An hour with Mr. Vahid and a treat...

The first class after two weeks of holiday was very useful. We had Mr. Vahid Nimehchisalem as our guest speaker. Mr. Vahid was our class tutor who helped Dr. Jaya to handle classes during tutorial in previous semesters. He gave a speech on how to write a persuasive paper. My class has an assignment to write a position paper and that is the main reason he was invited. He spoke about a lot of new words such as, claim, data, warrant, backing, rebuttal, and qualifier. By using all this elements in our paper, for sure our paper will be a good argumentative writing.
I haven’t start writing my position paper and I hope with this guide I can start writing an effective argumentative paper. We were also given an argumentative writing checklist so that we can evaluate our own work. It has four scale, they are, basic, average, good and competent. It is also divided into four sections, argumentation, organization, language and overall effectiveness. This scale is based on the analytic and holistic scales of argumentative writing (ASAW and HAWS) by Dr. Jayakaran and Mr. Vahid (2010). To make use of the scale, we were given exercises in the class to check the famous writers, J.B. Priestley and George Orwell’s work. We could see difference in both their writings. The only reason I could see the difference is because of the scale. Mr. Vahid took a full use of the one hour class to give us all the input he can.
At the end of the class, each student received a small box of KFC containing three nuggets and french fries which was sponsored by Dr. Jaya as a Hari Raya treat. There were also few bottles of gas drinks. It was nice of Dr. Jaya but he wasn’t there for us to thank him. Mr. Vahid joined us in the treat and Alicia our class tutor thanked Mr. Vahid for coming behalf of the whole class. At times I feel touched because of the initiative lectures and tutors take to make our life easier. Thank you to all of them!

Just a fine movie...

‘Finding Forrester’ was a long and boring movie. It was boring for me because of its slow moving pace. It has the famous actor, Sean Connery whose voice I love to hear. The movie shows a relationship between a black school boy who is intelligent for his age (16) and how a writer (Sean Connery) helps him to write better. This movie might not be so inspiring for a teacher because Sean Connery doesn’t come to the school and teach. So he is not involved with all the students but only one kid who is bright.
One fine day, Jamal's basketball friends dare him to walk into William Forrester’s (Sean Connery) house. William Forrester lives as a recluse; when Jamal walks into William's house, William scares Jamal with a knife and Jamal runs off, leaving his backpack behind. When Jamal returns to retrieve his backpack, he finds that all his pieces of writing were commented on. After Jamal's attempt to retrieve his backpack, Jamal goes and asks William if he could help improve his writing skills. William made a deal that if he helped Jamal with his writing, Jamal would keep William's identity a secret, never to take the writing that he does out of his house, and never ask anything about William's family. Jamal agreed and they both became friends.
Another reason why I am not into this movie is because I am not sure about what is happening. I lose track at times because their speech weren’t clear because the boy has the ‘black way’ of speaking. It is a good movie but not a movie that inspires me in any way. Rob Brown the sixteen year old boy gave a good performance for a first movie. When I researched about him I found out that he never studied acting and had no professional acting experience.
In my opinion, this movie would be enjoyed by writers who have stopped writing for sometime. It sure will inspire writers then teachers. Overall it’s a fine movie but the length and its slow pace makes it a boring movie to watch.

We need this kind of principal...

Movie time! The fourth movie was very touching indeed, ‘Lean On Me’. It’s about how a principal (Morgan Freeman) makes changes to his school because the school is at risk of being taken over by the New Jersey state government unless students improve their test scores. Morgan Freeman was a teacher in that particular school twenty years back and he left because of some issues and the school has become worse since.
The first change that the principal did was he kicked out all those ‘bad’ students who sells drugs and has gangs. Of all the movies I watched for now, this is the worst school scenario because the teachers have no control over the students. One teacher was beaten up when he wanted to break up a fight in the school canteen. The teachers are scared of the students. For sure I wouldn’t want to be those kinds of teachers but I ask myself, what happens if I get this kind of school. Would I quit or keep trying?
Morgan Freeman portrays himself as one strict man who takes no for an answer. Clark (Morgan Freeman) does not put up with teachers who disagree with him either, especially those who do so in front of the students. It can be seen in two or three accounts in the movie. I feel it’s alright to act in that manner so that the school knows who is in charge and they shouldn’t mess around with the school principal. Eventually Clark becomes close with everyone and the students become his children.
As a future teacher to be, what I want as the end result is for the students to respect me and look upon me as a figure that they can trust. All the movies shown to us, I realise that it’s not easy being a teacher and being a principal is a double responsibility and they need to do more work than just teach the students. Principals need to ‘move’ the school higher each year so that the parents will trust the school and send their children to gain education.
Towards the end of the movie, Clark gets arrested and the next day the entire student body converges on the Central Office of the Paterson Board of Education. The students claim that Clark cares for them and has done so much good that they will not accept anyone else as their principal. Clark is freed from custody, and to good news: enough students passed the basic skills exam which results in the current administration retaining control over the school. You go principal! If every school has one Clark, I am sure extraordinary results can be produced.

Do you love bee?

No, I am not talking about bee but spelling bee. We watched the third movie for this subject entitled, ‘Akeelah and the bee’. It’s about an eleven old girl who has the capability to spell many difficult words. This movie starts with by giving the audience an idea that the girl’s father has passed away and the mother is the only person who works to provide for the family. Akeelah has two brothers where one is in the force and another one always gives trouble to the family because he hates white people. She also has a sister who has a baby which I am not sure whose baby it is.
This movie shows that if there is determination there is a way. Her headmaster, Mr. Welch, recommends that she sign up for the Crenshaw Schoolwide Spelling Bee, which she wins easily. Dr. Joshua Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), a visiting English professor, tests her with some difficult words and finds that she has the potential to reach the National Spelling Bee, even though she misspells some words. Akeelah is not interested in joining this competition because she is afraid she will be laughed at if she can’t spell it correctly. But after so much consideration, she decides to join the competition because she has the determination.
As Christmas approaches, Akeelah goes out to buy Dr. Larabee a present, not knowing that he plans to give up coaching her because she reminds him too much of his deceased daughter Denise. Instead, he gives Akeelah 5,000 flashcards to study and told her that she will have thousands of coaches. After a pep talk from her mother, Akeelah recruits neighbourhood coaches, including her family members, classmates, friends, and neighbours. She then remembers what Dr. Larabee told her that she will have thousands of coaches. Akeelah thinks like an adult for an eleven year old girl. The obvious example is when she lets her opponent, Dylan to win because he has pressure from his dad. And Dylan who portrays himself as corky lets in too and then they both decide to play fair and win the trophy. Good going to both of them!
This movie has quotes which inspires me as a teacher to come. My favourite is, ‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.’

An inspiring movie...

We watched the second movie for this subject during tutorial entitled, ‘The Ron Clark Story’. It is based on a true story. The actor is a famous sitcom actor from ‘Friends’, Matthew Perry. It’s a totally different role for him to act in this movie as a devoted teacher. If I was to give one word after watching this movie, I would say ‘patience’. The teacher was so patient. I saw him losing it only once that he wanted to throw the girl from the window. It was just in his thought but I don’t think anyone could be as patient as him.
The Ron Clark Story follows the inspiring tale of an energetic, creative and idealistic young teacher who leaves his small North Carolina hometown to teach in a New York City public school. Through his passionate use of special rules for his classroom, highly innovative teaching techniques and an undying devotion to his students and helping them cope with their problems, Clark is able to make a remarkable difference in the lives of his students Even when he is almost overcome by pneumonia, Clark continues to work with his students, hoping that he can raise their test scores to an acceptable level, or possibly even higher. (http://www.tnt.tv/title/?oid=633246)
This movie is a must watch movie especially for all the teachers and teachers to be. It shows how patient a teacher needs to be. This movie inspired me in a way it made me to think of the approach I will use towards my students if they are weak or rebellious. The most interesting part of Mr. Ron Clark’s teaching was he rapped a song to name the 42 presidents of United States so that the students can remember the names. The best part, he danced for it and danced with the students. He might do some childish things to make the students enjoy but he knows he is in control and the student’s starts to love and respect him throughout the movie. Can I be the next Ron Clark? I will give my best shot.

Let's get married!

Dr. Jaya gave us an interesting topic to write for the position paper. Arrange marriage. Even though I am in love and not into arrange marriage but then I will never forget that before I fell in love I was into arrange marriage because of many reasons. First, I got no trouble in searching for my own bridegroom. Second, if anything happens between me and my future husband, parents will take the blame (well so bad of me) for letting me marry a douche bag. Third, I don’t have to worry about my parent’s expectation because it’s their choice and I am sure they chose the best for me. Lastly, I can love after my marriage or in the knowing process before the marriage. This was all my thought before I met the one for me.
Arrange marriage is very famous in Indian weddings. Nowadays there are still family into arrange marriages. What is the proper definition of arranged marriage? An arranged marriage is a marriage that is established before involving oneself in a lengthy courtship, and often involves the arrangement of someone other than the persons getting married. Such marriages are relatively rare, but still numerous in the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia. Other groups that practice this custom include the Unification Movement, royal families and devout Hindus. (http://www.arrangedmarriage.eu/)
As a girl, I always wondered how is it to get married in an arranged marriage because it’s like so different than love marriage where you know the person pretty much in and out before the marriage. Arranged marriage may only give a maximum of a year for the couples to know each other and then they tie the knot. I am not sure whether the chances of divorce higher in an arranged marriage but I feel that the couples do not know each other much and less understanding would lead to a divorce. But honestly I have seen many arranged marriage going on smoothly till now.

Two hours of worthful tutorial...

Today’s (5th August 2010) tutorial was fun. We had to draw our fable as in comic strip form in a mahjong paper. My group consists of Kirubayini, Adeline, Renuga and myself. Our artist was Kirubayini. Painter was Adeline. The script writers were Renuga and I. All the groups were given 45 minutes to finish the fable but all of us took about an hour to finish it. It was fun to see all the groups taking their time to create a good piece of work.
Our second work on a mahjong paper is to write an essay of 200 words about traditional literature. Our group mates didn’t read up on it before we came to class so we used Renuga’s PDA phone to get the definition of traditional literature. We started off with that definition and used our own words to complete the essay. We had to write an introduction paragraph, three paragraphs consist of the body and the last paragraph consist the conclusion. It’s been very long since we wrote an essay, oh wait, we took writing class last semester. Hmm, it seems so long. Well I am sure most of us have short term memory loss. So it was a nice experience to write an essay and the best part Adeline kept counting after each paragraph. Everyone was sure that the essay would go more then 200 words but I had my doubts.
Again Kirubayini became the writer. Adeline was the counter of the words. Renuga and I were giving idea for the essay. Adeline did give some idea for the conclusion. Our final product was short of 15 words but we didn’t bother much about it because we couldn’t think anymore after two hours of tutorial. This tutorial was very educational because for the past three weeks we played games and watched movie but this time we did ‘some’ work.

What happens in the class...

For the first time in this semester we are having class with Dr. Jaya for just an hour. He speaks about other things then the subject for about 45 minutes. He talks about a lot of useful things for us. The practicum for an example, it’s a 'hot topic' so to say for this semester.
The second thing he spoke about was about the project paper where we are assigned our own supervisor. I was given Cik Pah whom I am very familiar with. On week six I need to meet her and discuss about my topic. Talking about topic, I don’t have any topic in my mind! Then we have another paper to write, that is position paper. This subject has no exams yet it has many assignments, three to be precise. Dr. Jaya keeps saying this course is to make us relax but I yet to see it.
Next, we learned about fables. So what is a fable? A fable is a short, pithy animal tale, most often told or written with a moral tagged on in the form of a proverb. Thus to convey a moral is the aim of most fables, and the tale is the vehicle by which this is done, providing both an illustration of and compelling argument for the moraIt is interesting to read fables because it always gives moral of the story at the end of it.
Dr. Jaya gave us a task to form a group of four and come up with our own fable during tutorial. It is exciting to do because it’s our own fable where we must come up with our own moral of the story. We have two days to think about a fable and do it in a comic strip form in our next tutorial. Here comes our fable!

The competition...

Drowgames knockout! We used our tutorial time last Thursday on 29th July 2010 from 2.30 till 5.30pm to have competition among TESL 7 batch mates. It was held at Educational Faculty’s library or known as the resource centre. The competition was among our classmates so it was fun and we could play it till we loose with whoever we are playing with. Our partners were given by Amelia and Alicia.
I played with David, Nithya, Winnie and Oon Oon. I lost to Oon Oon so I finished my game by 4pm but I played for a few minutes with people who lost the game so that I can get ranking in the top 80 and I ranked 38. I was happy with it and the prizes iPod Touch and iPod Nanos was not a joke and now I regret for not being serious about it. I learned a lesson here that nothing should be taken light no matter how silly it may sound. I am not saying this because I am not going to get any prizes but it should be applied in whatever that I do.
The game is suitable to be played in schools because it teaches students vocabulary and verbs in a fun way. Everyone needs to have fun in this stressful life. I believe this game can give pleasure to students but variety of questions need to be added so that the students won’t get the same questions again and again because they’ll tend to memorize just to win the game. There should also be the reason for why the answer given by them is wrong like a one minute or thirty seconds explanation.
This is a nice game created by Dr. Jaya and the team. Hats off to them!

Practical is around the corner...

Practical. Practical. Practical. This is what should be ringing in most of my course mates’ heads because our practical starts next year in six months time. Time flies very fast. I am nervous, anxious, excited, scared and all kinds of mixed feelings empower me when I think of practical. Dr. Jaya spoke a lot about practical in class. He said by end of this semester we will know the schools that we will be going to. He also asked us to list down eight names so that we can be together in a house.
Different schools, different teachers, students, managements and facilities. Which is the best school to go to? It’s still a question mark to me. I plan to go to Malacca once I know which school I’ll be going to. Amelia my class tutor, she is a good student who got an A for her practical as Dr. Jaya said because he was the one who evaluated her. So Amelia will have a special class for us to teach us how to teach students effectively during practicum. I can’t wait for the class.
I really hope I’ll get good students who will not make my life miserable during the observation. The lecturers have told us a lot of stories about the student’s attitude while the trainees are teaching. Some may not respect us just because we are temporary teachers and some will make a scene while the observation. We need to prepare for all this scenarios. May God be with all of us! Good luck teacher trainees!