Monday, April 13, 2009
“FrEeDom WRiTeRS”
Sunday, April 5, 2009
“ThE EnD”
“MeeTiNG Mr. Kee Thuan Chye”
“BaTTLe FoR EvErYoNe”
Other than learning from the battle of Nelson Mandela, I think reading autobiography is also an interesting activity that can be adapted in language classroom. Students sometimes are easily to get bored with all the fact-to fact reading materials while autobiography will provide a new taste of passion in readings. In fact, through autobiography, students will be able to learn about others' beliefs, their personality and point of view over an issue. They will learn and make relevance out of the text to their life. I think reading this kind of text will make reading class as well as the language class more remarkable to students. they will develop not only in their language skills but also their personality by reading others' autobiography.
“FrEeDom WRiTeRS”
Other than that, I truly agree with the idea of providing journal for students to write. The effectiveness is undeniable. however, I would like to suggest for English language teachers to fully manipulate the Internet as integration for language learning. Perhaps forum and blog can be more interesting in this technology era. In my opinion, the forum and blog are the revolution of using journal in classroom. Both, methods are a great way to encourage students to write, as they do not have the fear of being evaluated; plus it is good way for students to express themselves. hence, I'd like to thank Dr. Edwin for opening my eyes of the benefits on using forum and blog in the language classroom. Last but not least, I hope I can be like Erin Gruwell, inspiring students to be whatever they want to be.
“ThE DRaFT”
“My OuTLiNES”
When Dr. Nooree returns my outlines, she wrote a note about my ideas. Basically she prefers that analysis on the poems as for her the elements are more worthy and powerful to discuss. Plus, she stated that the analysis on the poetry would be more remarkable as there are so many researches done based on the feminist approach. For me, though i am the one who came out with the idea, i feel a little bit nervous as this will be the first time I am writing about poetry and of course, I find the task quite challenging. however, as to develop my writing skill, I think it is fine to challenge myself a bit. Gambate (Japanese)
“ThE FiRsT MeeTiNG”
Apart from all these, I walk out of the room where we meent for the first time with pre-occupations. I keep thinking in mind the kind of texts that interest me and how my research will make a different from other as well as the implication on education or teaching. As I already work on feminist approach in my position paper, I think it would be interesting for my writing development to use another approach for the research paper. Jiayou! (Japanese)
I Am a PaIR oF SpEcTacLE
For me, I do think that teacher is like a pair of spectacle. A spectacle is a great help for people as they need them to 'see'. Watching and seeing is different for me. The former is just an action while the latter is more meaningful as it involves interpretation and observation. After all, I guess that it depends on how people define a teacher is. Right now, I know that there is a less that a year for me to prepare myself to be a teacher and to face the surreal reality. I just hope that I can be a good spectacle for my students.
“ThE FiRsT MeeTiNG”
The first meeting with my supervisor; Dr Noreen Noordin is meaningful. I am curious about the assignment –research paper. The first thing that she talks about is the format of the paper. According to Dr. Noreen, the paper should have introduction, author’s background, the synopsis, the analysis as well as the conclusion. My questions are; is there any list of the texts that we should work on? What if she is unfamiliar with the texts? And what should we focus on -characterization or language for example? Her answer is simple but convincing. She said that the paper should focus on our interest –work on characterization or setting if we find it interesting. If she is unfamiliar with the texts, she will find other ways to comprehend the texts first before evaluating our paper –that mean she will search for the synopsis, or if possible read the text. Her expectation for the paper is that we need to analyze three aspects in the texts. For example, if the paper is about women in patriarchal society, we can study the elements of oppression, abuse and search for independence in the texts. She is so considerate that she shows us some samples of the analysis done by our senior which enable us to discuss more among ourselves about the analysis and the implication of the research on education. Indeed, I think it is great to have a glimpse of what Dr Noreen expects from us.
Apart from all these, I walk out of the room where we meet for the first time with pre-occupations. I keep thinking in mind the kind of texts that interest me and how my research will make a different from other as well as the implication on education or teaching. As I already work on feminist approach in my position paper, I think it would be interesting for my writing development to use another approach for the research paper. Jiayou! (Japanese)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
ViSiTiNG MaLaCCa
Just listening to the idea of integrating the art in literature classroom is just not enough for me. One day, Dr Edwin suggested a trip to Melaka, visiting Mr Tham Siew Inn’s gallery; an artist as well as a poet. My feelings? of course, I am so excited to know more about this person and curious about his experiences and development as an artist and poet.
My impression towards his gallery is small, cosy and rich with memories. I am so amused by his works -his paintings and his poems. His paintings vary from different themes -people and scenery. Mr Tham showed us around, explaining what his works were about and where in the world that he has been to -there are a picture of him drawing on Mount Everest. To my shock, he drew all those buildings scenery free-hand and without even sketching first. I agree with Amanda that it show how much experience he has. During the visit, he taught us on how to interpret certain paintings. according to him, the correct way to look into the paintings depending on the size of the paintings -if it is huge, you should look at a longer distant that the small one.
The most precious lesson that I have learn during the visit is that art is just like literature -in a way that it provide a space for ‘freedom’ interpretation. Through art and literature, people capture their observation as well as experiences using the words and brush in order to offer different perspective to others.
All in all, it is a very interesting and beneficial trip for me, as well as future teaching profession.
ThE DRaFT
My OuTLiNES
It is indeed plural as I hand in two outlines for Dr Noreen to check and has a glimpse of my ideas. Why two outlines? The main reason is because I have two ideas and I find both ideas interesting to discuss. The first one is about feminist approach, on how Karim Raslan and Che Husna Azhari illustrate the unusual women’s characterization in the short story, “Mariah” and “Sara and the wedding”. Another one is about the hardship in others’ life in the poems, “Three Beserah Fishermen” by Muhammad Haji Salleh and “The Midnight Satay-Vendor” by Ghulam Sarwar Yousuf.
When Dr. Noreen returns my outlines, she wrote a note about my ideas. Basically she prefers the analysis on the poems as for her the elements are more worthy and powerful to discuss. Plus, she stated that the analysis on the poetry would be more remarkable as there are so many researches done based on the feminist approach. For me, though I am the one who came out with the idea, I feel a little bit nervous as this will be the first time I am writing about poetry and I find the task quite challenging. However, as to develop my writing skill, I think it is fine to challenge myself a bit. Gambate (Japanese)
ThE FiRsT MeeTiNG
The first meeting with my supervisor; Dr Noreen Noordin is meaningful. I am curious about the assignment –research paper. The first thing that she talks about is the format of the paper. According to Dr. Noreen, the paper should have introduction, author’s background, the synopsis, the analysis as well as the conclusion. My questions are; is there any list of the texts that we should work on? What if she is unfamiliar with the texts? And what should we focus on -characterization or language for example? Her answer is simple but convincing. She said that the paper should focus on our interest –work on characterization or setting if we find it interesting. If she is unfamiliar with the texts, she will find other ways to comprehend the texts first before evaluating our paper –that mean she will search for the synopsis, or if possible read the text. Her expectation for the paper is that we need to analyze three aspects in the texts. For example, if the paper is about women in patriarchal society, we can study the elements of oppression, abuse and search for independence in the texts. She is so considerate that she shows us some samples of the analysis done by our senior which enable us to discuss more among ourselves about the analysis and the implication of the research on education. Indeed, I think it is great to have a glimpse of what Dr Noreen expects from us.
Apart from all these, I walk out of the room where we meet for the first time with pre-occupations. I keep thinking in mind the kind of texts that interest me and how my research will make a different from other as well as the implication on education or teaching. As I already work on feminist approach in my position paper, I think it would be interesting for my writing development to use another approach for the research paper. Jiayou! (Japanese)
My PoSiTiON PaPeR
My position paper is about how the society indoctrinates the girl into adulthood with the paternalistic values. In the story Boys and Girls, I think that the society has a more powerful influence in initiating the girl into adulthood rather than the nature. Naturally, a child will experience self-discovery on their gender roles and initiated biologically into adulthood through a rigid process called puberty. However, I believe that the girl’s initiation is basically influenced by the society. Her freedom for self-concept is denied through the indoctrination process. The word ‘indoctrination’ simply suggests that the girl is trained to be the ‘girl’ as expected by the society –who is weak, dependent and timid to their male counterpart and timid. According to the girl, the word ‘girl’ is no longer as innocent as the word child which indicates the girl’s oppression of becoming a ‘woman’ as defined by the society.
The society in the story has many ways to implicitly instill the paternalistic values on gender roles in initiating 'the girl' into adulthood. First and foremost, I believe that the grandmother and the parents are the obvious agent for the society to implement and demonstrate the values. They have many ways to control children's personalities and directly denies for the freedom in developing own self-concept. Besides, the parents’ chores simply demonstrate that men’s job is outside the house while the women remain with the household chores. I believe the rigid boundaries between the gender roles allow the society to prejudice and discriminate women existence. In fact, the word ‘girl’ in the story has negative connotation as function to belittle the women. After all, I think that other than the story ‘Boys and Girls’, there are many other story which demonstrate how the society contribute in the initiation process.