22nd March 2008.


End of Class.


Last week was the last week meeting my beloved students for this semester. I taught two subjects; English for Academic and Occupational Purposes. My students come from different schools or what they call ‘Kulliyyah’ at our university. The thing which I admire about them is their hardwork and determination in accomplishing their assignments. Of course there are a few who still practice the ‘last minute’ submission but overall they are committed to their work. However, I hope they won’t just be any typical dedicated person who goes to class with the mere attention of getting A’s. Life is not just about getting A’s. Yes, the A’s ARE IMPORTANT but there are OTHER IMPORTANT SKILLS that they should acquire in life. I have seen a lot of successful people having these powerful skills which among others are communication and inter-personal skills. They maneuver life as if nothing can stop them from achieving their dreams. Their pure perseverance and commitment towards their goals are derived from classes, seminars, talks, meetings attended after the formal education setting takes place. The courage to change, accompanied with good attitude help these individuals to discover their true potential as human beings. Yes, we are indeed special my dear students, and if you are reading this, I believe we are born to be winners, to achieve great things in life and be successful. Therefore, I’m going to include the definition of success here, so that it can be a guidance to all of us. I believe I agree with this view of what real success is.


Success

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

2nd March 2008.


End of Class.


Last week was the last week meeting my beloved students for this semester. I taught two subjects; English for Academic and Occupational Purposes. My students come from different faculty or what they call ‘Kulliyyah’ at our university. The thing which I admire about them is their hardwork and determination in accomplishing their assignments. Of course there are a few who still practice the ‘last minute’ studying but overall they are committed to their work. However, I hope they won’t just be any typical dedicated person who goes to class with the mere attention of getting A’s. Life is not just about getting A’s. Yes, the A’s ARE IMPORTANT but there are OTHER IMPORTANT SKILLS that they should also have with them once they graduated from university. I have seen a lot successful people having these powerful skills which among others are communication and interpersonal skills. They maneuver life as if nothing can stop them from achieving their dreams. Their pure perseverance and in commitment towards their goals are derived from classes, seminars, talks, meetings attended after the formal education setting takes place. The courage to change and accompanied with good attitude help these individuals to discover their true potential as human being. Yes, we are indeed special my dear students.. and if you are reading this, I believe we are born to be winners..to achieve great things in life and be successful. Therefore, I’m going to include the definition of success so that it can be a guidance to all of you. I believe I agree with this view…


Success

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Special Retreat

Hem..
We are now at MS Garden Hotel Kuantan, finishing our assignments. By the way, today is the General Election and here we are performing our duties towards our studies. There are five of us; Marina,Mona,Mahani,Shafinas and I. Marina actually traveled all the way from Rompin! 3 group assignments need to be completed by the time we check-out of this hotel tomorrow. I am putting this in my blog as a memory to our dedication towards professional development hahaha!

Its a New Beginning..

27th February 2008
1.50 a.m.
3rd and final semester.
EDU 5256 Professional Development in Language Education.
M.Ed (TESL) UPM.


1st Entry

It’s kind of weird starting my journal entry at this hour. I have just returned from my night class and later watched `American Idol’ Season 6 (Repeat). It is definitely NOT easy to study at this hour, especially when your mind and body are totally exhausted. However, at the spur of the moment, I forced myself to switch on my computer in my attempt to combat my `dreadful’ disease – PROCASTINATION. So, here it goes..

I’m an English teacher who is currently teaching at a University in my state. My formal teaching hours is 24 plus 10 extra hours teaching public courses conducted under the same university. Yes, I do feel this is too much for me. There are days when I feel like I’m `slaughtering’ myself; wondering why did I ever get myself into this kind of monotonous and unprofitable career. In the midst of looking for answers, I accidentally embark myself in a postgraduate study under University Putra Malaysia in TESL. I remember it was the last day for registration and my good friend Mona was there to witness how reluctant I was to join a programme which I had no interest in. As I had expected, I was doomed with endless assignments, quizzes and exams which must have contributed to the number of grey hairs and my children getting thinner.

But boy I was wrong. I realized that it wasn’t just another piece of degree to add to my collection. I began to reflect on so many things in life through the lectures which I attended during the weekends. If I had taken these lectures solely for the purpose of exams, I wouldn’t be sending my 4 year old daughter (then) to an English medium pre-school which is situated 16km away from my house. There is something about the critical period hypothesis which bothers and makes sense to me as a teacher and mother. I am not criticizing the previous pre-school that she went to. I just wanted her to be familiar with another language which is English. It was such a shame that even as an English teacher, I hardly spoke in English to my children! What an irony…