Goh: School is one of the happiest places students can go to, and I try to maintain that happiness for them.
A LESSON plan is like a blank canvas for English language teacher Cherry Goh.
Aiming to carry out fun-filled activities with her students, she constantly taps into her creativity to break the confines of textbooks and make her classroom come alive.
Over the past six years, the dedicated teacher has engaged in a range of educational projects and in-class activities at Sri Bestari Private School Kuala Lumpur.
These include organising a tea ceremony to teach the traditional art of tea-serving etiquette and overseeing a months-long terrarium-making project.
“I come up with different topics every few months. Students need to gain more knowledge about the world beyond our fixed syllabus,” she told StarEdu, adding that watching videos on social media gives her more ideas to fine-tune her projects.
Cognisant of the need to instil confidence in public speaking among her secondary school students, Goh, who was promoted to be the school’s English panel head last year, creates opportunities for in-class presentations with a creative twist.
One project had her Form Three students research endangered and abused animals, and then propose their envisioned charity organisations to help these animals.
Another project explored the topic of different countries. “I encouraged my students to search for and present information about different countries’ national dishes, currency, cost of living, and other aspects.
“This helps them gain general knowledge beyond our own country, so they will be more well-informed about life abroad if they decide to pursue their tertiary studies overseas later on.”
Public speaking through presentations, she said, is a form of output when learning the English language.
“It’s always a matter of input and output. Input is where students consume the language through reading and listening, while output comes in the form of speaking and writing.
“For students who speak Chinese as their first language, having them give presentations is an especially good way for them to practise speaking English,” she explained.
Besides incorporating creativity, Goh, who previously taught Science as well, regularly integrates eco-friendly elements into her lessons.
One of her Science projects engaged students in candle-making using palm wax.
This project, she shared, not only taught her students about hydrocarbons in candle wax and their different melting temperatures, but also helped the students practise their summarising skills.
“The students had to summarise the project instructions in 100 words. Summary writing is an important skill.
“In university later on, they will need to summarise their research findings for course assignments,” she said.
As her projects require large amounts of materials, Goh, who is also the school’s Arts and Social Science Department deputy head, often supplements the class budget with her own funds to purchase the necessary items.
These projects have included a handmade earrings project for Mothers Day and a handmade keychains project for Fathers Day.
“It fills me with joy that parents are supportive of our projects and even send me appreciative messages praising the students’ work.”
Goh’s dedication remained steadfast even during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an effort to maintain student motivation during the enforcement of the movement control order in 2020, she sent packages containing litmus paper and worksheets to her students’ homes for them to carry out their own experiments.
She also included kinaesthetic activities during her students’ online learning, such as encouraging them to cut out flowers from coloured paper while discussing plant reproduction.
To ensure no student is left behind, Goh emphasised the importance of teachers constantly adapting their teaching methods to meet students’ learning needs, as well as effectively managing their classes.
Being a mother has helped the 43-year-old in this regard.
Goh credited her two sons with enhancing her understanding of student psychology.
“Every student is different in temperament and skills. I have learnt to personalise my approaches to students with different emotional needs and to show compassion towards those who come from challenged families,” she shared.
“For these students, school is one of the happiest places they can go to, and I try to maintain that happiness for them.
“Teaching is a rewarding experience. Enriching students’ knowledge is a calling in my life, and seeing them succeed is the greatest achievement a teacher can have,” she added.
Li Lian, 19, a student in Kuala Lumpur, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team. For updates on the BRATs programme, go to facebook.com/niebrats.
With the theme of the article in mind, carry out the following English language activities.
1. What was the most fun classroom activity you have engaged in during a lesson? Share your anecdote with a friend, including why it was memorable for you.
2. In groups of four, take on the role of teachers and design a speaking activity that can be carried out during an English lesson. Deliver the lesson and then have your classmates rate how fun, creative and meaningful it was. Finally, write a diary entry reflecting on how you, as a student, can better support your teachers in carrying out their lessons.
The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) programme promotes the use of English language in primary and secondary schools nationwide. For Star-NiE enquiries, email starnie@thestar.com.my.
