Page 30 - MUET My Way (2022)

MUET My Way Teacher's Handbook

Introduction

aving taught MUET as a subject since 2003, I have had ample time to develop tricks of the
trade that get upgraded over the years. In 2008, there was a format change to include report
Hwriting skills in replacement of the summary question and I was particularly active developing
most of my teaching materials during this period. It was also the beginning of my blogging journey
– ‘MuetMyWay’ at Blogspot. It has helped me reflect and polish my lessons, encouraged me to keep
tweaking them to better reach my teaching objectives. I do hope the blog has served both teachers and
students over the years and helped them find a way forward on the meandering path of teaching and
studying for MUET.
My journey has come to a point where this book seeks to summarise all the teaching tips and
noteworthy lesson ideas that could be of great use to my fellow educators. Here is a collection of lessons
that you could easily adopt or adapt for your language classroom. As you know, the new CEFR-aligned
format has made quite a huge chunk of my materials obsolete but I’m happy to say that most of the
grammar, lexis and syntax-based lessons, and basics of teaching the 4 skills are still applicable with
minor alterations and adaptations. I have also included a Tech Resources section so it can be your go-
to list of what web-based apps best suit your purpose be it sourcing printable materials, downloading
existing lessons, doing creative puzzles and word art as well as a myriad of links to other digital functions
that you might find handy one day. I have purposely not gone into each app in detail as you can easily
Google it and explore for yourself. In fact, I believe that with hands-on effort by you as a proactive and
dedicated teacher, you will be able to open new and astounding digital doors and windows to optimise
your students’ learning experience. My advice is to try your best to look up the different sites, and even
if you cannot see yourself using or doing it (no interest in movie making and editing? No worries!),
just empower the students to do so because they are a digitally adept generation and will know how to
circumnavigate your instructions even if you yourself are clueless about the process! Believe in them
and they will show you the light!
In terms of homework, in this digital age, I would like to recommend a number of suggestions for
effective homework hubs. My favourite is the personal blog because it is literally owned by each individual
student and they can do it up as creatively as they like. It also gives them a sense of ownership which
breeds responsibility and instils a deep sense of pride in producing quality work that can be seen by any
blog visitors. Even if you do not know how to blog, do not let this deter you from giving the students
instructions to set up their own blogs because as I have said earlier, new age kids have more tech savvy
skills in their pinky fingers than we have in our entire bodies. Challenge them to set it up and you will
be blown away with what they can come up with. Another very useful homework hub that I always use
is the Google Drive folders. I share a folder with them, give them instructions and each student or group
set up their own sub-folders. I then share screen and all their work is a click away and stored efficiently
in the cloud. It also makes working on the same file possible and this is a very convenient way of editing
the essays or other written work by the students in real time as we do our online classes or when we
project it onto the class screen. Finally, I also recommend Edmodo as a cool Learning Management
System (LMS) because it functions almost exactly like Facebook but for academic purposes. In addition,
there are other functions available like setting quizzes and assignments and the option of auto marking
the responses besides uploading files that the students can access in the Edmodo virtual classrooms.
The last section I included is also one of my signature teaching styles. I am a great believer in
involving students in the brainstorming, planning, implementation and reflection stages of completing
a project. Project Based Learning or better known as PBL is very popular but often misinterpreted. A lot
of teachers and administrators alike only focus on the product of PBL which defeats the purpose. It is
TEACHER'S HANDBOOK
the journey that counts, not the destination. While it is rewarding to have a perfect product at the end,
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