Seventh Meeting

Date : 30th September 2007
Day : Sunday
Topic : Novels and Revision

Descriptions:
Today would be the last meeting for the course – TSL 430. We took the opportunity to study two more novels; The Return (K.S. Maniam) and Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson).

Mrs. Norliana Binti Ghazali gave all the necessary notes to us to prepare for the final examination - on 27th October 2007.

We also took the chance to discuss and revise the last five-semester Literature examination papers as well as we were taught of how-to-answer-the-question skills.

Last but not least, we were greatly indebted to Mrs. Norliana Binti Ghazali, lecturer of TSL 430 (Literature in Malaysian Schools) for the painstaking care she had shown in supervising and proposing us her valuable comments, advices and guidance in our study of Literature in Malaysian Schools. God! Please bless her!

Sixth Meeting

Date : 28th September 2007
Day : Friday
Topic : Novels and Submission of Report Writing

Descriptions:
Today we learnt three novels; Prisoner of Zenda (Anthony Hope), Potato People (Angela Wright) and Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe). The important points of the novels discussed came in the form of Power Point slides to ease the students for note writing.

At the same day we submitted the Report on Poems Study in Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz (Atas) Dungun, Terengganu Darul Iman to Mrs. Norliana Binti Ghazali. The report writing consisted of six sections:

Introduction
Literature Review
Research Design
Findings
Recommendation
Reference

The reports were initially to be presented in Power Point by the groups assigned but were cancelled due to time constrain.

Fifth Meeting

Date : 14th September 2007
Day : Friday
Topic : Quiz 2 – Short Stories

Descriptions:
In the fifth meeting, we learnt another two short stories;
The Pencil (Ali Majod)
How Dalat Got its Name (Heidi Munan).

My comment for the short stories was that they were really beneficial for me especially The Pencil ­– the most attractive one in my opinion. The TESL students as the prospective teachers or lecturers should read and absorb the moral values of the story; of how to deal with the students (specially the problem makers), how to manage them in term of solving their problems, what were the required characteristics the educators should have and so on.

After the discussion done, we sat for Quiz 2 – the two short stories mentioned above for approximately thirty minutes.

Fourth Meeting

Date : 25th August 2007
Day : Friday
Topic : Short Stories Presentation and Drafting Questionnaires

Descriptions:
Today we concentrated to the presentations of the short stories. We performed the presentation for short story - The Drover’s Wife. The tough moment to remember during the presentation was the QA session. Questions came over and over again! By the way, all the titles in the short stories were entirely covered in the same day.

It was my second absence for the afternoon session as I had to attend my cousin’s wedding ceremony at Kuala Berang, Terengganu Darul Iman.

I was told by my group members that they had consulted the lecturer and drafted questionnaires for survey on poems study. The questionnaires were to be distributed in the school. Our group planned to choose Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz (Atas) Dungun, Terengganu Darul Iman to be the location for distributing the questionnaires in order to gain data for our report writing – poems study. The following day, I retyped the drafted questionnaires and passed / submitted it to Mrs. Norliana Binti Ghazali for any correction or amendment required.

Third Meeting

Date : 10th August 2007
Day : Friday
Topic : Novel, Quiz 1 and Preparation for Short Stories Presentation

Descriptions:
Mrs. Norliana Binti Ghazali has lectured us the novel The Pearl. We also learnt how to write about short stories, how to quote the texts to be the textual evidences and so on.

We also sat for Quiz 1 – Poems (questions came from two poems; Monsoon History and si tenggang’s homecoming) successfully. The time given was half an hour to answer the quiz.

At the same day, we also prepared for short stories presentation. A number of groups were assigned with different titles of short stories. My friend (Mrs. Roslaily Bt. Mohamad) and I as a group would perform our presentation for short story - The Drover’s Wife - in the next meeting. And today was my first time using and creating blog. I indeed was very greatful to learn a new thing. Thanks a million to Mrs. Taheerah for lecturing part two TESL students to use blog for educational purpose. We learnt the blog in 5A2 - Computer Laboratory.

Second Meeting

Date : 27th July 2007
Day : Friday
Topic : Overview of Poems

Descriptions:
In the second meeting, the class was started with self-introduction session; we introduced our names, our positions / occupations, what did we like and so on. After the self-introduction session ended, our first-met lecturer of Literature in Malaysian Schools (TSL 430), Mrs. Norliana Binti Ghazali distributed some notes for the introduction of poems.

We did revise our poems study acquisitions based on what we have learnt in the first semester. Apparently, we really needed to put up our efforts to revise back to back the skills of analyzing poems. We were then given task to analyze only one poem out of the titles given. The analysis of the poems was to be presented by the groups assigned in the afternoon session of the class. There were approximately five groups with different title of poems. My group presented si tenggang’s homecoming.

Unfortunately, I could not attend for the presentation as I needed to consult the doctor since I was not feeling very well – having slight cough and fever. My group members then substituted me for my portion of the presentation. There was the number of poems that we learnt today: The Lake Isle of Innisfree (William Butler Yeats), Sonnet 18 (William Shakespeare), si tenggang’s homecoming (Mohammad Haji Salleh), There’s been a Death in the Opposite House (Emily Dickinson), Monsoon History (Shirley Geok-lin Lim) and If (Rudyard Kipling).

First Meeting

Date : 13th July 2007
Day : Friday
Topic : Introduction on Literature in Malaysian Schools

Descriptions :
I was absent today as I was obliged to attend the ‘Kursus Peningkatan Ilmu Guru-Guru Tasmie’ Luar’ held in Kem Sri Bari, Bari Besar, Besut, Terengganu for three days. The course was organized by Integrity Icon Sdn. Bhd. (one of Yayasan Negeri Terengganu Holdings) administrator of Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Dungun, Terengganu Darul Iman.

But my colleagues told me that the very first class of Literature in Malaysian Schools was lectured by Mr. Gopala, who briefly motivated the students on the importance of English and the problems faced in learning English as second language. He also encouraged them to increase the reading habits particularly in reading English materials to assist the students to acquire and master the English language.

They were also introduced to Mrs. Norliana Binti Ghazali who will be the lecturer for the subject Literature in Malaysian Schools (TSL 430) for part two students.