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Info - Program Seeds

SEEDS is an English enrichment program designed for MARA Junior Science Colleges in Malaysia to address declining English standards. It consists of three main components: PIES (Plan for Improving English in Schools), FEC (Formal English Classes), and EIA (English Immersion Activities). PIES is a 20-week vocabulary building program. FEC is a 2-year program focusing on proficiency through student-centered learning and activities in classes. EIA is also 2-years and aims to make the school environment more conducive to English learning through daily, weekly, and annual immersion activities.

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Info - Program Seeds

SEEDS is an English enrichment program designed for MARA Junior Science Colleges in Malaysia to address declining English standards. It consists of three main components: PIES (Plan for Improving English in Schools), FEC (Formal English Classes), and EIA (English Immersion Activities). PIES is a 20-week vocabulary building program. FEC is a 2-year program focusing on proficiency through student-centered learning and activities in classes. EIA is also 2-years and aims to make the school environment more conducive to English learning through daily, weekly, and annual immersion activities.

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Schoolwide English Enrichment & Development Strategies

(SEEDS)

What is SEEDS?
SEEDS stands for Schoolwide E nglish E nrichment & Development S trategies. It was
designed in response to the need to overcome the declining standard of English among
MRSM (MARA Junior Science Colleges). It is modeled on the principles of Schoolwide
Enrichment Model by Joseph Renzulli and IRP (Intensive Revision Programme) by Matias
Francisco de Menezes while the programme content is the work of the English Language
staff of the SEEDS team.
SEEDS is a comprehensive programme that takes into account every facet of language
learning and the unique problems faced by these students. Since learning English
should not be confined only to the classroom, SEEDS involves the whole school
population, that is, administrators, academic and non-academic staff and, of course, the
students.

The three major principles underlying SEEDS are:

# Vocabulary forms the basis of all language learning. Therefore, the first task of
language teachers is to build a stable foundation of words, thus enabling students
to communicate in the target language.

# Language learning involves the major components of acquisition, retention, practice


and reinforcement. Therefore, the language learning environment should provide
maximum opportunities for students to acquire and practise/use the target
language.

# Maximum commitment and support from the entire school community is important
in order to provide the most conducive climate for learning the target language.

SALIENT FEATURES OF SEEDS


Simple and easy to implement
Resources used are cheap and easily available
Duration of the programme is short
Specific behavioural targets are easily quantifiable

TARGET OF SEEDS
Accumulate a minimum of 1500 words
Listen to and understand spoken English
Communicate meaningfully in local and international contexts
Read and understand prose and poetry
Write effectively for different purposes
COMPONENTS OF SEEDS
SEEDS consists of three components:
Plan for Improving English in Schools (PIES)
Formal English Classes (FEC)
English Immersion Activities (EIA)

PIES (Plan for Improving English in


Schools)

Introduction

PIES is a 20-week programme that serves as the foundation upon which SEEDS is built.
As vocabulary forms the basis of language acquisition, PIES concentrates on vocabulary
building activities. Special strategies involving simultaneous practice and reinforcement
exercises are implemented through listening, speaking, reading and writing activities.
Texts used in the activities are specially selected to cater for different levels of students.
It is estimated that at the end of the programme, students would have accumulated
1,500 words.

Implementation

1. A team of staff is selected to be responsible for PIES.


2. Each member of the team is given a specific role to play.
3. A pre-test is conducted to gauge the participants' standard of English.
4. Upon the implementation of the PIES programme, a list of 15 words with their
approximate
meanings in Bahasa Melayu (Malay) is given out to all members of the school
community.
5. At a prescribed time, a broadcast activity is conducted to teach and practise the 15
words for
the day.
6. Reinforcement exercises using special techniques start in the second week of the
programme.
7. Monitoring of the programme is done at 2 levels:
- at school level by the Principal
- externally by the programme designers
8. A final evaluation is done at the end of the 20-week period through a post-test.

FEC (Formal English


Classes)

Introduction

FEC is a 2-year programme that takes into account the present classroom situation and
attempts to realign the focus of our attention from the syllabus and examination to
English proficiency. The belief underlying this strategy is that if a student is proficient in
the language he or she would perform well in the required examination. Another
concern that FEC addresses is the level of motivation of students learning a foreign
language. FEC attempts to overcome this problem through student-centred learning
and activity-oriented classes.

Implementation

1. A pre-test is conducted to gauge the level of English among students.


2. Teacher training sessions are carried out in stages to expose teachers to innovative
teaching
methods.
3. Workshops are conducted to prepare lesson plans for the classroom.
4. A compilation of selected lesson plans is sent to the participating schools to be used
as models
in their effort to prepare lesson plans for the year.
5. Monitoring is done through visits to the participating schools by programme
designers.
6. A final evaluation is carried out at the end of the 2 year period by conducting a post-
test.

EIA (English Immersion Activities)

Introduction

EIA is a 2-year programme that concentrates on activities outside the formal classroom.
Its objective is to restructure the school environment, making it conducive for acquiring
the target language. Opportunities in the form of daily, weekly and annual activities are
generated that require students to use and be exposed to English constantly.
Eventually, English becomes part of the school culture, thus making it bilingual.

Implementation

1. A pre-test is conducted to gauge the level of English proficiency among students.


2. A list of possible daily, weekly and annual activities is sent to the participating
schools.
3. The participating schools choose the required number of activities and implement
them for a
2-year period.
4. Monitoring of these activities is done by the Principal at school level and by the
programme
designers through visits to the participating schools.
5. A final evaluation is done at the end of the 2-year period through a post-test.

PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR SEEDS


PROGRAMME TIME PARTICIPANTS ACTIVITIES EVALUATION
PIES 1. Forms 2 & 3 15 new words a day Pre-Test (January )
January - 2. Form 5 Broadcasts Post-Test (May )
(Plan for ImprovingMay > 3. Principal, Asst. Reading articles
English in Schools) Principal, teachers, Reinforcement
exercises
admin. staff & Assemblies
support Role Calls
staff Announcements

FEC January of Forms 1, 2 & 3 Regular English Pre-test (January )


the 1st year Forms 4 & 5 classes - structural Post-Test (Sept of the
(Formal English - November approach 1st, 2nd & 3rd years)
Class) of the third - activity-oriented
year - student-centred Pre-Test (EPT)
OR - Teacher as (February )
January of facilitator Post-Test (EPT)
the 1st year - Concentrate on (September of the 1st
- November language & 2nd years)
of the proficiency
second year - Not too rigid
with syllabus
EIA January (of 1.Forms 1, 2 & 3 Structuring the school
English Immersion the 1st environment
Activities) year) - 2. Forms 4 & 5 (Daily, College,
November National Activities)
( of the 3rd Daily/Weekly
year) Activities
- Notices - Newspapers
OR
January (of on boards
the 1st - Message board/ tree
year) - - Graffiti sheet
November - Riddles - Broadcast
(of the 2nd - Newsletters
year) - Court Buzz
- English Day
- English Night
- Journal Writing/
scrapbook
- Reading Corner/
Programme
- Language Games

Conclusion
It is envisaged that SEEDS works on the premise that successful acquisition of English
involves the assimilation of the language into the learners' world. In this manner,
retention of what is learnt is enhanced.

SEEDS TEAM
1. Matias Francisco de Menezes - Principal, MARA College, Banting
2. Stephen Ambrose - Master Teacher, MARA College, Banting
3. Loh Mei Lin - Head Of Language Department,
MARA College, Banting
4. Noor Aziah Bt A. Karim - English Language Officer, MARA
Secondary Education Division,
Kuala Lumpur
5. Haniza Bt Husain - English Language Officer, MARA
Secondary Education Division,
Kuala Lumpur
6. Lee Chai Poe - English Teacher, MARA College, Seremban
7. Rodina Bt Kamaruddin - English Teacher, MARA College, Seremban

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