The ‘Buddy’ way to reading English proficiency
The
‘Buddy-Read with Me’ programme aims to improve proficiency of reading
in English as a second language (ESL) among early primary school
children, enhance love for reading and reduce phobia for the English
language.
IT helps to strengthen relationship and friendship between siblings and neighbours.
It’s a fun, personal and effective way to introduce the pleasures of reading to early primary school children.
Named “Buddy-Read with Me Programme,” it pairs older and younger students in reading activity.
The idea is to offer students one-on-one guided reading time to improve their reading and comprehension skills, and probably by extension their vocabulary and overall English as Second Language (ESL) learning success.
Buddy-Read with Me initiatives have a wide range of applications and can definitely benefit ESL learners.
Generally, the defining feature of the programme is that a student is “buddies up” with an adult volunteer or older student who interacts with their younger buddy through reading.
The programme can be adapted for an entire school, used in an individual classroom setting, or applied to only one group of students.
A substantial advantage of Buddy-Read with Me Programme is the student gets to improve his or her speaking, reading and vocabulary skills.
The efficiency of such a programme has been confirmed by numerous independent studies – whenever it is implemented, it promotes learning and improves literacy.
Yes, it has worked in Sarawak as well. Initiated by the Dyslexia Association of Sarawak (DASwk), the Buddy-Read with Me programme was first introduced and tested in the state in 2013.
Upon its success in improving younger students’ literacy, it was re-used in January.
Funded by the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and collaborated by the State Education Department, four schools – one each in Bintulu, Belaga, Baram and Lawas – were selected for the programme — Sekolah Kebangsaan Tatau, Bintulu, Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu Keling, Belaga, Sekolah Kebangsaan Long Loyang, Baram and Sekolah Kebangsaan Ba Kelalan, Lawas.
DASwk president Dr Ong Puay Hoon said in each school, there were 20 buddies, comprising Primary 4, 5 and 6 students who could read and write well in English, and five teacher-facilitators who were trained on the highly-structured, phonics-based and multi-sensoryreading programme.
She said 20 from among the Primary 1, 2 and 3 classes, weak in English, were selected as adik.
One buddy will be paired with one adiks and the buddy will teach the adiks using a log book and reading resources for at least 30 minutes each school day – either before school starts, during recess or after school.
Each buddy will be provided with all the necessary learning materials, log books and teaching aids, including the bottle caps and tactile mats.
The duration of this peer-group learning support is six months.
Adiks pre-tested
Ong, who is a lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), said all the adiks were pre-tested on their reading, spelling and reading comprehension skills before the programme starts.
She said a progressive test and a post-test were conducted midway and at the end of the programme respectively.
She noted the involvement of the teacher-facilitators had ensured the multiplier effect of the programme to other students in the schools.
Teachers, she said, were tasked to pair them up because they knew the students well, adding that there were cases where the younger sisters or brothers were “buddies up” with the elder siblings while the young neighbours were “buddies up” with the elder ones.
Ong said in using older students as reading buddies or coaches, the ‘Buddy – Read with Me’ programme was unique as target students felt more at ease with their older peers who might come from the same ethnic group background.
“In addition, buddy-volunteers have more time to give personal attention to their ‘ward’ and time outside school hours as they and their ‘wards’ might come from the same longhouse or village.”
He added that teachers and buddies’ comments as well as their own findings confirmed the buddy programmes in the four schools had positive influence on the students involved.
She noted comparative analyses of the scores obtained in reading, spelling and reading comprehension tests showed there were obvious improvements in the reading and spelling abilities of the adiks.
She said the pairing of one buddy to one adik had been effective in assisting the adiks who, initially, were the struggling readers, to improve on their reading and writing skills.
“Based on our findings, both the buddies and adiks generally found the programme interesting.”
Positive perceptions
Ong noted that perceptions towards the use of phonics and bottle caps and the structure of the reading programme by teacher facilitators, buddies and adiks were also generally positive.
She said the use of phonics and bottle caps was able to improve their phonological awareness and processing which are basic skills in reading and writing.
According to Ong, under the programme, DAWsk also funded the construction of a community library box and 30 books in English in SK Ba Kelalan.
She added that one set of the original copies of the reading resources, Fitzroy Readers and Work Books, was also donated to each school to continue such programme with its future cohorts of students.
Ong commended her team members – Wallace Lee Boon Liang (head of programme trainer), Ng Kum Loy (chief trainer), Richard Sia (treasurer), Mary Tang Siew Ing (coordinator 1 & trainer), Monica Manyie Eigu (coordinator 2 & trainer), Cresenthea Annis Reddi and Anester Aelina Chia (both trainers) for their tireless efforts in making the programme a success.
She also expressed her gratitude to all headmasters, teachers and the State Education Department for the cooperation and collaboration.
“Without them, this programme would not have taken off and produced positive results.
“We in the DAWsk are happy to share the implementation of this programme and its outcomes with the State Education Department and any district education offices with a view of implementing it in other low achieving schools,” she said.
Ong believed that training of teacher-facilitators in each school would ensure sustainability of the programme.
She said DAWsk had taken the initiative to sustain this programme as it strongly believed literacy was the foundation of academic success and social-emotional well-being of every child and that off all children should have an equal opportunity for literacy success.
The ‘Buddy-Read with Me’ programme aims to improve mastery and proficiency of reading in English among early primary school children (Primary 1-3, age range 7-9 years), enhance love for reading and reduce phobia for the English language.
Harder to learn
Ong said English language was chosen because English was a more difficult language to learn to read and write, given its orthography and sound-symbol correspondence being more complicated than Bahasa Melayu.
She said mastery of the decoding and encoding skills in the English language would also enhance transfer of these skills to Bahasa Melaysia but not vice versa.
Chief trainer Ng Kum Loy said the programme had also benefitted one female teacher, eventually improving her English.
Ng said when the teacher’s name was included in the list as one of the teacher-facilitators, she was quite hesitant, claiming her English was not good and she never taught in English.
“But after she saw pockets of miracles in the students, who before were very quiet, can now make sound in the English classes, she became impressive with the programme.
“What transpired among the children following the implementation of the programme also developed an interest in her to learn and master English.”
Ng said the teacher told him she was also amazed to see the relationship between the buddies and the adiks, especially in a pair that involved an elder and a young sister.
According to the teacher, she added, the two sisters had become very close, compared to before, since the elder sister became the buddy and younger sister became the adik in the programme.
“It goes to show this programme can also establish strong bond between the buddies and the adiks.”
SK Ba Kelalan headmistress Bulan Dawat said the programme had created a huge impact on her school, especially the students, as they learned new methods and approaches to learning and grasping phonetic reading.
She added that throughout the programme, teachers could see improvements in the adiks’ reading skills, especially their ability to read independently as well as performances in the post test results.
“This programme, in fact, increases pupils’ level of confidence in reading and created awareness of responsibility and leadership in the hearts of the Buddies as they guide their own adiks in everyday reading.
“It also helps the buddies and adiks to be independent learners as the learning is conducted within the circle of the pupils with teachers acting only as facilitators to monitor the pupils’ progress.”
Bulan said the “Buddy-Read with Me Programme” which was conducted from January till July 2015, had never stopped in her school ever since.
The programme, she noted, had given the school the first stepping stone and a base where the teachers and pupils would continue the legacy of this programme in years to come.
“Therefore, here, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Dyslexia Association of Sarawak for choosing our school as one of the pioneers for this programme.
“SK Ba’ Kelalan would also like to express its utmost gratitude, especially to Ong and team, who put their relentless efforts, time and finance to ensure the programme’s success.
“The school indeed feels honoured to be chosen for this programme,” she said.
Buddy guiding adik at SK Tatau.
IT helps to strengthen relationship and friendship between siblings and neighbours.
It’s a fun, personal and effective way to introduce the pleasures of reading to early primary school children.
Named “Buddy-Read with Me Programme,” it pairs older and younger students in reading activity.
The idea is to offer students one-on-one guided reading time to improve their reading and comprehension skills, and probably by extension their vocabulary and overall English as Second Language (ESL) learning success.
Buddy-Read with Me initiatives have a wide range of applications and can definitely benefit ESL learners.
Generally, the defining feature of the programme is that a student is “buddies up” with an adult volunteer or older student who interacts with their younger buddy through reading.
The programme can be adapted for an entire school, used in an individual classroom setting, or applied to only one group of students.
A substantial advantage of Buddy-Read with Me Programme is the student gets to improve his or her speaking, reading and vocabulary skills.
The efficiency of such a programme has been confirmed by numerous independent studies – whenever it is implemented, it promotes learning and improves literacy.
Yes, it has worked in Sarawak as well. Initiated by the Dyslexia Association of Sarawak (DASwk), the Buddy-Read with Me programme was first introduced and tested in the state in 2013.
Upon its success in improving younger students’ literacy, it was re-used in January.
Funded by the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and collaborated by the State Education Department, four schools – one each in Bintulu, Belaga, Baram and Lawas – were selected for the programme — Sekolah Kebangsaan Tatau, Bintulu, Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu Keling, Belaga, Sekolah Kebangsaan Long Loyang, Baram and Sekolah Kebangsaan Ba Kelalan, Lawas.
DASwk president Dr Ong Puay Hoon said in each school, there were 20 buddies, comprising Primary 4, 5 and 6 students who could read and write well in English, and five teacher-facilitators who were trained on the highly-structured, phonics-based and multi-sensoryreading programme.
She said 20 from among the Primary 1, 2 and 3 classes, weak in English, were selected as adik.
One buddy will be paired with one adiks and the buddy will teach the adiks using a log book and reading resources for at least 30 minutes each school day – either before school starts, during recess or after school.
Each buddy will be provided with all the necessary learning materials, log books and teaching aids, including the bottle caps and tactile mats.
The duration of this peer-group learning support is six months.
Adiks pre-tested
Ong, who is a lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), said all the adiks were pre-tested on their reading, spelling and reading comprehension skills before the programme starts.
She said a progressive test and a post-test were conducted midway and at the end of the programme respectively.
She noted the involvement of the teacher-facilitators had ensured the multiplier effect of the programme to other students in the schools.
Teachers, she said, were tasked to pair them up because they knew the students well, adding that there were cases where the younger sisters or brothers were “buddies up” with the elder siblings while the young neighbours were “buddies up” with the elder ones.
Ong said in using older students as reading buddies or coaches, the ‘Buddy – Read with Me’ programme was unique as target students felt more at ease with their older peers who might come from the same ethnic group background.
“In addition, buddy-volunteers have more time to give personal attention to their ‘ward’ and time outside school hours as they and their ‘wards’ might come from the same longhouse or village.”
He added that teachers and buddies’ comments as well as their own findings confirmed the buddy programmes in the four schools had positive influence on the students involved.
She noted comparative analyses of the scores obtained in reading, spelling and reading comprehension tests showed there were obvious improvements in the reading and spelling abilities of the adiks.
She said the pairing of one buddy to one adik had been effective in assisting the adiks who, initially, were the struggling readers, to improve on their reading and writing skills.
“Based on our findings, both the buddies and adiks generally found the programme interesting.”
Mary Tang showing some of the reading materials that DAWsk donated to the schools.
Positive perceptions
Ong noted that perceptions towards the use of phonics and bottle caps and the structure of the reading programme by teacher facilitators, buddies and adiks were also generally positive.
She said the use of phonics and bottle caps was able to improve their phonological awareness and processing which are basic skills in reading and writing.
According to Ong, under the programme, DAWsk also funded the construction of a community library box and 30 books in English in SK Ba Kelalan.
She added that one set of the original copies of the reading resources, Fitzroy Readers and Work Books, was also donated to each school to continue such programme with its future cohorts of students.
Ong commended her team members – Wallace Lee Boon Liang (head of programme trainer), Ng Kum Loy (chief trainer), Richard Sia (treasurer), Mary Tang Siew Ing (coordinator 1 & trainer), Monica Manyie Eigu (coordinator 2 & trainer), Cresenthea Annis Reddi and Anester Aelina Chia (both trainers) for their tireless efforts in making the programme a success.
She also expressed her gratitude to all headmasters, teachers and the State Education Department for the cooperation and collaboration.
“Without them, this programme would not have taken off and produced positive results.
“We in the DAWsk are happy to share the implementation of this programme and its outcomes with the State Education Department and any district education offices with a view of implementing it in other low achieving schools,” she said.
Ong believed that training of teacher-facilitators in each school would ensure sustainability of the programme.
She said DAWsk had taken the initiative to sustain this programme as it strongly believed literacy was the foundation of academic success and social-emotional well-being of every child and that off all children should have an equal opportunity for literacy success.
The ‘Buddy-Read with Me’ programme aims to improve mastery and proficiency of reading in English among early primary school children (Primary 1-3, age range 7-9 years), enhance love for reading and reduce phobia for the English language.
Harder to learn
Ong said English language was chosen because English was a more difficult language to learn to read and write, given its orthography and sound-symbol correspondence being more complicated than Bahasa Melayu.
She said mastery of the decoding and encoding skills in the English language would also enhance transfer of these skills to Bahasa Melaysia but not vice versa.
Chief trainer Ng Kum Loy said the programme had also benefitted one female teacher, eventually improving her English.
Ng said when the teacher’s name was included in the list as one of the teacher-facilitators, she was quite hesitant, claiming her English was not good and she never taught in English.
“But after she saw pockets of miracles in the students, who before were very quiet, can now make sound in the English classes, she became impressive with the programme.
“What transpired among the children following the implementation of the programme also developed an interest in her to learn and master English.”
Ng said the teacher told him she was also amazed to see the relationship between the buddies and the adiks, especially in a pair that involved an elder and a young sister.
According to the teacher, she added, the two sisters had become very close, compared to before, since the elder sister became the buddy and younger sister became the adik in the programme.
“It goes to show this programme can also establish strong bond between the buddies and the adiks.”
SK Ba Kelalan headmistress Bulan Dawat said the programme had created a huge impact on her school, especially the students, as they learned new methods and approaches to learning and grasping phonetic reading.
She added that throughout the programme, teachers could see improvements in the adiks’ reading skills, especially their ability to read independently as well as performances in the post test results.
“This programme, in fact, increases pupils’ level of confidence in reading and created awareness of responsibility and leadership in the hearts of the Buddies as they guide their own adiks in everyday reading.
“It also helps the buddies and adiks to be independent learners as the learning is conducted within the circle of the pupils with teachers acting only as facilitators to monitor the pupils’ progress.”
Bulan said the “Buddy-Read with Me Programme” which was conducted from January till July 2015, had never stopped in her school ever since.
The programme, she noted, had given the school the first stepping stone and a base where the teachers and pupils would continue the legacy of this programme in years to come.
“Therefore, here, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Dyslexia Association of Sarawak for choosing our school as one of the pioneers for this programme.
“SK Ba’ Kelalan would also like to express its utmost gratitude, especially to Ong and team, who put their relentless efforts, time and finance to ensure the programme’s success.
“The school indeed feels honoured to be chosen for this programme,” she said.
Training session in progress at SK Batu Keling.
Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/09/27/the-buddy-way-to-reading-english-proficiency/#ixzz3nCe378yr
My comments:
This
programme is really encouraging and should be introduced to all the primary
schools in Sarawak. Reading and
listening are the language input and
speaking and writing is the language output.
Reading to me is the best way to acquire language fluency and
sense. It can reinforce the learning of
grammar.
Grammar
can be learnt in isolation and get reinforced in contexts through reading
widely like the said programme.
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