JONATHAN ONG UJANG

One positive experience I had when I was undergoing my teaching practicum was how a
number of students interacted with me. It was a God-given opportunity for me to connect with
the students to hear them out regarding their interests and their displeasures, about things
going on in their lives, and many more issues. This also gave me the chance to play the
many roles a real teacher would play, like in this case a listener and counsellor. To be able to
gain their trust, albeit in a short period of time, really boosted my experience and further
encouraged me to wanting to pursue the teaching profession.

FARAH SYAHIRAH BINTI SHAIK MANSOOR

I have experienced many challenges during teaching practice that affect my perception of
teaching profession - both positively and negatively. However, the main positive experience
would be the one where I was able to help change a student with behavioural issues into a
learning success story. Within the four months, I was able to control him and made him
interested in learning English language. I realized that those kinds of students need and want
POSITIVE attentions from the teachers. When the scolding stopped, so does his bad
attitudes - atleast in my class. Nevertheless, it remains as a postive experience for me that
shows my capability in becoming an agent of change. Does anyone of you share a similar
experience to mine?

SUBHASHINI NAIR A/P G RAMACHANDRAN

Hello everyone,

One main positive experience is that I get to discover that producing your own materials is
not bad after all. We were always exposed and encouraged to at least adapt our teaching
materials to make the lessons more interesting. I personally felt that it was not necessary to
do it or it is time-consuming as many aspects needed to be considered; instructions, types of
questions asked or even types of activities given. Furthermore, we have many other
materials to be used. However, thanks to my form 2 students as they always get very excited
when I give them new handouts and worksheets. They really taught me something as well as
made me discover that I could still do something that I did not like at the beginning and make
me enjoy doing it. This was a positive experience because I get to change the way I see
developing materials as an issue to something beneficial to me as well as the students and I
get to improve myself in the area.

MARIA ANNE THOMAS

Hello everyone! Hello everyone! My practical experience is something that I will never forget
as long as I live. One main positive experience that I have encountered during my teaching
practice is that I learned to never judge a student by how they behave in the classroom. The
school which I went had a reputation for being a bad school and most of the students come
from low economic background. In my form 4 class, there were a few students who would
sleep in my class when I was teaching in front. At first, I would get very upset and label them
as rude and undisciplined students. Later on, I decided to talk to them and slowly I developed
a close relationship with them. It was only then that I realized that they actually work after
school to sustain their families’ income which explains why they would often sleep in the
class. Later on, when I went for relieve classes, I took the opportunity to talk to some of the
students who have been labelled as, ‘difficult’ or ‘lazy’ students. It was then that I realized
that all these students actually worked part time after school and come from broken families.
Thus, my practical journey thought me to be more human and understand a person before
judging them. Thank you!

KOW PIK YOKE

A good morning to everyone.

My teaching practice was perhaps one of the most memorable experiences that I was
blessed with. The one positive thing that I could take away from the experience was seeing
how my students started enjoying the language of English when I took over the class. They
disliked the language for they do not understand and they do not learn anything from the
class. They felt desolated when it was time for English. At first, they thought me to be strict
and firm. They thought that I would make English hard for them. But, as time passes, slowly I
see how they enjoyed the language and learning even basic vocabulary. By the end of my
teaching practice, most of them got a B which was way better compared to their previous
results. It made me glad and reminded me that we are educators. We are to help these
students instill a positive attitude towards what we are teaching. We have to be passionate
about what we are doing if not, we cannot influence them to be a better generation.

KRITHIGA A/P DEVAN NAIR

Good day everyone. Hope you are all doing well.

To start off, I would say teaching is a noble job. It is not designated for many and it should
never be claimed as an easy job. I know because I had an experience of a lifetime during my
practicum. There are many positive and negative experiences that I could share but the one
main thing I feel grateful for would be the working colleagues, or in my case, the senior
teachers who were very warm and welcoming to a trainee teacher like me. I was completely
blown away to see the level of students' behaviour in the scchool I went. Thankfully for the
senior teachers there and also my mentor who supported and guided me throughout the
process. My mentor knew I lack certain skills in teaching so she was there for me in each
and every lesson by giving ideas that were suitable for the students there and also by
providing feedbacks that helped build my self confidence in teaching. I would say without her
firm support and other teachers making me feel comfortable in such school, I would have
quit. Therefore, I feel blessed to have the support from the people who actually are well-
trained in handling difficult students.

Thank you for reading!

RAIHAN IVAN LIM YIT FATT BIN REMIGIUS LIM KEE TIT

The journey of teaching had been an eye-opener for me. Throughout the period of teaching
practice, I have gone through many positive experiences. These experiences mostly
contribute to my knowledge in teaching. The most significant experience in my teaching
practice is the introduction to the actual school and student setting. Teaching practice had
enabled me to experience the process of being in school as a teacher. Teaching practice
taught me what to do in school in terms of the system that I as a teacher have to follow. I
also learned how to behave and act as a teacher as well as to adapt in terms of attitude
when I am in school. I also gained the knowledge of the behaviours of the students in school.
During practicum, I discovered many behaviours that I have never seen before in my
students. This allowed me to employ specific strategies to teach these students.

Was teaching practice an eye-opener for you too?

IZA RAFIQA BINTI KAMARUDDIN

One main positive experience during my teaching practice would be seeing how my students'
interest in English increased. During my first day of teaching, they were very passive as they
have low proficiency in English and I spoke too fast, making it hard for them to understand
what I said. After few lessons conducted, I learnt what kind of materials suit them best and
would grab their attention in class. I conducted various activities to approach kinesthetic,
auditory and visual learners and it turned out that most of my students are into musics.
Eventhough they were not interested in learning English initially, they enjoyed listening to
English songs. To my surprise, they can memorize the lyrics easily and even pronounce
correctly. They love it when I incorporate musics in class. They also love to compete among
themselves especially when there are rewards on the line. Their confidence to speak in
English had increase tremendously compared to the first two weeks of my teaching practice.
It surprised my mentor teacher as well because she said they were all very reluctant to speak
in English and would prefer asking in Malay. Did any of you share similar experience as
mine?

KARTIKA BINTI MUSTAFA

Hello everyone

One of my positive experiences during my practicum was being able to learn on how to
control a class. I could learn on what kind of activity that they love and how am I going to
attract their attention to the lesson. I have to give equal attention to the whole class and I do
notice that my students love to be praised. I use these informations to increase their
enggagement in the classroom activities.

NAOMI SANGEETHA PITCHAY A/P MICHAEL

Hello everyone!! For me, teaching practice has been a though experience. Even so, I’ve
learnt a lot. One main positive thing that I have experienced is being able to learn and
educate myself with the things that students actually need and not what the school or the
society expects them to do. There are many things a teacher can be but the main role of the
teacher is to provide what the students need. And what the students need is to understand
life and not memorising modal answers to prepare themselves for exams.

NUR HIDAYAH BINTI AHMAD KAMAL

Greetings everyone.

I must admit that my days during the teaching practice will remain memorable for a lifetime.
One main positive experience that I could recall was improving on my classroom
management skills. Dealing with 60 odds of 16 year old teenagers was no easy feat for me.
However, the teaching practice allowed me to experiment with a new strategy to control my
classrooms. I managed to implement reward systems to control the classroom discipline and
promote participation. That was killing two birds with one stone, was it not? Not to mention, it
was a fulfilling experience when I could see positive changes on their behaviour.

I am curious to know what were some of the things that you have managed to experiment
with during your teaching practice?

Thank you and have a great day ahead!

NOORAINI BINTI OMAR

Hello everyone.

One main positive experience that I remember during my teaching practice is when my
students enjoyed my lesson. During my first class with my students, they did not really like
me as I can see that they look intimidated by me. After 2 weeks of teaching, my students
slowly accepted me and they were interested in learning English language. Before this they
tend to sleep and do not really pay attention, after making some changes towards my lesson,
they enjoyed my classes and their participation in the activities conducted during my classs
was great.

WAN AHMAD FAIZAL BIN WAN MOHD AZMI

Based on my previous teaching practical at Taiping recently, I think I have much more
awareness of the real situation of the educations of the younger generations specifically
English. This knowledge and experience help me with in a positive way where I am now able
to surely assess the situation and make correct judgment with suitable action for the best
results. This definitely a positive experience for me though I will admit that it was the fun one.

NUR ATIQAH BINTI GHANI

Teaching practices allow us to gain experience, whether it be good or bad, and find out our
strength and weaknesses as a future teacher. One of the main positive experience i’ve gone
through during the teaching practice is that i was able to put myself in the position of a real
teacher, teaching school students and working alongside experienced teachers. I was able to
go through the real teaching and learning process; constructing lesson plan and then
conducting a lesson – a whole different environment and situation occured as compared to
how we were taught and told in the university. Aside from that, i was able to experience
working alongside school teachers; having colleagues and working under school
administrations, abiding to school rules and systems, and also applying my understanding on
our education from the lessons i learned in the university into real life situation. The positive
aspects in these is that I can say that I am well prepared later if i were fully a working teacher
in a sense that, if i were to be placed in a friendly or challanging school environment, i should
be able to comprehend any given situations. In addition to that, I was able to identify my
strength and weaknesses as a teacher which I could improve in the coming future.

DARYL ANAK SINGAN

The practical session has taught me lots of things. One positive value from the training is that
I get to experience the reality of teaching secondary school students. We have been taught
in lectures that we should always emit a bright and positive aura when teaching. I found that
hard to accomplish especially with low proficiency and poor disciplined students. Not only
that, some of my students could not read nor understand both English and Bahasa Melayu.
Communication barrier was my first of many hurdles. I overcame some disciplinary problems
throughout the training. Overall, it was a wholesome experience and I learned that teaching
requires a lot more patience and determination than I thought.

KESHVINNY A/P B.VISWANATHAN

Good day, everyone.

I believe that practicum has taught me more than just one positive experience. Although
there were many other unwanted memories, I always hold on to this one special experience
with me in order to get rid of the tough times I dealt with. My students were a blessing in
disguise and will always remain dear to my heart. Since I could control the class with my
voice projection, I did not have an issue with class control. They would equally cooperate
with me when it comes to teaching and learning sessions. Of course it was not a bed of
roses when I started off teaching, for at least a month. They could not blend well with me as I
realised that there was a gap between us. In order to break that, I had a heart-to-heart talk
with them about their relationship with their families. Only then did I get closer to each and
every one of them. Surprisingly, they would wait for me by the door even before I enter,
longing for me to come. They would stick notes on my car saying how much they love me,
they still text me saying that they want me to come back to teach. All these little things they
did, not only has it motivated me to do better each and everyday but it has also ignited
sparks to light up others who are in need of help. Apart from that, I did not expect 40
students at my doorstep to celebrate my farewell party. I do take this as a positive sign for
me to do better for those in need in the future. Thank you.

VINCENT ANAK SIEW

Hello everyone!

Experiencing the actual teaching process in class was certainly no easy feat. I had fun
teaching in school and it was a wonderful time. One main positive experience that I would
like to highlight is that observing the students that I taught nurture in their use of the English
language. At first, it certainly was quite troubling that I may not be able to convey my
knowledge of the language to the students. I am happy to say that the I was able to help
some of them improve in their sentence construction. This may seem simple but it was very
difficult for them as 80% of the class is unable to read in English.

Thank you!

ROSEANNE NELSON

Amongst the many positive experience that I have had during my teaching practice, the one
that I remember fondly would be when most of the teachers would help us practical teachers
whenever we needed help. It is not only our supervisors that helped us but most of the
teachers also gave tips and helpful advice during our teaching practice there. The school I
went to was not particularly an amazing school but the teachers there gave their all to teach
the students. They all have each other’s back. In a teaching profession, being a teacher is
never easy as the task that is handled by the teachers are not just teaching but so much
more. Seeing that every day for four months made me realized how patient and dedicated
these teachers are. I think by only witnessing these things is already a positive experience
itself. The kind of qualities and attributes that these teachers have is ingrained in them for
decades that they understand the need for others like us practical teachers to be given the
right advice and guidance.

SYDNEY ENGELBERT GANGGANG

Good day everyone!

I personally think that the practicum is an experience that I will never forget. Some students
were wonderful and the teachers during my session helped me a lot to cope with the
teaching environment, especially my mentor teacher and the principal of the school herself.
However, one of the positive experience that I would like to highlight was when I managed to
change a student’s attitude towards English subject and studying in general.

She was from the lower class and is considered a problematic among her peers and the
teachers. It was hard to get through her at first as she was always absent and sometimes
skipped the lesson. After a few weeks of trying to talk to her and get her to open up to her
problems through one-on-one talk, it turns out that she does not like the discriminating
environment in school. I then listen to her and try to give any advice I could. I even
approached her more during a lesson when she was present and get her to mingle along
with her classmates. Thankfully, it worked and she started to like learning again. Once,
during the holiday where I was already back in Sabah, she contacted me thru Facebook and
said that she got A- in English for her final exam and that she thanked me for teaching them.
She also said that she wants to get 5 As in her SPM this year. That really touched my heart
and made me smile. I am glad that I was able to help her and to inspire her to make a
change in her life.

It made me think that being a teacher does not only requires you to impart knowledge to the
young ones but to also touch their lives for the better and help them in a way you can. No
matter how small the gesture may seem, it could bring an impact on their lives. How about
you? Did you encounter such similar situation? If so, how did you face it?

MUHAMMAD KAIRY NAJMI BIN FOUZI

Salam to all, one main positive experience for me is i manage to learn self control which is
very important for me in school. i believe that one must have self control in order to asses the
problems that one have in class. we must not think with emotion when in class and
everything that we plan to do must help in developing the students' learning curve. so set
aside our emotion in order to think rationally. All in all, I learn a lot but self control is one thing
that i would like to emphasize here.
Discussion Topic 1
Practical teaching forms an integral part of teacher training.
Given the critical importance of practical teacher education, there has been concern about
how student teachers experience their teaching practice.
Identify ONE main positive experience for you during the teaching practice.
Greetings everyone,

One main positive experience I identified during the teaching practice is I realized that
different students have different learning styles. Before this I have only done teaching
practice during the KPD class and my coursemates will be acting as the students. Thus, I
never experienced the real-life situation of teaching until I went for my teaching practicum.
During my practicum, I realized that my students are different from my coursemates. I cannot
treat them the same as what I have done in KPD class. Some of my students love to do
writing activities and others would prefer to do speaking activities. So, the positive
experience that I get is to learn how to accommodate with my students’ different learning
styles although sometimes I forgot to consider about it during the lesson planning. My
learning process towards the journey of becoming a teacher is what makes it a positive
experience during the teaching practice.

I also wonder how my fellow coursemates overcome the problem of having students with
different learning styles. How do you ensure that the whole class will enjoy the lesson that
you have prepared beforehand?