Friday, March 30, 2007

My Wish

I wish I will introduce the speech, “I Have A Dream” by Martin Lurther King, Jr to my students in future. I feel that the speech is so meaningful for me. Although it was not the first time I read the speech, but I do not feel bored at all to read it for many times. Indeed, I think this speech should be introduced to students in secondary school.
The reason that I think this speech should be introduced to students is because there are many values that students can learn from the speech. In other words, it will help students in developing their personal growth. Students will learn to appreciate the harmony that they have now. Besides that, they will learn about the hardship of Martin Lurther King,Jr to fight for justice.
Besides that, the diction that is used in the speech is wonderful. Many metaphors, parallel sentence structure and images were used in the speech. Other than that, there are lots of repetitions used in the speech as well. Teacher can highlight the choice of words used in the speech to students and discuss with students the reason the speech so powerful. At the same time, students will improve their vocabulary in reading the speech. It will improve students writing skills as well. Students will learn how the speech is written and the diction that is suitable that can use in a speech.
Furthermore, teacher can ask students to read aloud the speech with the correct tone and expression. This will increase students’ confidence in speaking.
Lastly, students will also be introduced to other country’s history as well. Before teacher read the speech, students should be thought the History of American.
In conclusion, it is a wise decision for teacher to introduce the speech to students in school as it brings many benefits to students.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Autobiography

Autobiography is a piece of work that describes about the personal life of the writer. Generally, it highlights about life experiences of the particular person. Certainly, it also contains moral message to the readers.
There are many benefits of using autobiography in English Language classroom. It does not only help students in language development but also personal development as well.
The language in autobiography seems to be less formal compared to other types of text. Therefore, it will develop students’ interest in reading the autobiography as the language is not so difficult to understand. Furthermore, the autobiography is basically narrating feelings and this will engages students’ attention easily in reading the text. By using the autobiography, it will indirectly improve students reading skills. Besides that, they will learn how the writer uses language to express his or her feelings in writing autobiography. As a result, it will motivates students to express their feelings through words. This will improve their writing skills as well.
In addition, autobiography inspires people. There are many values that students will be able to learn from the autobiography. This will help them to develop their personal growth. For example, when students read about the autobiography of Nelson Mandela, they will learn about his determination to fight for equality. Furthermore, students will learn to appreciate the peace and harmony that they have in the country. Besides that, teacher can also educate students about the writer’s thoughts and share with the students. This will also develop students’ thinking skills indirectly as well.
All the points above definitely proves that using autobiography helps students in many ways in English Language classroom. In my opinion, it is surely a good idea for teachers to use autobiography in English Language classroom. No doubt, it will try it out in future.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Seek for Help!

Last week, I got back my research paper. There are some mistakes that I have made where I need to work on it.
When I am preparing the drafts, I realize that there are some problems with my points regarding on the differences on the female characters in both of the plays. I feel I could not elaborate the points well as it is quite limited.
Suddenly, a thought comes into my mind. Perhaps I should discuss with my tutor about this matter and see what I should do. As a result, I go to see my tutor and discuss with her about my problems.
After looking at my draft, my tutor gives me some ideas and comments on my drafts. As we are discussing, I jot down some important points as a reference. When we are discussing, I realizes that I have made a number of mistakes in my research paper. I need to do lots of editing in order to improve on my research paper. Furthermore, I need to improve on my explanation and add some references as well.
Besides that, I have learned that it is good to discuss with others when we have things that we do not understand. I feel great because I am brave enough to meet my tutor and ask comments from her. Besides that, I feel thankful because my tutor is willing to share her views on my research paper. This inspires me to improve on my research paper. Without her comments, I would never know how much mistakes that I have made.
In my opinion, it is good to discuss with other or ask comments from others after we finish doing assignment. It is because sometimes others will be able to see our mistakes that we do not realize about it at all. In addition, we can also improve ourselves when we know our mistakes. This is where learning takes place. Thus, it is all depends on us whether to take initiatives or not on the assignment. For me, I will never give up!

Friday, March 9, 2007

The DAY of my Presentation

Time flies fast! Today, I will be presenting my position paper. After preparing the presentation for sometimes, I am quite confident that I will present well for the day.
Meanwhile, I am the first presenter for today. Before this, I see many of my friends who have presented and some of their presentation is good. Besides that, some of my friends also get lots of question by the audience. This is the part that worries me a lot. Before I present, I wonder will there be anybody ask me tough questions that I could not answer. It is because some of my friends do ask some difficult questions to presenter.
When I am presenting, I feel a bit nervous. However, the preparation that I have done made me feel calm and convince me that I can do it. Besides that, I am happy because I can present it today as I do not need to wait anymore. Overall, the presentation is fine and I believe that I am able to assure my audience about the argument that I made. Surprisingly, there is no question from the audience.
Even though presentation is not something new to me but I do not do presentation for some times already. Definitely, to some certain extent, it does worry me. However, I learn that preparation and practice makes things perfect. The preparation that I have done for the presentation for sometime gives me strength that I can manage to do it. It also gives me positive beliefs in my presentation.
Generally, I am satisfied with the mark that is given for my presentation. I feel it is worth with the preparation that I have done. All my hard works have been paid of. This confirms my belief that preparation makes a perfect work. I hope that in future I will prepare everything before proceed with my work.

Friday, March 2, 2007

Preparation......

After finished doing my position paper, it is time for me to prepare for my presentation. In this blog, let’s me recall about the process of preparing the presentation and what I have learned from the process.
Before I start preparing the visual aids for my presentation, I am quite worried thinking of how I’m going to present my position. As a result, I seek for advice from my tutor on how I should present my position paper. Nevertheless, I feel grateful to have a good tutor who is willing to give me ideas on the ways I should present my position paper. Basically, the purpose of presenting this position paper is to show others about my argument and I have to answer the audience questions if they have doubt about it. Therefore, in order to make a good presentation, I need to put more efforts in preparing the presentation.
At first, I think of presenting my position paper by using Microsoft power point. However, after considering all factors, I have decided to use transparency to present my position. The reason I want to use transparency is because I feel that the way I organize my points is more suitable to use transparency compared to power point.
As my thesis statement is mainly comparing the contrasting values in two characters, I have decided to put the textual evidences in the table to prove my arguments. I think this way will show the audience clearly the contrasting values that they have. Personally, I feel that using a transparency to perform table is more presentable compared to power point as it is not so crowded. Therefore, I organize my points systematically so that I can present it well. This process took few hours as I tried to find some images from internet to portray the points of my presentation. For me, images are important criteria to attract audience’s attention. I feel lucky because I manage to find some interesting images to put in my transparency.
In the process of preparing the visual aids for my presentation, I definitely learn something. Planning is crucial before doing a presentation. You need to plan out something before proceed with the presentation. If there is no planning for the presentation, I believe that whatever I do will be mess out as I am not able to show the audience clearly on what I am doing. So, what will happen to my audience if I do not know what I am presenting? In order to make the presentation well, I need to do a lot of preparation in many areas. This is to ensure that my presentation will be more organized.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Change and Edit......

Today, I realize that I have made a mistake. I could not find evidences to support the point that I have written. I feel a bit disappointed with it. I really try hard to find evidences from the text but I could not get many evidences. I do not think that it will be good if I keep on working on the topic again. It is because this may affect my marks.
Meanwhile, it is not too late for me to change my topic either. I think I still can change and work on it. At last, I have decided to change from examining male characters to female characters. I think it would be easier for me to examine the female characters as the main characters of both plays are the female characters.
Therefore, I remind myself that I need to be firm with the decision that I have made now. I should not change topic anymore. I need to work on it right now. Without hesitation, I begin to think of the points and start finding evidences.
Even though this is just the beginning stage of doing research paper, I think I have learned a lot. The first thing that I have learned in doing this research paper is making decision. Although this seems to be small matter which nobody will think of it, but for me making a decision will really affect how you will perform in research paper. For example, if a person decides to do the stories that he or she does not interest in it, this will affect his or her performance in the research paper. So, one really needs to consider wisely in choosing the literary texts that he or she prefers for research paper. Besides that, I learn to be more focus in doing this research paper when I am thinking about the points. It is not easy to think of the points for the plays if I am not focus. I learn to be more concentrate in considering the suitable points for my research paper. It is because ideas will come out from my mind when I am concentrate. I also learn to be patient when looking for textual evidences. It is really not easy to look through both of the plays again and again to think of the points. Furthermore, I need to look carefully at every single line and decides whether it is relevant to substantiate my points. All these require patient and I wonder whether I can make it if I am impatient with things. =)
At last, I am grateful to have a tutor who gives us choice to do any literary texts that we like. I think this really helps me a lot. I do not need to struggle to do what I do not like but to choose what I prefer the most. Without any restrictions in choosing the literary texts will encourage me to work better and enjoy the doing the research paper. Thanks a lot, Prof!

Monday, February 19, 2007

YEs! At Last I pass up Position Paper

Time passes fast! At last, I am able to pass up my position paper on time.
The phrase "position paper" really haunted me this few months. At first, I really feel like giving up in doing this position paper. It is not an easy process in writing this position paper. I have gone through all the inner pain and suffering in doing this position paper.
In the beginning, choosing a literary text to write is not an easy job. It is very hard for me to make decision as I am not sure what story that has issue that can be argued. Then, I have decided to do the short story- "The Journey". The purpose I have chosen the short story because I believe that I am familiar with the story and the story is short where I can read it many times before I analyze it.
However, things do not come along easily. I face lots of difficulties in writing the thesis statement. I have tried to write so many thesis statements and it has been rejected so many times. At that moment, I really feel like giving up. I feel so depressed as I still could not be able to construct a thesis statement compared to all my friends who have start working on their position paper. I have tried so hard thinking on the thesis statement that I want to do but it is not approved yet. I feel disappointed.
Fortunately, I have a tutor who guides me along the ways in doing this position paper. Without her guidance, I could not imagine whether I will be able to complete this position paper. When I have difficulties in doing the thesis statement, she teaches me on what should I do and advises me not to give up. With her help, I am able to come out the thesis statement at last. However, the efforts to find out all the topic sentence that support the thesis statement will be depends me. Due to her support, I tried to put more initiatives in working on my position paper. I read the short story for many times and read it from different perspectives in order for me to find out the points to support my thesis statement. Luckily, I manage to think of four points to support my position paper.
Thus, completing a position paper is definitely not an easy task after all. I have really worked so hard on it and I feel that I deserve to get a better mark. Besides that, many things that I have learned after doing this position paper. I must not give up so easily no matter what happened. There are ways to solve the problems if we take the initiatives to work on it. Furthermore, I must always be confident of myself where I must believe that I can do it. Furthermore, I need to seek for help when it is necessary because no man live in an island. When you ask questions, you may not know how far you would go. When doing this position paper, I do ask my friends’ opinions and ideas and it does help me to solve the problems that I faced in doing the position paper.
Lastly, I would like to thank to my tutor again-Cik Site and all my coursemate who help me directly and indirectly in doing this position paper. I learned a lot in the process of writing the position paper. Thanks a lot!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Meeting with my Supervisor

Today is the first day I meet my supervisor for research paper with a group of friends. I am quite nervous to meet him because he is a strict lecturer. I afraid that I may not achieve what he want us to do. Although the purpose of meeting him for the first time is to show us our topic and draft, I am not confident with everything. Meanwhile, I just try my best to prepare a draft for him.
After showing him the texts that I want to do, he says should be no problem. However, he suggests to me that doing female characters for "Pygmalion" and "Educating Rita" would be interesting rather than male characters. I try to tell him that I would like to examine male characters because not so many people discuss on them. Furthermore, I want to do something different and I inform him that I would like to change if I am not able to find points for my research paper.
Through my supervisor, I learned it is good to do what I like for research paper as I am the one who are doing the research. Therefore, it is alright for me to proceed with my plan. Certainly, I like both of the plays that I have chosen and it ensures me that I can do well for my research paper. Besides that, many hard works and research need to be done so that I can achieve a good grade for my research paper. I will try my best to do it!!

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Thinking about topic again.....


It is time for me to start my research paper. I am worried right now as I do not know what type of literary texts that I want to choose from. At first, I thought of doing Malaysian texts for my research paper. However, I felt that my interest is not really in Malaysian text as many people will choose to do Malaysian literature. Besides that, I have examined one of the texts for the subject of Malaysian literature and I think that would provide me sufficient knowledge of Malaysian literature. Furthermore, I felt that the reference for Malaysian literature is quite limited and I afraid that I will wrongly interpret the texts. To be safe, I decided to examine the text that was discussed before and I want to do texts that I like the most. Well….after thinking for so long, I have made my decision on the literary texts that I wants to do for my research paper. "Pygmalion" and "Educating Rita" are the texts that I have decided to do for my research paper. I like both of this play a lot. I think this is most properly because of the movie of "MY Fair Lady" which influences me a lot in loving to read this two plays. Although I have watched the movie during my secondary school, however, it had impressed me a lot! I really admire all the characters in the play as I think they play the important roles in education. So, I believe that through the examination of these two plays in my research paper will help me to know more and understand the plays better. I also feel that with my love towards these two texts will encourage me to do better in my research paper. I believe that I can do it!!

Monday, January 29, 2007

I am still learning…………….


It is undeniable that doing the position paper is the toughest assignment that I have ever had. After completing the thesis statement, today I have come out all the supporting points for thesis statement. It is definitely not an easy job for me to come out with all the supporting points. Eventually, I have read the short story-“The Journey” for so many times as I never did this before. As Cik Siti said, I need to read between the lines to come out with supporting points. I have analyzed the story in so many ways after discussing with my friends. Luckily, I did not choose novel or play for this position paper. If not, the length of these two literary texts was so long and it will really require lots of time for me to read and analyze it. Even though it is the initial stage of doing the position paper, personally, I feel that I have learned a lot. This is the first time I truly read and examine the text thoroughly. I learned to look at different perspectives of a text. I learned to think critically about how the writer presents the characters in the story through their actions, their speech and so on. I started to realize that all this while I did not think critically when I read a literary text. Besides that, I also realized that the question “why does he say this?”, “why does he do it?” always come in my mind when I read the text. Honestly, I did not like to think about “why” before this when I read a literary text. What I would like to do last time was just finish reading the text as soon as possible. Now, doing the position paper has changed my attitude towards reading a literary text. Therefore, I have learned a lot………..

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Thanks A LOT for helping me in this position paper……..






















Although at first I used to be very stress about doing the position paper, but at last I managed to console myself to keep trying. I feel grateful to have a tutor, Cik Siti, who is willing to guide me to do the position paper from the beginning. Cik Siti really helped me a lot in many ways. I feel thankful because she spends her times in discussing the thesis statement with me. Through the discussion with her, I have learned a lot. I learned on how to form a thesis statement. Although I have learned to form thesis statement in expository writing before this, but, for me, doing a thesis statement for this position paper is a bit different. I think this may be due to the reason that when I do a position paper, I need to think a lot on an issue of a literary text that I can write for four pages. Furthermore, I learned that when doing a thesis statement, it is important to list out all the issues of the story so that it will help in forming thesis statement. Besides that, reading a text for many times is also crucial because it will enable me to have a better understanding of the text. Analyzing the text for many times will help me to think of more issues of the story. Lastly, her suggestions when doing the thesis statement helps me to get a clearer idea on what should I do. Most importantly, her encouragement and support motivates me to keep on trying to try my best in doing the thesis statement and supporting points. Thanks a lot, Cik Siti!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

It only the beginning of all.........






I started to feel so tense doing position paper. I do not know why I have such feelings? Last few days, I wrote so many thesis statements. All had been rejected, rejected and rejected...Why? Why? Why? I felt so tense, not even can sleep peacefully for a few nights.
I never been so worried about things like this since long time ago. I just felt sad when my thesis statement was rejected. I kept on thinking, what's wrong with my thesis statement? What mistakes that I have done? Should I change another story? Should I redo again? What should I do? So many questions came in my mind at that moment. I really considered so many things at one time.
No, no, I must not give up! I must find out what is the problems with my thesis statement. I must do more thinking. I must improve my thinking! I must discuss with my friends and tutor with my thesis statement! I must try my best to come out with a good thesis statement!
I must keep trying doing thesis statement. It is only the beginning of all assignments that I have in this semester..........................

Sunday, January 21, 2007

It’s all Daedalus’ fault………………..


In my opinion, Daedalus should be blamed of causing his son death. I felt that he is the one who had killed his son indirectly. The death of Icarus will not happen if Daedalus did not create wings for him. As we can see in the story, Icarus is still young and innocent. He might not know what had happened to his father and what his father wanted to do. As a result, he just followed his father’s advice and forgot about it immediately when he was disturbed. Icarus would not die if Daedalus did not plan to get out of Crete. Furthermore, Daedalus should wait until his son is mature and only they fly out together then. From what I have stated above, I felt that it was one the reasons Icarus is more famous compered to Daedalus. Icarus had to sacrifice indirectly because of his father’s selfishness. Therefore, Daedalus should be responsible of Icarus’ death.

Friday, January 12, 2007

let's introduce something different to our students...


In my opinion, I feel that it is a good idea for teacher to use Greek mythology in literature classroom. However, teacher needs to consider students’ ability to understand the language of the story. As we know, the language that is used in Greek mythology may be difficult for students to understand. Therefore, teacher plays an important role here in making the text easier for students to understand. Teacher needs to write the text in modern English so that he or she can design activities through the text that is written. However, teacher needs to make sure that the language written is appropriate and suits the level of proficiency of the students. By doing this, I feel that students will comprehend the story better. Besides that, they will learn about Greek mythology which is totally new to them. In addition, they will also learn about different culture and widen their knowledge. In conclusion, using modern language in teaching Greek mythology to students will bring lots of benefits to students.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Why not if we teach tales??



Exposing students to tales will benefit them in language. Tales are told orally and are passed from generation. In my opinion, when teacher teaches tales in class, students will enjoy the lesson. It is because one of the functions of tales is to entertain. As a result, this will improve their listening skills. If students want to know about what the tales are about, they will have to pay attention to what teacher says. Besides that, when students are taught on tales, they will also learn about moral values which is another function of the tales that is to educate. There are many moral values in tales and teacher can inculcate moral values in them when taught on tales. Other than that, teacher can ask students to write about tales that they know as it will improve their writing skills. Besides that, if teacher tells tales in class to students, I feel that teacher can ask students to reflect about what they have learned in class and this will improve their writing skills as well. In addition, teacher can also get some students to come to the front and tells the class about tales that they heard before. This will practice their speaking skills in public. In spite of that, teacher should encourage students to read tales at home and have some discussions on what they read. As time goes by, it will help them in developing their reading skills. For me, teaching tales will increase students’ interest in a lesson. Therefore, when teacher expose more tales to students, learning will take place. It is because when students’ affective filter is low, their motivation will increase and this will help them in many ways especially in language. So, let’s teach our students on tales in the future!