TeachingEnglish
      Innovation in Teaching Content in the Morning Assembly in Pakistani Educational Institutes

      A typical school day in Pakistan begins with the verses from the Holy Book , a prayer, and the singing of the National Anthem.There maybe some announcement as the whole school community and staff get together in lines, listen sing, turn and march off to the classrooms. A recent awareness has stirred among the administration about the routine procedure of the morning assembly and a search and research has begun for a change.

      A change in the methodology of teaching is not easy. Teachers have to be convinced. The approach must be positive. The attitude open to acceptance of new ideas.

      Believing and taking something new to my English class I got the chance to implement a different process in the conducting of the morning assembly at a college. Taking the initiative I started with the holy verses, translation and after that introduced a prayer in the English language.The prayer would be repeated by all students. Then a short video clip of a story with background music highlighting a moral lesson as 'a good deed brings a good return', acceptance of individual differences, forgiveness and so on.

      Students who would shy away from attending the assembly started coming to the hall. Day by day the number increased till the hall was filled to capacity and spontaneous clapping resulted at the end of a beautiful video clip entitled'God will not ask you - on the Day of Judgement'

      This pattern of presentation proved a great success and the learning outcome was tremendous as students felt satisfied happy and in high spirits as they began the day.

      I strongly believe that the Morning Assembly time is the best teaching time. I would like to share this view and would welcome opinions of teachers who have had experience of learning and teaching content or subject matter which proved highly successful and unforgettable in the morning.