Martin Luther King Jr speech… 9 October 2008

In today’s class, Dr.Edwin talked about the template and he told that it is suitable to use as teaching material for students. he also told that legends has its own unique plot that is interesting and could be used in classes. Then Dr. Edwin proceeded to the handbook and taught us on speeches. He told that a good speech would contain a lot of metaphorical sentences and also uses a lot of images. We read on a speech by Martin Luther King Jr which was a powerful speech. Marti Luther King Jr also uses a lot of images and metaphorical images to present his message. Later, we watched his speech on Youtube. It was really a powerful speech and it really uplifted the African American’s spirit.

Reading the template Treasured Malaysian Legends…. 4 September 2008

I read the template and found interesting facts about Malaysia Legends. It was so interesting to get know more about my own country. Some of the legend in the template I never heard of before and it was interesting to know about the legend. I think it is useful to teach using this template as I could educate my students of their own county’s legends. It is interesting to get to know how some island got its story from the legends and this could tap my students interest too. i feel it is a good material to use in classs.

Asian Tales… 4 September 2008

I remembered that Dr. Edwin asked the class to bring the template he gave on Treasured Malaysian Legends. I decided to read on the stories so I was finding for the template as I was finding I found a piece of paper on the tales that Dr. Edwin ask the class to find on Asian tales that shows child sacrifice to the parents. My story was about attracting the mosquito to drink his blood so that he could safe his parents. Unfortunately Dr.edwin did not discuss the tales that he asked us to find. I just keep it and I hope he would discuss it later.

Completing the paper…2nd October 2008

Today, I plan to complete my reseach paper as I only have to write on classroom application. I wrote the classroom application based on my knowledge on the using texts effectively in classroom and adapting it to Malaysian classroom context. After that, I went through again the research to find any mistake or grammatical error. Then after checking it, I print out the paper. I have completed my reseach paper. It was all in 12 pages.

Continuing on research paper… 29 September 2008

I continued with my second and third point. I used the information that I found to make my research better. Finding for the quotes and writing it down was kind of difficult as I have to find the quotes that relates to my points. Besides using the information that I found. I also used my own ideas and notes from Dr. Edwin’s class in third semester. I just left to write on the classroom application. I have completed the research paper. I only left to write on the classroom application. I was just thinking of doing it later and I stopped.

Editing the research paper… 27 September 2008

Today I decided to edit my draft as the draft that I submitted to Dr. Jaya was in essay form. I used the information that I gathered yesterday to write and edit my paper. i started of with my introduction and the first point. As I could not think anymore, I decided to continue later the research paper.

Finding for more information on Barn Burning… 26 September 2008

Today I decided to find more information on Barn Burning based on the my topic which is relationship between father and son. I did find a lot of information. All the information was very good. There were some information on the author too. As I was finding for the information, I found a page where there were a lot of essays on Barn burning that I could use. The page was Oppapers.com. I was delighted as I could find a lot of information. This information could help me improve my research paper. I saved all the relevant information needed and decided to start my research tomorrow.

Research paper … 22 September 2008

Today we meet our supervisor Dr. Jaya. He told us that he has marked our draft of research paper and informed us that the lowest was 32.
Dr. Jaya also told us that we did good in our research and it was wonderful reading our drafts. he asked us to continue our research and pass up the research after the Raya break during his class on Tuesday. I was happy that all of our research was good and I was planning to improve the draft before handing in to him after Raya break as I have ample time to complete it.

The unfinished class … 25 September 2008

As Dr. Edwin continued the lesson on limericks and parody, I remembered that last Thursday we had a class but the lesson was uncompleted as Dr. Edwin left the class. Dr. Edwin was explaining on the essay Shooting an Elephant. He was explaining in detail on the meaning of Empire and on the British. I was into the lesson and I was enjoying listening Dr. Edwin’s explanation. As he was explaining, some of my course mate came in late. It is known that Dr.Edwin don’t like late comer but they came in late as they have to help a researcher to complete her research. The researcher finishes her research late thus disrupting Dr. Edwin’s teaching. He got angry and just left the class. I was shock and at the same time sad as Dr. Edwin did not finish the lecture today.
I thought he would continue the lesson today, but Dr.Edwin continued with a new topic which is limericks and parody.

Parody and Limericks….25 September 2008

Today class was interesting as we were introduced to something new that is Parody. Parody is actually a satirical criticism or comic mockery that imitates the style and manner of a particular writer. It emphasize on the weakness on the writer. One of the Parody that was introduced in class today was from Ambrose Bierce, Preface to the Devil’s Dictinory. According to Dr.Edwin, Ambrose Bierce is always cynical and known as the hater of mankind. Dr.Edwin also told us that Parody could be used in class and it works well with high English proficiency students, as the student must know the original meaning to understand the cynical meaning that is given. Some of the example in the Handbook that interests me was the meaning of life that was given Ambrose Bierce. According to him, life is seen as spiritual pickle preserving the body from decay. Hmmm how interesting… Besides Parody, Dr.Edwin introduce to the class Limerick. It is actually a form of a poem. It is a 5-line poem written with one couplet and one triplet. Its rhyme pattern is abba. This poem is meant to be funny. It contains hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, idioms, pun and other figurative devices. It is interesting and fun to learn limerick. Dr.Edwin also asked us to create a limerick in groups using the templates in the handbook. Some of my course mate comes out with creative and funny limericks. This poem could be use once a while in classroom as it gives less stress to students. They could write in a relax and funny way. Besides that, student’s creativity could be build and it promotes group work. Overall, I feel I learn something new and fun that I could use in my classroom later.

Finally the ending… 11September 2008

Today’s class started early, as we have to finish watching the movie The Road Home. The ending was nice as the son follows his father’s footsteps in educating the village children. This shows the impact that the teacher had created to the villager and to his son especially. He appreciates his father as a teacher and follows his father by using his father’s notebook to teach the children. He wants to help the village children as his father has done. It was interesting the way it ended. Overall, it was a very nice movie that shows the dedication of a teacher to educate his younger generation.

Later Dr. Edwin discusses the movie with us. He asked our opinion on the teacher. he told us that the movie actually shows the appreciation that the teacher received. The teacher did not even realize that he was appreciated that he was just doing his job. Then Dr. Edwin did an interesting activity with us. He asked us to think of a metaphor that describes us as a teacher. What metaphor reflects us as a teacher? I was blur at that time. I couldn’t think of a metaphor that reflect me as a teacher. I then decided to use the metaphor of a sun as the sun guides and give light to us. The same way, I as a teacher will guide and give wisdom and knowledge to my students. It was an interesting activity to give connotation to ourselves as a teacher.

In this class, we read on letters. There were three letter discussed I was John Keats letter others was Vincent Van Gogh’s letter. Dr. Edwin explained to us on the letters and talked on the life of Vincent Van Gogh.

The Road Home….4thSeptember 2008

Today, my class view a movie entitle The Road Home. It was actually a Chinese movie but with English subtitles. It was about a love story between a teacher and a village girl.. The story was told in the point of view of their son. Besides the love story, the story actually depicts the dedication of the teacher who came to the poor village to educate the village children. Although the village has no good infrastructure as his town, he did not mind it. He was dedicated to give knowledge that he has to these children. He even walks with his students back home. Along the way, he would play with them while teaching them. This shows his commitment towards his students. As a result, I can see that during his death ceremony, all his students came down from far and pay respect for him. They helped to carry his coffin along the way without any payment as they have high respect for him. This story actually could be applied to me as I’m going to be a future teacher. I see the teacher as my role model. He is very responsible and dedicated to his work. it shows that doesn’t mater where we are posted, we should have the responsibility of educating younger generation for the development of our country.
Overall I did not enjoy the movie although it was a very nice movie as the DVD stuck many times and at the end Carine have to stop the movie. I could understand the story line and I don’t find the pleasure view it as I don’t know the ending. Carine has promised that we would watch the movie next time again. I could not wait to watch the ending!

Different look at poems… 21 August 2008

Today I have an enjoyable time in class… it was wonderful. Dr. Edwin invites a poet from the British Council. She was an enthusiastic person. She taught me on appreciating poems. She taught me on how we can read and understand the poems. The activity conducted was not only fun and interesting but knowledgeable. The activities are done in group as my class combined with the twinning program class. Everyone had an enjoyable time with her. One of her activity was that we are assigned to different character’s point of view. My group got the mother’s point of view. My group discussed and came out with a very nice poem. Thanks goes to Kak Wan, she is good in creating poems. Her ideas are very good. We actually combined her ideas and other group member’s ideas and voila our poem was created! Hmm… never thought that we could actually create a poem.

When she asked to present the poems that we have created, everyone came out with interesting and unique way of presenting the poem. It was funny to see some of them reciting the poem and they were very creative at it. Before ending the class, the poet recites her poem that she had written during her university days. It was very nice to see the way she recites the poem. I felt time flies very fast on that day. Although the class was two hours, I didn’t felt like it. Overall, in this class I come to appreciate poem as poem is not actually boring if we appreciate it and make it as unique and creative as possible. I really hope that Dr. Edwin could invite again this poet as I learn a lot from her.

Eye opener…14 August 2008

Today’s class was an interesting class as Dr. Edwin relates to us the situation in our Malaysian classroom as all of us are going to go out to do our practical. He explains on how to deal with such situation in school. In today’s lesson, he taught us on autobiography of Mandela. It was interesting as he explained to us the significant of the clothes. How they are ranked according to clothes. He also taught us how we could use autobiography as a lesson in class. We could actually use our past leader’s autobiography to teach our students on nationhood. This will actually help students to have love and appreciation for the country. Besides that he also told us that speech also could be used as material in classroom. Using speech such as Tunku Abdul Rahman’s speech during declaration of independence is a good material to teach students. it could help them realize the vision that Tunku had for the country and this will help them to appreciate the nation.

Overall today’s class was a really an eye opener for me as I got a lot of information for my teaching practical as to handling class and students with various attitudes. Besides that, I gain a lot of good ideas on how to use good material which not only could teach them a good lesson of English but also build they virtues.

Viewing autobiography of Andy Warhol… 31 July 2008

Today as I entered the class, the laptop and LCD was fixed. I was wandering what was the purpose?. Is there any presentation that I did not know? I was thinking to myself. Then Carine told that we would be viewing a movie. I was excited. It was actually an autobiography and not really a movie = (. At first, I was wandering who is this Andy Warhol and why it is so important to view his biography. Then I got to know that this person is closely related to art. He painted lots of picture including Campbell soup cover. Personally, I did not enjoy it, as it was very boring. Moreover, most of the part I could not really understand. One of the reasons might be that I’m not into art. I could not relate to art and painting and I’m really bad in reading paintings.May be because of that i felt really bored viewing the movie... Honestly speaking, the first time I read painting was during Dr. Edwin’s class, when he taught us on Fall of Icarus. The autobiography movie was 1 hour. After the movie ended, the class was dismissed.

Meeting with Supervisor… 30 July 2008

Today my group meets up with our supervisor, Dr. Jayakaran to discuss about our topic for our research paper. It was our first meeting. Prior to the meeting, Dr. Jaya has asked all of us to prepare a page proposal on our topic. The meeting was scheduled at 3.30pm, at the FPP resource centre. All of us was there on the dot and was waiting for Dr. Jaya. The clerk at the resource centre informed us that Dr. jaya would be late as he was in a meeting. Around 3.50pm, Dr. Jaya came and we started discussing on our topics. He asked us to present on our topic. I was planning to research on ‘Relationship between parents and child in Paul case, Barn burning and Territory’. Dr. Jaya commented that I should try to focus on one story. I was confused at first as my initial plan was to compare the relationship between parents and child in the three stories. I clarified with Dr. Jaya and he said that, he wanted me to talk about the three stories first and narrow down to one story. After everyone has presented their topic, Dr. Jaya wants us to prepare our first draft and sent in on week seven. The meeting ended around 4.20pm.

Interest in Art....24 July 2008

Today’s class was amazing! Dr.Edwin taught us to read picture. It was the picture of the Fall of Icarus. In the last class he asked us to find picture of the Fall of Icarus, unfortunately I got the wrong picture. Well, I thought of the fall as in literal meaning. I actually got the exact picture of Icarus falling, which was quite funny though, it was actually the landscape of the Icarus falling and not the exact picture of him falling. At first, I was thinking what was in that picture!, there’s no Icarus, and no falling!!I only could see his one leg in the lake. Then Dr. Edwin explain the significant of the picture. It actually shows that no one cares about Icarus and that he has fell in the lake. His falling was only significant to his father who felt the lost of his son. Never in my mind did I think of that! It was really great to be able to read picture. It makes me appreciate art.

finding for points...18 July 2008

I continued with my position paper, finding supporting points for the thesis statement that I have created. As I read my notes and the story, I wrote the supporting points. The notes really help me to write out my supporting points and it was my references to write my position paper. Besides that, the tutorial class had really helped me in writing my supporting points. I followed Mr. Omit’s teaching and at last, I manage to complete my first draft of position paper. I just wrote it on a piece of paper first before typing it out. I was happy as I manage to complete it.

first draft of position paper...16 July 2008

I started thinking of a story that I would like to write on my position paper as the submission of first draft is suppose to be next Wednesday. I was blur at one moment as I couldn’t choose a story that I wanted to write on my position paper. In my mind, I want to do on short story. I went through the selected titles and started to read the stories. After reading, I decided that I wanted to do on The Great Injustice. I started brainstorming for the thesis statement. As it was the short stories that I have learned in previous semester, I have notes on these stories. I used the notes as a reference for me to do my position paper. After reading for few times and brainstorming for the suitable thesis statement. Alas, I came out with a thesis statement for my position paper but decided to find the supporting points later as it was late night and I was very sleepy.

2nd Tutorial class...16 July2008

Today was the second day of tutorial. Today, Mr. Omit continue to discuss on thesis statement. We were given an example of a position paper. Mr. Omit discussed with us the example so that we have a clear understanding on how to write a good position paper. After that, he continued with the story Ovid’s, Pyramus and Thisbe. This time he asked us to find points for the thesis statements that we have created. He also discussed again on a good thesis statement and also writing points based on the thesis statement that we have created. he called out some of my course mate to give example of a good thesis statement. In sum, it was a good tutorial class that taught me on finding and writing a good supporting points based on the thesis statement.

Tutorial... 11July2008

Today is the first tutorial class for EDU 3234, Readings and project work for teaching literature in ESL contexts. Mr. Omid taught us on thesis statement. The ways of writing a good thesis statement. He also asked us to came out with our own thesis statement in groups based on the story Ovid, Pyramus and Thisbe. I brainstormed in my group to come out with a good thesis statement. I have to admit that it is not easy to write a good thesis statement but alas we came out with our own thesis statement. After a few minutes of brainstorming, Mr. Omid asked each of the group to write their thesis statement on the board and after that he commented on each of the thesis statement. After a good explanation on it, I could understand how to write a good thesis statement. Before ending the class, he asked each of us to come out with our own thesis statement based on the same story together with the supporting poins and he will be discussing it next week.In sum, I felt, I have now understand thesis statement and how to write a thesis statement. It is important to get a good understanding of a thesis statement as it help me in writing my position paper.

first class... 10 July2008

Today is the first class of EDU 3234 readings and project work for teaching literature in ESL contexts. Dr. Edwin gave us the course outline and brief introduction of the course. I get to know what the course is all about. In this course, Dr. Edwin informed me that I have to do a lot of readings. There are three assignments that have to be completed which is position paper journal and research paper. I was quite happy that, I don’t need to sit for final exam as the research paper is considered as final exam. I love writing on blog thus I was looking forward to this online assignment. Later after a brief introduction to the course and explanation on the assignment. Dr Edwin divided us into groups of nine and assigned us to our supervisors. Since my name fall in the third group, so my supervisor was Dr. Jayakaran. I was quite happy and looking forward to meeting my supervisor. Dr. Edwin also introduced his tutor, Mr. Omid that will be tutoring us for this course and helping us out with our first assignment which is the position paper. Overall, I was excited and happy starting another class with Dr. Edwin. I hope to do my best in this subject.