Be Prepared for Registration Day and First Day of New Semester

Assalamualaikum…

Hi there!

Happy New Year (2009) and Happy Ma’al Hijrah (1430).

It is good to see you again in a new semester after a long interval of holiday.

The new semester will resume on 2nd January 2009 (Friday). The Registration Day will also take place on 2nd January 2009 (Friday) at Dewan Cempaka (Part 4 and 5: 9.00 am to 10.00 am).

Have you prepared your money for the registration day? Our colleagues whom their family fully sponsors (FAMA), they would likely to have no financial problem at all to pay for the registration fee. Yet, for those who work to earn money, today:

*is the day on which they let their money goes for future/long-term investment
*is the day on which their savings decrease a bit (of course)
*is the day on which they start to loose their leisure on weekends (sob)
*is the day on which they apply 'togetherness' with peers in TESL class activities

Remember! Do not even waste your penny you consume to pay only to obtain failure in your study! Do struggle for your brighter future! There is no easy way to success, as Rome was not built in a day. Please think about what Assoc. Professor Hj. Mak Som Bin Sarakan used to say in his class:

“If you suffer for four years, you’ll be happy for forty years.”

Think again!

Wassalam…

P/S: “Where there's a will, there's a way.” (English proverb)

Congratulations! Bravo!

Assalamualaikum…

Congratulations go to all those who had achieved success (as tribute to our/their hard work) in the previous examination! Be grateful and appreciative to Allah for what He had granted to us!

For those who did not make it, do not be so miserable! Perhaps we should fix our weaknesses in study. As expected, students always put their fingers on lack of preparation as common cause for failure in study. Maybe we did not have (or know) correct learning strategies. Thus, we just learn what we want to learn the way we feel comfort. Well, it is not too late to fix it!

Probably, we habitually like to delay our work. I also procrastinate (postpone or delay) to my work as well as I procrastinate to my study – reading learning materials, doing assignments and researches, preparing for presentations, tests and quizzes and so on and so forth. Eventually, I ought to do my work in last minute – naturally, that is my attribute. Actually, the best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.

For me, procrastination is synonymous to laziness. Nevertheless, procrastination has something to do with lack of time management. Lord Acton (1834-1902) English historian says:

“A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.”

Procrastination (as frequently mentioned by PM Hj. Mak Som Bin Sarakan during his lectures) refers to an act of putting off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness or an act of postponing or delaying needlessly.

Please do learn from these quotes of procrastination:

"Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried."
(Author Unknown)

“You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.”
[Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist and philosopher]

“Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the ‘someday I’ll’ philosophy.”
(Denis Waitley)

“Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today.”
(English Proverb)

We could conclude that procrastination is an ultimate hostile that always attempts its best to put us off from achieving the ‘harbour of success.’

Hence, please put up your effort (so do I), struggle and strive harder, go all-out and bring all the best that you have to undergo this battle. Remember what Pappy used to say:

“If it's to be, it’s up to me.”

Congratulations once again!

Thank you.

Wassalam…

A Matter of Rebranding!

Assalamualaikum…

Hi there! Thanks for visiting my blog (The TESL Students’ Blog)!

Actually, I had created this blog intentionally to fulfill a partial requirement for Literature in Malaysian Schools (TSL 430) when I was in part two. You could see obviously the journal entries that written in the posts below mentioned something in relation to literature.

We (as part two students at that time) were required to learn how to write journal by using blog. Mrs. Norliana Bt. Ghazali, the lecturer of Literature in Malaysian Schools had invited Mrs. Taherah Bt. Zainuddin, (she teaches mathematics) to instruct us how to register and create blog in the computer laboratory (5B2; I guessed).

Some of my friends had inspired me to modify and rebrand this blog to help TESL students especially those who are in part three and four, (in next semester, they would be in part four and five) and those who (are from different part of TESL Programme that) will participate in the same classes. I hope that this blog could help them (me too) to find out something that could facilitate their study in TESL programme. Let say, if we have trouble to figure out certain terminologies of certain topic, perhaps some of us could share their knowledge with others by explaining to them or just giving them URL address that links them to that particular thing. What is more, this blog could also become an arena for us to brush up and improve our writing skill.

So, what the blog is all about? According to an online dictionary (yes, I do check for the definition too), blog is a shared on-line journal where people could post diary entries about their personal experiences, hobbies, information and so much more. Yet, one feature of the blog that differs it from a manual written journal (with pen and paper) is that it could be read, written, or edited as shared on-line journal (the manual written journal doesn’t have editing feature as the blog does).

My blog also has a number of widgets that might help you to search something you need. I enclose:

• 1) Yahoo! Messenger widget – to indicate my online presence.
  2) Clock widget
  3) Hijriah calendar widget
  4) Gregorian calendar widget
  5) Translation widgets (2 types):
  6) Weather forecast (available for Kuala Dungun, Terengganu only!)
  7) Online reference widget – http://wwwthefreedictionary.com/
  8) Proverb’s widget
  9) English flashcards widget
  10) English level test
  11) About.com widget
  12) Englishtips widget
  13) BBC news widget
  14) CNN news widget
  15) Journal widget
  16) Shoutbox
  17) Youtube search engine widget
  18) Google web search widget
  19) Answer.com widget

Please tell me if you need some more appropriate widgets to enclose in this blog. I am very grateful to get your comment(s) in order to improve my blog’s design and function.

Eventually, I hope that all of you could follow the netiquette or general guidelines of Internet for blogging purpose. Please write in proper English writing (mind your language), as we are TESL students, and we are concerning with English too!

Thank you.

Wassalam...

Best regards, Syikri

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.