Finally.....

The research paper is all set and ready to submitted to both my brilliant lecturer and supervisor..
Thanks Dr Edwin, for providing us with ample new knowledge on literature and art..
For making us feel like each class is worth attending because there are so many new things you would show us.
Take the Vivaldi's Four Seasons for example..
I knew the songs, heard them from somewhere, but you have let me know how deep each song means and how it should be interpreted.
You showed me Andy Warhol, someone whom I heard about from a movie. And now I know the eccentric man who created pop art.

And millions of thanks to Dr Arshad as well..
You have made my journey in doing the research paper something to be proud of
As busy as you always are, you have never forgotten about the six TESL students who perhaps sometimes weren't quite punctual..
And we appreciate that very very much.
While there are some who are troubled by their supervisors,
We have nothing but praises for ours.
Thank you again.

Now, just one more thing to do..
FINAL EXAM!!!!
Oh no.

F.L.O.W.

Yesterday we bumped into Dr Arshad at the cafeteria and called my name telling me that our drafts were read and ready for us to pick them up..
So Sheila, Jipa and I trotted uo and down to the TD rooms..
I was so happy to look at my draft and see that my content was proof-read and its ok.
Just have to work on the format...
I did not write the draft according to Dr Arshad's preferred draft.
Well, the changes are doable...
No biggy.
Suddenly I realized that just one more step to go - submitting the final piece of the research paper...and this semester will come to an end.
And of course it means that we are leaving UPM very soon..
Oh dear!
I used to feel happy when I think of going back to JB
But now not that excited anymore......
UPM is FUN!!
Living here has taught us so much about life
Two years feel really really short and soon..we will be graduating and start teaching (SCARY!!)
Till then, I am going to make the most of it in this programme
And right now by writing up a research paper for EDU 3234 and have a good semester!

Hectic weekend

The weekend was exhausting....
I just finished doing and submitting my EDU 3067's Teaching Package when my aunt called me to accompany her to N.Sembilan to send her son off to boarding school.
And by accompany I mean drive...
I said okay but I didn't know how far Bahau actually is.
I just thought that since NS is just next to Selangor, then it won't be that far.
But alas, the road was a definite stomach-clutching dwindling type-of-road.
2 hours getting there, another 2 hours getting back.. I was drenched out of my energy at the end of the day.
But still, I have the draft to write.
How am I going to do this?
Caffeine, check!
Late night stays, check!
Fear for Dr Edwin, always in check!!!!
Fuh, time to get started.
On my mark......
Get set.....
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...........

Outlining to drafting...

My research outline was approved by Dr Arshad.
There were a few mistakes pointed out and nothing much.
He was worried that my paper might be too long and lengthy judging by the elaborated outline.
I am just horrible at writing short notes. I just can't.
I can't resist the desire to explain things. I am not settled with only one sentence to describe anything.
There must be a reason to everything and I want to justify every point I write out....
Well, guess that it is a habit that I should be proud of.
So, next in my to-do list - writing out the draft in one week.
Hmm....it is going to be a tedious job.
But nevertheless, I am on schedule and there is a lot of mistakes to be corrected.
So until next available online time....
Ciao!

Freedom Writers

I forgot to blog about a movie shown to the class a couple of weeks ago...
Double oscar-winner Hilary Swank starred in a movie called Freedom Writers and Dr Edwin instructed us to watch it....
It is supposedly to be inspirational for us future teachers..
And so I watched it with my friends in class and them movie reminded me of Michelle Pfeiffer's Dangerous Minds
The same good teacher-goes-to-ghetto-school-and-change-the-world plot...its hard to not notice.
Prediction:
I believe that Erin's (Swank's character) achievement is too good to be true.
Just like how Dr Edwin feels about Kipling's If, that is how I feel about this movie.
No offense but going the distance for the students and crashing down your own personal life in the process is not the way I would like my life to be.
Sure I will come to love my students, but I believe that a solid personal background will be a fundamental in building an effective teacher personality
Erin did a great job trying to mend the kids but I don't think that her methods are applicable in Msia.
Still, it is a true story.
A teacher is still a teacher
And when your students adore you, you have made it.
So I guess Freedom Writers is a great story to watch..
Especially the scenes with Patrick Dempsey in them

Wheels in motion...

Yesterday the six of us sat in front of Dr Arshad bin Abd Samad for the first time regarding our EDU 3234 Research Paper..
Other groups had had their meetings with their respective supervisors earlier on.
But a late start won't necessarily mean something bad
I have a feeling that this research paper will progress accordingly and provide me with a lot of fun.. (ahah)
Dr. Arshad showed us how he would like our papers to be written out.
The format
The fonts
The introduction
The points of analysis (he wanted only three points, thank goodness!!)
Basically we got every detail that we needed to start outlining my research paper yesterday..
From what I can see, Dr Arshad is probably the busiest supervisor but he is willing to spend time (even though we went overboard arriving late at first meeting) explaining to us what this paper is all about..
At the end of the session, I felt motivated to start on my paper as I already picked a topic to be studied.
We are given 2 weeks to write an outline of the paper and 1 more week for the draft.
I now have a research paper to attend to........
Ciao!

Off we go to Dr Arshad...

As predicted, I was put under the supervision of Dr Arshad along with another five students.
To say that I was relieved hearing the news would be an understatement..
I mean...I was ecstatic!!!
To have Dr Arshad helping out through this research paper will be an experience I am looking forward to.
But I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for some of my colleagues who unfortunately will be dealing with someone whom I regarded as 'difficult'
well, maybe she's changed now.
Who knows?
Back to the research paper, I am still clueless about what I am going to study about...
Poetry or short story?
I've seen through a short story in my position paper....
Perhaps it is time to look at poetry
Still, time factor is the most important
I don't want to take up too much time on analyzing and interpreting texts..
The paper is supposed to be about studying a certain angle in a text, so I figure that I should use texts that I have read since starting out in this TESL program..
In previous courses like Survey of Prose, Teaching of Short Stories, Teaching of Dramas, etc.. there are so many appropriate texts to be chosen
Alrighty...
Time to get started!

Writing a letter never seems like an daunting task until I read Keats' letter to his brother Theo.
Oh dear...
Keats must be very very fond of his brother.
Or he just happened to have the most extravagant amount of time to write such lengthy letter.
Well, perhaps people back then really don't have anything else to do.
Do you think Theo really did read everything his brother wrote?
But honestly,
I am amazed at how well Keats was able to express his advice via his words.
That is one feature I would like develop within myself....
Time after time I find it hard to voice out what is on my mind.
Compared to the days when I started taking this program, now I am shrinking..
I used to be so bold, things will just come out without much hesitation.
My vocabulary used to intimidate others thanks to my debating passion..
But now, my assignments are not even close to what I call great..
I need help..FAST!

position paper = DONE..next in line, RESEARCH PAPER!!

The presentation of my position paper went as smoothly as it could be.
I noticed that I have a weird habit of which whenever I am done with any presentation, I will start having new ideas and discover new information that might have made my presentation a better one.
The same thing happened after I showed the class what my position paper is all about.
When I was back in my seat, I realized I did not include what The Misfit feels about everything he had killed the grandmother.
I should have explained about the significance of the town Toomsboro in the family's trip.
But it seemed like Mr Omid was impressed - that's more than enough for me.
Well, I can finally say that I am done with the position paper and it is time to move on to ........
The Research Paper!!!
Most probably I will be assigned to be working under Dr Arshad - which is a good thing since he ia very very nice.
Hmm...
What topic is to be researched?
I have to make a headstart about this.........

Andy Warhol...the blonde weirdo

The other day Dr Edwin showed us some of the artworks of Andy Warhol.
I have only heard of him from the movie ‘Factory Girl’ starred by Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce. In the movie he was pictured as a film producer who was looking for a beautiful girl to become her muse. Frankly the movie was so boring and I was confused with the character of Warhol. His words and thoughts were weird and kind of lunatic. I did not watch it till its end but at least it gave me the impression of who Andy Warhol was.

And when I saw his art pieces shown by Dr Edwin, I can then relate to how queer the guy was.
I couldn’t see through his works but he must have been very influential based on what people are saying about him being some icon of modern art.
Pardon me but apart from the brilliant artsy department, I see him as a peculiar man with some strange lifestyle which perhaps had led him to his death. I believe though we are free to live as we wish in this world, there is still some distinctive rules that we have to live by. Being humans who need the accompaniment of others, we have the special thing called culture which serves as the guideline for us to base our lives.

But nevertheless, Andy Warhol had lived the way he preferred and he became someone people always remember for all the things he had created.
So I guess that is a good thing.
At least for him

The conniving grandmother - a character to ponder

The more I dig into the short story 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', the more I fell in love with it.
Though the story is based on the southern American culture.. the way Flannery O'Connor presented the themes makes the story becomes relatable
Well, maybe at least for me..
Anyway, this might be one of the fun assignments I have done.
And Mr Omid is very very helpful in guiding us through...
He makes this assignment seems very easy and doable
I am currently finishing my final draft and preparing for the presentation in class
Hopefully everything will go as planned

i'm all set.....am i?

My thesis statement was approved
And I am set to write a draft now.
Well, I should have written it by now but the same old case of procrastination kicked in.
I am writing out my position paper based on the short story 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' by Flannery O'Connor.
The story carries varied interpretations and I feel good about my thesis statement.
So far, that is.
If anything comes up,
I do have another tucked in somewhere.
And btw, Mr Omid is kinda cool

Owh...now i know

We've done Pygmalion some time ago when I was younger.

and little did I know it originated from Greek mythodology..

Foolish me just thought
'Oh, This brilliant Mr Shaw came up with such marvelous story that later Audrey Hepburn made famous'

Apparently Ovid was the one to blame and look up to.
His 15 books of Metamorphoses contained the tale of Pygmalion.
A sculpture who fell for his sculpture.
Well, of course he did.
I mean I, too will fall for something that possesses all the quality that I love (i created it in the 1st place)
Its human nature

Just like how people always try to persuade or mould their spouses or partners to change and behave according to what they expect them to be.
Well, relationships are tricky to discussed.
But just like what I am writing in my Yahoo! teachlitmalaysia forum (in another tab)
Literature is all about life.
Getting to know it means getting to know the oohs and aahs that might be happening in the lives of millions.
Or perhaps in our own little life.
Which we are constantly feeling its a tad too much to handle....

Mr Omid Al-Akbari...

I hope the spelling of the name is right though......

We had our first tutorial session with Mr Omid (which means 'hope') last week
And though the hours were long, the discussion helped me to understand what thesis statement is all about..
The problem now is the text
Mr Omid told us that he will be providing us with a selection of texts which we will then choose
I guess that makes sense
It'd be quite a load for him to evaluate our position paper when all 47 of us are writing about different texts.
If i were to choose, I am kind of interested in Mariah by Che Husna Azhari
But then again, I'll have to wait for Mr Omid's

EDU 3234 Readings and Project Works for Teaching Literature in ESL Contexts.....

Here comes the new semester and I really have to get back into study mode...NOW
There are fewer subjects but no less works in store for everyone
We are required to post entries in a new blog for Dr Edwin's EDU3234..
So here I am

Looking at the course name, I see....
1. Readings
2. Project Works
3. Literature
All of them spell out that loads and loads of work coming our way
And more literature text to be read (kind of exciting, actually)
It is definitely going to be a daunting semester
But having had gone through 3 semesters here in UPM
I guess I'd manage...

Dr. Edwin drew us a picture of what to be expected in this course during his first class
There will be a position paper and a research paper
And we will be working with a tutor (a foreigner, apparently!)
Hearing about both papers brought me shivers
But we'll see as the semester progresses

So I'm going to keep my hopes and spirits up
Really
Already thinking about that thesis statement thing..