Sunday, April 18, 2010

TESOL-Spain 33rd Conference (University of LIeida, Spain)

Dear all,

I was going through my photos in Spain and I realized that I didn't talk much about my conference. Furthermore, a friend commented on whether I actually went to Spain for a holiday or for other matters. Hem...
So, I have decided to upload some of the photos at the conference itself.
It was my first International conference (hopefully not the last hehe). The paper took me quite sometime to finish even though the title technically sounds simple. I ended up 25 pages together with the handouts for the participants. I think my literature review was a bit too much for a demonstration type paper. Initially, my dean was looking for the research part which was obviously limited to only one page (since it is not research based).
No matter how small the magnitude or how humble it was, I gained experience in preparing a demonstration type of paper.I am now able to assist my colleagues who are interested to try out this type of presentation. Previously, I was quite annoyed when I tried to refer to those who have presented and their answers were something like "Alah...buat aje...tak susah" "cerita aje what you want to say" etc2... until a Junior lecturer who was kind enough to show me her own full paper (thank you so much Wan Puteri).
So, there you go. Not everyone is willing to give a helping hand even though they have done it themselves.
Sometimes, I think that this 'sharing of knowledge' is not popularly practiced in our culture.Isn't sharing and learning from each other will turn us into a stronger and respectful nation? What's the point of keeping things to ourselves?
One lady lecturer from Canada who had actually written books herself attended my session. I wonder why. She was so humble and added some important insights into my subject matter.

I just love the experience I had.
It added value to my professional growth. This is what I called, learning by doing.
And I hope this spirit stays with me throughout my career.

1 comment:

Family Memoirs said...

I am so proud of you my dear. I hope to join you at least once in my life time as a lecturer. I do believe that by teaching and sharing with others our knowledge will grow not disappear. Unlike money, the more you "spend" your knowledge, the more you have it.