...teaching reading first, and strictly method
1. Introducing CERAPCoach-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.
An early CERAP experimental programme conducted by Terrabaca Management (in Terengganu and in Pahang between 1996 -2005) proved beyond doubt that students who have an early initiation in proper reading skills using interesting books in a non-threatening environment improved their learning capacity by leaps and bounds within a short period of time. We feel that there is a need to further develop this into a remedial cum enrichment "interventionist" method syllabus using a more structured reading skills approach which will uplift reading standards as well as improve students’ general academic achievement in schools.
The selected materials could be run as an English Coaching Games for UPSR/PMR running from February to April. Schools will have the advantage of lifting their takeoff value from a higher level, and producing students who enter secondary school with functional and usable English.
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.
We have tested this peer coaching method, albeit on a small scale at primary, secondary, post-SPM and university level since 1996 till the present, and without fail those who went through the coaching outshines their peers and scores in the examinations. We now feel that there is a need to incorporate this dynamism into the present school system so that low achievers will not fall by the wayside while their better classmates are being dragged more and more into complex IT-based learning methods, so that the number of quality students coming out of the system are increased whilst the late-bloomers are catered for. The UPSR module is perfect for implementation at the community college level (Basic PMR or SPM with low English) as a refresher course which modules we dub BILAS or Bahasa Inggeris Latihan & Ajar Semula. We have implemented this sporadically in 1 private university and 1 public university for students within the MUET Band 2.
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.
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.
These modules could also cover the core areas of science or mathematics without the need to change the tools of instruction, or the medium. This is where a creative school might want to add the science and mathematics textbooks as reading materials, to ensure that each student who competes would end up reading the whole book before June. From June onwards revision and remedial exercises follow, and the other like could be scheduled.
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.
Terrabaca Management has developed a package for the training of 20 coaches from each school, and overseeing the coaching of 100+ more students by the coached coaches. Any school interested in installing a reading mechanism in their school calendar, and interested in a demonstration or testimonials are welcomed to email us.
2. The Method Solution
The method solution lives out the philosophy of "Blessedness in Togetherness" (Muafakat Membawa Berkat) and the basic Malay adage on a life of learning as encapsulated in the “Buah Cempedak Di Luar Pagar” pantun - the philosophy of a more caring, cheaper and better learning strategy through a simple student-centred approach. Pada asasnya belakang parang sekalipun jika diasah lagikan tajam!, the glint from practice, the credo of the method; tenacity and effort involving all, seek to redress the elitism creeping in the school culture where teachers tend to spend their resources on better students and merely tolerating the low achievers.
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.
But more importantly we have found a method solution for English language teaching and learning in schools, which in a manner of speaking, is a method of 'down-right-sizing' the logistics for implementing the recommendations of the compendium and beyond. We have tested the method, obtained paper proof of results rating and now seek the attention of all concerned parents and teachers alike to hear us out on the proposed method and observe its practical implementation on the school system.
The method module is called in layman's jargon, the Coach-a-Coach extensive reading assistance programme, or CERAP, and its implementation calls for the involvement of another form of P.I.B.G. i.e. PELAJAR, INSTITUSI, BAPA & GURU in a concerted, fun-filled competitive environment, an outcome-based approach aimed to ease language acquisition process whilst conditioning the learning activity to be more humane, with a sense of camaraderie and peer respect.
3. The Method Module
The content of the module is a selection of materials designed with a remedial cum enrichment approach that seeks to screen students in the four areas of language skills, i.e. listening, reading, writing and speaking. It is an "interventionist curriculum" to ensure all the gaps in skills, gaps produced by the examination/testing approach in schools, are now filled. It basically employs a student-driven, peer learning approach geared to solve the "stuck on the language/sangkut atas bahasa" malaise that is the product of years of distorted language teaching.
The method module for schools in turn is designed to resolve classroom problems in teaching English to a big and mixed ability crowd of 40 students by using the big numbers to advantage. The key idea behind the method is firstly, to get the students to read as many books as fluently as possible via a graded reading programme consisting of books and audio-cassettes. It is an enforced reading programme conducted on a regular basis by 4 coaching teams per class under the teacher's supervision.
The method of coaching is called coach-a-coach because it is peer teaching with effort as part of the evaluation and grading component. The reading practice is conducted by groups of ten students on a read aloud take-a-turn reading, with the coaches continuously correcting each and every mistake. The stress on frequency for fluency, or fluency from frequency, produces the necessary reinforcement needed for retention of subject matter in a tongue-tied environment prone to the disincentives caused by the rule of disuse (lidah dah berkarat) and issues of cultural permission (bahasa kapir) of the English language.
And with the daily diet of written exercises completed in each session, to be peer marked and corrected on the spot, parents need no longer worry about present state of affairs where teachers are too busy to mark and supervise pupils’ written work, and where mistakes get uncorrected and undetected for life.
The assigned teacher/head coach will be supervising 4 coaching teams, each team ensconced to a component of the content module, competing to complete and move on to a higher level, or switching to a different component, say from reading to storytelling to writing mode. The flexibility is there to maintain group dynamism by allowing students to excel by having games and competitions, using the underlying content-woven 3000 word corpus target.
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!
And the practice element draws out the competitive spirit allowing for expansion of the supplemental education hour as some are bound to conduct 'surreptitious coaching' to catch up!
Non-English teachers or even volunteers from amongst parents (e.g. where it is done off school hours) could conduct the supervision of the coaching. Thus from one perspective the method should be able to produce a pool of English Language support-teachers who would have acquired enough reading skills to be able to run the programme from constant repetition and contact with the language.
An interesting spin-off could be an impact on the tuition business run by teachers in their spare time as there are bound to be parents prepared to pay for private tuition operators simulating the CERAP programme. And Terrabaca management is willing to offer franchise opportunities to the post-training aspiring entrepreneur.
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!
4. The Content Module
The proposed content modules consist of 4 components; each component complements the other, being tools for the main method component, which is practice. The books and audio may be sourced as meets our initial requirement on quality and practicality. The internet has vast materials for the creative web-miner. 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.
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..
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 school 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.
5. Terrabaca CERAP tools
The four content components – sets of books selected and used for CERAP activity are meant to cover the following areas of activity:
1. Basic Literature in storytelling mode (using audio books, designed to detect listening skills problems and to determine suitable materials to overcome difficulties and discerning from first language 'sound' system)
2. Graded readers / keywords in read aloud mode (hidden grammar, reading for grammar skills enabling students to master through practice diction and correct grammar)
3. Grammar Practice/structural words and sentence patterns ( writing skills using structured materials leading students to confident composition writing or prose)
4. Conversation practice (include speaking skills and formal English usage using graded materials leading to confident usage)
6. 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 the necessary lesson requirement, both in content 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 that 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. 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.
It may be no surprise that most university undergraduates that we have tested for placement fall into those in dire need of relearning the language, to repair years of confusion and errors, to retain functional English. So we put them on remedial stage beginner level to screen and strengthen both reading and grammar.
BILAS 1
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 cassette player 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.
When Utusan's 366 Collection of Malaysian Folk Tales came into the market we found this to be the best alternative due to the mix of humour, history and culture in the stories, the numbering and the fact that they are short stories from Malaysia. Still there is a need for an audio component.
This is a most effective component, as pupils tend to progress rapidly once they recognise 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..
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 school to compile a set of class readers. We hope to provide the links to some of these sites later.
BILAS 2
Hidden Grammar - Key words in Read aloud mode
By using Ladybird's Key Words Graded Readers series, we are then able to place each student in his or her respective level, or to use present teaching 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 a bidan terjun 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, or as a target, the drill and practice requires a constant brush of these 3000 words as students pored along to achieve target; with learning outcome credo 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 notice, 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” when it comes to English.
For UPSR/PMR students we would recommend Times Educational Primary English for Malaysian books 1 - 6 as a brush before proceeding to intermediate level.
BILAS 3 - This is the recommended set for students who have gone through the earlier modules.
Literature - Penguin Readers/Oxford Bookworms Book and Audio CD set Level 1 - Level 6
Grammar Practice - Longman's GrammarWorks Books 1-4
Academic Writing modules
Conversation Practice modules
