 minutes of reading while being read to for the remaining 54 minutes, strictly speaking. Thus on a weekly basis, each student would have actually read for 12 minutes and listened for 108 minutes, making a 2 hour weekly diet of ongoing reading practice and 1 hour reinforcement activities. Compare this to virtually zero hour reading in most schools, where language is taught sans the sounds!"