SCHOOL ANNUAL LUNCH 2010

This year annual lunch was held at a seafood restaurant, My Friend Restaurant, for a change. The food was abundant and as a result I am now already getting sleepy. So I will just tell you what was happening really brief and just look at the photographs of my friends and I.

PROGRAMME

Prayer recitation
Speech by the Chairman of the Staff Room Club
Speech by the Principal
Speech by the Chairman of Parents-Teachers Association
Prizes-and-certificates-giving ceremony
Lucky Draw

The End

The event was short and sweet. I guess I could come to this place again some other time. Maybe the ambience will be different at night. And I think I have put on weight. *sigh*

INTERVIEW WITH AN EX-STUDENT - PART 3

Another interview was carried out with Miss Mastura, an ex-student who did her teaching practice in SMK Taman Universiti. Let's read what she has to say.

What year did you leave SMKTUN?
2006

What course are you doing now in university?
Majoring in TESL at UTM Skudai.

How did you feel when you were told that you were to carry out your practical teaching here?
I was so excited because I thought it would be a wonderful experience working with people that once taught me but I was scared at the same time. I was afraid that I couldn't fulfill the expectation from the school.

Describe the differences that you could see between the time when you were in school and what you can see now.
The most obvious thing that I noticed was the students' attitude towards teachers. During my time, we always listened to teachers and we hardly disrespected them. However, now I can see that students tend to ignore teachers completely if they dislike the teachers. I had to go through this period during my first few weeks and it was tough. But luckily, I managed to get the students' interest and their attention in class.

What would be the biggest challenge that you had faced as a teacher here?
The biggest challenge that I had to face during my practical teaching is to be creative. I had to admit that all the theories that I've learnt in university are not quite helpful. So each day was a new day for me. I did experiments with students - sometimes it worked,sometimes it didn't.

What is your advice to the students in order to succeed?
They must be independent in learning. I believe that it is time for our students to explore knowledge on their own. Teachers will guide them in the process of learning but they have to be responsible in their own learning. Thus, this will open to more classroom discussions and I do believe that students learn better when they discuss.

If you were given a chance to teach here in the future, will you agree? Why?
I have no problem if i were given a chance to teach in SMKTUN. I love the people and the culture here. Most importantly, I have a lot of many memories in this school. I can see myself growing from a normal high school student to a future educator and SMKTUN has given me a lot of wonderful experiences.

So thanks a lot to Miss Mastura for coming back to school and being able to serve the school and its community even though just for a short while. I wish her all the best in her pursuit as a future teacher/educator and hope to see her again some other time, with her other friends that is.

SPOT THE ERRORS 2

A banner I saw in campus just now. Can you spot the errors? I can find three already. The moral of the story: if you are not good, do consult people who are better than you.

THE TESL GROUP MINI GATHERING

20th OCTOBER - I always try to kill many birds with one stone, but doesn't that sound too violent? Upon declaring my arrival in the town of Kajang, another few old friends from UPM decided to get together. This would be a merrier occasion after I found that another ex-coursemate, Pn. Hanita Kassim, was here in the meeting so the group members were kind of excited to see her.



And thank God it was not Sate Kajang anymore. There were seven people sitting, eating, talking and laughing for about 2 1/2 hours at Secret Recipe Restaurant but it was as if there were 70 people there. The waiters there must have the biggest relief of their lives once we started to leave the place.

It was always rejuvenating to get the chance to have your old friends around. So thanks a lot to Puan Aliza Alwi, Puan Salmiah Mohd. Ghazali, Pn. Rozida Mohd. Ramli, Pn. Hanita Kassim, Pn. Zarinamahnum Hj. Alias and Pn. Norhasni Yaacob. We need to do this more frequently.

I'm worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group (tribe) has always been
And always will until the end

~ Nirvana, "Smells Like Teens Spirit" ~

ANOTHER TRIP FOR SATE KAJANG

19th October 2010 - Now that I already knew the location of the place, it was another trip for eating the Kajang sate session - this time with my roommate, Mr. Asrolnizam. Since we were already there, it would better to taste the most famous sate in the country because we would never know when we would be back here again.

Later only I was informed by a friend who resides in Kajang that there are actually other sate stalls in town. I guess this Haji Samuri restaurant is the most famous one and is dominating the business here, and there are also other stalls at other place as it has already been franchised. 

Nevertheless, this restaurant was a good place to hang out with friends. It was spacious and clean, looked modern and more attractive.

And because of that, may be you would have to pay more. By looking at the bill, it might be worth the trip there for a seasonal traveller like me.


Fortunately, this was the last trip for the meaty meal this time. I started to get worried after sate excursion plus the hotel food which look high in calories, fat, carbohydrate and all the nutrients in the world - eaten five times a day. I am in desperate need to fast.

A REUNION WITH "OLD" SCHOOLMATES

18th October - I attended some sort of a mini reunion with two of my old friends. As I was having a series of meeting in Kajang, that was actually the best time for us to meet and the place that we hang out was none other than Hj. Samuri sate stall at about 10:30 p.m.



This was a very special meeting. I was seeing my ex-classmates from SMS Muar, after about being away form each other for about more than 17 years. My two friends, Mr. Shamsul Akmal and Mr. Noryazed were both classmates and schoolmates back then and they are now residing in places near Kuala Lumpur. We tried to keep ourselves updated but time was running short as it was approaching midnight. They had to go to work the next morning.

Thanks to Mr. Noryazed and Mr. Shamsul for driving all the way from their homes which were not that near. We definitely need to this again some other time in the future.

BIDDING FAREWELL TO UTM PRACTICAL TEACHERS

It was the time to bid goodbye to another batch of UTM practical teachers. This time we had students teaching subjects such as English, Physical Education and Islamic Education. After completing their practical teaching in school after about three months, now they had to go back to university. As usual, we had a potluck in the staffroom for them but I did not publish the photographs of either the food or people eating.

Thanks to Syukri, Lee, Khuzaimah, Atiqah and Jannah for teaching in SMKTUN. Wish them all the best in their future undertakings and hope that they will not forget us here.

Thanks to Mr. Syukri Azeman for the lovely parting gift.

ORIENTAL CRYSTAL HOTEL KAJANG

This was the place where I stayed throughout the 5 days meeting. Not much to complain. The room was quite spacious for twin sharing. The food was the usual hotel food; no matter how great the food was, after the five days, you would be wishing for something else simpler. At the same time, I went to eat out three times so it made not much difference. However, most of the hotel staff working such as the cleaner and waiter are all foreigners so I would have imagined I was on holiday abroad (in Nepal, to be specific).

KAJANG REVISITED

Kajang stadium which amazingly has no fence whatsoever

colourful buses to complement colourful shop houses

the shopping place that still exists until now

At last, I finally managed to get out of school for a meeting. This time we were sent to Kajang, a town that is not that far away from Kuala Lumpur. This place is nostalgic in a way because during university days I used to visit this small town, to eat sate - grilled meat chunks eaten with hot peanut gravy. Sate Kajang is definitely the most famous sate as the name of the town is tagged to the name of the food and it is a must eat for visitors once they are here. I must say that the town has already developed judging from the traffic jam on the roads although the picture of Kajang in the past is just a blurred vision in my mind. The photographs taken are the part of the new town which is just a walking distance from the hotel I was staying in, and that is the only part of Kajang that I have explored during my short stay there.