FATIMI ESTAR

To score in any subject, you need to know how your papers are marked and graded. For SPM, students are required to write two essays in English 1119, Paper 1. If you do well and score high marks for the essays, the probability for you to score an A-, A or A+ for English is very high. The following is basically how your essays are marked.

Secret No. 4: Language Proficiency . Writing begins with language. To be able to express yourself and your point of view freely, you should have a good command of the language. English, like other languages, is systematically organised by its grammar. Good understanding and use of grammar helps you to write your essay more effectively, as it helps to develop more confident and versatile language use. . As ESL (English as Second Language) learners, most of you may have some writing skills. Unfortunately, in some cases, it is quite poor even at the sentence level. Run-on sentences and fragments (incomplete sentences) will be very common in your essay. Thus, you need to go back to sentence level, and begin to learn the basic structure before you could correct your errors. Once a good foundation is built, you can move on to basic paragraph writing and on to essay. . Fragments (incomplete sentences) and run-on sentences prevent clear presentation of ideas. You can fix sentence ...

Secret No. 3: Keep Learning and Practicing  Writing is a skill that you can learn. Good writing skill is not a natural gift. You were not born with it. You really have to learn to write well. There are hundreds of books on all aspects of writing, from the nuts and bolts of grammar and punctuation, to writing in specific genres. You can also find advice from blogs and articles on the internet. However, the best way to learn is always to find a good teacher and learn from him/her. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Apart from learning about writing, you need to practice. That means writing regularly. As you write more, your essays will get better. ----- Madam Fatimi Estar English as 2nd Language Guru

Secret No. 2: Observation Writing is about expressing your ideas in written form, on paper or online. To be able to write easily on a certain topic, you need to have enough information regarding that particular topic. For instance, if you want to write about Datuk Lee Chong Wei, you need to know about his background, his experiences, his achievements and so on. Apart from reading, another way to get a lot of information about anything is through observation. You may learn much from life around you--what you see and hear and observe for yourselves. For example, your observation on incidents that occur in your neighbourhood or in the country can provide you with authentic ideas which are very helpful every time you try to write your essay. Listen to people's conversation. Get people to talk to you about the things they know. Discuss subjects that interest you with your friends. All these will help to enrich your mind with ideas and knowledge, which is essential for you i...

Secret No. 1: Reading One of the most common problems faced by Malaysian students when it comes to essay writing is lack of ideas. Normally, when teachers ask them to write an essay, they would respond like this; " I don't know what to write la teacher...no idea. " Sounds familiar? Well...is that true? It depends on what you have stored in your brain. Is it empty? Is it full of rubbish? Or, is it full of useful information? Writing is about expressing your ideas in written form, on paper or online. To be able to write easily on a certain topic, we need to have enough information regarding that particular topic. For example, if we want to write about Datuk Lee Chong Wei, we need to know about his background, his experiences, his achievements and so on. One way to get a lot of information about anything is through reading. When you read widely, you are storing your mind with a large variety of facts, thoughts and general information. So, when you write your...

I am going to your schools. Call or Whatsapp me now to reserve your desired date for English Essay Writing Workshop at your schools. I am looking forward to meet you and your students.

My fellow ESL teachers dearest, Why is it difficult to teach essay writing to our students? Is it possible that the approach we are using is no longer relevant for students in this era? The method used by our teachers many years ago might have worked well for us, but not that well for students at present. Nowadays, most students have short attention span. They couldn't stand reading lengthy and complicated texts. They normally scan a text for specific information, without paying much attention to the language. When they speak, they are more expressive. They like to use short sentences accompanied by non-verbal gestures. For them, the message being delivered is more important than the language used. When it comes to writing, they find it difficult to express their ideas in long, winding and flowery sentences (notice that emoticons are very popular). Why? It is because their brains are not familiar to that. As a result, many of them refused to write for it is a h...

WHY, after struggling for 11 years in school, many of us are still not able to communicate well in English? Interested to know? Okay, I'll tell you why... It is because, in school, we did not learn English, but instead we studied English. That's the problem. Confused? Let me explain the difference between "learn" and "study". When we learn something, we will be able to use it to perform a certain task. For example, if we learn to play badminton, we will learn its rules and skills. After some practice, we will be able to play badminton. The more we play the better we become. On the other hand, when we study something, we will gain knowledge which is not necessarily usable. For instance, if we study history, we will gain knowledge regarding historical events, places, people and so on. However, it does not make us good at anything (accept writing answers for exams). Now, let's get to my point. What we did in school was, we studied Eng...

SAMPLE QUESTION (SPM 2014) Write a story about a fisherman beginning with: “The wind blew strongly. Out at sea…” The wind blew strongly. Out at sea, the wave was huge. I was worried about Pak Samad. He went to the sea to catch fish early this morning and had not come home yet. Pak Samad was my neighbour. He worked as a fisherman. He was 52 years old. Looking at his wrinkled face, one could sense his maturity and wisdom. He had a pair of small eyes. When he smiled, his eyes would smile too. Pak Samad was tall and muscular. His skin was dark as a result of working under the sun every day. I noticed that he loved to wear worn T-shirt and sarong anywhere he went. Maybe, he felt comfortable wearing them. Having a pleasant personality, Pak Samad was well-liked by people around him. As he was friendly to everybody, he had many friends from all walks of life. Apart from that, Pak Samad was kind-hearted. Whenever he met people who needed help, he would definitely lend a hand. Whe...

Date: 7th May 2016

Teach students strategies for both formal and informal conversations. Conversations may fall flat if the participants do not know conversation strategies. There is a difference between an everyday conversation and an academic conversation. Example: Situation 1: "Hey, Rayyan! How's your study in USM?" I am signalling to Rayyan that I would like to open an informal and brief conversation on the topic of his study. It might extend a little into my own study in my university. Situation 2: "What do you think about university students today? Don't you think that they are being too pampered?" Now, I am signalling a different kind of conversation which is more academic. It is more in-depth and analytical as the conversation participants need to consider giving more facts regarding the topic.

Focus on communication and fluency, not correctness. Most ESL students are concerned if they are holding their conversation "correctly" or if it is "right". Even in our first language, we rarely concern if the conversation is proceeding "correctly". The point is if our meaning is coming through. The emphasis should be: it's not a matter of "right" but whether or not your classmates understand you and can respond to you.

Date: 4th May 2016

Date: 12th April 2016

Date: 11th - 12th March 2016

To be able to speak English effortlessly in a variety of situations one requires the following: a) good pronunciation. b) a wide range of vocabulary. c) grammatical accuracy. d) the knowledge of what to say to whom and when.