Friday, November 20, 2009

Teslians of UPSI for 2006-2010 Cohort.

We attended our practicum briefing just now. When the briefing ended, it also marked the end of our current academic days at UPSI, at least for this semester. It was quite a poignant moment for me as once again I had to part with my friends from this alma mater, especially my TESL friends.

My course mates have taught me many things directly and indirectly. In fact, I have learned at least one thing from everyone of them. Thus, everyone of them is my angel. As I am probably not going to meet some of them, I would like to tell them that I love all of them. I am sorry that sometimes I let my friends down. I used to oppose what my friends had planned to do. I am really sorry about that. I hope I am forgiven.

Last but not least, I want to dedicate the song composed by Pete Teo and vocalized by Atilia titled Angel to all of my TESL friends. This song is also one of the theme songs in the locally produced movie, Talentime.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Malaysia: The Land of Fallacies and Myths.

I believe that this land is not only rich in tales but more that. Let me elaborate on this in the chronology of time. First, it is written in Malay Annals (Sejarah Melayu) that the founder of the Sultanate of Malacca was originated from Bukit Siguntang, Palembang. The founder of this kingdom is also said to be a descendant of Alexander the Great, the great conqueror from Macedonia. Wow! This simply means that some rulers in this country are descended from Alexander the Great. In that case, one of my lecturers, a royalty herself can also claim that Alexander is her forefather. Omigosh! I am quite puzzled! Alexander is a Greek, is not he? But then, Tun Seri Lanang believed to be the author of Malay Annals claims that the Malay rulers of Sultanate of Malacca were descended from Alexander and this could also mean that some present rulers in Malaysia are from the lineage of Alexander. Please note that they are Malays. Perhaps who knows that they are the genuine diasporic offspring of Alexander the Great or Iskandar Zulkarnain. Even some scholars are not agreeable that Alexander and Iskandar are actually the same person.

Second, the ancient Chinese Kingdom of Ming had made the ancient Malaccan Kingdom as its protectorate. China through Admiral Zheng He actually warned the then Siamese King to stop harassing Malacca. The Siamese Kingdom was the only threat to the Malaccan Kingdom when the latter started to set its foot in the region of South East Asia. After Sultan Mansur Syah married to Princess Hang Li Poh, the princess requested the sultan to send regards to her father, the then emperor of China. At first, Sultan Mansur was reluctant fearing that something bad would happen to the emperor. He believed that he was the sovereign ruler and thus by sending regards to other kingdoms would result the latter to face the ill consequences or tulah (a curse). After that, the sultan did extend his regards to his father-in-law, the emperor. Guess what? The emperor got a weird sickness after that. The only remedy to cure his sickness was the sultan’s air basuh kaki. Eventually, the emperor got healed after bathing with the leftover water used to be washed Sultan Mansur Syah’s feet. Wow! The then Malacca was protected by China. But the Chinese emperor whose kingdom was a lot greater than the sultan’s kingdom had to get the tulah. Even the existence of Hang Li Poh is disputable. Is Hang Li Poh a fictitious character in the Malay Annals? A few years back, it was revealed that actually four of the five warriors by the names of Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Lekir and Hang Lekiu were Chinese. Omigosh! Historians are jokers. If Herodotus, the father of history were still breathing, I hope he will kick all these so-called historians’ asses.

Third, many will be surprised that Bruce Lee, the guy who kicks asses on the screen had actually been defeated by Dato’ Meor Abdul Rahman and Dicky Zulkarnain before his death. I am not sure whether these defeats are true or not. But, before we blindly believe things like this, please note that these are not beyond the reasonable doubt. When you read about how Dato’ Meor was born, you will be questioning on most of the accounts on his birth. Can you believe that Dato’ Meor’s was the twin of a worm? You can google on his birth accounts to find out more on this. Besides, there are two versions of tales on how Bruce Lee was defeated by the Mahaguru of Silat Gayong. Regarding of the claim that Dicky Zulkarnain has actually beaten Bruce Lee, this so-called fact is also a doubt. In fact, Dicky once claimed that he was not the one who had beaten Bruce Lee. Instead, he said that Mahaguru Meor was the one who had actually defeated Bruce.

Fourth and last, I have heard that the most profitable business around is owned by churches. These churches through their priests give sermons saying that one should be cheerful in offering tithes to the church one attends to. I once attended a church in which its people used to preach that you would earn a hundred-fold when you gave cheerfully. They collected money to build a new church building. I am not sure how much the construction of that church did cost. But, the number of that sum should be in seven figures. The church was fully constructed in year 2001. Recently, this church was collecting for another building fund from Christians who attended that church. Their target for that fund was RM 15 million. I am not sure whether the present church is going to be re-sized or another church building is going to be constructed. But, I do hope that religious institutions will not be corrupted and unscrupulous especially big sums of money are concerned.

In conclusion, let me stress that this is not an academic piece of writing and thus it does not comply with the academic protocol. So issues on citations and quotations shall not arise from this writing. The partial piece of this writing contains some of my opinions which could be true and untrue depending on how one perceives this writing. So, discretion and wisdom are needed to evaluate this writing.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Fcuk Godot? Why?

Why I can only crush to somebody but nobody will give me their love?
Can someone tell me who on earth likes me? I mean likes me romantically?
Why I was born not good looking, poor, not intelligent and with no strong work ethics?
Why others were born with silver spoons in their mouths but I was born a pauper?
Fcuk Godot! Yes, you do not read it wrongly. I say fcuk Godot!
Call me an atheist, but I want to voice everything from my heart.
I want to voice out what is on my mind.
Why Godot is not being fair and square with me?
If disparities happen in this world, all these were created by Godot
If people are being treated badly, all these were caused by Godot
Why? Why Godot did not allow all human beings to be born equal?
If one was born poor, everyone should be born poor.
If one was born rich, everyone should be born rich.
Godot is the chief cause of all the calamities on this planet called Earth.
FCUK GODOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Goodbye to Written Tests at UPSI and Welcome to the Life of Teaching

I am glad that I am not bound to sit for written tests at my alma mater anymore. In formal testing system, these written tests are known as paper-and-pencil tests. Now, I only need to do homework for my practicum. The supervisor who will be observing me is the only English Professor at UPSI. She was also my supervisor while I was working on my project paper. I am worried as my communicative skills are very bad. My teaching experience is shallow. Hopefully, I will be prepared to teach the real kids at SMK Methodist. Hello, my future students. I am looking forward to see you guys!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

My Project Paper Report: Perceptions of TESL Learners on Their Readiness to Administer English Language Tests in Schools.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to find out the perceptions of future English teachers who would become teachers and English language testers on their readiness to administer language tests at schools. To realize this study, 31 student teachers at Sultan Idris University of Education (UPSI) were selected to participate in this study. The methods of questionnaire and interviews were used to carry out this study. Findings and results revealed that positive and negative perceptions were drawn from their responses with regard to this study. This study is important as the researcher believes that future teachers’ viewpoints can also contribute towards the change of status quo in the education system of this country particularly in the field of English Language testing as they are going to become the agents to implement any educational policy set by the government of the day. Besides, the report of this study also provides some suggested solutions to problems which are happening in the present language testing scenario in Malaysia. It is hoped that this study will become a reference for student teachers, teachers, language testing instructors, university administrators and personnel in the Ministry of Education to consider for very much needed amendment to take place in the field of language testing.

For full report please click here or here.