Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Bicycle - Book Review by Nurul Jannah bt Ahmad Ghulamuddin




















Nurul Jannah bt Ahmad Ghulamuddin
Mind Your English Class `10

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

What Do You Do When You Are Rejected?

Dear all..

A few months ago a friend called mentioning she was rejected by someone special in her life.
Special here means someone whom she likes, feel happy with and hope to pursue to a more serious relationship.
You see, I am not an expert in handling rejections. Therefore, I could only give her advice based on my past experiences.... which not necessary had helped her in any way.
True enough...a week ago she still sounded bad, her self-esteem was still low and God knows what other 'damages' had occurred in this very nice person. She has a beautiful soul to me but she fails to see that in her.

It dawn on me that what she really needs is to see things more clearly in order for her to move on with her life. Without proper guidance, this feeling of rejection will 'linger' for a long time and for some, the rest of their lives....

You see, what is unfair is that, the person who CAUSED the rejection is not (again Im assuming) emotionally devastated as she is. He might be continuing his life as usual as if nothing happens (you know what I mean?). If Dr.Mahathir once mentioned "Melayu mudah lupa" , I would rephrase (in this case), "Lelaki mudah lupa" (Ampunkan patik..)

Well, people say that it is a bit 'inappropriate' for teachers to discuss this matter. However, I beg to differ. I suppose, we need to talk this thing out because it is REAL, it happens to everyone in the process of growing up and might happen again even after you pass that supposedly 'teenage life'.

Feeling 'rejected' is REAL. Let us not deny that. It seems trivial for 'outsiders' but for those who experience it (or shall I call victims) will have to face it every other day thinking what went wrong and trying to find answers to the predicament.

Because I have a class to attend tonight and phew this is such a crazy week, I shall continue this soon. Meanwhile, if you have any tips or advice on this matter, feel free to drop your comment. I believe this girl and many more out there need as much help as possible to be back on their feet.

It is definitely NOT EASY to be in their shoes.It is easier said then done. However, I hope they will have the courage to move on and continue with this beautiful life that God has given us.

Take care.

Friday, February 19, 2010

CCFM 2052K - Individual Task.

Assalamulaikum....

Please understand the question that you wish to attempt.
Choose ONE only and present it well.

1. What do you understand by Islamic marriage?

2. Why is religiosity of the spouse the most significant element in Islam?

3. What steps must be taken in order to ensure protection of a marriage tie?

4.What factors do you think lead to conflicts in marriage?

5."Marriage is a field of battle, and not bed of roses" - Robert Louis Stevenson.
Do you agree with the quotation?

6.What are the challenges of parenting in the modern time?

Good luck!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Anything to Make Them Happy



Dear all...

It has been another relaxing holiday amidst finishing work from home. I took my two kids to Gambang Waterpark which is about 35 km from Kuantan. I actually hate big crowd. I appreciate peace and calmness but for the kids, I would give it a try. When we arrived, true


enough, the crowd gave me a second thought ,but I would always try not to disappoint my kids."Well, today is YOUR DAY fellas!" I quipped.

Teh is almost 8 and Shafiq is already 13. They would survive in that close to 10,000 crowd that day! When I thought there were no smaller kids around, I was wrong! My God there were even babies in that huge crowd! Well, I was observing these `courageous' parents. They actually took their kids out when it was obvious that the best thing to do was stay at home.

Everywhere you go during this peak season, you have to queue. Yup! I did! Just to get the food, I had to queue from 2.30 - 4.30 pm. How do I know this? They have a big clock in front of the penguin express counter (so much of an express counter!). My swimming attire which was initially wet, dried as I reached half-way through the line. It was a disaster but for my kids, I actually paved my way while teh and I had spelling test and maths quiz while in line. Along the people who were queueing up were parents carrying babies and I thought, my predicament was not that bad after all! And so we got our food at 4.30, ate it like we had never seen food for a week and quickly ran to the long rides and had fun til the waterpark gave the announcement that it would close at 5.45pm. Close to 6 p.m. I asked one of the lifeguards to take a photo of us - when everything was quiet and back to normal.



Well, there are so much things to share people but the reason why Im writing this is I think, parents who spend time with their children are those who understand and willing to sacrifice to go the extra mile to fulfill their children's interests. If it is not for the children, what on earth are we doing during our holiday, going through the crowd and had to withstand all the odd moments. If you were married one day and had kids, just bring them out regardless of the crowd. It is rare that your holidays will coincide with the school holidays which mean if you are so particular about the crowd, you will miss those precious moments in their lifetime. Just blend in the crowd, be happy for them and who knows you will end up like me smiling all the way home cause I got to be a little kid again.hehe

Friday, February 12, 2010

What must couples do when they face problems in marriage?- CCFM 2052 (3rd entry)

Dear students...

I believe we had a very important lecture on this topic last thursday. The week before, your dramatization on the marriage problems were really fantastic! You really made me feel sooo proud!!!! Some of you were able to 'see' things ahead of time.
Well, this is what this course is about. It is to prepare yourselves to that very important phase in your lives. Marriage is a phase that will be the ultimate test in our lives. People who dont go through it wont understand. Because in marriage, we are bound to have conflicts. It is possible for a man and woman to enter into a union with good intentions yet their personalities and likes do not coincide with one another.

After we have gone through that 'magical' first year, reality starts sinking in. Ive read in the readers digest before that the 'magical chemistry' would only last for 12 months! Hem.....
Later, all the strength and weaknesses from both sides will be exposed. Therefore, it is time to talk about the implications of marital conflict. How it can affect anyone at personal level, his/her professional growth and their families .

I also told you of how Islam encourages the party to resolve conflicts in marriage in the best possible way first before ending it. Divorce (according to the book I read) is similar to a painful surgery; " the sane human being endures the pains of his wound, even an amputation, in order to protect the remaining parts of the body to keep away greater injury."

Divorce is permissible in Islam in order to remove the harm from one of the two spouses. But we have to understand that Islam does not encourage divorce. Therefore, this entry is for my CCFM 2052k students and anyone out there who wish to give any comment on this issue. You can add in any anecdotes(short stories) related to this topics, or quotes on what couples should do to overcome conflicts.

I can sense that all these issues are now becoming more real to you.

I take this opportunity to salute all single mothers (and fathers) who strive to raise their children with dignity. I pray that God will continue to give you the strength to go on.
YOU are indeed SPECIAL and STRONG.
May Allah bless all of you.


Pride & Prejudice - Book Review By Aliff Khalid Bin Amran














Aliff Khalid Bin Amran
Mind Your English Class`10












Thursday, February 11, 2010

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT ME TO READ?

Assalamualaikum everyone...

"Iqra'" - "Bacalah" ...this powerful reminder from Allah reminds us the importance of READING.
If you read a lot, it broadens your mind. You become knowledgeable and able to explore a lot of wonderful things in life. You learn to appreciate others, be sensitive to other people's plight, acquire new skills, have a better judgement, make wiser decisions and the list goes on and on. But how do you start? First, if you had never loved reading, IT IS going to be DIFFICULT. You hate it because you have never felt any PLEASURE from the reading experience like you do when you play the computer games, watch TV or even sleep for that matter! In order to experience the PLEASURE of reading, you must sincerely want to try it out first. Lets see if this works. I have two simple steps for you:
1) There are many genres or types of novels/short stories/books out there. They are adventure, romantic, human relation, fantasy, suspense, thriller etc2..So, choose the one which you think INTEREST you most. I dont know what is your interest. You should know it yourself! Of course, you can always explore this by reading the blurps at the back cover of the novel or even the first chapter to see whether it 'suits' you.
2) Second, dont choose a book which is too complicated or difficult to read. I mean if the language is too advanced where you can easily get lost after reading a few paragraphs, very likely that it is difficult to understand. This can cause frustration and you wont be able to enjoy reading. Remember, to enjoy, your actions must be associated with pleasure(just like the feeling of you waking up from that sleep and makes you wanting for more -you know what I mean hehe).
So, try these two simple steps first and I ll give you the next one later. If you face any difficulty, just post your comment here and I will attend to it in my next entry.
I got to go. See you next week. To my EOP and EAP students, you guys must feel very happy now that the mid-term is over and so my Chinese New Year break will be occupied marking your papers. Believe me, every time I mark some of them, I would always say this to myself "IF ONLY THEY READ MORE.."
Enjoy your break people!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Harry Potter & The Philosopher`s Stone - Book Review by Nik Syariman Nik Khalil from my English for SPM Leavers Class.















Nik Mohd Syariman Nik Mohamed Khalil Arif
Mind Your English Class

Friday, February 5, 2010

"I LOVE YOU" - say it before its too late.

Dear all..

Thank you for coming back to my blog. Today, I read my other entries and I realized that I havent really expressed anything significant to all of you especially to my students. I mean, suddenly I feel like..what if I might not turn up in class next week cause it is time for me to go? ...You know... to meet God The Almighty.....Who knows when the time is up???

Well, Im not trying to be creepy here but in the midst of preparing myself for my trip to Spain this March.... planning to move into my own house end of April..... the agony of juggling the odd hours of teaching ......between being a mother, lecturer, wife and teacher.....all this will no longer be important...
When the time comes.........phew.....something to ponder right?
Well, whether I am READY to meet the CREATOR is another BIG question :-(
This is when, suddenly .......I have the urge to say this to you - that ...."I lOVE YOU". (Even if I have said it before).
I love you because you are the reason why I work anyway. To say that Im crazzy in love with my job is not really it. Most of the time I ended up feeling tired and actually feel like "what if I could reserve this energy at the turf instead? or be at the lake for my brisk walking 'magical moments'.. But then...the feeling would last only for a few days and later the itchyness to be back in front of the class keeps crawling back.
Then, it dawn on me that I actually love sharing the little knowledge I have and seeing you" turn into that butterflies in front of me.."
I will never admit that I am the best teacher.Nor do I want any of my students to say Im a lousy one. "Yang sedang-sedang aje" is fine with me. But that is also not important. What I honestly hope is that every time when we meet, you learn something from me (well, I on the other hand, sometimes learn from you guys!) Especially the IT thingy which you will then give me that very sympathetic look while saying "Its ok madam..we understand.." A confirmation of our generation gap hahahahahah..
Ah.....but u know what? Everytime u say "Its ok madam...."do you know how it feels?? It feels good ...hehe.....
Let me share with you another thing that I feel.
Do you know that whenever I'm harping over the issue of "Please READ during your semester break" do you know how I feel?? I feel like if you were to take that advice...you would have learn ENGLISH in the MOST SIGNIFICANT way that you would never imagine!
Well, every English teacher can teach u grammar including me but by doing so, you are treating English like you r learning Maths! Gosh! where is the fun in it??? Maths is maths and English is English people! (Do you realize that I hv just tranformed myself into that 'motherly' tone?)
Well, because I love you, just like a mother, I will always say "PLEASE READ".
Hahahahha...enough of this..lets get bck to the issue of expressing ourselves before it is TOO LATE.
The other day, my daughter wrote something on a drawing block. She told me that she would put it inside my beg and asked me to take a look at it..
As usual...I was so busy running here and there, I soon forgot about it until this morning I found and opened it.
It says...... "Dari pada Teh untuk ibu. I love u ibu.Ibu sihat tak.Teh sayang ibu.Ibu kat mana.I love u ibu. Ibu beranak kan teh sakit sangat. Ibu jaga diri ok ibu jangan demam teh sayang ibu." ...
....gosh....my daughter is only 7 years old. How on earth she knows that giving birth is painful??? I must have mentioned it to her once when we had that conversation in the car. She asked me then, whether it was painful to bring her into this world. I said yes, of course.
I said..... Imagine teh..... like moving your bowels (well, what else can I say?).... but this time....the size you have to push is the size of a small football. Well.... that,made her drop her jaw....
Well, honestly people, the pain of giving birth is beyond any imagination..the pain is unbearable...undescribable.... unless you go through it yrself hehe...so love you mothers and your wives when you are married.

So, because of that 'card' from her...and also the sudden urge to express myself, here is my entry for tonight..and if I remember to scan that card from her, I will do so the next time around....and remember this...I DO LOVE YOU.

Take care