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. I have found no evidence that Americans don't get irony. It's one of those cultural myths, like, "The British are reserved." I don't know why people think this. We've invaded every country we've encountered.

I knew that Americans get irony when I came across that legislation No Child Left Behind. Because whoever thought of that title gets irony, don't they, because -- (Laughter) (Applause) — because it's leaving millions of children behind. Now I can see that's not a very attractive name for legislation: Millions of Children Left Behind. I can see that. What's the plan? Well, we propose to leave millions of children behind, and here's how it's going to work. 2:04 And it's working beautifully. In some parts of the country, 60 percent of kids drop out of high school. In the Native American communities, it's 80 percent of kids. If we halved that number, one estimate is it would create a net gain to the U.S. economy over 10 years of nearly a trillion dollars. From an economic point of view, this is good math, isn't it, that we should do this? It actually costs an enormous amount to mop up the damage from the dropout crisis.

the difference between the task and achievement senses of verbs. You know, you can be engaged in the activity of something, but not really be achieving it, like dieting. It's a very good example, you know. There he is. He's dieting. Is he losing any weight? Not really. Teaching is a word like that. You can say, "There's Deborah, she's in room 34, she's teaching." But if nobody's learning anything, she may be engaged in the task of teaching but not actually fulfilling it.

During the British colonial era, schools used English as the medium of instruction. This continued after independence in 1957 and many English teachers either came from the United Kingdom or were trained there. "In the 1960s, one of the books read and discussed in English classes by sixteen-year-olds was George Orwell's "Animal Farm", recalled Andrew Yip, 60, a shopkeeper in Ipoh, Perak. In 1970, the Malaysian government began requiring all state-funded schools to use Malay to teach, to build nationalism; though English remained a compulsory subject. Many English teachers were phased out. Over the years, students' academic performances declined.

In the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment, an international benchmark on students' performance in reading, science and mathematics, Malaysian students were in the bottom third among 74 countries. By contrast, 15-year-old students in Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea appeared to have the equivalent of another three or more years of schooling compared to Malaysian students.

To compensate, middle-class parents are increasingly sending their children for tuition, or to private schools, as they lose confidence in the quality of education in national schools.

Why use literature?

Different models of teaching literature in class

Using literature over a longer period of time – the set novel or reader

This paper presents the findings of a case study conducted in Malaysia to identify teaching approaches applied by the teachers during the process of teaching pupils with Autism

This study was carried out by interviews with two teachers who teach Autism students in Special Education classes and a teacher who teaches Autism students in an Inclusive classroom.

Describe a Place in Detail

Use Specific Words to Paint Pictures

Show How Something Feels, Smells, Tastes, Sounds or Looks

“We’ve all been to elementary school, so aren’t we all kind of experts on it?”

“When I retire, I still want to do something, so I think I might take up teaching.”

“Have you ever thought about making your class more fun?”

Students really enjoy watching movies and TV for a variety of reasons. For one, they get exposure to natural language in a non-threatening setting. Secondly, movies and video provide common ground to students of any international background. Below you'll find both general teaching resources as well as fully-developed lessons on various films and videos. So, pop yourself some popcorn and settle down in front of your computer for some fun with movies.

At present, Mandarin is being offered as a subject in 600 national schools

the idea of importing teachers and experts in Mandarin from China is not practical as most of these teachers from China are not fluent in Malay. So how can these teachers from China communicate with the students and teach Mandarin as a 3rd language effectively?

Besides, since 2007, our government has spent RM12,302,720 to send 409 non-Chinese students to China to learn Mandarin. How much would it cost us to import teachers from China?

For western poets, waka can be a style easily learned but hardly ever mastered. New anthologies of Japanese poetry can prove inspiring.

Waka can also be a fun poetic form to teach children, who may enjoy the cooperative effort produced if two writers take on a question and answer format. It is certainly a productive and enjoyable way to teach introduction to Japanese poetry or simply to poetry, which at the same time emphasizes teamwork and cooperation in creative endeavors.