Shakespeare.

image from google.

William Shakespeare, baptised on 26 April 1564 and died on 23 April 1616 but his arts remain alive. It is a timeless collection.

Want to know his biography?

Go to : Wikipedia.

One of my favourite sonnet of his is

 Sonnet 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red, than her lips red:

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound:

I grant I never saw a goddess go, 

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,

As any she belied with false compare.

The main theme of this sonnet is love. A true love. The persona describes his mistress and express his love to her unconditionally. Love is blind. Beauty is in the eyes of beholder. When you love someone, you will accept her or him no matter what and that is what this sonnet is trying to portray. The persona truly know his love that he can describe so much about her but still love her. It is better to truly know someone and love him or her than to love someone that you do not really know. To love is to know.

How sweet isn't it? I wish someone could portray his love to me in such a beautiful poetry. :)

shikin hasnan.

Teaching Speaking : What Makes Speaking Difficult?

1. Clustering

Fluent speech is phrasal not word by word. Learners can organize their output both cognitively and physically trough such clustering.

2. Redundancy

The speaker has opportunity to make meaning clearer through redundancy of language. Learners can capitalize on this feature of spoken language.

3. Reduced forms

Contractions, elisions, reduced vowels etc all form special problems in teaching spoken English. Students who don't learn colloquial contractions can sometimes develop a stilted, bookish quality that in turn stigmatizes them.

4. Performance variables.

One of the advantages of spoken language is that the process of thinking as you speak allows you to manifest a certain number of performance hesitations, pauses, backtracking and corrections. Learners can be taught how to pause and hesitate.

5. Colloquial language.

Make sure the students are reasonably well acquainted with the words, idioms and phrases of colloquial language and that they get practise in producing these forms.

6. Rate of delivery

Another salient characteristic of fluency is a rate of delivery. One of the task in teaching spoken English is to help learners achieve an acceptable speed along with other attributes of fluency.

7. Stress, rhythm, and intonation.

The stress timed rhythm of spoken English and its intonation patterns convey important message.

8. Interaction

The creativity of conversational negotiation.

Source :Teaching by Principles by H. Douglas Brown.

future educator.

shikin hasnan.

Onomatopoeia.

What is onomatopoeia? Onomatopoeia are words that are sound like the objects they name or the sound that those objects made. Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents. For example like meow, roar, oink, splash, crack, boom, slurp, crunch, munch and etc.

Onomatopoeia Poem : Buzzzzz

Buzzzzzz bee buzzzz

swoosh by my ear

plink plank plunk

my feet in puddles

while buzzzz bee buzzzz

Buzzzz bee buzzz

by the huming bird hummmmm

whoosh around his head

hummmmmm bird hummmmm

buzzz bee buzzzzzz

buzzzz bee buzzzz

YOUCH, you stung me

oooch eeech ouch!

scat bee scat

buzzzz bee buzzzz

Onomatopoeia Poem : Kaboom!

KABOOM!

Kaboom!
Ka-blast
Way in the past
the miners mined for ore.
They searched for copper, iron and salt,
for that and much, much more.

Kaboom!
The bite
of dynamite
cut deep inside the earth.
The charge explodes revealing lodes
of minerals of worth.

Kaboom!
The dust,
the air so mussed
went swirling through the sky.
It was a sight, the dynamite
that made the mountains fly.

Kaboom!
The earth
was filled with mirth
so tickled by the boom.
The miner's pleasure,
each newfound treasure
that followed each
Kaboom!

by Denise Rodgers

Now that you know what is onomatopoeia, you too can start writing your very own onomatopoeia poem. Do share if you write one k!

shikin hasnan.

Let us take a minute to pray for the Tsunami's victims in Japan.

A massive 8.9/9.0 magnitude earthquake hit the Pacific Ocean nearby Northeastern Japan at around 2:46pm on March 11 causing damage with blackouts, fire and tsunami. The quake was the fifth-largest in the world since 1900 and nearly 8,000 times stronger than the one which devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, according to scientists. 

source from BBC News.

May God be with us and hopefully nothing will happen here in Malaysia..

Don't know what is tsunami? Click here.

WHY DO WE HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL?

Functions of Education.

We go to school for :

• Socialization : Learning to be productive members of society through the passing on of culture. At school, we will learn the rights and wrongs, values and role expectations of the society. 
• Transmission of culture. Different groups of students are taught different norms, skills, values and knowledge.
• Social control and personal development. Discipline differs by social class, racial ethnic group and sex.
• Selecting, training and placement of individuals in society. School promotes social mobility.
• Change and innovation.

image from google.

the future educator.

shikin hasnan.

MUET.

MUET (Malaysian University English Test) is a test of English Language proficiency runs by Malaysian Examinations Council.


MUET has 4 components which are listening, reading, writing and speaking.Each has different scores and percentage. 

• Listening - 15%
• Speaking - 15%
• Reading - 45%
• Writing- 25%

We can see that reading has the highest percentage so it is crucial to score at reading component as it will help  you to increase your total marks. 

The score or the total marks are graded in 6 bands, the band 6 is the highest and band 1 is the lowest score.

Band 6- Very good user (Aggregated score:260-300).

Very good command of the language. Highly expressive, fluent, accurate and appropriate language: hardly any inaccuracies. Very good understanding of language and contexts. Functions extremely well in the language.

Band 5- Good user (Aggregated score:220-259) 

Good command of the language. Expressive, fluent, accurate and appropriate language but with minor inaccuracies. Good understanding of language and contexts. Functions well in the language.

Band 4- Competent user (Aggregated score:180-219) 

Satisfactory command of the language. Satisfactory expressive and fluent,appropriate language but with occasional inaccuracies. Satisfactory understanding of language and contexts. Functions satisfactorily in the language.

Band 3- Modest user (Aggregated score:140-179) 

Modest command of the language. Modestly expressive and fluent,appropriate language but with noticeable inaccuracies. Modest understanding of language and contexts. Able to function modestly in the language.

Band 2- Limited user (Aggregated score:101-139) 

Limited command of the language. Lacks expressiveness, fluency and appropriacy: inaccurate use of the language resulting in breakdown in communication. Limited understanding of language and contexts. Limited ability to function in the language.

Band 1- Extremely limited user (Below 100)

Poor command of the language. Unable to use language to express ideas: inaccurate use of the language resulting in frequent breakdowns in communication. Little or poor understanding of language and contexts. Hardly able to function in the language.

MUET is what you need to enter university so, it is important for you to score at least band 3 and above. Some course set band 4 as the requirements. Stress on your reading and writing components and be careful when you do your listening as well as speaking.

So, good luck for those who are taking MUET. And do not worry, if you're not satisfied with the first attempt, do not worry because you can try it next time, now it has 3 batch in a year.

shikin hasnan.

Leisure.

Leisure is one of the selected poem for Form Three students. It is written by William Henry Davies.
The poem is very beautiful and it remind me how I took every little things for granted. The world is such a beautiful place to live if we really appreciate it.

Sometimes we are too busy with our works, responsibilities and with our pack schedule, and we always forget that there is so much more to life to enjoy. Sometimes we have to sit back and relax and just enjoy the nature. Take time to really enjoy our surrounding and appreciate it.

stanza 3:

"No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass."

Have we ever stop to see the trees and appreciate it? I bet no because we are so busy walking or driving to reach to our destination.

stanza 4:

No time to see in broad daylight

Streams full of stars, like stars at night.

One thing that caught me is the stanza 4. When I was a little girl, I used to love to watch stars at night, I even ask my mother to accompany me watching stars because I always wondered how on earth that stars can be so bright yet so far away that I can't reach them. Now that I am so busy, I forgot how beautiful they are and I no longer enjoy watching stars because I have no time to do so.

So, lets start enjoying the nature even though we are so busy with life, make some time to enjoy the very simple things in life and may be we will find such tranquil when doing so.

shikin hasnan.

Teaching Children

Are you interested to become an English teacher? What teacher do you want to be? and Do you prefer to teach children, teenagers or adults?

Well, some prefer teaching children as they like children so much and some thinks that teaching adults would be easier because they are mature enough to make their own decision.

Here are the criteria to be considered when teaching English across age level.

• Intellectual development
• Attention span
• Sensory input
• Affective factors
• Authentic meaningful language.

And now lets look at how to teach children ( age up to 11 )

image from google.

Intellectual development:

image from google

• avoid rules and complex grammar
• give examples and demonstrate certain pattern                                 
• repetition is needed
• do's and donts'

Attention span

• short only for things that are boring, useless or too difficult.
• teachers have to make the lesson interesting, lively and fun by doing variety of activities 
• sense humour will help to keep them intested.

Sensory input

• do a lot of physical activity, role play and total physical response using all the five senses- sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing
• hands on activities help children to internalize language.
• use sensory aids- audiovisual like videos, tapes and music.

image from google

image from google

Affective factors

• non verbal language is very important
• show patience and be supportive                               
• sense of humour is useful

Authentic meaningful language

• focus on language use of here and now
• language should be context embedded
• use the whole language approach.

"It takes a very special person to be able to  teach children effectively" - Teaching by Principles, H. Douglas Brown.

future educator,

shikin hasnan.

Life as a student.

Syntax, you are next in my list. so, please be nice. PELT, I'm not in the mood for you now.

Sociology, wait for me, I'll deal with you later. Literature, see you tomorrow.

Oh, these are the subject that I have to take for this semester.

Not to forget, IT and CTU. Both of them are next in my to do list.

Assignments oh assignments! Anyone would like to help me? 

:)

Study HARD or study SMART?

Image from google.

Most students prepared to study the hard way through memorization of facts and drilling of exercises. Sometimes, it is bad to study hard because you will try to cramp everything in your brain and it tires not only your mind but your emotional and physical as well. Imagine if you are trying to absorb everything, you will sometimes stay up till late at night and when you cannot remember the facts and you will feel disappointed with yourself. 

That is why, you should study smart.

image from google.

Plan ahead what to study and set time to study. Do not try to absorb everything at once. Chill and relax. Study every day, I mean provide time to study at least 2 hours a day and this will prevent you to study last minute, usually the night before examinations. This is bad because you will go blur as you are trying to memorize everything. Make notes after class, better is to sketch mind maps as it will make it easier for you to remember everything in just a piece of paper.

image from google.

Make it nice and colourful as it will motivate you to read it. Keep all your mind maps and notes in a file so that you know where to look when you forget something. It is good when you have files for every subjects. Organize them nicely. Be a smart students and I am sure you will find learning is not bad or difficult at all. It is you who make it hard. Make sure to have fun too. Do not just sit and study for hours and still get nothing. Talk to your friends, discuss with your lecturers and ask your seniors when you do not know something. 

image from google.

Start study smart now instead of study hard!

- shikin hasnan-

Learning Languages.

Learning language is not easy. It takes time to master. Language has to be acquired, not just learn.

"....Acquisition is used to refer to the gradual development of ability in a language by using it naturally in communicative situations with others who know the language. The term learning however applies to more conscious process of accumulating knowledge of the features such as vocabulary, grammar of a language typically in an institutional setting...." - The Study of Language by George Yule.

So, we can say that in order to really master one language, we definitely have to use it. If we are able to communicate using that particular language, that means we acquired the language.

At school, we learn English as well as Bahasa Melayu and other language such as Bahasa Arab, Bahasa Cina and Bahasa Tamil but do we really can speak the languages? 

I remember when I was in the primary school, my classmates were mostly Indians and Chinese so we speak English most of the time and I did learn some of the Tamil and Mandrin words. Then, when I was 13, my family moved to East part of Malaysia, Kelantan. I encountered some difficulties to communicate for the first 3 years in Kelantan as they speak a different Bahasa Melayu which is the Kelantan's Dialect. 

Dialect is different from language. Dialect describes features of grammar and vocabulary as well as aspects of pronunciation. But then, after 5 years, I can simply not just understand Kelantan's Dialect but to speak as fluent as the Kelantanese even though my friends used to say that when I speak, I sound weird at first. 

Well, there is another term which is accent. Accent is different from dialect as it describes the aspects of pronunciation only. You know, people from American has a different accent from British but they still speak English and you notice how the Spanish speak English? It is sexy!  As for me, I speak English with Malay accent.

Learning languages is fun. I hope to learn as many language as I can but it really takes time so maybe not now but someday maybe. As for now, I should focus on learning English.

shikinhasnan.

The Hidden Curriculum

Do you like History? Arts maybe? Or Physics perhaps?

Well, those are the things that your teacher will teach you and they are all in the books!

But what you do not know or realize is what did you learn indirectly at school? No, you did not just learn what are in the books or in the syllabus, regardless you are taking pure science or social science or whatever streams you take.

When you go to school, you actually learn more than that. You learn about respect, love, friendship, social skills, public relation, peer pressure, stress, most of all you learn about human, about life.

Those are the things that you would pick up when you are at school whether you realize or not. Some are negative and some are positive. Therefore, it all comes down to you. How strong are you to resist the negative influences and how smart are you to differentiate what is good and what is bad.

The key to the answer is yourself. 


Note : to know more about hidden curriculum, go to this link and this link

Adios~

What Is Ahead of You?

University Life!

Yes, if you just finished your high school, I am sure you are planning to go to university of your choice, right? Well, there are 20 of IPTAs and many IPTS in Malaysia so you better choose wisely. Here is the link to the list of Public Universities in Malaysia.

Image from google.

Apart from choosing your favourite university, bear in mind that the most important thing is to choose the right course. The questions to ask yourself are:

•  What are the things you like to do?
•  What is it that you like to be / become?
•  What is your ambition?
•  What are your favourite subjects?
• What subjects are you good at?

Then, it is all come down to your result. Make sure that your result is good enough to pass the entry requirements set by the university and the Ministry of Higher Education before you apply.

If you choose course such as Education, Music, Arts and Designs, Architecture or any course with interview and test, be well prepared because you will be judged by the panels or the interviewers whether  you are right for such course. Be confident and be prepared.

image from google.

Do not worry, take your time to figure out what is right or suitable for you, do not rush to it. If you still do not have clue what to do with your future, you can always go to your counsellor at school, talk to your parents or ask your seniors. I am sure they can help.

If you want to ask me anything, you can just simply write to me in the comment box or email me. Good luck deciding your future!

Future educator,

-the GEEK, shikin hasnan-

Poem Analysis 2- In The Midst of Hardship.

A COLLECTION OF POEMS, SHORT STORIES AND DRAMA FORM 4 AND FORM 5.

THE POEM: IN THE MIDST OF HARDSHIP BY LATIFF MOHIDIN.

At dawn they returned home

Their soaky clothes torn

And approached the stove

Their limbs marked by scratches

Their legs full of wounds

But on their brows

There was not a sign of despair

The whole day and night just passed

They had to brave the horrendous flood

In the water all the time

Between bloated carcasses

And tiny chips of tree barks

Desperately looking for their son’s

Albino buffalo that was never found

They were born amidst hardship

And grew up without a sigh or a complaint

Now they are in the kitchen, making

Jokes while rolling their cigarette leaves.

Poem Analysis 1- Hanging Fire.

Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde.

I am fourteen

and my skin has betrayed me

the boy I cannot live without

still sucks his thumb

in secret

how come my knees are

always so ashy

what if I die

before the morning comes

and momma's in the bedroom

with the door closed.

I have to learn how to dance

in time for the next party

my room is too small for me

suppose I die before graduation

they will sing sad melodies

but finally

tell the truth about me

There is nothing I want to do

and too much

that has to be done

and momma's in the bedroom

with the door closed.

Nobody even stops to think

about my side of it

I should have been on Math Team

my marks were better than his

why do I have to be

the one

wearing braces

I have nothing to wear tomorrow

will I live long enough

to grow up

and momma's in the bedroom

with the door closed.

Educational Blog.

Hello!

This blog is simply made to discuss about education. Hopefully it will be informative and entertaining.

yours truly.

shikin, the nerd.