ENGLISH LANGUAGE WEEK 1.

Introduction There is no doubt to say that language play a vital role in binding together a multicultural nation made up largely of three separate and distinct races; the Malays, Chinese and Indians. Even these groups differ in both appearance but language help unite them and create national consciousness. In the field of education, English language is one of the most important languages used in daily communication. This is why The English Language Week was introduced to promote its usage among the school community such as the students and teachers. The programme will encourage especially students to use English as one of the language at school. This also will motivate them since that everybody will speak English and they will not be feels shy to use it. There will be some distraction during the programme due to the lack of knowledge especially by the week students who are unable to speak as they communicate with other students.

The program will be conducted by the English Department and incorporated with the English Language Society (ELS) .ELS is established with the aims of providing enrichment activities and cultivating interest in the English Language among the members. English Language Society plays a vital role in widening the pupils involvement in activities and upgrading their proficiency in using English language. ELS also functions as a society to train pupils in the skills of managing and organizing a society. English Language Society also helps to promote unity, tolerance and fellowship among members.

It is important to choose the suitable activity so that students will get interested to join in. ChoralSpeaking is one of the most interesting activities during the English Week because we can see more students will put their interest in such activity. The reason is they do the activity in numbers which will make them to be more comfortable. The activity also indirectly increases their knowledge of the language and they will be happy to do it.

2. Aim

The objectives are to encourage pupils to speak in English, to boost pupils' confidence in using English and to instill interest in the English Language. The English Language Week is organised to give the opportunity for students to experience a variety of fun and challenging activities whilst learning English. It is also of great importance that English Language Week should provides fun and promotes enjoyment in every activity conducted in learning English thus develop positive attitude towards learning. Nevertheless, English Language Week may develop and increase the knowledge of four basic skills of English Language, namely, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Overall, the programme is to build interest in English and to bring the subject to the higher level.

The English Language Week is meant to show to our students or as well to the community the importance of the language in daily use as the communication tool. It also encourages them to be more supportive to any of the activities that will be carried out as a way to help students to motivate in learning English Language.

For those who think that English is uneasy to learn English, English Language Week can motivate them to take a few steps such as to reduce the shyness and fear within them. Some students have put their mentality to a zero level when we talk on the English language. They will say that do not understand or unable to speak in English when actually they know how to do it. To start a conversation is hard for them because they are not used to do it in public. The solution is The English Week; it is the time when everybody will use English as their communication language although they will come up with some broken language.

3. Objective a. To arouse the interest of students in basic proficiency. b. To provide enrichment activities and cultivating interest in the English Language among the pupils. c. To provide effective language learning opportunities to the usage and practice of the language among the pupils.

d. To give a balance education to the pupils with emphasis on both academic and extracurricular activities e. To introduce the juniors (Form 1 students) to enjoy the activities. f. To broaden the students horizon in fictional and non-fictional materials through activities such as sharing books and language games. g. To develop leadership and motivate them. h. To produce students who are serious in improving their language command for academic purposes. i. To improve the four Basic English skills of students namely, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. j. To build vocabulary and grammar skills.

4. Duration of the programme It is decided that the English Week programme will be implemented in a week with variety of activity such as Choral-speaking, Spelling-Bee, and Scrabble Competition etc. Some competition such as Essay Writing Competition and Cross-Word Puzzle may be done during the English period under the observation of the students current English teachers. Each activity should be done once per day so that everyday will be fills with such different activities.

5. Target group The target groups obviously the whole students of SMK Gadong. The students will be divided into two groups which are the lower-level and the upper-level. The lower-level will be consists of the form 1, 2 and 3 students and the upper-level are consisting the form 4 and 5 students. The reason for grouping is due to the ability of students according to their age. Although the activities are the same between both levels but they are plan to suit the students level so that everybody will have chance to join the activity.

6. Report of Implementation The English Language Week is one of the activities which are conducted by the English Language Department of SMK Gadong. The other language subjects are also holding their own activities at the same time. Therefore, only two competitions whereby the content of each competition does not stray far from the English subject context learning. The competitions are the Essay Writing Competition and Cross-Word Puzzle. English Language Week should never interfere the teaching and learning session for other subjects, this is why the competitions are done during the English period. The activities will be under their current English Language teachers observation. The winner of each class then competes against other classes to determine the final winner of the competition.

7. Strength and Weakness of the programme a. Strength i. The proficiency of students will be evaluated from the beginning till the end of the programme. ii. The interactive activities may help students which require interaction and communication with English speakers. iii. Students may develop skills to prepare for future academic work. iv. Good and week students will work together as a team when joining in group activity such as the Choral-Speaking competition. v. Some students will be attracted by the prizes. b. Weakness i. The competition caters mostly the good students of each class. The weak students normally do not stand a chance competing against these good students. Therefore, weak students are not motivated in joining the competition. ii. There is a possibility that the examiners, who check the essays of each student, are influenced by the good achievers. Therefore there is a slight chance for

weaker students to perform well in competition when academic work is the core of the competition.

8. Suggestion and recommendation a. Competition should be carried out according to the students ability in order to provide opportunity to the weaker students. This group of students may develop confidence during the activities without worries of overshadowed by the well achievers. b. The English Language Week should not be interfered by other language week such as Bahasa Malaysia and Arab Language. To avoid the monopolisation of the same students who partake the competition. c. Make sure each activity consist all level of students when conduction a competition which require students to be work in group. This will ensure weaker students to be felt more confident and arouse their interest to join of any activity such as the Language games or competition.

9. Conclusion Each winner received their prizes but the major prize of English Language Week is the achievement and experience they get while learning English Language. As the importance of English Language is highly seen the only possible ways in confirming the students undertaking in the near future, the school activities play an important role in changing the mindset of the students that English is complicated and the only barrier to their success. Therefore, proper implementation and support from the management of school are deeply appreciated in order to establish an understanding of English Language in the real world.