ANNUAL LUNCH FOR KAA CLASSES

The KAA students (form 1 - form 4)[translate: special religious classes] held their annual lunch (I don't think I could call it a party) at Mak Jah Cafe in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. I had been there a few times before so I knew the food should be good.

It was rather a simple event which was good. It started with a "tazkirah", then a short speech by the Senior Assistant 1 and finally everybody was allowed to eat. They also had a lucky draw session at the end.

Thanks to the KAA teachers for inviting. I seldom say "No" when it involves eating, if the time permits.

THE SECOND IN-HOUSE TRAINING FOR THIS YEAR

The second in-house training for teachers was held today in CTL, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Here's the report in brief:

7:30 a.m. ~ Registration

8:00 a.m. ~ 1st session: "Professional Learning Community" by Puan Halijah bt. Ariffin, lecturer of Institut Aminuddin Baki.

10:45 a.m. ~ Tea Break

11:15 a.m. ~ 2nd session: "Handling Teenagers'  Problems" by Dr. Adnan Omar, the Counsellor of SM Islam Hidayah

12:40 p.m. ~ The course ended. *yeay*

I find both sessions were interesting as they provided new knowledge and insight that could assist us in school. The moral of the story: Always find good speakers for in-house programmes and many will benefit.

*NOTE: All the pictures are courtesy of Pn. Yasirah Yazid

ANGKLUNG GROUP PERFORMING OUTSIDE SCHOOL, FINALLY

Saturday, 6th April, 2013 - Creative Idea Competition and Bahasa Melayu Elocution Contest for International Students at Sultan Iskandar Hall, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

We started our practice session early January and then performed for the Chinese New Year Celebration in school. When people decided there should not be angklung performance for the PTA Annual General Meeting, I knew the boys were a bit disappointed but the music must play on. And out of the blue, someone called me from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia asking whether we could play for an event there, I quickly agreed and the boys were excited to no end.

This however called for hard work from the members of the group. I calculated and we practised for less than 10 hours before the actual day and it was not easy when four of the group members were also involved in another district level marching competition held on the same day of the performance - so they were people who had to be running here and there, between the marching and angklung practice session.

still practising

We had a very bad rehearsal session with people making a lot of mistakes. With a few hours left, that was one of the moist nerve-wrecking moments I had ever experienced. However, after dinner and Maghrib prayer, we practised again and this time it was much better. And that was the biggest relief of my life, EVER.

getting ready with the costume

silat performance to welcome the guest of honour

two of the elocution contestants

So I guessed the performance was successfully done. There was one part when someone forgot to shake one main note but again, thank God, they did not stop in the middle. There were even audience who congratulated us for the great show. I guess all's well that ends well.

the post performance captures

the closing ceremony

watching the closing ceremony

there was tea for us :)

the senior members of the group

the fifth formers and an ex-student who came

with Maryam Shafie, an ex-student who is 
one of the members of the organizing committee,
I think

waiting for the bus to take us back to school, at 11 p.m.

So here is the video of the performance. We played two songs: "Terukir di Bintang" by Yuna and "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, the theme track of "Titanic". Enjoy!

MY UTM CLASS

with Shih Chau, Jian Zi, Ying Zhi and Chen Kok during the last meeting

with Izzat

I just finished the final work for my UHB1412 class. What a relief because now I can concentrate on other work that needs to be completed. I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to teach English part time in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Other than earning the extra money, I get to face a different kind of audience. As many might think it is easy to teach university students, I always take it as a challenge. I always find that these people definitely need both a lot of coaching and pushing, to make sure that they could do well.

This semester I was teaching the students from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. They were fun in class and most of them worked hard to complete the assigned tasks. I wish I could give them all high marks, but unfortunately, I could not. Anyway, wish them the very best of luck in their future undertakings and hopefully they can do something to improve their English.

Anyway, let's have a look at their final project where they had to present their final essay based on the topics they have chosen. Most of their work is bulky so sooner or later these things will need to be destroyed due to storage problem. Nevertheless, these are a few good ones that I like and worth showing.

Then only I understood, the heart-shaped box is related to the topic "heart disease".

Topic: "fast food", and it is real big

Topic: "obesity", another big one but looks yummy.

Topic: climate change, an impressive piece of work!

Most of the time, it is just easy to do evaluation of students' work just by looking at what they have produced. Definitely, creativity and hard work will get you a better grade.