BEFORE I FORGET LET ME TELL U

Dear students,

Miss Farah and I just finished attending the course tailored for English teachers for lower secondary level this morning at SMK Lembah Bidong. We can't wait to share a few tips with you all. Nevertheless we are afraid of whether or not you will benefit from the said tips. By the way I need to share them via this blog first as this will remain intact and you can refer it time and again with just a mouse click away.

First and foremost, i need to say thank you to Puan Maryati from SMKTLS and Puan Roshidah from SMKTJ for their shared tips this morning. The wise old man once said, the faintest ink is better than memory as it lasts longer even ages after the writer died. So, the message is clear right? keep up writing as this humble act affects eternity.

First I want to start with Puan Roshidah's slot. She shared some tips on how to score for summary and literature part especially for the novel. She said, for summary, first make sure you write 50 words excluding the ten words given. Second, write in a paragraph. Third, use the ten words given. Fourth, change the pronouns as this will give an impression that you know how to use grammatical rules . Fifth, Use the same tense as in the original text. Sixth, don't change the meaning of the original text. Seventh, use a variety of sentence structures. Familiar ourselves with simple and compound sentences only and don't forget to write the actual number of words written. Write the summary in a table format as this will ease the examiner's burden to count each word written.

She said that it is so easy to get 7 ,8 or even 9 marks for summary as you will be easily given 5 marks for points which are usually found up to 6 or 7 points in each text. Use sentence connectors as this will give an impression to the examiner that you have put some attempts to use your own words. Despite the fact that you can easily get 5 marks, there are some setbacks which might trap weak students. Don't simply lift phrases with main ideas and use them for your summary without knowing subject and verb. Points will be given only for each complete sentence that includes subject and verb. In another word, we need to have a very clear idea of what constitutes a sentence that is subject and verb. In a nutshell, for better summary we need lots and lots more exercises on sentence patterns which are basically subject verb and object.

Another most important tip in summary writing is to undertand the question. You must truly comprehend the required task from each question such as benefits, steps, advantages, disadvantages, actions and so forth. Just to name a few. Last but not least mind mandatory words. What is mandatory words? Ask and you will be answered!

That's all my dear,

Sir